The Oti–Volta languages form a subgroup of the Gur languages, comprising about 30 languages of northern Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso spoken by twelve million people. The most populous language is Mooré, the national language of Burkina Faso, spoken by over 55% of Burkina Faso’s 20 million population and an additional 1 million in neighboring countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, and Mali.
The family is named after the Oti and Volta rivers.
Languages The internal classification of Oti–Volta, as worked out by Manessy 1975–79 and Naden 1989 (Williamson & Blench 2000) is as follows:
Native Dagbani speakers assert that Dagbani is mutually intelligible with Dagaare, Frafra, Mamprusi, and Wali, but in the case of Dagaare, Frara and Wali it is rather the case that many people can understand some of a language which is not their mother tongue. These languages are not mutually intelligible with Mõõré or Kusaal (a language spoken in Bawku West District and adjacent areas).
Bodomo (2017) Bodomo (2017) refers to the Western Oti–Volta group (and also including Buli–Koma) as Central Mabia.Bodomo, Adams. 2017. Mabia: its etymological genesis, geographical spread and some salient genetic features. Paper presented at the Mabia Languages Conferences in Winneba, Ghana and Vienna, Austria.Naden, Tony. 2021. Comparative Dictionary of Central Mabia Languages (Formerly Western Oti-Volta) / Dictionnaire Comparatif Des Langues Mabia-Central (anciennement Western Oti-Volta). m.s. The term Mabia is a portmanteau of the two lexical innovations ma- 'mother' + bia 'child'.
The following is a classification of the Central Mabia languages from Bodomo (2017), as cited in Bodomo (2020).Bodomo, Adams. 2020. "Mabia: Its Etymological Genesis, Geographical Spread, and some Salient Genetic Features." In: Bodomo A., Abubakari H. & Issah, S. 2020. Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa. Galda Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 400 pages, (Print); (E-Book) Bodomo's Central Mabia group consists of 7 subgroups.
Central Mabia Dagaare Dagaare Waale Northern Birifor Southern Birifor Safaliba North Moore Mid-Central Mabiene Nankanè Nabit South Dagbane Mampruli Nanuni Kusaal Kusaal Talni Buli–Konni Buli Konni Hanga–Kamara Hanga Kamara
See also List of Proto-Oti-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary) List of Proto-Eastern Oti-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary) List of Proto-Central Oti-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary)
Bibliography Bodomo, Adams, Hasiyatu Abubakari and Samuel Alhassan Issah (2020). Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa. Glienicke: Galda Verlag. .
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