Dan language

Dan
Yacouba
Region Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Liberia.
Native speakers
 1.6 million (2012)[1]
Niger–Congo

  • Mande

    • Eastern Mande
      • Southeastern
        • Mano–Dan
          • Guro–Dan
            • Tura–Dan
              • Dan
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
dnj – Dan
lda – Kla
Glottolog dann1241[2]

Dan /ˈdæn/[3] is a Mande language spoken primarily in Ivory Coast (~800,000 speakers) and Liberia (150,000–200,000 speakers). There is also a population of about 800 speakers in Guinea. Dan is a tonal language, with three main tones and two glide/contour tones.

Alternative names for the language include Yacouba or Yakubasa, Gio, Gyo, Gio-Dan, and Da. Dialects are Gweetaawu (Eastern Dan), Blowo (Western Dan), and Kla. Kla is evidently a distinct language.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid e ɘ o
Open-mid ɛ ɜ ɔ
Open a

References

  1. ↑ Dan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Kla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Dan". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh

External links


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