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Gurene, also known as Frafra, Farefare or Gurune, is the language of the Gurene 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
Gurene
Native to	Ghana, Burkina Faso
Ethnicity	Frafra people
Native speakers	720,000[1] (2003)[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Gur Northern Oti–Volta Mooré–Dagbani Mooré Frafra
Dialects	Gurenɛ Nankani Booni
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gur
Glottolog	fare1241

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.[3]

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.[4] The two nasal vowels /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ are spelt with ẽ and õ respectively.[5] 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.[6] The apostrophe is used to indicate the glottal stop.[7]

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/Northern	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, 19 counting the allophones /ɣ/ and /ɾ/.[5]

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ŋ
Plosive	fortis	p	t	k	ʔ
	lenis	b	d	ɡ
Tap			(ɾ)
Fricative	fortis	f	s		h
	lenis	v	z	(ɣ)[lower-alpha 1]
Approximant		w	j

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 foNorthernrm. 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.

	Front		Central	Back
	lax	tense		lax	tense
Close	ɪ	i, ĩ		ʊ	u, ũ
Mid	ɛ, ɛ̃	e		ɔ, ɔ̃	o
Open			a, ã
Diphthongs

All Frafra vowels have a long form.

Vowel harmony

Like many Mande languages, Frafra features vowel harmony.[5] 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 poorʋm ("behind").

The particle "nɩ," which goes after a verbs to mark the incomplete aspect, becomes "ni" after /i/, /ĩ/, /u/, and /ũ/.

Grammar

Tone

Guren​ɛ marks a high and a low tone. Changes in tone have an impact on either the lexical or grammatical function of a particular word.[8]

Lexical Function

With low tones the word becomes a verb, whereas with high tones it is a noun.

Grammatical Function

The low tone on the preverbal tense marker wà indicates future, while the high tone on the same element indicates aspect.

Noun Classes

Nouns in Gurunɛ have different "classes" with regard to plurals:

Frafra Plurals

Genre	Class #s (sg./pl.)	Singular	Plural	Examples	Meaning
1st	1 / 2	-a	-ba	nẽra > nẽrba	person > people
			-dõma	dɛɛma > dɛɛndõma naba > na'adõma yaaba > yaabdõma	in-law(s) chief(s) ancestor(s)
	Loanwords			ãnkɔra > ãnkɔrdõma biki > bikidõma nõtɩ > nõtɩdõma sɛɛtɛ > sɛɛtɛdõma	water barrel(s) [Twi] ballpoint pen(s) [French] nut(s) [English] shirt(s) [English]
2nd	3 / 4	-a	-sɩ	tɩa > tɩɩsɩ	tree(s)
		-ga		yɩbga > yɩbsɩ	younger sibling(s)
3rd	5 / 6	-go	-ro	boko > bogro võogɔ > võorɔ wɔbgɔ > wɔbrɔ	hole(s) leaf > leaves elephant(s)
			-to	deego > deto zuugo > zuto	room(s) / hut(s) / house(s) head(s)
		-ko	-gro	bɔkɔ > bɔgrɔ	shoulder(s)
		-lgo	-llo	bakolgo > bakollo	soothsayer's fetish(es)
		-ŋo	-nno	Filippiŋɔ > Filippinno sõŋɔ > sõnnɔ Tɩntɩŋɔ > Tɩntɩnnɔ	island in the Philippines > The Philippines mat(s) one of the Netherlands > The Netherlands
4th	7/8	-le (if the stem ends in /l/)	-a	wille > wila zelle > zɛla	branch(es) egg(s)
		-ne (if the stem ends in /m/ or /n/)		bẽmnɛ > bẽma dũnne > dũma gɩgnɛ > gɩgma kãnnɛ > kãna mã'anɛ > mã'ana yẽnnɛ > yẽna	calabash drum(s) knee(s) lion(s) spear(s) piece(s) of okra tooth > teeth
		-re		busre > busa dĩire > dĩa gere > gɛa kũure > kũa loore > lɔa nõorɛ > nõa pʋʋrɛ > pʋa sore > sɔa sũure > sũa tʋbrɛ > tʋba	yam(s) forehead(s) thigh(s) hoe(s) vehicle(s) mouth(s) belly > bellies road(s) / trail(s) heart(s) ear(s)
		-te (if the stem ends in /r/)		tagtɛ > tagra watɛ > wara watɛ > wara	sandal(s) brick(s) cloud(s)
5th (stem vowels change)	9/10	-fo	-i	lagfɔ > ligri mu'ufo > mũi naafɔ - niigi nifo > nini weefo/yeho > wiiri/yiri yoofo > yũuni	cowry shell > money rice grain > rice bovine(s) eye(s) horse(s) shea nut(s)
			-	sĩfo > sĩm zũfo > zũma	bee(s) fish(es)
6th (mostly animals and diminutives)	11/12	-la	-nto	bʋdibla > bʋdimto bʋtɩla > bʋtɩtɔ kɩɩla > kɩɩntɔ niila > niinto pɩɩla > pɩɩntɔ pugla > pugunto	boy(s) billy goat(s) guinea fowl(s) chick(s) lamb(s) girl(s)
(No distinction between plural and singular)	Class 13	-bo		kɩ'ɩbɔ bo'obo / bɔ'a	soap gift
Uncountable nouns	Class 14	-m		bɛglʋm bĩ'isũm dãam dabeem dõndʋ'ʋrʋm gẽem ɩɩlʋm kaam ko'om kɔm kũm mẽelʋm nõŋlʋm nõtõorʋm tɩɩm valʋm yaarʋm yɛm zẽem zɩɩm zom	mud breastmilk beer, alcohol fear urine sleep milk oil water hunger death dew love saliva medicine, remedy shame salt intelligence potash blood flour

