Language/Dagbani

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Facts about Dagbani[edit | edit source]

Dagbani is member of the Gur branch of Niger-Congo languages. It is spoken mainly in northern Ghana by 800,000 Dagomba people. It is closely related to, and mutually intelligible with, Mossi, which is spoken mainly in Burkina-Faso. Dagbani is also known as Dagbamba, Dagbane and Dagomba.

The Dagbani language has appeared since time immemorial. But the coming of Tohazie (the red hunter) gave the rebirth of the contemporary Dagbani we are talking about today. Dagbani is the language, Dagbon is the kingdom and Dabombas is the people. After Tohazie's death, Naa Gbewa succeeded him. But Gbewa's death sparked a riot among children over who would become the next king. The children of Gbewa who led this envy and hatred between them were: Tohagu, Sitobo and Zerile.

And after the fight, all of them left their current homes and relocated to a different location. That is: Tohagu when in Mamprugu and founded the kingdom of Mamprugu, Sitobu moved a bit from the present place and found the kingdom of Dagbon and Zerile moved to Bimbila and found the kingdom of Nanumba. From this brief history, you could see that Dagombas, Mumprusi and Nanumba are all descended from the same ancestor and can probably trace their lineage back to the one and only Naa Gbewa. Moreover, these three ethnic groups mentioned above understand each other when spoken due to the common genealogical ties.

Language code (ISO 639-3): dag
Autonyms (how to write "Dagbani" in Dagbani): Dagbani / Dagbane / Dagbanli / Dagbanle
Other names for "Dagbani": Dagbamba, Dagbane, Dagbanli, Dagomba
The Dagbani language is spoken in: Ghana