Bowili (Tuwuli)

Bowili is a member of the Kwa branch of the Atlantic-Congo language family. It is spoken by about 11,000 people in the north of the Volta Region in the southeast of Ghana. Bowili is spoken mainly my older adults. Younger people are shifting to Ewe or English and are less likely to speak Bowili.

Bowili is also known as Bowiri, Bowuri, Boviri, Tuwuli, Bawuli, Luwuli, Liwuli, Siwuri, Tuwili or Tora. Bowili speakers use the name Tuwuli for their language, themselves and the area where they live.

A way to write Bowili with the Latin alphabet was devised by the Tuwuli Language Project Committee under the auspices of the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT) in order to translate the Bible in Bowili. The GILLBT also runs literacy classes in Bowili, although relatively few people attend such classes, and Bowili speakers are more likely to be literate in Ewe.

Bowili alphabet

Bowili alphabet

Download an alphabet chart for Bowili (Excel

Sample text

Apaprama, ade luwui a kɔ̃ a, Odzo, ɛnawoli kɔba. Kɔba kĩ ɛnawoli a, ɛtanye osĩ ɛnamla kɔba kamɛ. Kosũ taimɔ a kɔle yaya, kĩ funitsa bo fuyua, kĩ kɔle yaya pɛ, Anansi yidza ɛnanye osĩ flee ɛnamla kɔba kamɛ.

Translation

Once upon a time, Squirrel went to weed a farm. The farm which he went to weed, he didn't clear a path to the farm. Therefore it looks like he had to travel along ropes to get to the farm. And so, the time hunger came, when food was ready when hunger just come, Anansi rose and went and made a path all the way to the farm.

Source: A Descriptive Grammar Of Tuwuli, A Kwa Language Of Ghana

Details of Bowili provided by Michael Peter Füstumum

Sample video in Bowili

Information about Bowili | Numbers

Links

Information about Bowili
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowili_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuwuli
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuwuli_(Sprache)
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/tuwu1238
https://vdoc.pub/documents/a-descriptive-grammar-of-tuwuli-a-kwa-language-of-ghana-1cabcm1tosg0
https://languagelearnershub.com/blog/tuwuli/

Kwa languages

Abidji, Adele, Ahanta, Akan, Akuapem, Anii, Anyin, Avatime, Baoulé, Bowili, Chakosi, Cherepon, Chumburung, Dangme, Fante, Foodo, Ga, Gonja, Kebu, Krache, Kyode, Likpe, Logba, Mbato, Nkonya, Nzema, Siwu, Tchaman, Twi

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 05.10.26. Last modified: 05.10.26

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