Farefare language
Frafra consists of three principal dialects, Gurenɛ, Nankani, and Boone. Nabit and Talni have been mistakenly reported to be Frafra dialects.
Names
The general and accepted name for the language is Farefare or Frafra. The varieties in Ghana are usually called "Gurene", and those in Burkina-Faso are called "Ninkare".Orthography
The Frafra language uses the letters of the Latin alphabet except for c, j, q, x, and with the addition of ɛ, ɩ, ŋ, ɔ, and ʋ. The tilde is used for showing nasalization in Burkina Faso, but in Ghana it is shown using the letter n. The two nasal vowels /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ are spelt with ẽ and õ respectively. All long nasal vowels only get their tilde written on the first letter.Acute, grave, circumflex, caron, and macron are sometimes used in grammar books to indicate tone, but not in general-purpose texts. The apostrophe is used to indicate the glottal stop.
| Sound | Representation | Example | Meaning |
| /a/ | a | ya /ja/ | houses |
| /a:/ | aa | gaarɛ /ga:ɹɛ/ | a type of bean cake |
| /ɛ/ | ɛ | ɛkɛ /ɛkɛ/ | to fly |
| /e/ | e | zoore /zo:ɹe:/ | mountain/hill |
| /ɛ̃/ | ẽ | tẽŋa | city |
| /ɪ/ | ɩ | taablɩ /ta:blɪ/ | table |
| /i/ | i | piika /pi:ka/ | little |
| /ɔ/ | ɔ | ɔɔrɔ /ɔ:ɹɔ/ | cold |
| /o/ | o | toma toma /to:.ma.to:.ma/ | a greeting similar to "hi" |
| /ʊ/ | ʋ | teebʋl /te:bʊl/ | table |
| /u/ | uu | buulika /bu:lika/ | morning |
Phonology
Consonants
Frafra has a system of 17 phonemes :The sound /ŋ/ appears in front of some words starting with /w/, leading them to change into the /j/ sound. /h/ only appears in loanwords, exclamations, and as an allophone of /f/. An example of both of these sound changes are weefo and yeho. The only consonants Frafra words may end in are the two nasals /m/ and /n/.
Glottal stop
Glottal stops appear at the initial vowel of a word, but are not transcribed. Word-medially, vowel nasalization continues over the glottal stop. In rapid speech, the glottal stop is usually dropped, similar to how vowel hiatus gets dropped in Spanish.Word medial glottal stops must be marked in writing.
Allophones
Allophones of /r/
and are two phonetic realizations of the same phoneme. occurs at the beginning of words, and is its counterpart everywhere else.Allophones of /g/
is an allophone of /g/ that occurs after certain vowels. It is mostly written "g." Usage of the letter "ɣ" is quite rare.Allophones of /j/
is an allophone of /j/ that occurs before a nasal vowel. It is always written as "y."Sandhi
This section will describe all the morpho-phonological sandhi processes that affect Frafra.Nasals
Nasal consonants undergo assimilation, coalescence, and elision.Assimilation at Point of Articulation
Nasals assimilate to the point of articulation of the occlusive the proceed.- /m/ goes before /p/ and /b/
- /n/ goes before /t/ and /d/
- /ŋ/ goes before /k/
Coalescence
- /n/ + /g/ = /ŋ/
Elision
Nasals disappear when they go before /f/- /m/ + /f/ = /f/
- /n/ + /f/ = /f/
Stops
- /g/ + /g/ = /k/
- /r/ + /r/ = /t/
Sonorants
Vibrant assimilation
Vibrant consonants, also called taps, assimilate to a preceding lateral or nasal.- /l/ + /r/ = /ll/
- /n/ + /r/ = /nn/
- /m/ + /r/ = either /nn/ or /mn/
Lateral assimilation
- /n/ + /l/ = /nn/
- /m/ + /l/ = /nn/
Combination of these processes
- Cm + r = Cn
- Cl + r = Cl
Vowels
All Frafra vowels have a long form.
Vowel harmony
Like many Mande languages, Frafra features vowel harmony. When suffixes are added to word roots, the vowel in the root selects whether the suffix will use the tense or lax form. The exception is suffixes ending in "-a" because /a/ is neutral in Frafra, meaning that it is only one form. Prefixes do not exist in Frafra.Where all vowels must be in harmony
In disyllabic words, both vowels are always in harmony. The same applies in vowel sequences.Mid vowels
The lax vowel -a in noun and verb endings will change the tense vowels /e/ and /o/ to lax vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.Close vowels
When a suffix's vowel is close, and stem's vowel is close and tense, it causes the suffix's vowel to become tense.For example, the locative postposition "-ʋm" becomes "-um" after the vowels /i/, /ĩ/, /u/, and /ũ/.
- pʋʋrɛ > pʋʋrʋm
- nifo > nifum
The particle "nɩ," which goes after a verbs to mark the incomplete aspect, becomes "ni" after /i/, /ĩ/, /u/, and /ũ/.
Grammar
Tone
Gurenɛ marks a high and a low tone. Changes in tone have an impact on either the lexical or grammatical function of a particular word.Lexical Function
With low tones the word becomes a verb, whereas with high tones it is a noun.Grammatical Function
The low tone on the preverbal tense marker wà indicates future, while the high tone on the same element indicates aspect.Noun Classes
Nouns in Gurunɛ have different "classes" with regard to plurals:Pronouns
Source:Personal Pronouns
Emphatic Pronouns
Only emphatic pronouns can appear in focus positions, whereas all other pronouns cannot appear in those positions. Emphatic pronouns are used in exclusive contexts, in which the speaker indicates that only one thing is true and not the other.Reciprocal Pronoun
The reciprocal pronoun is taaba and occurs postverbally.Reflexive Pronouns
To form a reflexive pronoun in Gurenɛ the morphem -miŋa for singular or -misi for plural is attached to a particular personal pronoun. While in other Gur languages, the reflexive morphem is not sensitive to number, in Gurenɛ there exist two forms, one for each number.| Person | Reflexive Morphem SG | Personal Pronoun SG | Reflexive Pronoun SG | Reflexive Morphem PL | Personal Pronoun PL | Reflexive Pronoun PL |
| 1st | -miŋa | n | nmiŋa | -misi | tu | tumisi |
| 2nd | -miŋa | fu | fumiŋa | -misi | ya | yamisi |
| 3rd | -miŋa | a | amiŋa | -misi | ba | bamisi |
Relative Pronouns
There are two relative pronouns, ti and n. The former relativizes subjects, while the latter is used to relativize objects. Both pronouns are not sensitive to number or animacy, while this is the case in other Gur languages such as Dagbani for instance.Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns can either occur sentence-initially or sentence-finally.Demonstrative Pronouns
Each demonstrative pronoun refers to a single noun class.| Number | Gurenɛ | Gloss |
| SG | ina | that/this |
| kana | that/this | |
| dina | that/this | |
| kuna | that/this | |
| PL | bana | these/those |
| sina | these/those | |
| tuna | these/those | |
| buna | these/those |
Syntax
Word Order
The word order in Gurenɛ is strictly SVO.Verb Phrase
The verb phrase consists of pre- and postverbal particles surrounding the verb. Preverbal particles encode aspect, tense, negation, and mood, such as imperative and conditional. Postverbal particles also encode aspect and tense, but in addition to that they can also encode focus. The order of particles within the VP is strictly organized as shown below. Moreover, the maximal amount of pre- and postverbal particles is also strictly defined. There can be at maximum five preverbal and two postverbal particles within one clause in Gurenɛ.Time > Tense > Conditional > Aspectual > Future > Negation > Emphatic > Epistemic > Purpose > Verb > Tense > Focus/Affirmative/Completive/Directional
Particles
There are a lot of particles in Gurenɛ, such that the total number is not fully clear. The following table provides an overview of the most common particles.| Aspect | Gurenɛ |
| now, after this | nyaa |
| in a determined way | wa |
| intention | ta |
| an action/event still lasts | naŋ |
| only | kɔ'ɔm |
| even | pugum |
| again | le |
| already | pìlum |
| just | kɔ'ɔm |
| rather | tugum |
| necessairly | yɛrum |
| instead | yi |
| ever | tabelɛ |
| as usual | ya'am |
| habitual | ná |
| Tense | |
| past | daa |
| two days ago | daarɛ |
| three days ago | datata |
| years ago | yuum |
| the next day | dagi |
| Imperative | |
| must | ta |
| need | wa |
| Conditional | |
| if | san |