Mossi language

Not to be confused with Old Moshi language or Moré language (Bolivia).

Mossi
Mooré
Native to	Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Togo
Ethnicity	Mossi
Native speakers	6.47 million (2009-2013)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Gur Northern Oti–Volta Western Oti-Volta Northwestern Mossi
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Burkina Faso
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mos
ISO 639-3	mos
Glottolog	moss1236
Majority areas of Mossi speakers, in pink, on a map of Burkina Faso.

Person	Moaaga
People	Moose
Language	Mòoré

The distribution of Mossi

The Mossi language (known in the language as Mooré; also Mòoré, Mõõré, Moré, Moshi, Moore, More) is a Gur language of the Oti–Volta branch and one of two official regional languages of Burkina Faso, closely related to the Frafra language spoken just across the border in the northern half of Ghana and less-closely to Dagbani and Mampruli further south. It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 5 million people in Burkina Faso, plus another 60,000+ in Mali and Togo.

Phonology

The Mossi language consists of the following sounds:

Consonants

Mossi consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar / palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩		n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩
Stop	prenasalized
	implosive
	tenuis	p ⟨p⟩		t ⟨t⟩	k ⟨k⟩
	aspirated
Fricative	prenasalized
	voiced	v ⟨v⟩		z ⟨z⟩
	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩		s ⟨s⟩		h ⟨h⟩
Liquid				ɾ ⟨r⟩, l ⟨l⟩
Approximant					j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨w⟩

Remark:

• The semivowel /j/ y is pronounced [ɲ] (palatal nasal) in front of nasal vowels.

Vowels

		Front	Central	Back
Close		i		u
	Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid		e		o
Open			a

Notes:

• All vowels (other than /e/ and /o/) are pronounced like their nasal counterparts.
• All vowels (oral and nasal) are pronounced like their lengthened counterparts.
• Other linguists include the vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/; here, they are analysed as diphthongs, (/ɛ/ is considered to be ea and /ɔ/ is considered to be oa).

Orthography

In Burkina Faso, the Mossi alphabet uses the letters specified in the national Burkinabé alphabet.

Burkinabé Mossi alphabet
A	ʼ	B	D	E	Ɛ	F	G	H	I	Ɩ	K	L	M	N	O	P	R	S	T	U	Ʋ	V	W	Y	Z
a	ʼ	b	d	e	ɛ	f	g	h	i	ɩ	k	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	t	u	ʋ	v	w	y	z
Phonetic values
a	ʔ	b	d	e	ɛ	f	ɡ	h	i	ɪ	k	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	t	u	ʊ	v	w	j	z

See also

• Languages of Burkina Faso

External links

• PanAfrican L10n wiki page on Moore
• Database of audio recordings in Mòoré - basic Catholic prayers

Learning materials

• Protestant Mission, Assemblies of God (Around 1955 CE - 1961 CE). More (Language of the Mossi Tribe) Phrase Book. Ouagadougou, Upper Volta: World Digital Library.