Dan language

"Yacouba" redirects here. For the ethnic group, see Dan people. For the name, see Yacouba (name).

Dan /ˈdæn/^[2] is a Southern Mande language spoken primarily in Ivory Coast (~800,000 speakers) and Liberia (150,000–200,000 speakers). There is also a population of about 800 speakers in Guinea. Dan is a tonal language, with 9 to 11 contour and register tones, depending on the dialect.

Dan
Yacouba
dàn, ꞊daanwo, daã̀
Native to	Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Liberia
Ethnicity	Dan people
Native speakers	1.6 million (2012)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Mande Eastern Mande Southeastern Mano–Dan Guro–Dan Tura–Dan Dan
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: dnj – Dan lda – Kla
Glottolog	dann1241
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

A Dan speaker, recorded in Liberia.

Alternative names for the language include Yacouba or Yakubasa, Gio, Gyo, Gio-Dan, and Da. Dialects are Gio (Liberian Dan), Gweetaawu (Eastern Dan), Blowo (Western Dan), and Kla. Kla is evidently a distinct language.

Phonology

A sillable is minimally /V/ or /ŋ/, and maximally /ClVV/ or /ClVŋ/.

Vowels

Vowels^[3]: 451

	Front	Central		Back
		Unrd.	Rnd.	Unrd.	Rnd.
Close	i			ɯ	u
Near-close	ɪ			ɯ̽	ʊ
Close-mid	e		ɵ	ɤ	o
Mid		ə
Open-mid	ɛ			ʌ	ɔ
Open	æ			ɑ	ɒ
Syllabic		ŋ̍

Color coding:

Only in Eastern Dan when in the position of extra-high tone

Only in Liberian Dan

Nasal sounds in Eastern Dan^[3]: 451

	Front	Back
		Unrd.	Rnd.
Close	ĩ	ɯ̃	ũ
Open-mid	ɛ̃	ʌ̃	ɔ̃
Open	æ̃	ɑ̃	ɒ̃

Consonants

Consonants^[3]: 451

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Labial- velar	Glottal
					plain	lab.
Nasal		m[a]	n[a]	ɲ[a]	ŋ	ŋʷ[a]	ɡ͡m[a]
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ	k͡p
	voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ	ɡ͡b
Implosive		ɓ	ɗ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s		x			h
	voiced	v	z
Approximant				j		w
Lateral			l
Trill			(r)

1. Nasal consonant sounds mainly occur when phonemes /ɓ, ɗ, j, w, ɡ͡b/ are in nasal positions.

Only in Liberian Dan

Not in Western Dan

Not in Liberian Dan

• all consonants are nasalized in nasal feet
• /ŋ/ occurs only as a syllable or a syllable coda and has been treated as a vowel. it carries tone.
• /l/ is heard as [r] when preceded by alveolar or palatal consonants.
• Consonant combinations /sl, zl/ are heard as lateral fricative sounds [ɬ, ɮ].^[3]

Tones

Dan has four to five level tones, depending on the variety, with level and contour tones.

Writing system

The orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:^[4][5]

Dan alphabet (Liberia)
A	B	Ɓ	D	Ɗ	E	Ɛ	F	G	GB	H	I	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	NW	NY	Ŋ	O	Ɔ	Ə	Ɵ	P	R	S	T	U	Ɥ	V	W	X	Y	Z
a	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ɛ	f	g	gb	h	i	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	nw	ny	ŋ	o	ɔ	ə	ɵ	p	r	s	t	u	ɥ	v	w	x	y	z
IPA value
a	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ɛ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	h	i	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	ŋʷ	ɲ	ŋ	o	ɔ	ə	ɵ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	v	w	x	j	z

Dan West alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire)
A	AƆ	B	BH	D	DH	E	Ɛ	Ë	ƐA	F	G	GB	GW	I	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	NG	O	Ɔ	Ö	P	R	S	T	U	Ü	V	W	Y	Z
a	aɔ	b	bh	d	dh	e	ɛ	ë	ɛa	f	g	gb	gw	i	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	ng	o	ɔ	ö	p	r	s	t	u	ü	v	w	y	z
IPA value
a	ɒ	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ɛ	ʌ	æ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	gʷ	i	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	ŋ	o	ɔ	ɤ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	v	w	j	z

Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 1982
A	AƆ	B	BH	D	DH	E	Ë	Ɛ	ƐA	F	G	GB	GW	H	I	Ɩ	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	O	Ö	Ɔ	P	R	S	T	U	Ü	Ʋ	Ʋ̈	V	W	Y	Z
a	aɔ	b	bh	d	dh	e	ë	ɛ	ɛa	f	g	gb	gw	h	i	ɩ	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	o	ö	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ü	ʋ	ʋ̈	v	w	y	z
IPA value
a	ɒ	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ʌ	ɛ	æ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	gʷ	h	i	ɪ	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	o	ɤ	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	ʊ	ʉ	v	w	j	z

Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 2014
A	Œ	B	BH	D	DH	E	Ʌ	Ɛ	Æ	F	G	GB	GW	H	I	Ɩ	K	KP	KW	L	M	N	O	Ɤ	Ɔ	P	R	S	T	U	Ɯ	Ʋ	V	W	Y	Z
a	œ	b	bh	d	dh	e	ʌ	ɛ	æ	f	g	gb	gw	h	i	ɩ	k	kp	kw	l	m	n	o	ɤ	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	ʋ	v	w	y	z
IPA value
a	ɒ	b	ɓ	d	ɗ	e	ʌ	ɛ	æ	f	ɡ	ɡ͡b	ɡʷ	h	i	ɪ	k	k͡p	kʷ	l	m	n	o	ɤ	ɔ	p	r	s	t	u	ɯ	ʊ	v	w	j	z

Tones are marked as follows: extra high tone: a̋; high tone: á; medium tone: ā; low tone: à; extra low tone: ȁ; high drop tone: â; extra low hanging tone: aʼ.

The digraphs ⟨bh, dh, gb gw, kp, kw⟩ keep the same values as in the spelling of 1982, and the nasal vowels are also indicated by appending the letter n after the letter of the vowel ⟨an, æn, ʌn, ɛn, in, ɔn, œn, un⟩.