An insatiable appetite for ancient and modern tongues

Alternative Name: Voltaic, (Voltaïque in French).


Overview and Distribution. Gur or Voltaic languages constitute a family, composed of more than eighty members, within the very large Niger-Congo phylum. They are spoken in the area of the Upper Volta River: in southeast Mali, Burkina Faso, northern Ivory Coast, northern Ghana, northern Togo, northern Benin and northwest Nigeria.

    They are surrounded by other Niger-Congo language groups: Mande to the west, Kru to the southwest, Kwa to the south, Benue-Congo to the east and Atlantic (Fula) to the north. The largest Gur language is Moore.



External Classification:  Niger-Congo, Volta-Congo, North Volta-Congo, Gur.


Internal Classification: Most of the 85 Gur languages belong to two groups: Central Gur and Senufo. A few languages do not fit in either of these. Central Gur is spoken in northern Ghana, eastern Burkina Faso, northern Togo and northern Benin while Senufo prevails in northern Ivory Coast, southwest Burkina Faso and southeast Mali.


  1. 1. Central Gur is divided into northern and southern subgroups:


  1. a) Northern subgroup: contains the Oti-Volta complex plus five additional languages. Oti-Volta includes 28 languages, spoken by about 15 million people. It is divided into five clusters: Western (13 languages, 12,000,000 speakers), Gurma (7 languages, 2,150,000 speakers), Eastern (4 languages, 350,000 speakers), Yom-Nawdm (2 languages, 500,000 speakers), Buli-Koma (2 languages, 154,000 speakers).

  2. This is the complete list of languages belonging to Oti-Volta (speaker numbers between brackets) followed by geographical distribution:


  1. Western

  2. •Moore or Mossi (8,000,000), central Burkina Faso

  3. •Dagaare (1,000,000), Ghana, Burkina Faso

  4. •Frafra or Farefare (900,000), Ghana

  5. •Dagbani (850,000), north Ghana

  6. •Kusaal (450,000), Ghana, Burkina Faso

  7. •Birifor (300,000), Ghana, Burkina Faso

  8. •Mampruli (250,000), north Ghana

  9. •Waali or Wali (150,000), NW Ghana

  10. •Hanga (7,000), Ghana

  11. •Safaliba (4,000), Ghana

  12. •Kamara (3,000), Ghana

  13. •Kantosi (2,300), Ghana

  14. •Notre (1,500), Benin


  1. Gurma

  2. •Gurma (900,000), Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger

  3. •Konkomba (600,000), Ghana, Togo

  4. •Moba (300,000), Togo

  5. •Ntcham (200,000), Togo, Ghana

  6. •Nateni (70,000), Benin

  7. •Ngangam (70,000), Togo, Benin

  8. •Miyobe (10,000), Benin, Togo


  1. Eastern

  2. •Ditanmari (150,000), Benin, Togo

  3. •Biali (105,000), Benin

  4. •Waama (55,000), Benin

  5. •Mbelime (40,000), Benin


  1. Yom-Nawdm

  2. •Yom or Pila (300,000), Benin

  3. •Nawdm or Losso (200,000), Togo


  1. Buli-Koma

  2. •Buli (150,000), Ghana

  3. •Konni or Koma (4,000), Ghana


  1. Other Northern subgroup languages are:


  1. •Koromfé (210,000), Burkina Faso

  2. •Bomu or Bobo (200,000), Mali, Burkina Faso

  3. •Buamu or Bwamu (200,000), Burkina Faso

  4. •Láa Láa Buamu (70,000), Burkina Faso

  5. •Cwi Buamu (30,000), Burkina Faso


  1. b) Southern subgroup: includes the Grusi complex, spoken by 2.7 million people, plus another 8 languages. The Grusi complex contains 22 languages, divided into Eastern (7 languages), Northern (6 languages), and Western (9 languages):


