"Yacouba" redirects here. For the ethnic group, see Dan people. For the name, see Yacouba (name).
A Dan speaker, recorded in Liberia.

Dan /ˈdæn/[2] is a Southern 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 9 to 11 contour and register tones, depending on the dialect.

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

Phonology

Vowels

Vowels[3]: 451 
Front Central Back
Unrd. Rnd. Unrd. Rnd.
Close i ɯ u
Near-close ɪ[a] ɯ̽[a] ʊ[a]
Close-mid e ɵ[b] ɤ o
Mid ə[b]
Open-mid ɛ ʌ ɔ
Open æ ɑ ɒ
Syllabic ŋ̍
  1. ^ a b c Only in Eastern Dan when in the position of extra-high tone
  2. ^ a b Only in Liberian Dan
Nasal sounds in Eastern Dan[3]: 451 
Front Back
Unrd. Rnd.
Close ĩ ɯ̃ ũ
Open-mid ɛ̃ ʌ̃ ɔ̃
Open æ̃ ɑ̃ ɒ̃

Consonants

Consonants[3]: 451 
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-
velar 		Glottal
plain lab.
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ ŋ͡m
Plosive voiceless p t k kʷ k͡p
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ[a] ɡ͡b
Implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s x[b] h[c]
voiced v z
Approximant j w
Lateral l
Trill (r)
  1. ^ Not in Liberian Dan
  2. ^ Only in Liberian Dan
  3. ^ Not in Western Dan
  • /l/ is heard as [r] when preceded by alveolar or palatal consonants.
  • Consonant combinations /sl, zl/ are heard as lateral fricative sounds [ɬ, ɮ].[3]

Writing system

The orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:[4][5]

Dan alphabet (Liberia)
A B Ɓ D Ɗ E Ɛ F G GB H I K KP KW L M N NW NY Ŋ O Ɔ Ə Ɵ P R S T U Ɥ V W X Y Z
a b ɓ d ɗ e ɛ f g gb h i k kp kw l m n nw ny ŋ o ɔ ə ɵ p r s t u ɥ v w x y z
IPA value
a b ɓ d ɗ e ɛ f ɡ ɡ͡b h i k k͡p kʷ l m n ŋʷ ɲ ŋ o ɔ ə ɵ p r s t u ɯ v w x j z
Dan West alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire)
A AƆ B BH D DH E Ɛ Ë ƐA F G GB GW I K KP KW L M N NG O Ɔ Ö P R S T U Ü V W Y Z
a aɔ b bh d dh e ɛ ë ɛa f g gb gw i k kp kw l m n ng o ɔ ö p r s t u ü v w y z
IPA value
a ɒ b ɓ d ɗ e ɛ ʌ æ f ɡ ɡ͡b gʷ i k k͡p kʷ l m n ŋ o ɔ ɤ p r s t u ɯ v w j z
Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 1982
A AƆ B BH D DH E Ë Ɛ ƐA F G GB GW H I Ɩ K KP KW L M N O Ö Ɔ P R S T U Ü Ʋ Ʋ̈ V W Y Z
a aɔ b bh d dh e ë ɛ ɛa f g gb gw h i ɩ k kp kw l m n o ö ɔ p r s t u ü ʋ ʋ̈ v w y z
IPA value
a ɒ b ɓ d ɗ e ʌ ɛ æ f ɡ ɡ͡b gʷ h i ɪ k k͡p kʷ l m n o ɤ ɔ p r s t u ɯ ʊ ʉ v w j z
Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 2014
A Œ B BH D DH E Ʌ Ɛ Æ F G GB GW H I Ɩ K KP KW L M N O Ɤ Ɔ P R S T U Ɯ Ʋ V W Y Z
a œ b bh d dh e ʌ ɛ æ f g gb gw h i ɩ k kp kw l m n o ɤ ɔ p r s t u ɯ ʋ v w y z
IPA value
a ɒ b ɓ d ɗ e ʌ ɛ æ f ɡ ɡ͡b ɡʷ h i ɪ k k͡p kʷ l m n o ɤ ɔ p r s t u ɯ ʊ v w j z

Tones are marked as follows: extra high tone: a̋; high tone: á; medium tone: ā; low tone: à; extra low tone: ȁ; high drop tone: â; extra low hanging tone: aʼ.

The digraphs ⟨bh, dh, gb gw, kp, kw⟩ keep the same values as in the spelling of 1982, and the nasal vowels are also indicated by appending the letter n after the letter of the vowel ⟨an, æn, ʌn, ɛn, in, ɔn, œn, un⟩.

References

  1. ^ Dan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Kla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh[relevant?]
  3. ^ a b c d Vydrin, Valentin (2020). "Dan". In Vossen, Rainer; Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 451–462. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199609895.013.66. ISBN 9780199609895.
  4. ^ "Dan". ScriptSource.
  5. ^ "Proposal to Encode Additional Latin and Cyrillic Characters" (PDF).

Further reading

Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuba_language
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