Farefare language
Gur language spoken in West Africa
title: "Farefare language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-ghana", "oti–volta-languages", "articles-citing-iso-change-requests"] description: "Gur language spoken in West Africa" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farefare_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Gur language spoken in West Africa ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Farefare |
| nativename | Frafra |
| states | Ghana, Burkina Faso |
| ethnicity | Frafra |
| speakers | |
| date | 1991–2013 |
| ref | e26 |
| familycolor | Niger-Congo |
| fam2 | Atlantic–Congo |
| fam3 | Gur |
| fam4 | Northern |
| fam5 | Oti–Volta |
| fam6 | Mooré–Dagbani |
| fam7 | Mooré |
| dia1 | Gurenɛ |
| dia2 | Nankani |
| dia3 | Booni |
| iso3 | gur |
| script | Latin |
| glotto | fare1241 |
| glottorefname | Farefare |
| :: |
|name=Farefare |nativename=Frafra |states=Ghana, Burkina Faso |ethnicity=Frafra |speakers= |date=1991–2013 |ref=e26 |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=Atlantic–Congo |fam3=Gur |fam4=Northern |fam5=Oti–Volta |fam6=Mooré–Dagbani |fam7=Mooré |dia1=Gurenɛ |dia2=Nankani |dia3=Booni |iso3=gur | script = Latin |glotto=fare1241 |glottorefname=Farefare { "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "properties": { "fill": "#8700FF", "fill-opacity": 0.5, "stroke": "#8700FF", "stroke-width": 1, "stroke-opacity": 1 }, "geometry": { "type": "Polygon", "coordinates":[[-1.0144501,10.6469855,0],[-0.9615784,10.6004191,0],[-0.8740311,10.5582333,0],[-0.7916337,10.5531706,0],[-0.7500916,10.5778082,0],[-0.7157593,10.6135799,0],[-0.6965333,10.6571077,0],[-0.6903534,10.7056896,0],[-0.6900101,10.7721397,0],[-0.7167893,10.8776875,0],[-0.770691,10.9353352,0],[-0.7799607,11.0101595,0],[-0.8043366,11.0674444,0],[-0.8445054,11.0684553,0],[-0.898407,11.05801,0],[-0.963295,11.0519449,0],[-1.0065537,11.0317269,0],[-1.0401993,10.9909496,0],[-1.0182267,10.9599417,0],[-0.9928208,10.9285934,0],[-0.9646683,10.908704,0],[-0.963295,10.8577947,0],[-0.9790879,10.8405982,0],[-0.9976273,10.798783,0],[-1.0189133,10.7532518,0],[-1.0367661,10.7151352,0],[-1.0298996,10.6915207,0],[-1.0216599,10.6668922,0],-1.0144501,10.6469855,0]} } ] } Farefare or Frafra, also known by the regional name of Gurenne (Gurene), is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Frafra people of northern Ghana, particularly the Upper East Region, and southern Burkina Faso. It is a national language of Ghana, and is closely related to Dagbani and other languages of Northern Ghana, and also related to Mossi, also known as Mooré, the national language of Burkina Faso.
Frafra consists of three principal dialects, Gurenɛ (also written Gurunɛ, Gudenne, Gurenne, Gudeni, Zuadeni), Nankani (Naane, Nankanse, Ninkare), and Boone. Nabit and Talni have been mistakenly reported to be Frafra dialects.
Names
The general and accepted name for the language is Farefare or Frafra. The varieties in Ghana are usually called "Gurene", and those in Burkina-Faso are called "Ninkare".
Orthography
The Frafra language uses the letters of the Latin alphabet except for c, j, q, x, and with the addition of ɛ, ɩ, ŋ, ɔ, and ʋ. The tilde is used for showing nasalization in Burkina Faso, but in Ghana it is shown using the letter n. The two nasal vowels /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ are spelt with ẽ and õ respectively. All long nasal vowels only get their tilde written on the first letter.
