Ewe language

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{{language |name=Ewe |nativename=Ɛʋɛgbɛ |states=Ghana, Togo |region=Southeast corner of Ghana, southern Togo |speakers=2.5 million, 3 million including second language speakers |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=Atlantic-Congo |fam3=Volta-Congo |fam4=Kwa |fam5=Left Bank |fam6=Gbe |iso1=ee|iso2=ewe|iso3=ewe}}

Ewe is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three million people (Capo 1991). Ewe is part of a cluster of related languages commonly called Gbe, stretching from eastern Ghana to Western Nigeria. Other Gbe languages Fon and Aja. Like other Gbe languages, Ewe is a tonal language.

Ewe is one of the better documented languages of Africa, partly due to the massive work of Diedrich Hermann Westermann, who published many dictionaries and grammars of Ewe and several other Gbe languages. Other linguists that have worked on Ewe include Gilbert Ansre (tone, syntax), Hounkpati B. Capo (phonology, phonetics), Herbert Stahlke (morphology, tone), Roberto Pazzi (anthropology, lexicography), Felix K. Ameka (semantics, cognitive linguistics) and Alan Stewart Duthie (semantics, phonetics).

1 Sounds
- 1.1 Consonants
- 1.2 Vowels
2 Writing system
3 References
4 External links

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Sounds

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Consonants

	Bilabial		Labiodental		Alveolar				Velar		Labial-velar		Glottal
Plosive	Template:IPA	Template:IPA			Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA		Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Affricate					Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Nasal		Template:IPA				Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Fricative	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA			Template:IPA	Template:IPA			Template:IPA
Approximant						Template:IPA		Template:IPA				Template:IPA

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Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	Template:IPA, Template:IPA	Template:IPA, Template:IPA
Close-mid	Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Open-mid	Template:IPA, Template:IPA	Template:IPA, Template:IPA
Open	Template:IPA, Template:IPA

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Writing system

Ewe is written in the Latin alphabet, with some extra letters, some of which are derived from the International Phonetic Alphabet, added to represent certain sounds.

A a	B b	D d	Ɖ ɖ	Dz dz	E e	Ɛ ɛ	F f	Ƒ ƒ	G g	Gb gb	Ɣ ɣ
Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA
H h	I i	K k	Kp kp	L l	M m	N n	Ny ny	Ŋ ŋ	O o	Ɔ ɔ	P p
Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA
R r	S s	T t	Ts ts	U u	V v	Ʋ ʋ	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA

A tilde (˜) is placed over vowels to mark nasalization. Tone is generally unmarked, except in some common cases which require disambiguation, eg. the first person plural pronoun mí 'we' is marked high to distinguish it from the second person plural mi 'you', and the second person singular pronoun wò 'you' is marked low to distinguish it from the third person plural pronoun wo 'they/them'

ekpɔ wò Template:IPA — 'he saw you'
ekpɔ wo Template:IPA — 'he saw them'

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References

Ansre, Gilbert (1961) The Tonal Structure of Ewe. MA Thesis, Kennedy School of Missions of Hartford Seminary Foundation.
Ameka, Felix Kofi (2001) 'Ewe'. In Garry and Rubino (eds.), Fact About the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages, Past and Present, 207-213. New York/Dublin: The H.W. Wilson Company.
Capo, Hounkpati B.C. (1991) A Comparative Phonology of Gbe, Publications in African Languages and Linguistics, 14. Berlin/New York: Foris Publications & Garome, Bénin: Labo Gbe (Int).
Pasch, Helma (1995) Kurzgrammatik des Ewe Köln: Köppe.
Westermann, Diedrich Hermann (1930) A Study of the Ewe Language London: Oxford University Press.

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