Gua language

Gua
Gua
Native to	Ghana
Native speakers	60,000 (2003)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Kwa Potou–Tano Tano Guang South Guang Gua; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Anu (Anum); Boso;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gwx
Glottolog	guaa1238

Gua is a Guang language spoken in many parts of Ghana including the Gonja, in the northern Savannah Region, the Nchumurus in the Northern, Oti and Bono East Regions, the people of Larteh, Okere, Anum and Boso, the people of Winneba, Senya Beraku, Buem, Achode, Nkonya, Krachi, Santrokofi, Adele and Wuripong all in the Oti Region. The name of the language comes from the word 'to run' in Gua.^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

Gua has nine phonemic oral vowels and seven phonemic nasal vowels. There are four allophonic vowels produced by ATR harmony.^[3]

Gua vowels
	Front				Central				Back
	oral		nasal		oral		nasal		oral		nasal
	-ATR	+ATR	-ATR	+ATR	-ATR	+ATR	-ATR	+ATR	-ATR	+ATR	-ATR	+ATR
Close	/ɪ/	/i/	/ɪ̃/	/ĩ/					/ʊ/	/u/	/ʊ̃/	/ũ/
Mid	/ɛ/	/e/	/ɛ̃/	/ẽ/^[a]					/ɔ/	/o/	/ɔ̃/	/õ/^[a]
Open					/a/	/ɜ/^[a]	/ã/	/ɜ̃/^[a]

1 2 3 4 /ẽ/, /õ/, /ɜ/, and /ɜ̃/ are +ATR allophonic variants of /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/, /a/, and /ã/ respectfully.

Consonants

Gua consonant^[2]
		Labial		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labial-velar		Glottal
		plain	labial	plain	labial	plain	labial	plain	labial	plain	labial	plain	labial
Nasal		m		n		ɲ		ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋm	ŋmʷ
Plosive/Affricate	Voiceless	p		t		tɕ	tɕʷ	k	kʷ	kp
Plosive/Affricate	Voiced	b	bʷ	d	dʷ	dʑ		g	gʷ	gb
Fricative		f	fʷ	s								h	hʷ
Approximant				l	lʷ	j					w
Trill				r

Tone

Gua has two basic tones, high and low.

Downstep occurs in High-Low-High tone sequences.^[3]

References

↑ Gua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
1 2 Obiri, Michael Yeboah (2013). Aspects of Gua (Gwa) Phonology (Thesis). University of Ghana. p. 6.
1 2 Obiri-Yeboah, Michael; Rose, Sharon (2021-04-13). "Vowel harmony and phonological phrasing in Gua". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 40: 159-193. doi:10.1007/s11049-021-09509-y.

External links

"Sociolinguistic Survey of the Gua Language Community". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.536.3034. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help)
Guan language dictionary

[a-4] 1 2 3 4 /ẽ/, /õ/, /ɜ/, and /ɜ̃/ are +ATR allophonic variants of /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/, /a/, and /ã/ respectfully.

[e18-1] Gua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[Obiri-2] 1 2 Obiri, Michael Yeboah (2013). Aspects of Gua (Gwa) Phonology (Thesis). University of Ghana. p. 6.

[Obiri-Yeboah,_Rose-3] 1 2 Obiri-Yeboah, Michael; Rose, Sharon (2021-04-13). "Vowel harmony and phonological phrasing in Gua". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 40: 159-193. doi:10.1007/s11049-021-09509-y.

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