Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Template:Infobox ethnonym Dagbani (or Dagbane), also known as Dagbanli or Dagbanle, is a Gur language spoken in Ghana and Northern Togo. Its native speakers are estimated around 1,170,000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dagbani is the most widely spoken language in northern Ghana, specifically among the tribes that fall under the authority of the King of Dagbon, known as the Yaa-Naa. Dagbon is a traditional kingdom situated in northern Ghana, and the Yaa-Naa is the paramount chief or king who governs over the various tribes and communities within the Dagbon kingdom.
Dagbani is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Mampruli, Nabit, Talni, Kamara, Kantosi, and Hanga, also spoken in Northern, North East, Upper East, and Savannah Regions. It is also similar to the other members of the same subgroup spoken in other regions, including Dagaare and Wali, spoken in Upper West Region of Ghana, along with Frafra and Kusaal, spoken in the Upper East Region of the country.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Togo, Dagbani is spoken in the Savanes Region on the border with Ghana.
DialectsEdit
Dagbani has a major dialect split between Eastern Dagbani (Nayahali), centred on the traditional capital town of Yendi (Naya), and Western Dagbani (Tomosili), centred on the administrative capital of the Northern Region, Tamale. The dialects are, however, mutually intelligible, and mainly consist of different root vowels in some lexemes, and different forms or pronunciations of some nouns, particularly those referring to local flora. The words Dagbani and Dagbanli given above for the name of the language are respectively the Eastern and Western dialect forms of the name, but the Dagbani Orthography Committee resolved that “It was decided that in the spelling system <Dagbani> is used to refer to the ... Language, and <Dagbanli> ... to the life and culture”;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Original research inline in the spoken language, each dialect uses its form of the name for both functions.
PhonologyEdit
VowelsEdit
Dagbani has eleven phonemic vowels – six short vowels and five long vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link |
| Mid | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Low | Template:IPA link |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Mid | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Low | Template:IPA link |
Olawsky (1999) puts the schwa (ə) in place of {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, unlike other researchers on the language<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> who use the higher articulated {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Allophonic variation based on tongue-root advancement is well attested for 4 of these vowels: {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
ConsonantsEdit
- [{{#invoke:IPA|main}}] mainly occurs phonemically among other Western dialects.
- {{#invoke:IPA|main}} debuccalizes as a glottal {{#invoke:IPA|main}} when in intervocalic position. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} debuccalizes as a glottal stop {{#invoke:IPA|main}} post-vocalic position.
- Sounds {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are realized as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} when preceding front vowels.
- {{#invoke:IPA|main}} can be heard as {{#invoke:IPA|main}} when in post-vocalic positions.<ref name=":1" />
ToneEdit
Dagbani is a tonal language in which pitch is used to distinguish words, as in gballi {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (high-high) 'grave' vs. gballi {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (high-low) 'zana mat'.<ref>Olawsky 1997</ref> The tone system of Dagbani is characterised by two level tones and downstep (a lowering effect occurring between sequences of the same phonemic tone).
OrthographyEdit
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Dagbani is written in a Latin alphabet with the addition of the apostrophe, the letters ɛ, ɣ, ŋ, ɔ, and ʒ, and the digraphs ch, gb, kp, ŋm, sh and ny. The literacy rate used to be only 2–3%.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> This percentage is expected to rise as Dagbani is now a compulsory subject in primary and junior secondary school all over Dagbon. The orthography currently used<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (Orthography Committee /d(1998)) represents a number of allophonic distinctions. Tone is not marked.
| a | b | ch | d | e | ɛ | f | g | gb | ɣ | h | i | j | k | kp | l | m | n | ny | ŋ | ŋm | o | ɔ | p | r | s | sh | t | u | w | y | z | ʒ | ’ |
GrammarEdit
Dagbani is agglutinative, but with some fusion of affixes. The constituent order in Dagbani sentences is usually agent–verb–object.