Acute, grave, circumflex, caron, and macron are sometimes used in grammar books to indicate tone, but not in general-purpose texts. The apostrophe is used to indicate the glottal stop. ::data[format=table title="Examples of Gurunɛ orthography"]
| Sound | Representation | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | a | ya /ja/ | houses |
| /a:/ | aa | gaarɛ /ga:ɹɛ/ | a type of bean cake |
| /ɛ/ | ɛ | ɛkɛ /ɛkɛ/ | to fly |
| /e/ | e | zoore /zo:ɹe:/ | mountain/hill |
| /ɛ̃/ | ẽ | tẽŋa | city |
| /ɪ/ | ɩ | taablɩ /ta:blɪ/ | table (French borrowing) |
| /i/ | i | piika /pi:ka/ | little |
| /ɔ/ | ɔ | ɔɔrɔ /ɔ:ɹɔ/ | cold |
| /o/ | o | toma toma /to:.ma.to:.ma/ | a greeting similar to "hi" |
| /ʊ/ | ʋ | teebʋl /te:bʊl/ | table (English borrowing) |
| /u/ | uu | buulika /bu:lika/ | morning |
| :: |
Phonology
Consonants
Frafra has a system of 17 phonemes (or 19, counting /ɣ/, an allophone of /g/, and /ɾ/, an allophone of /d/): ::data[format=table]
| Labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | Nasal | Plosive | fortis | lenis | Tap | Fricative | fortis | lenis | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| () | ||||||||||||
| () | ||||||||||||
| :: |
The sound /ŋ/ appears in front of some words starting with /w/, leading them to change into the /j/ sound. /h/ only appears in loanwords, exclamations, and as an allophone of /f/. An example of both of these sound changes are weefo and yeho (both meaning "horse"). The only consonants Frafra words may end in are the two nasals /m/ and /n/.
Glottal stop
Glottal stops appear at the initial vowel of a word, but are not transcribed. Word-medially, vowel nasalization continues over the glottal stop. In rapid speech, the glottal stop is usually dropped, similar to how vowel hiatus gets dropped in Spanish.
Word medial glottal stops must be marked in writing.
Allophones
Allophones of /r/
[d] and [ɾ] are two phonetic realizations of the same phoneme. [d] occurs at the beginning of words, and [ɾ] is its counterpart everywhere else.
Allophones of /g/
[ɣ] is an allophone of /g/ that occurs after certain vowels. It is mostly written "g." Usage of the letter "ɣ" is quite rare.
Allophones of /j/
[ɲ] is an allophone of /j/ that occurs before a nasal vowel. It is always written as "y."
Sandhi
This section will describe all the morpho-phonological sandhi processes that affect Frafra.
Nasals
Nasal consonants undergo assimilation, coalescence, and elision.
Assimilation at Point of Articulation
Nasals assimilate to the point of articulation of the occlusive the proceed.
- /m/ goes before /p/ and /b/
- /n/ goes before /t/ and /d/
- /ŋ/ goes before /k/
Coalescence
When a nasal is followed by /g/, the two consonants amalgamate.
- /n/ + /g/ = /ŋ/
This rule does not apply to compound words (e.g. tẽŋgãnnɛ "sacred land") or loanwards (e.g. maŋgo "mango")
Elision
Nasals disappear when they go before /f/
- /m/ + /f/ = /f/
- /n/ + /f/ = /f/
Stops
Two voiced stops become their unvoiced form. Remember that [ɾ] is the word-medial allophone of /d/
- /g/ + /g/ = /k/
- /r/ + /r/ = /t/
Sonorants
Vibrant assimilation
Vibrant consonants, also called taps, assimilate to a preceding lateral or nasal.
- /l/ + /r/ = /ll/
- /n/ + /r/ = /nn/
- /m/ + /r/ = either /nn/ or /mn/
Lateral assimilation
- /n/ + /l/ = /nn/
- /m/ + /l/ = /nn/
Combination of these processes
C designates any consonant, and N designates any nasal.
