Ga (Gã)

Ga is a member of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo languages. It is spoken in Ghana by about 600,000 people, particular in the southeast of the country around the capital, Accra.

Christian Jacobsen Protten, the son of a Danish soldier and an African woman, devised a way of writing Ga with the Latin alphabetin about 1764. The Ga alphabet has been revised a number of times since then, with the most recent changes in 1990.

Ga alphabet
A a	B b	D d	E e	Ɛ ɛ	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m
N n	Ŋ ŋ	O o	Ɔ ɔ	P p	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	Y y	Z z

Ga pronunciation

Notes

Vowels can be short (a), long (aa) or extra long (aaa).

Sample text in Ga

Afɔ gbɔmɔ fɛɛ gbɔmɔ yɛ agbojee mli, kɛ hegbɛ ko ni damɔ ŋɛlɛ koome nɔ. Gbɔmɛi fɛɛ yɛ jwɛŋmɔ kɛ henilee, ni no hewɔ lɛ esa akɛ amɛhe ahi shi yɛ nyɛmi suɔmɔ mli.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Links

Information about the Ga language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga_language
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=gaa

A few words and phrases in Ga
http://www.addo.ws/words.htm

Other Niger-Congo languages

Akan, Bambara, Bemba, Chichewa, Duala, Ewe, Ewondo, Ga, Ganda, Herero, Igbo, Kirundi, Kpelle, Lingala, Mende, Shona, Southern Sotho, Swahili, Twi, Wolof, Xhosa, Yorùbá, Zulu

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet