Baoulé (native name: ), also known as Baule or Bawule, is an Akan language spoken in central and southern Ivory Coast, including in the regions of Lacs, Lagunes, Gôh-Djiboua, Sassandra-Marahoué, Vallée du Bandama, Woroba, and Yamoussoukro, by approximately 5.3 million people. It is a Kwa language of the Akan branch, forming a dialect continuum with Anyin and closely related to Nzema and Sehwi. It is the common language of the Baoulé people, the largest ethnic group in Ivory Coast.
Translations of the Bible In 1946, portions of the Bible translated into Baoulé were first published; the full New Testament followed in 1953. The complete Bible was published first in 1998, by the Bible Society in Abidjan.
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarLabial-velarPlosivevoicelessptckkpvoicedb dɟggbFricativevoicelessfs voicedvzNasalmnɲLaterallTrillrApproximantjw
Vowels FrontCentralBackCloseiuClose-mideoOpen-midɛɔOpena Of these vowels, five may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɛ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, and /ɔ̃/.
Tones Baoulé has five tones: high, low, mid, rising, and falling.
Orthography Baoulé uses the following letters to indicate the following phonemes: UppercaseABCDEƐFGGBIJLKKPMNNYOƆPSTUVWYZLowercaseabcdeɛfggbijlkkpmnnyoɔpstuvwyzPhoneme/a//b//c//d//e//ɛ//f//g//gb//i//ɟ//l//k//kp//m//n//ɲ//o//ɔ//p//s//t//u//v//w//j//z/
See also Twi-Fante language Anyin language
References
Further reading Timyan, Judith E., "A Discourse-Based Grammar of Baule: The Kode Dialect" (1977). CUNY Academic Works. Carteron, Michel. 1972. Étude de la langue baoule. Baconda, Cote d'Ivoire: s.n.
External links
Baoulé entry at the World Atlas of Language Structures PanAfriL10n page on Anyi & Baule Baoulé Phonology (French) Baule kasahorow