Gola language

Last updated
Gola
Gola, ꖑꕞ
Native toWestern Liberia & along the border with Sierra Leone
Ethnicity Gola
Native speakers
200,000 (2019–2020) [1]
Latin script, Vai script, Gola script
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gol
Glottolog gola1255

Gola is a language of Liberia and Sierra Leone. It was traditionally classified as an Atlantic language, but this is no longer accepted in more recent studies.

Contents

Classification

Gola is not closely related to other languages and appears to form its own branch of the Niger–Congo language family. [2] Previously, Fields (2004) had classified Gola as a Mel language most closely related to Bullom and Kisi. [3]

Distribution

According to Ethnologue , Gola is spoken in widespread regions across Liberia. It is spoken in Gbarpolu County, Grand Cape Mount County, and Lofa County (between the Mano River and Saint Paul River), as well as in inland areas of Bomi County and Montserrado County.

Dialects are Deng (Todii), Kongba, and Senje.

Phonology

Consonants [4]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Plosive p b t d k g kp gb
Implosive ɓ
Fricative f v s z h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋm
Approximant w l j
Vowels [4]
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid-high e o
Mid-low ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Low a

There are at least two tones: high and low. Middle, falling, and rising tones can also be found, but may be allophones conditioned by the presence certain consonants that have a lowering or raising effect on the pronunciation of the tone. [4]

Writing system

Multiple writing systems have been used to transcribe the Gola language. Until recently, the Vai script was used across Liberia and Sierra Leone. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Liberia</span>

As of 2006, Liberia had the highest population growth rate in the world. This has declined since, however, and stood at 2.37 percent in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Africa</span>

The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages, one of the greatest concentrations of linguistic diversity in the world. The languages of Africa belong to many distinct language families, among which the largest are:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pygmy hippopotamus</span> Small species of hippopotamus from West Africa

The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has been extirpated from Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Atlantic languages</span> Niger–Congo language subgroup of West Africa

The West Atlantic languages of West Africa are a major subgroup of the Niger–Congo languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwa languages</span> Proposed language family in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Togo

The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The Kwa family belongs to the Niger-Congo phylum. The name was introduced 1895 by Gottlob Krause and derives from the word for 'people' (Kwa) in many of these languages, as illustrated by Akan names. This branch consists of around 50 different languages spoken by about 25 million people. Some of the largest Kwa languages are Ewe, Akan and Baule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gullah</span> African American ethnic group in south United States

The Gullah are an African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their language and culture have preserved a significant influence of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to their shared history and identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kru people</span> Ethnic group in West Africa

The Kru, Krao, Kroo, or Krou are a West African ethnic group who are indigenous to western Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. European and American writers often called Kru men who enlisted as sailors or mariners Krumen. They migrated and settled along various points of the West African coast, notably Freetown, Sierra Leone, but also the Ivorian and Nigerian coasts. The Kru-speaking people are a large ethnic group that is made up of several sub-ethnic groups in Liberia and Ivory Coast. In Liberia, there are 48 sub-sections of Kru tribes, including the Jlao Kru. These tribes include Bété, Bassa, Krumen, Guéré, Grebo, Klao/Krao, Dida, Krahn people and Jabo people.

Liberian Kreyol is an Atlantic English-lexicon creole language spoken in Liberia. It was spoken by 1,500,000 people as a second language which is about 70% of the population in that time. Today the knowledge of some form of English is even more widespread. It is historically and linguistically related to Merico, a creole spoken in Liberia, but is grammatically distinct from it. There are regional dialects such as the Kru and Kpelleh kolokwa English used by the Kru fishermen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krio language</span> English-based creole spoken in Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population, and it unites the different ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction with each other. Krio is the primary language of communication among Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad, and has also heavily influenced Sierra Leonean English. The language is native to the Sierra Leone Creole people, or Krios, a community of about 104,311 descendants of freed slaves from the West Indies, Canada, United States and the British Empire, and is spoken as a second language by millions of other Sierra Leoneans belonging to the country's indigenous tribes. Krio, along with English, is the official language of Sierra Leone.

