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Dan /?d?n/[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.
Dan | |
---|---|
Yacouba | |
dàn, ?daanwo, da?? | |
Native?to | Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Liberia |
Ethnicity | Dan people |
Native speakers | 1.6 million?(2012)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Either:dnj ?–?Danlda ?–?Kla |
Glottolog | dann1241 |
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
editA sillable is minimally /V/ or /?/, and maximally /ClVV/ or /ClV?/.
Vowels
editFront | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unrd. | Rnd. | Unrd. | Rnd. | ||
Close | i | ? | u | ||
Near-close | ? | ?? | ? | ||
Close-mid | e | ? | ? | o | |
Mid | ? | ||||
Open-mid | ? | ? | ? | ||
Open | ? | ɑ | ? | ||
Syllabic | ?? |
Color coding:
Only in Eastern Dan when in the position of extra-high tone
Only in Liberian Dan
Front | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|
Unrd. | Rnd. | ||
Close | ? | ?? | ? |
Open-mid | ?? | ?? | ?? |
Open | ?? | ɑ? | ?? |
Consonants
editLabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar |
Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | lab. | |||||||
Nasal | m[a] | n[a] | ?[a] | ? | ??[a] | ɡ?m[a] | ||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | k? | k?p | ||
voiced | b | d | ɡ | ɡ? | ɡ?b | |||
Implosive | ? | ? | ||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | x | h | |||
voiced | v | z | ||||||
Approximant | j | w | ||||||
Lateral | l | |||||||
Trill | (r) |
Only in Liberian Dan
Not in Western Dan
Not in Liberian Dan
- all consonants are nasalized in nasal feet
- /?/ occurs only as a syllable or a syllable coda and has been treated as a vowel. it carries tone.
- /l/ is heard as [r] when preceded by alveolar or palatal consonants.
- Consonant combinations /sl, zl/ are heard as lateral fricative sounds [?, ?].[3]
Tones
editDan has five level tones and three less-common contour tones on single morae - a? á ā à ? and a a? a??[3]:?451?
Writing system
editThe orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:[4][5]
Dan alphabet (Liberia) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | B | ? | D | ? | E | ? | F | G | GB | H | I | K | KP | KW | L | M | N | NW | NY | ? | O | ? | ? | ? | P | R | S | T | U | ? | V | W | X | Y | Z |
a | b | ? | d | ? | e | ? | f | g | gb | h | i | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | nw | ny | ? | o | ? | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ? | v | w | x | y | z |
IPA value | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a | b | ? | d | ? | e | ? | f | ɡ | ɡ?b | h | i | k | k?p | k? | l | m | n | ?? | ? | ? | o | ? | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ? | v | w | x | j | z |
Dan West alphabet (C?te d'Ivoire) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | A? | B | BH | D | DH | E | ? | ? | ?A | F | G | GB | GW | I | K | KP | KW | L | M | N | NG | O | ? | ? | P | R | S | T | U | ü | V | W | Y | Z |
a | a? | b | bh | d | dh | e | ? | ? | ?a | f | g | gb | gw | i | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | ng | o | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ü | v | w | y | z |
IPA value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a | ? | b | ? | d | ? | e | ? | ? | ? | f | ɡ | ɡ?b | g? | i | k | k?p | k? | l | m | n | ? | o | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ? | v | w | j | z |
Dan East alphabet (C?te d'Ivoire), 1982 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | A? | B | BH | D | DH | E | ? | ? | ?A | F | G | GB | GW | H | I | ? | K | KP | KW | L | M | N | O | ? | ? | P | R | S | T | U | ü | ? | ?? | V | W | Y | Z |
a | a? | b | bh | d | dh | e | ? | ? | ?a | f | g | gb | gw | h | i | ? | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | o | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ü | ? | ?? | v | w | y | z |
IPA value | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a | ? | b | ? | d | ? | e | ? | ? | ? | f | ɡ | ɡ?b | g? | h | i | ? | k | k?p | k? | l | m | n | o | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ? | ? | ? | v | w | j | z |
Dan East alphabet (C?te d'Ivoire), 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | ? | B | BH | D | DH | E | ? | ? | ? | F | G | GB | GW | H | I | ? | K | KP | KW | L | M | N | O | ? | ? | P | R | S | T | U | ? | ? | V | W | Y | Z | |
a | ? | b | bh | d | dh | e | ? | ? | ? | f | g | gb | gw | h | i | ? | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | o | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ? | ? | v | w | y | z | |
IPA value | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a | ? | b | ? | d | ? | e | ? | ? | ? | f | ɡ | ɡ?b | ɡ? | h | i | ? | k | k?p | k? | l | m | n | o | ? | ? | p | r | s | t | u | ? | ? | v | w | j | z |
Tones are marked as follows: extra high tone: a?; high tone: á; medium tone: ā; low tone: à; extra low tone: ?; high drop tone: a; extra low hanging tone: a?.
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, ?n, ?n, ?n, in, ?n, ?n, un?.
References
edit- ^ Dan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh[relevant?]
- ^ a b c d e 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.
- ^ "Dan". ScriptSource.
- ^ "Proposal to Encode Additional Latin and Cyrillic Characters" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
Further reading
edit- Roberts, David; Boyd, Ginger; Merz, Johannes; Vydrin, Valentin (2020). "Quantifying written ambiguities in tone languages: A comparative study of Elip, Mbelime, and Eastern Dan". Language Documentation & Conservation. 14: 108–138. hdl:10125/24915.