Dangme language

Adangme is a Kwa language, part of the Niger–Congo family. It is closely related to Ga, and together they form the Ga–Dangme branch within Kwa. ==Geographic distribution==

Adangme is spoken in Ghana by over 800,000 people as of 2004. It is the aboriginal language spoken in Ghana, Togo, and Benin by the people of Ada, Osudoku, Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Shai, Ningo, Prampram and Kpone. Adangme is partly mutually intelligible with Ga, and, to a lesser extent, Ewe. Nevertheless, many Adangme people also speak or understand at least one of these languages, painting the relationship as asymmetric. Adangme as a school subject is taught in the Adangme areas. The land of these related tribes stretched from the Greater Accra Region to the Eastern Region of Ghana, northward to the Akwapim hills and has all the Adangmeland on the east and the Ga to the west of it. Bawaleshi, which is about southwest of Dodowa, is the last Adangme town which is close to the Akwapim and the Ga boundaries. There are six main dialects which coincide with political units. The coastal dialects are Ada, Ningo and Prampram (). The inland dialects are Shai (), Krobo () and . ==Phonology==

Consonants • are bilabial, whereas are labiodental. • are singly articulated plosives, are affricates (stops with a strong fricative release), whereas are doubly articulated plosives. • varies between a lateral approximant and a central trill . • has a fricative allophone . Vowels s of Dangme, from Dangme has 7 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels. • The front vowels are unrounded, whereas the back vowels are rounded. • are slightly more open than . • are close-mid . They do not have nasal counterparts. • are open-mid , whereas are somewhat lower (near-open) . • The nasal is open front , whereas the oral is slightly retracted (near-front) . Tones Dangme has three tones: high, mid and low. Like many West African languages, it has tone terracing. Phonotactics The possible syllable structures are V, CV, or CCV where the second consonant is . ==Writing system==

Dangme is written in the Latin script, with the addition of the letters ɛ, ɔ, and ŋ. Tones are not normally written. Orthographic and phonemic correspondences include the following: • j - • ŋ - • ŋm - • ny - • ts - • y - • ɛ - • ɔ - ==Sample text==

The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ==References==