LexiconEdit
There is insight into a historical stage of the language in the papers of Rudolf Fisch, reflecting data collected during his missionary work in the German Togoland colony in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, especially the lexical list,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> though there is also some grammatical information<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and sample texts.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> A more modern glossary was published in 1934 by a southern Ghanaian officer of the colonial government, E. Foster Tamakloe, in 1934,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with a revised edition by British officer Harold Blair.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Various editors added to the wordlist and a more complete publication was produced in 2003 by a Dagomba scholar, Ibrahim Mahama.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to the linguist Salifu Nantogma Alhassan,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> there is evidence to suggest that there are gender-related double standards in the Dagbani language with "more labels that trivialise females than males".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Meanwhile, the data was electronically compiled by John Miller Chernoff and Roger Blench (whose version is published online),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and converted into a database by Tony Naden, on the basis of which a full-featured dictionary is ongoing and can be viewed online.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Noun class systemEdit
| Noun class<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> | Example (SG) | Example (PL) | SG suffix | PL suffix | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tIb-li | tIb-a | -li | -a | ear |
| 2 | paG-a | paG-ba | -a | -ba | woman |
| 3 | gab-ga | gab-si | -ga | -si | rope |
| 4 | wab-gu | wab-ri | -gu | -ri | elephant |
| 5 | kur-gu | kur-a | -gu | -a | old |
| 6 | ko-m/kom- | ko-ma/kom-a | -m/ | -ma/-a | water |
PronounsEdit
Each set of personal pronouns in Dagbani is distinguished regarding person, number and animacy. Besides the distinction between singular and plural, there is an additional distinction between [+/- animate] in the 3rd person. Moreover, Dagbani distinguishes between emphatic and non-emphatic pronouns and there are no gender distinctions. While there is no morphological differentiation between grammatical cases, pronouns can occur in different forms according to whether they appear pre- or postverbally.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref>
Non-emphatic pronounsEdit
PreverbalEdit
Preverbal pronouns serve as subjects of a verb and are all monosyllabic.<ref name=":4" />
| Person | SG | PL |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | n | ti |
| 2 | a | yi |
| 3 [+animate] | o | bɛ |
| 3 [-animate] | di | di, ŋa |
PostverbalEdit
Postverbal pronouns usually denote objects.<ref name=":4" />
| Person | SG | PL |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ma | ti |
| 2 | a | ya |
| 3 [+animate] | o | ba |
| 3 [-animate] | li | li, ŋa |
Given the fact that preverbal and postverbal pronouns do not denote two complementary sets, one could refer to them as unmarked or specifically marked for postverbal occurrence.<ref name=":4" />
| Person | SG | PL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unmarked | Marked | Unmarked | Marked | |||
| 1 | n | ma | ti | |||
| 2 | a | yi | ya | |||
| 3 [+animate] | o | bɛ | ba | |||
| 3 [-animate] | di | li | di | (ŋa) | li |
Emphatic pronounsEdit
Emphatic pronouns in Dagbani serve as regular pronouns in that they can stand in isolation, preverbally or postverbally.<ref name=":4" />
| Person | SG | PL |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mani | tinima |
| 2 | nyini | yinima |
| 3 [+animate] | ŋuni, ŋuna | bɛna, bana |
| 3 [-animate] | dini, dina | ŋana |
Reciprocal pronounsEdit
Reciprocals are formed by the addition of the word taba after the verb.<ref name=":4" />
Reflexive pronounsEdit
Reflexive pronouns are formed by the suffix -maŋa, which is attached to the non-emphatic preverbal pronoun.<ref name=":4" /> Template:Interlinear
The affix maŋa can also occur as an emphatic pronoun after nouns.<ref name=":4" /> Template:Interlinear
Possessive pronounsEdit
The possessive pronouns in Dagbani exactly correspond to the preverbal non-emphatic pronouns, which always proceed the possessed constituent.
Relative pronounsEdit
In Dagbani the relative pronouns are ŋʊn ("who") and ni ("which").<ref name=":5">Template:Cite journal</ref>
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The relative pronouns in Dagbani are not obligatory present and can also be absent depending on the context, as the following example illustrates.<ref name=":5" />
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Relative pronouns in Dagbani can also be complex in its nature, such that they consist of two elements, an indefinite pronoun and an emphatic pronoun.<ref name=":4" />
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Interrogative pronounsEdit
Source:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Interrogative pronouns in Dagbani make a distinction between human and non-human.
