| Kasena | |
|---|---|
| Region | Ghana, Burkina Faso |
| Ethnicity | Kassena |
Native speakers | (250,000 cited 1998–2004) [1] |
| Latin, Goulsse | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xsm |
| Glottolog | kase1253 |
 The region in which the Kassena people live in Ghana and Burkina Faso | |
Kasena or Kassena (Kasem or Kassem) is the language of the Kassena ethnic group and is a Gur language spoken in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana and in Burkina Faso.
| Aa | Ǝǝ | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ɛɛ | Ff | Gg | Hh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /ə/ | /b/ | /t̠͡ʃ/ | /d/ | /e/ | /ɛ/ | /f/ | /ɡ/ | /h/ |
| Ii | Ɩɩ | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Ŋŋ | Oo | Ɔɔ |
| /i/ | /ɪ/ | /d̠͡ʒ/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | /o/ | /ɔ/ |
| Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Ʋʋ | Vv | Ww | Yy | Zz |
| /p/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /ʊ/ | /v/ | /w/ | /j/ | /z/ |
An independent 30-letter alphabet called the Goulsse alphabet (from gʋlse, “writing” in Mooré) was devised by Burkinabé app developer Wenitte Apiou, Babaguioue Micareme Akouabou and Kassem linguist Fernand Ki in summer of 2021 based on the geometrical patterns found in Kassena architecture. The alphabet is also planned to be applicable for the related Mooré language as well. [2]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Kasena has three tones, a high tone, a mid level tone and a low tone. Tonal changes either change the lexical meaning of a word or its grammatical function. [3]
Lexical
A
„I“
Á
„You (PL)“
Grammatical
Wu
Negation
Wú
Futur
There are five classes of nouns that can be identified in Kasena. These classes correspond to grammatical genders and are differentiated in terms of number, such that there are five classes for singular nouns and five classes for plural nouns. [3]
| Gender | SG | PL | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bu | biə | child/children |
| 2 | bɪnɪ | bɪna | year(s) |
| 3 | naga | nɛ | foot/feet |
| 4 | piu | pweeru | montain(s) |
| 5 | bʊŋʊ | bʊm | goat(s) |
There are two classes of personal pronouns. One class is referring to humans, whereas the other class is referring to non-human entities. The personal pronouns are also used as possessive pronouns, thus there is no special form for possessive pronouns in Kasena.
Human personal pronouns
| Person | SG | PL | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | A | Dí | I/we |
| 2nd | N | Á | You/you |
| 3rd | O | Ba | He/she/They |
Non-human personal pronouns
| Class | SG | PL |
|---|---|---|
| I | O | Ba |
| II | Dɪ | Ya |
| III | Ka | Sɪ |
| IV | Kʊ | Tɪ |
| V | Kʊ | Dɪ |
| Person | SG | PL | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | amʊ | dcbam | Me/we |
| 2nd | nmʊ | abam | You/you |
| 3rd | wʊm/wʊntu | bam/bantʊ | He/she/they |
Reciprocity is expressed by the pronoun daanɪ, which sometimes occurs as a prefix or suffix.
Reflexivity is expressed by a personal pronoun to which either tɪtɪ or katɪ ('-self')is added.
Relative pronouns are formed on the basis of the personal pronouns for non-human entities to which the suffix -lʊ is attached. [3]
| Class | SG | PL |
|---|---|---|
| I | wʊlʊ | balʊ |
| II | dɪlʊ | yalʊ |
| III | kalʊ | sɪlʊ |
| IV | kʊlʊ | tɪlʊ |
| V | kʊlʊ | dɪlʊ |
| Class | Number | Certain | Some | Any |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | SG | wʊdoŋ | --- | wʊlʊ wʊlʊ |
| I | PL | badonnə | badaara | balʊ balʊ |
| II | SG | dɪ doŋ | --- | dɪlʊ dɪlʊ |
| II | PL | yadonnə | yadaara | yalʊ yalʊ |
| III | SG | kadoŋ | --- | kalʊ kalʊ |
| III | PL | sɪdonnə | sɪdaara | sɪlʊ sɪlʊ |
| IV | SG | kudoŋ | --- | kʊlʊ kʊlʊ |
| IV | PL | tɪdonnə | tɪdaara | tɪlʊ tɪlʊ |
| V | SG | kudoŋ | --- | kʊlʊ kʊlʊ |
| V | PL | dɪdonnə | dɪdaara | dɪlʊ dɪlʊ |
| Class | SG | Gloss | PL | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | wuntu | this/that | bantu | these/those |
| II | dɪntu | this/that | yantu | these/those |
| III | kantu | this/that | sɪntu | these/those |
| IV | kuntu | this/that | tɪntu | these/those |
| V | kuntu | this/that | dɪntu | these/those |
| Class | SG who, what, which | PL who, what, which | How much |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | wɔɔ | bra | bagra |
| II | dɔɔ | yɔɔ | yagra |
| III | kɔɔ | sɔɔ | sɪgra |
| IV | kɔɔ | tɔɔ | tɪgra |
| V | kɔɔ | dɔɔ | dɪgra |
The Kasena language has a basic SVO word order.
Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken by some 350,000–450,000 ethnic Fijians as a native language. The 2013 Constitution established Fijian as an official language of Fiji, along with English and Fiji Hindi and there is discussion about establishing it as the "national language". Fijian is a VOS language.
Slavey is a group of Athabaskan languages and a dialect continuum spoken amongst the Dene peoples of Canada in the Northwest Territories – or central Denendeh – where it also has official status. The languages are primarily written using a modified Latin script, with some using Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. In their own languages, these languages are referred to as: Sahtúgot’įné Yatı̨́, K’ashógot’įne Goxedǝ́ and Shíhgot’įne Yatı̨́ in the North, and Dené Dháh, Dene Yatıé or Dene Zhatıé in the South.
Dagbani, 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. 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.
Vaeakau-Taumako is a Polynesian language spoken in some of the Reef Islands as well as in the Taumako Islands in the Temotu province of Solomon Islands.
In linguistic typology, a verb–object–subject or verb–object–agent language, which is commonly abbreviated VOS or VOA, is one in which most sentences arrange their elements in that order. That would be the equivalent in English to "Ate oranges Sam." The relatively rare default word order accounts for only 3% of the world's languages. It is the fourth-most common default word order among the world's languages out of the six. It is a more common default permutation than OVS and OSV but is significantly rarer than SOV, SVO, and VSO. Families in which all or many of their languages are VOS include the following:
Sakao is an Oceanic language spoken on the northeast horn of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
Tamambo, or Malo, is an Oceanic language spoken by 4,000 people on Malo and nearby islands in Vanuatu. It is one of the most conservative Southern Oceanic languages.
Apma is the language of central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. Apma is an Oceanic language. Within Vanuatu it sits between North Vanuatu and Central Vanuatu languages, and combines features of both groups.
Ughele is an Oceanic language spoken by about 1200 people on Rendova Island, located in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.
Dagaare is the language of the Dagaaba people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Waale and Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect stemming from other family languages including: Dagbane, Waale, Mabia, Gurene, Mampruli, Kusaal, Buli, Niger-Congo, and many other sub languages resulting in around 1.3 million Dagaare speakers. Throughout the regions of native Dagaare speakers the dialect comes from Northern, Central, Western, and Southern areas referring to the language differently. Burkina Faso refers to Dagaare as Dagara and Birifor to natives in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire. The native tongue is still universally known as Dagaare. Amongst the different dialects, the standard for Dagaare is derived from the Central region's dialect. Southern Dagaare also stems from the Dagaare language and is known to be commonly spoken in Wa and Kaleo.
The Southern, Kolyma or Forest Yukaghir language is one of two extant Yukaghir languages.
Biak, also known as Biak-Numfor, Noefoor, Mafoor, Mefoor, Nufoor, Mafoorsch, Myfoorsch and Noefoorsch, is an Austronesian language of the South Halmahera-West New Guinea subgroup of the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages.
In linguistics, pluractionality, or verbal number, if not used in its aspectual sense, is a grammatical aspect that indicates that the action or participants of a verb is, or are, plural. This differs from frequentative or iterative aspects in that the latter have no implication for the number of participants of the verb.
Farefare or Frafra, also known by the regional name of Gurenne (Gurene), is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Frafra people of northern Ghana, particularly the Upper East Region, and southern Burkina Faso. It is a national language of Ghana, and is closely related to Dagbani and other languages of Northern Ghana, and also related to Mossi, also known as Mooré, the national language of Burkina Faso.
Konkomba is a Gurma language spoken in Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso.
Buli, or Kanjaga, is a Gur language of Ghana primarily spoken in the Builsa District, located in the Upper East Region of the country. It is an SVO language and has 200 000 speakers.
Medumba is a Bamileke language of Cameroon. The people who speak it originate from the Nde division of the West Region of the country, with their main settlements in Bangangté, Bakong, Bangoulap, Bahouoc, Bagnoun and Tonga. It is a major Bamileke language, and is located in an area where sacred kingship played a pivotal role in government, justice, and diplomacy. The modern history of the Bamileke area, which was a German colony placed under French trusteeship by the League of Nations in 1919, is closely associated with the nationalist movement of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), which developed primarily in the coastal hinterland (Bassa) and the western highlands (Bamileke). From 1956 to the late 1960s, this area of Cameroon experienced a period of unrest; this episode continues to shape Bamileke political culture, and has an impact on language identity and the linguistic landscape.
North Moluccan Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ternate, Tidore, Morotai, Halmahera, and Sula Islands in North Maluku for intergroup communications. The local name of the language is bahasa Pasar, and the name Ternate Malay is also used, after the main ethnic group speaking the language. This language is commonly written using Indonesian orthography by its speakers even though it does not have a standardized orthography since this language is used primarily for spoken communication. One of its varieties is Sula Malay, which was formed with the influence of Ambonese Malay and Dutch.
Lengo or informally known as doku is a Southeast Solomonic language of Guadalcanal and is closely related to Gela language.
Neverver (Nevwervwer), also known as Lingarak, is an Oceanic language. Neverver is spoken in Malampa Province, in central Malekula, Vanuatu. The names of the villages on Malekula Island where Neverver is spoken are Lingarakh and Limap.
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
 | This article about Gur languages is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
