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Logba language

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Languages

   Logba
   Ikpana
   Spoken in: Ghana
   Region: Volta Region, north-west of Ho
   Total speakers: 7 500
   Language family: Niger-Congo
     Atlantic-Congo
      Volta-Congo
       Kwa
       Nyo
        Potou-Tano
          Ghana Togo Mountain
          Logba
   Language codes
   ISO 639-1: none
   ISO 639-2: nic
   ISO/FDIS 639-3: lgq
   Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA
   chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

   Logba is a Kwa language spoken in the south-eastern Ghana by
   approximately 7 500 people. The Logba people call themselves and their
   language Ikpana, which means ‘defenders of truth’. Logba is different
   from Lukpa of Togo and Benin, which is also sometimes referred to as
   Logba.

Classification

   The first published treatment of Logba was a short grammar by Diedrich
   Hermann Westermann (1903). Westermann included Logba in his group of
   Togo Restsprachen (Togo Remnant languages), a terminology adopted by
   several subsequent researchers^ . Dakubu and Ford (1988) renamed this
   cluster the Central Togo languages but since Ring (1995) they are
   commonly referred to as Ghana Togo Mountain languages. The about
   fourteen Ghana Togo Mountain languages are part of the Kwa branch of
   the Niger-Congo phylum.

Geography and demography

   A girl sells produce in Logba
   Enlarge
   A girl sells produce in Logba

   The Logba people live in the Volta Region of Ghana, east of the Volta
   Lake in the mountains of the Ghana-Togo borderland. Most Logba towns
   and villages are situated along the trunk road from Accra to Hohoe.
   They include the following settlements: Wuinta, Akusame, Adiveme,
   Andokɔfe, Adzakoe, Alakpeti, Klikpo, and Tota. Tota is located high in
   the Ghana Togo Mountains to the east of the Accra-Hohoe road. Alikpeti
   is the commercial centre of Logba, while Klikpo is traditionally the
   seat of the head of the Logba people. The Logba people are peasant
   farmers, producing cassava, maize, yams, and cahs crops like cocoa and
   coffee. The Logba area is known for its limestone formations, including
   underground caves with stalagmites and stalactites.

   The dominant language in the regio is Ewe, closely followed by Twi.
   Most Logba people are bilingual in Ewe. South of the Logba area live
   the Avatime people. Logba is only distantly related to its direct
   neighbours Avatime and Nyagbo-Tafi; according to Bernd Heine (1968) it
   is more closely related to the Akpafu and Santrokofi languages spoken
   northwards.

   It is generally agreed that the Logba people are not the original
   inhabitants of the area they now reside in. There have been two
   hypotheses as to the origin of the Logba people. Heine (1968, following
   Debrunner), proposed that the Logba are descendants from the makɔ́
   people, having fled south after a defeat in the second half of the 18th
   century. However, the Logba people themselves relate that they have
   come together with the Gbe peoples from Ketu^ . The latter view is
   advanced also by Dorvlo (2004).

Linguistic features

   Logba has a nine vowel system with ATR vowel harmony. Vowel harmony in
   Logba is root-controlled, which means that the vowels of its nominal
   prefixes harmonize with the vowels of the root. Vowels are nasalized
   when they occur in the immediate environment of a nasal consonant.

   CAPTION: [-ATR] vowels in Logba

       .      Front Central Back
   Near-close ɪ             ʊ
   Open-mid   ɛ             ɔ
   Open             a

   CAPTION: [+ATR] vowels in Logba

       .     Front Central Back
   Close     i             u
   Close-mid e             o
   Open            a

   Logba has a total of 23 consonants. A notable feature of Logba
   phonology is the opposition between bilabial and labio-dental
   fricatives, found in various other languages of the region, including
   Ewe. Logba is a tonal language with two level tones: High and Low.
   These tones can be combined on one syllable, yielding a Rising or
   Falling contour tone.

   All syllables are open in Logba. Every syllable bears a tone. The basic
   syllable structure can be rendered as (C[1])(C[2])V+T, where C =
   consonant, V = vowel or syllabic nasal, and T = tone. Dorvlo (2004)
   distinguishes three types of syllables:
    1. Nucleus only, comprised of a vowel or a syllabic nasal. This type
       is found only in pronouns and nominal prefixes. Examples: ɛ́-mɔ́
       'they laughed'; ɔ́-zɔ́ 'he/she went'; n-dà 'liquor'.
    2. Onset and nucleus. This is the most common syllabe type in Logba;
       most words are of this form. In multisyllabic words, it can occur
       in all positions. Examples: bà ‘come’; gbà^ ‘sweep’; bìsí ‘cola
       nut’
    3. Complex onset and nucleus. Only /r/ and /l/ occur as the second
       consonant of the complex onset. This syllable type can also form a
       word by itself. In multisyllabic words, in can occur in all
       positions. Examples: à-klɔ́   ‘goat’; trò ‘refuse’; ìvàflí
       ‘(thing) white’.

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