#dangme

[dangmelearner]

jɔlehi - boyfriends

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Dangme (adangme)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 800,000

Official language: Ghana

Language of diaspora: Benin, Togo

Script: Latin, 26 letters

Grammatical cases: 0

Linguistic typology: agglutinative, SVO

Language family: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Kwa, Ga-Dangbe

Number of dialects: 2 main groups

History

I was not able to find any information about the history of Dangme.

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the alphabet: a b d e ɛ f g h i j k l m n ŋ o ɔ p r s t u v w y z.

Dangme has three tones: high, mid, and low. It also features tone terracing, i.e., the high and mid tones shift downward in pitch after certain tones.

Grammar

Nouns have classes, two numbers (singular and plural), and no cases. They make a distinction between personal and impersonal.

Adjectives can inflect for number, but the latter is not marked when the definite article is present. Sometimes, they are reduplicated to show number.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (indicative, imperative, and potential), person, and number. There is a distinction between subjective and objective information.

Dialects

There are two main dialect groups: coastal and inland. The coastal group includes Ada, Ningo, and Prampram, while the inland one is composed of Shai, Krobo, and Osudoku.

All of the dialects are mutually intelligible.

[dangmelearner]

Mawu na la a, nɛ la a muɔ e hɛ. - Dangme Bible

“And God saw the light, that it was good.” -KJV

[dangmelearner]

akpasotsɛ - wizard

[dangmelearner]

I met my Dangme teacher first time face to face. It’s funny to know someone for years before actually seeing them face to face.

I was able to speak some Dangme with him and also introduced him to my boss who finally agreed to speak some Dangme. We have only been using English for some reason.

So excellent oral practice day. Really boosted my morale. I feel like I’m getting somewhere.

[dangmelearner]

20 days language learnign challenge

Day 13: How many languages are spoken in your country?

In my country of origin we have two official language: Finnish and Swedish. In some parts of Finland Sami is also a national language.

My current home country (I’m hoping to get citizenship) Ghana has about 80 languages. Governement promotes 11 of those. They are:

Akuapem Twi

Asante Twi

Fante

Dagaare

Dagbanli

Ewe

Dangme

Ga

Nzema

Gonja

Kasem

I am actively learnign Dangme and passively Fante (meaning I’m just catching some phrases from my friends but not really making any effort.) I used to study akuapem Twi (through Ma Yensua Twi book) and Ashanti Twi (through Pimsleur Twi) but didn’t get very far.

Today I went to church and after that studied some policy documents for work (and fell asleep doing so. 💯 would recommend for insomnia).

Then we went for a long walk and I was teaching my child some Finnish through “I spy with my little eye “ while doing so.

And While my kids were playing at basketball court I did a bit of Anki but not a whole lot.

Here’s a picture of the place where I studied. My child calls this her favorite tree. She talk to her (yes, a girl tree) and waters her every time she comes here. ❤️

Then I had a call with my mom. Always good to talk with mom. Miss her. It’s hard to live in a different continent than your family sometimes. 😭 Anyway, kids got to practice their Finnish with grand mum. That’s always good.

I’m so bad at remembering to use Finnish. English just comes easier for some reason. Like my brain is reprogrammed. If I try to even write a diary in Finnish it just takes so much longer and I can’t find the words to express myself. Weird. Not good. Have to re-learn my own goddamn mother tongue.

Now I think I will watch the Jesus movie in Dangme and maybe some Finnish content too and call it a day.

[dangmelearner]

20 days language learning challenge

1st day

Day 1: Which languages can you speak besides your native language

- I can speak English pretty well. :)

- I can speak a bit of Swedish and French. Like I think I could order food. Then again I might not understand their response😅 (Edit: i take that back. I would need a refresher course in Swedish. But not now. Right now my target language is Dangme.)

- I can speak Dangme like a three year old. Pointing at objects babbling endearingly.

Image description: pile of notebooks and two bibles.

[dangmelearner]

Post inspired by the video above.

Study like it’s 1999.

📚 Get yourself a big ass dictionary and any book you can take hold of. Actual. Book. And chances are you won’t find one you actually enjoy, so suck it up.

💿 Then add a cassette or a cd to the picture. Hope it’s a good one. You will be listening to that bad boy again and again and again and again…

✉️ If you’re really adventurous look for a penpal. Overseas penpals was a thing. It was exiting to write the letter using a dictionary, walk to post office to send it (and hope your mom gave you enough money for the stamps because it would depend on the weight of the letter and you would have no clue) and then wait for a month for the letter to come back from Egypt.

⌨️Or you could have correspondence via email if you were into computers. I hated computers back in the 90s. I used to say I would never touch one. Oh how the turns table.

📻 Long wave radio stations was a thing. I used to listen to Russian stations for fun. Didn’t really learn anything.

📼If you were learnign something commmon like French or English you might some vhs from the rental store. Learnign Swahili? Fat chance.

Those were the days.

🗺️ I’m still kinda stuck in the 90s in that the language I learn doesn’t have much online resources. But there are some. And imagine if I had tried learnign Dangme in the 90s. Would have had to move to Ghana to do that! … oh wait… I did move to Ghana…