Mossi language

Not to be confused with Old Moshi language or Moré language (Bolivia).
Mossi
Mooré
Native to Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Togo
Ethnicity Mossi
Native speakers
7.6 million (2007)[1]
Niger–Congo
Language codes
ISO 639-2 mos
ISO 639-3 mos
Glottolog moss1236[2]

Majority areas of Mossi speakers, in pink, on a map of Burkina Faso.
Person Moaaga
People Moose
Language Mòoré

The Mossi language (known in the language as Mooré; also Mòoré, Mõõré, Moré, Moshi, Moore, More) is one of two official regional languages of Burkina Faso, closely related to the Frafra language spoken just across the border in the northern half of Ghana and less-closely to Dagbani and Mampruli further south. It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 5 million people in Burkina Faso, plus another 60,000+ in Mali and Togo.

Phonology

The Mossi language consists of the following sounds:[3]

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Occlusives Unvoiced p t k ʔ
Voiced b d ɡ
Nasal m n
Fricatives Voiceless f s h
Voiced v z
Liquid l / r
Semivowels w j

Remark:

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ ʊ
Close-mid e o
Open a

Remark:

Orthography

In Burkina Faso, the Mossi alphabet uses the letters specified in the national Burkinabé alphabet.

burkinabe mossi alphabet
A ʼ B D E Ɛ F G H I Ɩ K L M N O P R S T U Ʋ V W Y Z
a ʼ b d e ɛ f g h i ɩ k l m n o p r s t u ʋ v w y z
Phonetic values
a ʔ b d e ɛ f ɡ h i j k l m n o p r s t u ʊ v w j z

See also

References

  1. Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mossi". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Cf. Kabore (1985) : (p.44) for the consonants, (p.85-86) for the vowels.

Learning materials

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mooré phrasebook.
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