Ewe language
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| Ewe (Ɛʋɛgbɛ) | |
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| Spoken in: | Ghana, Togo |
| Region: | Southeast corner of Ghana, southern Togo |
| Total speakers: | 2.5 Million, 3 Million including second language speakers |
| Ranking: | not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Niger-Congo |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | - |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | - |
| ISO 639-2 | ewe |
| SIL | EWE |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Ewe (pronounced /e'βe/) is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three million people (Capo 1991). Ewe is part of a cluster of related languages commonly called Gbe, stretching from eastern Ghana to Western Nigeria. Other Gbe languages Fon and Aja. Like other Gbe languages, Ewe is a tonal language.
Ewe is one of the better documented languages of Africa, partly due to the massive work of Diedrich Hermann Westermann, who 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) and Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics).
Ewe uses the following alphabet:
A a B b D d Ð ɖ E e Ɛ ɛ F f Ƒ ƒ G g Ɣ ɣ H h I i J j K k L l M m N n Ŋ ŋ O o Ɔ ɔ P p R r S s T t U u ũ V v Ʋ ʋ W w X x Y y Z z
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.
- 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
- Ethnologue report for Ewe (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=ewe)