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| Ewe Ɛ̀ʋɛ̀gbè |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Ghana, Togo | |
| Region: | Southern Ghana east of the Volta River, southern Togo | |
| Total speakers: | 2.5 million, 3 million including second language speakers | |
| Language family: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Niger Gbe Ewe |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | ee | |
| ISO 639-2: | ewe | |
| ISO 639-3: | ewe | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Ewe (native name Ɛ̀ʋɛ̀gbè, pronounced [ὲβὲg͡bè]) is a Niger-Congo language spoken in Ghana, Togo and Benin by approximately five million people. Ewe is part of a cluster of related languages commonly called Gbe, stretching from eastern Ghana to western Nigeria. Other Gbe languages include Fon and Aja. Like other Gbe languages, Ewe is a tone language.
The German Africanist Diedrich Hermann Westermann published many dictionaries and grammars of Ewe and several other Gbe languages. Other linguists who have worked on Ewe and closely related languages include Gilbert Ansre (tone, syntax), Herbert Stahlke (morphology, tone), Nick Clements (tone, syntax), Roberto Pazzi (anthropology, lexicography), Felix K. Ameka (semantics, cognitive linguistics), Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics), Hounkpati B. Capo (phonology, phonetics), Enoch Aboh (syntax), and Chris Collins (syntax).
Contents |
Sounds
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | ɖ | k | ɡ | k͡p | ɡ͡b | ||||||
| Affricate | ʦ | ʣ | |||||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||||||||||
| Fricative | ɸ | β | f | v | s | z | x | ɣ | h | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||||||||||
The nasal consonants [m, n, ɲ, ŋ] do not have phonemic status as they are predictable variants of oral consonants in the context of nasal vowels.
Ewe is one of the few languages known to contrast [f] vs [ɸ] and [v] vs [β], which are typically considered allophones in other languages.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i, ĩ | u, ũ |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ, ɛ̃ | ɔ, ɔ̃ |
| Open | a, ã | |
Some varieties of Ewe spoken in Ghana have the additional vowels /ə/ and /ə̃/.
Writing system
Ewe is written in the African reference alphabet, which is the Latin alphabet with some extra letters, some of which are derived from the International Phonetic Alphabet, added to represent certain sounds.
| A a | B b | D d | Ɖ ɖ | Dz dz | E e | Ɛ ɛ | F f | Ƒ ƒ | G g | Gb gb | Ɣ ɣ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /b/ | /d/ | /ɖ/ | /ʣ/ | /e/, /ə/ | /ɛ/ | /f/ | /ɸ/ | /ɡ/ | /ɡ͡b/ | /ɣ/ |
| H h | I i | K k | Kp kp | L l | M m | N n | Ny ny | Ŋ ŋ | O o | Ɔ ɔ | P p |
| /h/ | /i/ | /k/ | /k͡p/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | /ŋ/ | /o/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ |
| R r | S s | T t | Ts ts | U u | V v | Ʋ ʋ | W w | X x | Y y | Z z | |
| /l/ | /s/ | /t/ | /ʦ/ | /u/ | /v/ | /β/ | /w/ | /x/ | /j/ | /z/ |
An n is placed after vowels to mark nasalization. Tone is generally unmarked, except in some common cases which require disambiguation, e.g. the first person plural pronoun mí 'we' is marked high to distinguish it from the second person plural mi 'you', and the second person singular pronoun wò 'you' is marked low to distinguish it from the third person plural pronoun wo 'they/them'
- ekpɔ wò [ɛ́k͡pɔ̀ wɔ̀] — 'he saw you'
- ekpɔ wo [ɛ́k͡pɔ̀ wɔ́] — 'he saw them'
Grammar
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (June 2008) |
Ewe is a Subject Verb Object language. The possessor precedes the head noun. Adjectives, numerals, demonstratives and relative clauses follow the head noun.
Ewe has a rich system of serial verb constructions (see Ansre 1961).
Status
|
|
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (June 2008) |
Ewe is a national language in Togo and Ghana.
References
- Ansre, Gilbert (1961) The Tonal Structure of Ewe. MA Thesis, Kennedy School of Missions of Hartford Seminary Foundation.
- Ameka, Felix Kofi (2001) 'Ewe'. In Garry and Rubino (eds.), Fact About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages, Past and Present, 207-213. New York/Dublin: The H.W. Wilson Company.
- Collins, Chris. 1993. Topics in Ewe Syntax. Doctoral Dissertation, MIT.
- Capo, Hounkpati B.C. (1991) A Comparative Phonology of Gbe, Publications in African Languages and Linguistics, 14. Berlin/New York: Foris Publications & Garome, Bénin: Labo Gbe (Int).
- Pasch, Helma (1995) Kurzgrammatik des Ewe Köln: Köppe.
- Westermann, Diedrich Hermann (1930) A Study of the Ewe Language London: Oxford University Press.
External links
- Basic Ewe for foreign students Institut für Afrikanistik der Universität zu Köln
- Ethnologue report for Ewe
- The Ewe language at Verba Africana
- Short Ewe resources list at UCLA
- Ewe alphabet and pronunciation page at Omniglot
- Free virtual keyboard for Ewe language at GhanaKeyboards.Com
- [1] Recordings of Ewe being spoken.
- kasahorow Gbe(Ewe) Dictionary Online Gbe(Ewe)-English Glossary
- PanAfriL10n page
- Ewe IPA
- http://www.eweland.com/
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 24 December 2008, at 09:36.
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