Dagbani (Dagomba)

Dagbani is member of the Gur branch of Niger-Congo languages. It is spoken mainly in northern Ghana by 800,000 Dagomba people. It is closely related to, and mutually intelligible with, Mossi, which is spoken mainly in Burkina-Faso. Dagbani is also known as Dagbamba, Dagbane and Dagomba.

Dagbani is taught in primary and secondary schools, and there are radio programmes in the language.

Dagbani alphabet and pronunciation

Download alphabet chart for Dagbani (PDF)

Information and corrections by Wolfram Siegel

Sample text

Sal' la sala. Bɛhig' be sokam sanimi, din pa la amii. Suhizɔbo be sokam sani; ka nambɔxu beni. Suhubɔhibo mi bi lan kɔŋ yigunaadam kam sani. Dinzuxu dimbɔŋɔ zaa wuhiya ka dama di tu kamaata ka ti zaa yu tab' hali ni ti puuni.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample video in Dagbani

Links

Information about the Dagbani language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagbani_language
http://www.ethnologue.org.uk/show_language.asp?code=dag
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/simpleSearch.jsp

Dagbani dictionaries
http://glosbe.com/en/dag/
http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/Gur/Dagbani%20dictionary%20CD.pdf

Gur languages

Dagaare, Dagbani, Kabiye, Kasem, Mossi, Tammari

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

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