| Dagbani | English |
|---|---|
| bòn / bà | what |
| ŋùní | who |
| bòzùɤù | why |
| yà | where |
| díní | which |
| álá | how much |
| bòndàlì | when |
| sáhá díní | when |
| wùlà | how |
Additionally, interrogative pronouns inflect for number, but not all of them. Those inflecting for number belong to the semantic categories [ +THING], [ +SELECTION], [ +PERSON].<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>
| Semantic Category | SG | PL | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| [+PERSON] | ŋùní | bànímà | who/whom |
| [+SELECTION] | dìní | dìnnímà | which |
| [+THING] | bò | bònímà | what |
Demonstrative pronounsEdit
Demonstrative pronouns in Dagbani make a morphological difference between the singular and plural form. The demonstrative pronoun ŋɔ moves to the specifier of the functional NumP and if Num is plural, then the plural morphem -nímá attaches to the demonstrative pronoun. If Num is singular, there is a zero morphem, such that the demonstrative pronoun does not differ in its morphological form.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| Demonstrative Pronoun | SG | PL | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proximal | ŋɔ | ŋɔnímá | this/these |
| Distal | ŋɔ há | ŋɔnímá há | that/those |
Indefinite pronounsEdit
Dagbani distinguishes not only between singular and plural for indefinite pronouns, but also between [+/-animate]. Therefore, there are two pairs of indefinite pronouns. Indefinites are basically used in the same way as adjectives, as their morphological form is similar to that of nouns and adjectives.<ref name=":4" /> In order to express an indefinite like "something" the inanimate singular form is combined with the noun bini ("thing").
| SG | PL | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| [+animate] | <so> | <shɛba> | somebody |
| [-animate] | <shɛli> | <shɛŋa> | something |
SyntaxEdit
Word orderEdit
Dagbani has a rigid SVO word order. In the canonical sentence structure, the verb precedes the direct and indirect object as well as adverbials. The clause structure exhibits varying functional elements projecting various functional phrasal categories including tense, aspect, negation, mood and the conjoint/disjoint paradigm.
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
Verb phraseEdit
The VP in Dagbani consists of a preverbal particle encoding tense, aspect and mood, the main verb, and a postverbal particle which marks focus.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Preverbal particlesEdit
Major particlesEdit
| Tense, aspect, modal particles<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> | Dagbani |
|---|---|
| today (also once upon a time) | də |
| one day away | sa |
| two or more days away | daa |
| habitual | yi |
| still, not yet | na |
| actually | siri |
| once again, as usual | yaa |
| suddenly, just | dii |
| non-future negative | bə |
| future affix | nə |
| future negative | ku |
| imperative subjunctive negative | de |
| again | lah |
Main verbEdit
Each verb in Dagbani has two forms, a perfective and an imperfective form with very few exceptions. In general, the perfective form is the unmarked form, whereas the imperfective form corresponds to the progressive form, or in other words it refers to an action, which is still in progress.<ref name=":4" /> The perfective is nearly syncretic with the infinitive, which in turn has an /n-/-prefix. The imperfective is formed by the suffix /-di/.<ref name=":4" />
The inflectional system in Dagbani is relatively poor as compared to other languages. There is no grammatical agreement, since number and person are not marked. Tense is marked only under certain constraints. Basically, Dagbani makes a distinction between future and non-future, however the main distinction does not concern Tense, but Aspect and occurs between perfective and imperfective.
Postverbal particlesEdit
The postverbal particle la marks presentational focus, rather than contrastive focus.<ref name=":6" /> In comparison to the postverbal particle in Dagaare, the function of this Dagbani particle is also not yet fully investigated. There are native speakers, who consider the particle to indicate that what is expressed to the hearer is not shared knowledge. Issah (2013) on the other hand argues that the presence of la asserts new information, while its absence indicates old information.
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Conjoint / disjoint markersEdit
| citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Conjoint | Disjoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective | Template:Interlinear | Template:Interlinear | |
| Perfective | Template:Interlinear | Template:Interlinear |
QuestionsEdit
In Dagbani, the question word can either appear in situ or ex situ.<ref name=":7" />
Ex situEdit
| Dagbani | Question words |
|---|---|
| Bɔ | what |
| Dini | which |
| Ya | where |
| Wula | how |
| ŋuni | who |
| ŋun | whose |
| Bɔ zuɤu | why |
The basic word order in Dagbani questions is SVO, such that the question word is fronted and followed by the focus marker ka. This is the unmarked form and accepted by many native speakers as "natural".<ref name=":4" />
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
In situEdit
Yes-/No-question in Dagbani are formed by the disjunction bee ('or'), which either conjoints two propositions or which occurs sentence-finally to indicate that the sentence with SVO order is actually a question. Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
In addition to Yes-/No-questions, the question word can also occur in sentence-final position. This might correspond to echo questions.<ref name=":8">Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
Dagbani language scholarsEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Incubator
- Knut Olawsky's Homepage
- The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive – Dagbani
- Dagbani kasahorow online dictionary
- Dagbane dictionary (PDF)
- The VP-periphery in Mabia languages
Template:Languages of Ghana Template:Gur languages Template:Authority control