The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The Kwa family belongs to the Niger-Congo phylum. The name was introduced in 1895 by Gottlob Krause and derives from the word for 'people' (Kwa) in many of these languages, as illustrated by Akan names. This branch consists of around 50 different languages spoken by about 25 million people. Some of the largest Kwa languages are Twi-Fante and Baule.
Languages See the box at right for a current classification.
The various clusters of languages included in Kwa are at best distantly related, and it has not been demonstrated that they are closer to each other than to neighbouring Niger–Congo languages.:"except at the lower levels of classification such as the Tano, Potou–Tano, and Ewe-Fon (Gbe) groups, genetic relationships among these languages are quite distant. It has never been adequately demonstrated using the comparative method that Akan, Ga, Ewe, and the Togo Mountain languages are more closely related to one another than to any other languages."
Stewart1989, slightly revised in Blench & Williamson 2000:29 distinguished the following major branches, which historical-comparative analysis supports as valid groups: Potou–Tano (including Akan) Ga–Dangme Na-Togo [formerly] Gbe (inclusion doubtful, as they show more features of Kwa the closer one moves to Akan) The Lagoon languages of southern Ivory Coast are not particularly close to any of these, nor to each other, so they are left ungrouped: Avikam–Alladian Attié Abé Adjukru Abidji Ega An Esuma language, extinct ca. 1800, remains unclassified.
Since Stewart, Ega has been tentatively removed, the Gbe languages reassigned to Volta–Niger, and Apro added. Some of the Na-Togo and Ka-Togo languages have been placed into separate branches of Kwa:Williamson & Blench 2000:29
Potou–Tano Ga–Dangme Na-Togo (reduced) Anii–Adele Ka-Togo (reduced) Kebu–Animere Avikam–Alladian Attié Abé Adjukru Abidji ? Apro
Ethnologue divides the Kwa languages into two broad geographical groupings: Nyo and Left bank, but this is a geographic rather than a genealogical classification. The Nyo group collapses Stewart's Potou–Tano and Ga–Dangme branches and also includes the ungrouped languages of southern Ivory Coast, while the Ka/Na-Togo and Gbe languages are called Left bank because they are spoken to the east of the Volta River.
History of the proposal The word 'Kwa' was used by Gottlob Krause in 1885 for the Akan (or perhaps Tano), Gã, and Gbe languages, which have kwa or kua as their word for 'human being'. Since then the proposal has been dramatically expanded, only to revert to something approaching its initial conception.
In 1952 Westermann and Bryan expanded Kwa to the various Lagoon languages of southern Ivory Coast and to what are now called the Volta–Niger languages of southern Nigeria. Greenberg (1963) added the Kru languages of Liberia, the Ghana–Togo Mountain languages which Westermann and Bryan had specifically excluded, and Ijaw of the Niger delta; West Kwa included the languages from Liberia to Dahomey (Republic of Benin), and East Kwa the languages of Nigeria. Bennett & Sterk (1977) proposed that the Yoruboid and Igboid languages belonged in Benue–Congo rather than in Kwa. Stewart (1989) removed Kru, Ijaw, and Volta–Niger (East Kwa), but kept the Ghana–Togo Mountain and Lagoon languages, as well as adding a few obscure, newly described languages. Stewart's classification is the basis of more recent conceptions. To disambiguate this from Greenberg's influential classification, the reduced family is sometimes called "New Kwa".
Comparative vocabulary Sample basic vocabulary of Kwa and related languages from Dumestre (1971) and other sources:Dumestre, Gérard. 1971. Atlas linguistique de Côte-d'Ivoire: les langues de la région lagunaire. Abidjan: Institut de Linguistique Appliquée (ILA).