- Cm + r = Cn
- Cl + r = Cl
Vowels
Frafra has 9 oral vowels and 5 nasal vowels. ::data[format=table]
| Front | Central | Back | lax | tense | lax | tense | Close | Mid | Open | Diphthongs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| , | , | |||||||||
| , | , | |||||||||
| , | ||||||||||
| :: |
All Frafra vowels have a long form.
Vowel harmony
Like many Mande languages, Frafra features vowel harmony. When suffixes are added to word roots, the vowel in the root selects whether the suffix will use the tense or lax form. The exception is suffixes ending in "-a" because /a/ is neutral in Frafra, meaning that it is only one form. Prefixes do not exist in Frafra.
Where all vowels must be in harmony
In disyllabic words, both vowels are always in harmony. The same applies in vowel sequences.
Mid vowels
The lax vowel -a in noun and verb endings will change the tense vowels /e/ and /o/ to lax vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.
Close vowels
When a suffix's vowel is close, and stem's vowel is close and tense, it causes the suffix's vowel to become tense.
For example, the locative postposition "-ʋm" becomes "-um" after the vowels /i/, /ĩ/, /u/, and /ũ/.
- pʋʋrɛ ("belly") pʋʋrʋm ("inside the belly")
- nifo ("eye") nifum ("inside the eye")
However, tense vowels that are not close do not affect "ʋm". Therefore poore ("back") becomes poor'''ʋm''''' ("behind").''
The particle "nɩ," which goes after a verbs to mark the incomplete aspect, becomes "ni" after /i/, /ĩ/, /u/, and /ũ/.
Grammar
Tone
Gurenɛ marks a high and a low tone. Changes in tone have an impact on either the lexical or grammatical function of a particular word.
Lexical Function
With low tones the word becomes a verb, whereas with high tones it is a noun. | vàlèŋà | „waist bead.“}}
| váléŋá | „spider“}}
Grammatical Function
The low tone on the preverbal tense marker wà indicates future, while the high tone on the same element indicates aspect. | Átáŋá wà nyù kò'òm lá. | Ataŋa FUT drink water DEF | „Ataŋa will drink the water.“}} | Átáŋá wá nyù kò'òm lá. | Ataŋa ASP drink water DEF | „Ataŋa definitely drank the water.“ }}
Noun Classes
Nouns in Gurunɛ have different "classes" with regard to plurals: ::data[format=table title="Frafra Plurals"]
| Genre | Class #s (sg./pl.) | Singular | Plural | Examples | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1 / 2 | -a | -ba | nẽra nẽrba | person people |
| -dõma | dɛɛma dɛɛndõma | in-law(s) | |||
| Loanwords | ãnkɔra ãnkɔrdõma | water barrel(s) [Twi] | |||
| 2nd | 3 / 4 | -a | -sɩ | tɩa tɩɩsɩ | tree(s) |
| -ga | yɩbga yɩbsɩ | younger sibling(s) | |||
| 3rd | 5 / 6 | -go | -ro | boko bogro | hole(s) |
| -to | deego deto | room(s) / hut(s) / house(s) | |||
| -ko | -gro | bɔkɔ bɔgrɔ | shoulder(s) | ||
| -lgo | -llo | bakolgo bakollo | soothsayer's fetish(es) | ||
| -ŋo | -nno | Filippiŋɔ Filippinno | island in the Philippines The Philippines | ||
| 4th | 7/8 | -le | -a | wille wila | branch(es) |
| -ne | bẽmnɛ bẽma | calabash drum(s) | |||
| -re | busre busa | yam(s) | |||
| -te | tagtɛ tagra | sandal(s) | |||
| 5th | 9/10 | -fo | -i | lagfɔ ligri | cowry shell money |
| - | sĩfo sĩm | bee(s) | |||
| 6th | 11/12 | -la | -nto | bʋdibla bʋdimto | boy(s) |
| (No distinction between plural and singular) | Class 13 | -bo | kɩ'ɩbɔ | soap | |