Pronouns[8]

Personal Pronouns

Person	Subject/Possessor	Object	Emphatic
	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
1st	ma/n	tu	ma	tu	mam	tumam
2nd	fu	ya	fu	ya	fum	yamam
3rd	a	ba	e	ba	eŋa	bamam

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.

Reciprocal Pronoun

The reciprocal pronoun is taaba and occurs postverbally.

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.

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

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.

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns can either occur sentence-initially or sentence-finally.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Each demonstrative pronoun refers to a single noun class.

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.[8]

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.

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.

Embedded

Questions can be embedded and are then preceded by the complementizer tí.

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.

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.

Greetings

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

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.

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
• Niggli, Idda; Niggli, Urs (2007). De la phonologie à l’orthographe : Le ninkãrɛ au Burkina Faso. SIL.
• Ninkare Frafra Dictionary

Notes

External links

• "Ninkare | SIL Burkina Faso". sil-burkina.org. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
• The VP-periphery in Mabia languages

References

На других языках

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[de] Farefare (Sprache)

Farefare ist die Sprache der Volksgruppe der Frafra, die im Norden Ghanas sowie in Burkina Faso gesprochen wird.

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- [en] Gurene language

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[es] Idioma frafra

El idioma frafra o farefare, también conocido como gurenɛ, es el idioma de la gente frafra del norte de Ghana, particularmente la región Alta Oriental y el sur de Burkina Faso. Es un idioma nacional de Ghana, y está estrechamente relacionado con el idioma dagbani y otros idiomas del norte de Ghana, y también relacionado con el idioma mossi, también conocido como mooré, el idioma nacional de Burkina Faso.

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[fr] Gurenne

Le gurenne, aussi appelé ninkare ou frafra, est une langue oti-volta du groupe des langues gour, parlée au Burkina Faso et au Ghana par près de 850 000 personnes.

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[ru] Фарефаре

Фарефаре (также фрафра, гуненне, гунене, нанкаре) — язык народа фрафра. Распространён на крайнем северо-востоке Ганы и прилегающих приграничных районах Буркина-Фасо. Относится к группе гур нигеро-конголезской языковой семьи. Численность носителей на 2003 год составляла около 845 100 человек, из них 820 000 человек — в Гане и 25 100 человек — в Буркина-Фасо. Выделяют пять основных диалектов: гунене (гуренне), нанкани (нинкаре, наани), набт (набде, набдуг, набнам), тални (таленси, талене) и боони. Имеет стабильное положение, используется всеми возрастными группами.

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