Logba is a Kwa language spoken in the south-eastern Ghana by approximately 7 500 people. The Logba people call their language Ikpana, which means ‘defenders of truth’. It is different from Lukpa of Togo and Benin, which is sometimes referred to as Logba. ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ... The Kwa languages are spoken in the south-eastern part of Côte dIvoire, in Ghana, Togo and Benin, and the south-Western corner of Nigeria. ...

Classification

The first published treatment of Logba was a short grammar by Diedrich Hermann Westermann (1903). Westermann included Logba in his group of Togo Restsprachen (Togo Remnant languages), a terminology adopted by several subsequent researchers^[1]. Dakubu and Ford (1988) renamed this cluster the Central Togo languages but since Ring (1995) they are commonly referred to as Ghana Togo Mountain languages. The about fourteen Ghana Togo Mountain languages are part of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo phylum. Diedrich Hermann Westermann (June 24, 1875–May 31, 1956) was a German missionary, Africanist, and linguist. ... The Ghana Togo Mountain languages, formerly called Togorestsprachen (Togo Remnant languages) and Central Togo languages, form a group of about foureen languages spoken in the mountains of the Ghana-Togo borderland. ... The Kwa languages are spoken in the south-eastern part of Côte dIvoire, in Ghana, Togo and Benin, and the south-Western corner of Nigeria. ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ...

Geography and demography

The Logba people live in the Volta Region of Ghana, east of the Volta Lake in the mountains of the Ghana-Togo borderland. Most Logba towns and villages are situated along the trunk road from Accra to Hohoe. They include the following settlements: Wuinta, Akusame, Adiveme, Andokɔfe, Adzakoe, Alakpeti, Klikpo, and Tota. Tota is located high in the Ghana Togo Mountains to the east of the Accra-Hohoe road. Alikpeti is the commercial centre of Logba, while Klikpo is traditionally the seat of the head of the Logba people. The Logba people are peasant farmers, producing cassava, maize, yams, and cahs crops like cocoa and coffee. The Logba area is known for its limestone formations, including underground caves with stalagmites and stalactites. The Volta Region is a region of Ghana. ... Lake Volta from space, April 1993 Lake Volta (located at 6°30′ N 0°0′ E) is the largest artificial lake in the world (being larger than Lake Nasser), lying in Ghana and covering almost 8,500 km² (3,275 square miles). ... Limestone (CaCO3) is a sedimentary rock composed of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate). ... The Witchs Finger in the Carlsbad Caverns A stalagmite (from the Greek stalagma, drop) is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the depositation of calcium carbonate. ... Formation of stalactites. ...

The dominant language in the regio is Ewe, closely followed by Twi. Most Logba people are bilingual in Ewe. South of the Logba area live the Avatime people. Logba is distantly related to Avatime and to the Nyagbo-Tafi languages south of Avatime. Ewe (pronounced /eβe/) is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three million people (Capo 1991). ... Twi (pronounced chwee) is a language spoken in Ghana by about 6 million people. ...

It is generally agreed that the Logba people are not the original inhabitants of the area they now reside in. There have been two hypotheses as to the origin of the Logba people. Heine (1968) proposed that the Logba are descendants from the makɔ́ people, having fled south after a defeat in the second half of the 18th century. However, the Logba people themselves relate that they have come together with the Gbe peoples from Ketu^[2]. The latter view is advanced also by Dorvlo (2004). Ketu - c. ...

Linguistic features

Logba has a nine vowel system with ATR vowel harmony. Vowel harmony in Logba is root-controlled, which means that the vowels of its nominal prefixes harmonize with the vowels of the root. Vowels are nasalized when they occur in the immediate environment of a nasal consonant. Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... In linguistics, a language is said to possess vowel harmony (also metaphony) when it has a phonological rule that requires all vowels in a word to belong to a single class. ...

Logba has a total of 23 consonants. A notable feature of Logba phonology is the opposition between bilabial and labio-dental fricatives, found in various other languages of the region, including Ewe. Logba is a tonal language with two level tones: High and Low. This tones can be combined on one syllable, yielding a Rising or Falling contour tone. A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... -1... The open-mid vowels make a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ... A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ... See also consonance in music. ... Ewe (pronounced /eβe/) is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana and Togo by approximately three million people (Capo 1991). ... Tone refers to the use of pitch in language to distinguish words. ...

All syllables are open in Logba. Every syllable bears a tone. The basic syllable structure can be rendered as (C₁)(C₂)V+T, where C = consonant, V = vowel or syllabic nasal, and T = tone. Dorvlo (2004) distinguishes three types of syllables: This article discusses the unit of speech. ...

1. Nucleus only, comprised of a vowel or a syllabic nasal. This type is found only in pronouns and nominal prefixes. Examples: ɛ́-mɔ́ 'they laughed'; ɔ́-zɔ́ 'he/she went'; n-dà 'liquor'.
2. Onset and nucleus. This is the most common syllabe type in Logba; most words are of this form. In multisyllabic words, it can occur in all positions. Examples: bà ‘come’; gbà^[3] ‘sweep’; bìsí ‘cola nut’
3. Complex onset and nucleus. Only /r/ and /l/ occur as the second consonant of the complex onset. This syllable type can also form a word by itself. In multisyllabic words, in can occur in all positions. Examples: à-klɔ́   ‘goat’; trò ‘refuse’; ìvàflí   ‘(thing) white’.

In phonetics and phonology, the nucleus is the central part of the syllable, mostly commonly a vowel. ... In phonetics and phonology, a syllable onset is the part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus. ...

Notes and references

Notes

The Gbe languages form a cluster of about 20 related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. ...

References

• Blench, Roger (2001). Comparative Central Togo: What have we learnt since Heine? (paper presented at the 32nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics and subsequently revised), 39p.
• Kropp Dakubu, M.E. & K.C. Ford (1988) 'The Central Togo Languages'. In: The Languages of Ghana, M.E. Kropp-Dakubu (ed.), 119–153. London: Kegan Paul International.
• Dorvlo, Kofi (2004). ‘A Preliminary Phonology of Logba’, in Kropp Dakubu & Osam (eds.) Studies in the Languages of the Volta Basin II (Proceedings of the annual colloquium of the Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project 12-13 January 2004). Legon: University of Ghana, pp. 239–249.
• Dorvlo, Kofi [unpublished 2005]. 'Agreement in Logba', talk at the 35th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics, Leiden, August 2005.
• Greenberg 1966 as cited in Dorvlo 2004
• Heine, Bernd (1968) Die Verbreitung und Gliedering der Togorestsprachen (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 1). Köln: Druckerei Wienand. [pp. 29–30, 100–101]
• Ladefoged, Peter (1964) A Phonetic Study of West African Languages (an auditory-instrumental survey). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [pp. 54]

External links

• Ethnologue report on Logba
• Logba on the Rosetta Project
• The Southern Ghana-Togo Mountain Groups: A description of their languages and cultural heritage. (CNWS research project).