| Uncountable nouns | Class 14 | -m | bɛglʋm | mud | |
| :: |
Pronouns
Source:
Personal Pronouns
::data[format=table title=""]
| Person | Subject/Possessor | Object | Emphatic |
|---|---|---|---|
| SG | PL | SG | |
| 1st | ma/n | tu | ma |
| 2nd | fu | ya | fu |
| 3rd | a | ba | e |
| :: |
Emphatic Pronouns
Only emphatic pronouns can appear in focus positions, whereas all other pronouns cannot appear in those positions. Emphatic pronouns are used in exclusive contexts, in which the speaker indicates that only one thing is true and not the other. | Mam ti a dikɛ bo. | 1SG.EMPH FOC 1SG take give | „It is me that he gave it to.“}} | Yamam n sagum loore lá. | 2PL.EMPH FOC destroy lorry DEF | „It is you guys (not us) who destroyed the lorry.“}}
Reciprocal Pronoun
The reciprocal pronoun is taaba and occurs postverbally. | Budaa lá pɔka lá nɔŋɛ taaba mɛ. | man DEF woman DEF love RECP FOC | „The man and the woman love each other.“}}
Reflexive Pronouns
To form a reflexive pronoun in Gurenɛ the morphem -miŋa for singular or -misi for plural is attached to a particular personal pronoun. While in other Gur languages, the reflexive morphem is not sensitive to number, in Gurenɛ there exist two forms, one for each number. ::data[format=table title=""]
| Person | Reflexive Morphem SG | Personal Pronoun SG | Reflexive Pronoun SG | Reflexive Morphem PL | Personal Pronoun PL | Reflexive Pronoun PL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -miŋa | n | nmiŋa | -misi | tu | tumisi |
| 2nd | -miŋa | fu | fumiŋa | -misi | ya | yamisi |
| 3rd | -miŋa | a | amiŋa | -misi | ba | bamisi |
| :: |
| Amaa mami daa guri nmiŋa. | but 1SG PST hold.PST 1SG.REFL | „But I restrained myself.“}} | Ba ka le ŋmɛ bamisi. | 3PL NEG again beat 3PL.REFL | „They will not beat themselves again.“}}
Relative Pronouns
There are two relative pronouns, ti and n. The former relativizes subjects, while the latter is used to relativize objects. Both pronouns are not sensitive to number or animacy, while this is the case in other Gur languages such as Dagbani for instance. | Budaa lá n wa'am kalam de là ma sɔ. | man DEF REL come here COP FOC 1SG father | „The man who came here is my father.“}} | Budaa lá ti fu nyɛ là de là ma sɔ. | man DEF REL 2SG see FOC COP FOCɛ 1SG father | „The man that you saw is my father.“}}
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns can either occur sentence-initially or sentence-finally. | Ani n di dia lá? | who FOC eat.PFV food DEF | „Who ate the food?“}} | Sukuu kɔma lá siŋɛ là bɛ? | school children DEF do FOC where | „Where did the students go?“}} | Beni dia ti ba kɔɔsa da'a? | what food that 3PL sell market | „What food are they selling at the market?“}} | Naafu lá de là alɛ? | cow DEF COP FOC how.much | „How much is the price of the cow?“}}
Demonstrative Pronouns
Each demonstrative pronoun refers to a single noun class. ::data[format=table title=""]
| Number | Gurenɛ | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| SG | ina (CL1) | that/this |
| kana (CL4) | that/this | |
| dina (CL5) | that/this | |
| kuna (CL7) | that/this | |
| PL | bana (CL2) | these/those |
| sina (CL4) | these/those | |
| tuna (CL8) | these/those | |
| buna (CL9) | these/those | |
| :: |
Syntax
Word Order
The word order in Gurenɛ is strictly SVO.
