Dan language

Dan
Yacouba
dàn, ꞊daanwo, daã̀
Native toIvory Coast, Guinea, and Liberia
EthnicityDan people
Native speakers
1.6 million (2012)
Niger–Congo?
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
dnj – Dan
lda – Kla
Glottologdann1241
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A Dan speaker, recorded in Liberia.

Dan /ˈdæn/ 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

A syllable is minimally /V/ or /ŋ/, and maximally /ClVV/ or /ClVŋ/.

Vowels

Vowels: 451 
Front Central Back
Unrd. Rnd. Unrd. Rnd.
Close i ɯ u
Near-close ɪ ɯ̽ ʊ
Close-mid e ɵ ɤ o
Mid ə
Open-mid ɛ ʌ ɔ
Open æ ɑ ɒ
Syllabic ŋ̍

Color coding:

Only in Eastern Dan when in the position of extra-high tone

Only in Liberian Dan

Nasal sounds in Eastern Dan: 451 
Front Back
Unrd. Rnd.
Close ĩ ɯ̃ ũ
Open-mid ɛ̃ ʌ̃ ɔ̃
Open æ̃ ɑ̃ ɒ̃

Consonants

Consonants: 451 
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial-
velar		 Glottal
plain lab.
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ ɡ͡m
Plosive voiceless p t k kʷ k͡p
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ ɡ͡b
Implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative voiceless f s x h
voiced v z
Approximant j w
Lateral l
Trill (r)
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nasal consonant sounds mainly occur when phonemes /ɓ, ɗ, j, w, ɡ͡b/ are in nasal positions.

Only in Liberian Dan

Not in Western Dan

Not in Liberian Dan

Tones

Dan has four to five level tones, depending on the variety, with level and contour tones.

Writing system

The orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:

Dan alphabet (Liberia)
ABƁDƊ EƐFGGB HIKKPKW LMNNWNY ŊOƆƏƟ PRSTU ꞍVWXY Z
abɓdɗ eɛfggb hikkpkw lmnnwny ŋoɔəɵ prstu ɥvwxy z
IPA value
abɓdɗ eɛfɡɡ͡b hikk͡pkʷ lmnŋʷɲ ŋoɔəɵ prstu ɯvwxj z
Dan West alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire)
AAƆBBHD DHEƐËƐA FGGBGWI KKPKWLM NNGOƆÖ PRSTU ÜVWYZ
aaɔbbhd dheɛëɛa fggbgwi kkpkwlm nngoɔö prstu üvwyz
IPA values
aɒbɓd ɗeɛʌæ fɡɡ͡bgʷi kk͡pkʷlm nŋoɔɤ prstu ɯvwjz
Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 1982
AAƆBBHD DHEËƐƐA FGGBGWH IƖKKPKW LMNOÖ ƆPRST UÜƲƲ̈V WYZ
aaɔbbhd dheëɛɛa fggbgwh iɩkkpkw lmnoö ɔprst uüʋʋ̈v wyz
IPA value
aɒbɓd ɗeʌɛæ fɡɡ͡bgʷh iɪkk͡pkʷ lmnoɤ ɔprst uɯʊʉv wjz
Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 2014
AŒBBHD DHEɅƐÆ FGGBGWH IƖKKPKW LMNOꟋ ƆPRST UƜƲVW YZ
aœbbhd dheʌɛæ fggbgwh iɩkkpkw lmnoɤ ɔprst uɯʋvw yz
IPA value
aɒbɓd ɗeʌɛæ fɡɡ͡bɡʷh iɪkk͡pkʷ lmnoɤ ɔprst uɯʊvw jz

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. 1 2 3 4 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). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2019.

Further reading