Dagaare language
Encyclopedia
Dagaare is the maternal language of the Dagaaba people in Ghana
and Burkina Faso
. It has been described as a dialect continuum
that also includes Waale and Birifor.
Ethnologue divides Dagaare into three languages:
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
and Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
. It has been described as a dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
that also includes Waale and Birifor.
Ethnologue divides Dagaare into three languages:
- Southern Dagaare language (dga), which is spoken mainly in Ghana
- Northern Dagara language (dgi), which is spoken mainly in Burkina Faso
- Dagaari Dioula (dgd), which is spoken mainly in Burkina Faso, and has significant influence from the genetically unrelated Dioula languageDioula languageJula is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. It is one of the Manding languages, and is most closely related to Bambara, being mutually intelligible with Bambara as well as Malinke. It is a trade language in West Africa and is spoken by millions of people, either as a...