| N wan kule beere. | 1SG FUT go.home tomorrow | „I will go home tomorrow.“}} | Dɔgeta lá wan lu ma. | doctor DEF FUT inject 1SG | „The doctor will inject me.“}} | À bo ma ligeri lá. | 3SG give 1SG money DEF | „S/he gave me the money.“}}
Verb Phrase
The verb phrase (VP) consists of pre- and postverbal particles surrounding the verb. Preverbal particles encode aspect, tense, negation, and mood, such as imperative and conditional. Postverbal particles also encode aspect and tense, but in addition to that they can also encode focus. The order of particles within the VP is strictly organized as shown below. Moreover, the maximal amount of pre- and postverbal particles is also strictly defined. There can be at maximum five preverbal and two postverbal particles within one clause in Gurenɛ.
Time Tense Conditional Aspectual Future Negation Emphatic Epistemic Purpose Verb Tense Focus/Affirmative/Completive/Directional
| Nɛreba lá zaamtext1 nyaa2 kɔ'ɔm3 sirum4 ta5 iŋɛ ba'asum1 gaŋɛ mɛ2. | people DEF yesterday then just surely in.order do certainly more AFF | „The people yesterday certainly did more than what was just expected.“}}
Particles
There are a lot of particles in Gurenɛ, such that the total number is not fully clear. The following table provides an overview of the most common particles. ::data[format=table title=""]
| Aspect | Gurenɛ |
|---|---|
| now, after this | nyaa |
| in a determined way | wa |
| intention | ta |
| an action/event still lasts | naŋ |
| only | kɔ'ɔm |
| even | pugum |
| again | le |
| already | pìlum |
| just | kɔ'ɔm |
| rather | tugum |
| necessairly | yɛrum |
| instead | yi |
| ever | tabelɛ |
| as usual | ya'am |
| habitual | ná |
| Tense | |
| past | daa |
| two days ago | daarɛ |
| three days ago | datata |
| years ago | yuum |
| the next day | dagi |
| Imperative | |
| must | ta |
| need | wa |
| Conditional | |
| if | san |
| :: |
Verb
The verb in Gurenɛ consists of an obligatory stem or root, that can take one or more morphemes. Verbs appear either in the perfective or imperfective form, depending on its aspect. The perfective expresses actions in the present, whereas the imperfective denotes actions in the past or progressive. ::data[format=table title=""]
| Root/Stem/Infinitive | Perfective -ri | Imperfective -ra |
|---|---|---|
| (single) closed event | ||
| Gurenɛ | Gloss | follows Object/Adverb |
| nyu | drink | nyuuri |
| da' | buy | da'ari |
| lebe | return | leberi |
| dikɛ | take | dikɛri |
| pagesɛ | imitate | pagesɛri |
| pa'alɛ | teach | pa'ali |
| di | eat | diti |
| darɛ | disturb | dati |
| parɛ | be a lot | pati |
| kiŋɛ | go | kini |
| siŋɛ | walk | sini |
| sigum | come down | sigeni |
| :: |
Question Formation
There are several ways of forming a question in Gurenɛ, but importantly the strict word order SVO is always to obey.
Ex situ
In subject questions the question word occurs as the first element of the clause and can either function as the subject or as the agent of the clause.
| Ani n tum? | who FOC work.PFV | „Who worked?“ }} | Ani n tun-i? | who FOC work-IPFV | „Who is working?“}}
In situ
In general, questions are formed by raising intonation of the final tone. Questions without an explicit question word have a clause-final question marker -ì. | Fʊ nyɛ ʔí-ì? | 2SG see 3SG-Q | „Did you see him?“ }} | Fʊ n nyɛ ʔí. | 2SG FOC see 3SG | „You saw him.“
Embedded
Questions can be embedded and are then preceded by the complementizer tí.
