Baoulé language (original) (raw)

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Language in Ivory Coast

Baoulé
wawle
Region Ivory Coast
Ethnicity Baoulé people
Native speakers 5.3 million (2021)[1]
Language family Niger–Congo? Atlantic–CongoVolta-CongoKwaPotou–TanoTanoCentral TanoBiaNorth BiaBaoulé
Writing system Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bci
Glottolog baou1238

Baoulé (native name: wawle), also known as Baule or Bawule,[_citation needed_] is a language spoken in central and southern Ivory Coast, including in the regions of Lacs, Lagunes, Gôh-Djiboua, Sassandra-Marahoué, Vallée du Bandama, Woroba, and Yamoussoukro, by approximately 5.3 million people.[1] It is a Kwa language of the Central Tano branch, forming a dialect continuum with Anyin and closely related to Nzema and Sehwi.[2] It is the common language of the Baoulé people, the largest ethnic group in Ivory Coast.[3]

Translations of the Bible

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In 1946, portions of the Bible translated into Baoulé were first published; the full New Testament followed in 1953.[4] The complete Bible was published first in 1998, by the Bible Society in Abidjan.

| | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -- | -- | | Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | kp | | voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | gb | | | Fricative | voiceless | f | s | | | | | voiced | v | z | | | | | | Nasal | m | n | ɲ | | | | | Lateral | | l | | | | | | Trill | | r | | | | | | Approximant | | | j | | w | |

| | Front | Central | Back | | | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------- | - | | Close | i | | u | | Close-mid | e | | o | | Open-mid | ɛ | | ɔ | | Open | | a | |

Of these vowels, five may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɛ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, and /ɔ̃/.[5][6]

Baoulé has five tones: high, low, mid, rising, and falling.[7]

Baoulé uses the following letters to indicate the following phonemes:[5]

Uppercase A B C D E Ɛ F G GB I J L K KP M N NY O Ɔ P S T U V W Y Z
Lowercase a b c d e ɛ f g gb i j l k kp m n ny o ɔ p s t u v w y z
Phoneme /a/ /b/ /c/ /d/ /e/ /ɛ/ /f/ /g/ /gb/ /i/ /ɟ/ /l/ /k/ /kp/ /m/ /n/ /ɲ/ /o/ /ɔ/ /p/ /s/ /t/ /u/ /v/ /w/ /j/ /z/
  1. ^ a b Baoulé at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Koffi, Ettien N'da (1990). The interface between phonology and morpho(phono)logy in the standardization of Anyi orthography (PDF).
  3. ^ "Baoulé". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
  4. ^ Project, Joshua. "Baule in Côte d'Ivoire". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  5. ^ a b "Système alphabétique de la langue baoulé". Retrieved 2017-01-29.
  6. ^ Kouadio N'guessan, Jérémie; Kouame, Kouakou (2004). Parlons baoulé: langue et culture de la Côte d'Ivoire. Paris: L'Harmattan.
  7. ^ "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2020-01-03.

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