Ewe language

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

Ewe (native name: Eʋegbe) is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three 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 tonal language.

The German Africanist Diedrich Hermann Westermann published many dictionaries and grammars of Ewe and several other Gbe languages. Other linguists that have worked on Ewe include Gilbert Ansre (tone, syntax), Hounkpati B. Capo (phonology, phonetics), Herbert Stahlke (morphology, tone), Roberto Pazzi (anthropology, lexicography), Felix K. Ameka (semantics, cognitive linguistics), Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics) and Chris Collins (syntax).

1 Sounds
- 1.1 Consonants
- 1.2 Vowels
2 Writing system
3 Grammar
4 Status
5 References
6 External links

Sounds

Consonants

	Bilabial		Labiodental		Alveolar				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

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i, ĩ	u, ũ
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ, ɛ̃	ɔ, ɔ̃
Open	a, ã

Writing system

Ewe is written in the African reference alphabet, 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/	/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/

A tilde ( ˜ ) is placed over 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

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

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.