Classification Language eye ear tooth tongue mouth blood bone tree water Ghana-Togo Proto-Central TogoHeine, Bernd. 1968. Die Verbreitung und Gliedering der Togorestsprachen (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 1). Köln: Druckerei Wienand. *ki-nu-bí /bi- *ku-túe /a- *li-nía /a-; *li-lúma /a- *ki-níé-bí /bi- *ka-niána /ku-; *o- núí /i- *li-kúpá /a- *ku-wyéu /a- *n-tû Ga–Dangme GaKropp Dakubu, Mary Esther. 1999. Ga-English dictionary. Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. hiŋmɛi toi¹ nyanyɔŋ lilɛi² daa⁴ la⁵ wu⁴ tso³ nu⁵ Ga–Dangme GaKropp, Mary Esther. 1966. Ga, Adangme and Ewe (Lomé) with English Gloss. (Comparative African Wordlists, 2.) Legon: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. hi-ŋmɛi toí ɲaɲɔɔ líʔlɛ́í dáʔá lá wú tʃo nu Ga–Dangme Dangme hí-ŋmɛ́ túê lúŋù lílɛ́ ɲâà mùɔ̀ wû tʃô ɲù Potou-Tano Proto-Potou–TanoStewart, John M. 2004. The Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu reconstructions updated. Manuscript. *-ɲĩ *-tʊ̃ *-nʊ̃ *-ju Potou-Tano Proto-Akanic *-ɲĩ *-sʊ̃ *-nʊ̃ *-cu Potou-Tano Twi-Fante ɜ-nĩ a-sʊ̃ a-nʊ̃ n-su Potou-Tano Proto-GuangSnider, Keith L. 1990. The consonants of proto-Guang. Journal of West African languages 20(1), 3-26. *kω-sω *kɔ-nɔ̃ *ŋ-kalωŋ *o-yi *ɲ-ču Potou-Tano Baoulé ɲima su ɟe taama, tãflã nwã moɟa oɥje wake n̥zɥe Potou-Tano Ebrié m̥mɛ-ɓi n̥ɟɛ n̥nɔ allɛ m̥mɛ n̥ka n̥eʔwe aja n̥du Potou-Tano Krobou ɲɛ-bi su n̥ɲɛ dandre n̥nɔ̃ n̥krã m̥rɔ ɲamɛ n̥zɔ Potou-Tano Aboure ɛɲɛ ɔwɔ n̥ɲɛ nãnɛ ɔblɔ n̥nla eboɛ̃ elibe n̥tʃwɛ Potou-Tano Eotile ɛjima ɔho anna annɛ ãto n̥na n̥tɔwu edwɔ n̥su Potou-Tano Mbatto õɲɛ̃muo õdʒo ɔ̃nɔ̃gõ olɛ ẽmẽ õglɔ̃ õtʃɥi ojoku õdu Lagoon Adioukrou ɲama lɔru nɛn anm nɛɲ mebl luw l-ikŋ midʒ Lagoon Abbey aɛ̃mɔ̃ rɔkɔ eji lɛtɛ ejimbu m̥pje sfje ti midʒi Lagoon Attie himbɛ te hɛ̃ nũ mɛ vø̃ fe dzakwɛ sø Lagoon Alladian ɛrɛ nuku n̥ɲi ɛwɛ̃ ɛmwã n̥krɛ n̥wi ɛtɛ n̥ʃi Lagoon Avikam eŋwaɓa ɛzjɛɓa ɛɲrã azraɓa enɔ̃ ɛvɛ̃ ɛwu eziba ɛsɔ̃ Lagoon Abidji nɔnɔwɛ rɛte ɛɲi ine nimiti m̥bwo luvu tʰi mindi Kru Aizi zro lokɔ ɲɪ mrɔ mu ɲre kra ke nrɪ̃ Ega EgaBlench, Roger. 2004. The Ega Language of Côte d'Ivoire: Etymologies and Implications for Classification. efí /e elowá /a- ɛnʊmà /a- eno /i- ɔ̀mà àsɔ̀ ìkù ote /a- aɗú Pere PereHeath, Jeffrey. 2019. Pere lexicon [Data set]. Zenodo. jísì-kéé nɛ́ɛ́(ⁿ) ɲòŋòmù jèŋgé yúgú ɲààmú kóó gbèè-tííⁿ túmú Mpra MpraBlench, Roger. 2007. Recovering data on Mpra [=Mpre] a possible language isolate in North-Central Ghana. anisi ate nchuma nchumu eyia nkaw; nkwõ Dompo DompoBlench, Roger. 2015. The Dompo language of Central Ghana and its affinities. nyisi sepe nyì dandulo kanu nkla wuu yi nsu Gbe Proto-GbeCapo, 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). *-tó *aɖú *-ɖɛ́ *-ɖũ; *-ɖũkpá *-ʁʷũ *-χʷú *-tĩ́ *-tsĩ
Numerals Comparison of numerals in individual languages: