Dan language

Dan is a Southern Mande language spoken primarily in Ivory Coast and Liberia. There is also a population of about 800 speakers in Guinea. Dan is a tonal language, with 9 to 11 contour and register tones, depending on the dialect.
Alternative names for the language include Yacouba or Yakubasa, Gio, Gyo, Gio-Dan, and Da. Dialects are Gio, Gweetaawu, Blowo, and Kla. Kla is evidently a distinct language.

Phonology

A sillable is minimally /V/ or /ŋ/, and maximally /ClVV/ or /ClVŋ/.

Vowels

Color coding:
Only in Eastern Dan when in the position of extra-high tone
Only in Liberian Dan

Consonants

Only in Liberian Dan
Not in Western Dan
Not in Liberian Dan

all consonants are nasalized in nasal feet
occurs only as a syllable or a syllable coda and has been treated as a vowel. it carries tone.
is heard as when preceded by alveolar or palatal consonants.
Consonant combinations are heard as lateral fricative sounds.
Tones

Dan has four to five level tones, depending on the variety, with level and contour tones.

Writing system

The orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:
Tones are marked as follows:
extra high tone: a̋;
high tone: á;
medium tone: ā;
low tone: à;
extra low tone: ȁ;
high drop tone: â;
extra low hanging tone: aʼ.
The digraphs keep the same values as in the spelling of 1982, and the nasal vowels are also indicated by appending the letter n after the letter of the vowel.