| Má m sokè ʔì tí 3SG nyɛ Ádʊŋɔ. | 1SG FOC ask 3SG SUBR 3SG see Adongo | „I asked him whether he had seen Adongo.“}} | Má m sokè ʔì lá-à ánɪ tì à nyɛ-ɛ`. | 1SG FOC ask 3SG TOP-Q whom SUBR 3SG see-Q | „I asked him whom he saw.“}}
Multiple Questions
Question can also be formed by more than one question word. In these cases one question word occurs ex situ and the other(s) in situ. Again, a question word can only appear ex situ, if it replaces the subject or agent of the clause.
| Ani n da (*là) beni? | who FOC buy.PFV FOC what | „Who bought what?“}} | *Beni ti ani da? | what FOC who buy.PFV | „*What bought who?“}} | Napari *(n) da yire. | Napari FOC buy.PFV house | „Napari bought a house..“}}
Long distance extraction
Question words in Gurenɛ can also cross clause boundaries, such that they originated in the embedded clause and have been fronted to the clause-initial position.
| Beni ti Ama soke ti John kõregɛ ya *(là). | what FOC Ama ask SUBR John slaughter COMPL FOC | „What did Ama ask that John slaughtered?“}} | Beni ti Ama spoke ti John kõregɛ-ri/-*ra ya *(là)? | what FOC Ama ask SUBR John slaughter-IPFV COMPL FOC | „What did Ama ask that John is slaughtering?“}} | Beni ti Ama bɔta ti John kõregɛ? | what FOC Ama want SUBR John slaughter | „What did Ama ask that John slaughtered?“}}
Greetings
::data[format=table]
| Gurunɛ | Phonetic | English |
|---|---|---|
| Bulika | /bulika/ | morning (Greeting in the morning) |
| Wuntɛɛŋa | /wʊn.tɛ:.ŋa/ | sun (Greeting around noon) |
| Zaanuurɛ | /za:jʋɻɛ/ | Evening (Greeting in the evening) |
| Zaare | /za:r̝e/ | Welcome |
| Tooma Tooma | /to:.ma.to:.ma/ | a greeting similar to "Hello" (every time of the day) |
| Nambaa | /ˈnaːm.ba:/ | Response to these greetings |
| :: |
Geography
::data[format=table title="Continents"]
| English | Gurunɛ |
|---|---|
| Africa | Afrika |
| America | Amerika |
| Antarctica | Antartika |
| Asia | Asia |
| Australia | Australia |
| Europe | Europa |
| Oceania | Okeania |
| :: |
Solemitẽŋa means "land of the white man" and is used to refer to all non-African countries.
Soleminɛ is theoretically referring to all non-African languages, however it is only used to refer to English.
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Atintono, Samuel (2011). Verb Morphology: Phrase structure in a Gur Language (Gurenɛ). Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing.
- Bodomo, Adams, Hasiyatu Abubakari & Samuel Alhassan Issah (2020). Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa. Glienicke: Galda Verlag
- Kropp-Dakubu,M.E., S. Awinkene Antintono, and E. Avea Nsoh, A Gurenɛ–English Dictionary and accompanying English–Gurenɛ Glossary
- Kropp-Dakubu, M.E. (2009). Parlons farefari (gurenè): langue et culture de Bolgatanga (Ghana) et ses environs. Paris: L`Harmattan
- Ninkare Frafra Dictionary
References
- [http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/cr_files/2015-014.pdf ISO change request]
- Niggli. (2007). "Equisse grammaticale du ninkãrɛ au Burkina Faso".
- (2020). "Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa". Galda Verlag.
- Atintono, Samuel. (2011). "Verb Morphology: Phrase structure in a Gur Language (Gurenɛ)". Lambert Academic Publishing.
- "The VP-periphery in Mabia languages {{!}} Gurene".
- Kropp-Dakubu, M.E.. (2009). "Parlons farefari (gurenè): langue et culture de Bolgatanga (Ghana) et ses environs.". L`Harmattan.
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