  1. Eastern

  2. •Kabiyè or Kabye (900,000), Togo

  3. •Tem (420,000), Togo, Benin, Ghana

  4. •Lama (200,000), Togo, Benin

  5. •Lukpa (70,000), Benin, Togo

  6. •Delo (18,000), Ghana, Togo

  7. •Bago-Kusuntu (8,000), Togo

  8. •Chala (3,000), Ghana


  1. Northern

  2. •Kasem (300,000), Burkina Faso, Ghana

  3. •Southern Nuni (180,000), Burkina Faso

  4. •Lyélé (150,000), Burkina Faso

  5. •Northern Nuni (60,000), Burkina Faso

  6. •Kalamsé (16,000), Burkina Faso, Mali

  7. •Pana (8,000), Burkina Faso, Mali


  1. Western

  2. •Tumulung Sisaala (110,000), Ghana

  3. •Sisaala (50,000), Ghana, Burkina Faso

  4. •Paasaal (40,000), Ghana

  5. •Deg (30,000), Ghana, Ivory Coast

  6. •Winyé (25,000), Burkina Faso

  7. •Tampulma (18,000), Ghana

  8. •Phuie (15,000), Burkina Faso

  9. •Vagla (15,000), Ghana

  10. •Chakali (6,000), Ghana



  1. Other Southern subgroup languages are:


  1. •Cerma (63,000), Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast

  2. •Turka (45,000), Burkina Faso

  3. •Dogosé (20,000), Burkina Faso

  4. •Dyan (14,000), Burkina Faso

  5. •Dogoso (9,000), Burkina Faso

  6. •Khisa (8,000), Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso

  7. •Kaansa (6,000), Burkina Faso

  8. •Khe (1,300), Burkina Faso


  1. 2. Senufo

  2. •Senari or Cebaara (1,100,000), Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso

  3. •Mamara (800,000), Mali

  4. •Supyire (400,000), SE Mali

  5. •Tagwana (180,000), Ivory Coast

  6. •Syenara (150,000), Mali

  7. •Shempire (120,000), Ivory Coast

  8. •Djimini (100,000), Ivory Coast

  9. •Nanerigé (70,000), Burkina Faso

  10. •Nafaanra (65,000), Ghana

  11. •Nyarafolo (60,000), Ivory Coast

  12. •Eastern Karaboro (45,000), Burkina Faso

  13. •Western Karaboro (40,000), Burkina Faso

  14. •Sicité (Sucite) (40,000), Burkina Faso, Mali

  15. •Palaka (10,000), Ivory Coast


  1. 3. Unclassified. Ten languages, spoken by 1.6 million people, cannot be grouped with either Central Gur or Senufo:


  1. •Baatonun (740,000), Benin, Nigeria

  2. •Lobi (600,000), Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast

  3. •Kulango (200,000), Ivory Coast, Ghana

  4. •Toussian (40,000), Burkina Faso

  5. •Téén (10,000), Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso

  6. •Viemo (10,000), Burkina Faso

  7. •Loma (9,000), Ivory Coast

  8. •Wara (5,000), Burkina Faso

  9. •Natioro (2,500), Burkina Faso

  10. •Tiéfo (1,000), Burkina Faso



Speakers: Gur has close to 24 million native speakers in total (18.9 million Central Gur, 3.2 million Senufo, 1.6 unclassified languages).


Oldest Document: Polyglotta Africana by S.W. Koelle, published in 1854, including word lists from 10 different Gur languages, constitutes the earliest record of the family.



SHARED FEATURES


  1. ✦ Phonology

  2. -Stops and fricatives are articulated at five different points (labial, alveolar, palatal, velar, labiovelar) in many languages, contrasting voiceless and voiced sounds. Syllabic nasals (nasal consonants which constitute a syllable on their own without a participating vowel) are frequent but occur only word-initially. Consonant clusters are generally avoided.


  1. -Across Gur languages contrast in vowel length is widespread. Besides, Grusi languages exhibit vowel harmony.


  1. -All Gur languages have tones (usually two to four) to mark certain grammatical features and more rarely to make lexical distinctions.



  1. ✦ Morphology

  2. -Gur languages have noun class systems which, in contrast to the prevailing tendency in Niger-Congo, are marked by suffixes.


  1. -In some languages there is class agreement between elements of the noun phrase and the head-noun. The concord system is less developed than in Bantu languages.


  1. -Nominal compounds are common. The noun stem may be followed by an adjective and a single class suffix.


  1. -The main tense distinctions are between past/non-past and future/non-future. Aspect (imperfective/perfective) is usually conveyed by verbal extensions.



  1. ✦ Syntax

  2. -Most Gur languages have Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order but in the Senufo group it is SOV.


  1. -The possessor precedes the possessed; adjectives, demonstratives and numerals follow the head-noun. Postpositions are used.



  1. © 2013 Alejandro Gutman and Beatriz Avanzati                                                                               


Further Reading

  1. -The Languages of Africa. J. H. Greenberg. Mouton (1963).

  2. -Les Langues Oti-Volta. G. Manessy. Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (1975).

  3. -'Gur'. T. Naden. In The Niger-Congo languages, 141-168. J. Bendor-Samuel (ed).  Lanham and London University Press of America (1989).



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