EWE LANGUAGE


'Ewe' (native name: '') 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) and Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics).

Contents
Sounds
Consonants
Vowels
Writing system
Status
References
External links

Sounds


Consonants

Plosive
BilabialLabiodentalAlveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarLabial-velarGlottal
Affricate
Nasal
Fricative
Approximant

Vowels

FrontBack
Close , ,
Close-mid
Open-mid , ,
Open ,

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 Dz dz E e F f G g Gb gb
H h I i K k Kp kp L l M m N n Ny ny ÅŠ Å‹ O o P p
R r S s T t Ts ts U u V v W w X x Y y Z 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'

★ — 'he saw you'

★ — 'he saw them'

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.

★ 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

Short Ewe resources list at UCLA

Ewe alphabet and pronunciation page at Omniglot

Free virtual keyboard for Ewe language at GhanaKeyboards.Com

[1] Recordings of Ewe being spoken.

kasahorow Gbe(Ewe) Dictionary Online Gbe(Ewe)-English Glossary

PanAfriL10n page

Ewe IPA

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