Temne is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West African countries as well, including Guinea and The Gambia. Some Temnes have also migrated beyond West Africa seeking educational and professional opportunities, especially in Great Britain, the United States, and Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fula language</span> Senegambian language of West and Central Africa

Fula, also known as Fulani or Fulah, is a Senegambian language spoken by around 36.8 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that stretches across some 18 countries in West and Central Africa. Along with other related languages such as Serer and Wolof, it belongs to the Atlantic geographic group within Niger–Congo, and more specifically to the Senegambian branch. Unlike most Niger-Congo languages, Fula does not have tones.

Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the phrase bae raka Slaves trading place and understood by the local as 'people of the seaside' outcasted people. Most Baga are bilingual in the Mande language Susu, the official regional language. Two ethnically Baga communities, Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their (unattested) language altogether in favour of Susu.

Tiv is a Tivoid language spoken in some states in North Central Nigeria, with some speakers in Cameroon. It had over 4.6 million speakers in 2020. The largest population of Tiv speakers are found in Benue state in Nigeria. The language is also widely spoken in some Nigerian states namely, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, Cross River, Adamawa, Kaduna, and Abuja. It is by far the largest of the Tivoid languages, a group of languages belonging to the Southern Bantoid languages

Kissi is a Mel language of West Africa, There are two dialects, northern and southern, and both are tonal languages. The northern dialect is spoken in Guinea and in Sierra Leone. The southern dialect is spoken in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The two dialects are notably different, but are closely related.

Maninka, or more precisely Eastern Maninka, is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande language family. It is the mother tongue of the Malinké people in Guinea, where it is spoken by 3.1 million people and is the main language in the Upper Guinea region, and in Mali, where the closely related Bambara is a national language, as well as in Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, where it has no official status. It was the language of court and government during the Mali Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pichinglis</span> English-based creole of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea

Pichinglis, commonly referred to by its speakers as Pichi and formally known as Fernando Po Creole English (Fernandino), is an Atlantic English-lexicon creole language spoken on the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea. It is an offshoot of the Krio language of Sierra Leone, and was brought to Bioko by Krios who immigrated to the island during the colonial era in the 19th century.

The Mel languages are a branch of Niger–Congo languages spoken in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The most populous is Temne, with about two million speakers; Kissi is next, with half a million.

The Limba language, Hulimba, is a Niger-Congo language of Sierra Leone and Guinea. It is not closely related to other languages and appears to form its own branch of the Niger–Congo family. Dialects include Tonko, Sela, Kamuke, Wara-wara, Keleng, Biriwa, and Safroko. The eastern variety, spoken primarily in Guinea, is quite distinct. Limba has a system of noun classes, marked by an old, eroded set of prefixes augmented by a newer set of enclitics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Leone Creole people</span> Ethnic group of Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Creole people are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Sierra Leone Creoles are 1.2 percent of the population of Sierra Leone.

The Rio Nunez or Nunez River languages constitute a pair of Niger–Congo languages, Mbulungish and Baga Mboteni. They are spoken at the mouth of the Nunez River in Guinea, West Africa.

References

  1. Gola at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Guillaume Segerer & Florian Lionnet 2010. "'Isolates' in 'Atlantic'" Archived March 31, 2012, at the Wayback Machine . Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyon, Dec. 4
  3. Fields, Edda L. Before "Baga": Settlement Chronologies of the Coastal Rio Nunez Region, Earliest Times to c.1000 CE. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2004), pp. 229-253. Boston University African Studies Center.
  4. 1 2 3 Koroma, Regine (1994). "Die Morphosyntax des Gola". Afrikanistische Monografien (AMO). Institut für Afrikanistik, University of Cologne. 4: xiv+215.
  5. Warren L. D'Azevedo (March 1962). "Uses of the Past in Gola Discourse". The Journal of African History . 3 (1): 29. doi:10.1017/S0021853700002711. ISSN   0021-8537. JSTOR   179797. Wikidata   Q86531772.