Dan language

Dan
Dan
Yacouba
Region	Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Liberia.
Native speakers	1.6 million (2012)
Language family	Niger–Congo Mande Eastern Mande Southeastern Mano–Dan Guro–Dan Tura–Dan Dan; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; dnj – Dan; lda – Kla
Glottolog	dann1241
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Dan /ˈdæn/^[2] is a Mande language spoken primarily in Ivory Coast (~800,000 speakers) and Liberia (150,000–200,000 speakers). There is also a population of about 800 speakers in Guinea. Dan is a tonal language, with three main tones and two glide/contour tones.

Alternative names for the language include Yacouba or Yakubasa, Gio, Gyo, Gio-Dan, and Da. Dialects are Gweetaawu (Eastern Dan), Blowo (Western Dan), and Kla. Kla is evidently a distinct language.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɯ	u
Close-mid	e	ɤ	o
Open-mid	ɛ	ʌ	ɔ
Near-open	æ
Open	a		ɑ

Writing system

The orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:

Dan alphabet (Liberia)
A	B	Ɓ	D	Ɗ	E	Ɛ	F	G	GB	H	I	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	NW	NY	Ŋ	O	Ɔ	Ə	Ɵ	P	R	S	T	U	Ɥ	V	W	X	Y	Z
a	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ɛ	f	g	gb	h	i	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	nw	ny	ŋ	o	ɔ	ə	ɵ	p	r	s	t	u	ɥ	v	w	x	y	z
IPA value
a	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ɛ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	h	i	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	ŋʷ	ɲ	ŋ	o	ɔ	ə	ɵ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	v	w	x	j	z

^[3]^[4]

Dan West alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire)
A	AƆ	B	BH	D	DH	E	Ɛ	Ë	ƐA	F	G	GB	GW	I	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	NG	O	Ɔ	Ö	P	R	S	T	U	Ü	V	W	Y	Z
a	aɔ	b	bh	d	dh	e	ɛ	ë	ɛa	f	g	gb	gw	i	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	ng	o	ɔ	ö	p	r	s	t	u	ü	v	w	y	z
IPA value
a	ɒ	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ɛ	ʌ	æ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	gʷ	i	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	ŋ	o	ɔ	ɤ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	v	w	j	z

Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 1982
A	AƆ	B	BH	D	DH	E	Ë	Ɛ	ƐA	F	G	GB	GW	H	I	Ɩ	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	O	Ö	Ɔ	P	R	S	T	U	Ü	Ʋ	Ʋ̈	V	W	Y	Z
a	aɔ	b	bh	d	dh	e	ë	ɛ	ɛa	f	g	gb	gw	h	i	ɩ	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	o	ö	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ü	ʋ	ʋ̈	v	w	y	z
IPA value
a	ɒ	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ʌ	ɛ	æ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	gʷ	h	i	ɪ	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	o	ɤ	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	ɯ̞	ʉ	v	w	j	z

Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 2014
A	Œ	B	BH	D	DH	E	Ʌ	Ɛ	Æ	F	G	GB	GW	H	I	Ɩ	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	O	ɤ	Ɔ	P	R	S	T	U	Ɯ	Ʋ	V	W	Y	Z
a	œ	b	bh	d	dh	e	ʌ	ɛ	æ	f	g	gb	gw	h	i	ɩ	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	o	ɤ	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	ʋ	v	w	y	z
IPA value
a	ɒ	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ʌ	ɛ	æ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	gʷ	h	i	ɪ	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	o	ɤ	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	ʊ	v	w	j	z

The capital ɤ is not in Unicode.^[5]

Tones are marked with grave, acute, and circumflex accents. Nasalization is marked with a tilde.

References

^ Dan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
^ https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=wrSys_detail_sym&key=dnj-Latn-CI. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ "Proposal to Encode Additional Latin and Cyrillic Characters" (PDF).
^ "SIL PUA assignments 11.0".

External links

English-Dan Online Dictionary

This article about Mande languages is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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

[2] Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh

[3] ttps://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=wrSys_detail_sym&key=dnj-Latn-CI. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[4] "Proposal to Encode Additional Latin and Cyrillic Characters" (PDF).

[5] "SIL PUA assignments 11.0".

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[3]

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[5]

v t e Languages of Guinea
Official language	French
National languages	Fula Malinké (N'Ko) Susu Kissi Kpelle Toma
Indigenous languages	Badyara Baga Bambara Bassari Dan Dyula Landoma Limba Maninka Mano Pular Sua Wamey Yalunka Zialo
Immigrant languages	English French Punjabi Spanish Arabic Hindi Arabic Chinese Portuguese Japanese Russian

Authority control databases
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