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Moba language

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Moba
Moba–Bimoba
Native toTogo, Ghana, Burkina Faso
EthnicityMoba/Bimoba
Native speakers
440,000 (2004–2012)[1]
Dialects
  • Moba
  • Bimoba
Latin (Moba alphabet)
Moba Braille
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
mfq – Moba
bim – Bimoba
Glottologmoba1243

Moba or Bimoba is a Niger-Congo language spoken by the Moba people of Togo and Ghana. There are also some Moba speakers in Burkina Faso. It has two dialects (Moba in Togo and Burkina Faso and Bimoba in Ghana). The language cluster is also known as Moba–Bimoba.

Classification

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Moba-Bimoba is a Gur language, a subset of the proposed Niger-Congo language family. It, along with Bassari and Konkomba/Likpakpaln, is part of the Gurma (or Mabia) subgroup of Gur languages.[2][3]

Moba is spoken by the Moba people. It is spoken by the Moba people in northern Ghana and Togo.[4]: 77 [5]: 332  There are also some Moba speakers in the central plateau of Burkina Faso.[6]: 414 

Moba is a relatively important and vigorous language in Togo. It was one of the first four languages used for literacy training by Togo's government, and as of 2024, remains one of ten languages used for this purpose.[7]: 397, 399  Ethnologue lists Moba as stable, but the Bimoba dialect as endangered.[8][9]

Phonology

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Bimoba has twenty-two consonants and six vowels.[10]

Consonants

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The singly-articulated consonants of Bimoba are listed below.

Consonant phonemes
  Bilabial Labio-
dental 		Alveolar Post-
alveolar
(Palato-
alveolar) 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p b     t d     k ɡ  
Affricate         tʃ dʒ            
Fricative f s h
Nasal   m     n       ɲ   ŋ    
Trill           r                
Approximant               j      
Lateral approximant           l            

The Bimoba dialect also has four doubly-articulated consonants, all of which involve labial and velar occlusions. One is the labiovelar approximant /w/, and the other three are the voiced and voiceless stops (/gb/, /kp/) and voiced nasal /ŋm/.[10]

Vowels

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Chanard lists six vowels in Bimoba.[10] Moba has both oral and nasal vowels, and has a distinction between long and short vowels.[11]

Monophthong phonemes
  Front Back
unrounded rounded
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɔ
Open a

Tones

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Moba is a tonal language, with four tones. It exhibits downstep, meaning that the second of two consecutive identical tones is slightly lowered compared to the first. Tone patterns also form the core of a whistled language based on Moba.[12]

Moba is a register tone language, like other Gur languages, but it incorporates a fourth, extrahigh tone in addition to the three-level high, middle, low tone system of most other Gur languages. (Bariba is another Gur four-tone language.) The fourth tone appears to have been a result of segmental attrition in Moba compared to its sister languages. Specifically, Moba lost final vowels that other languages retained:[13]: 74, 84 

Cognates between Gulmancema and Moba
Gulmancema tone Gulmancema word Moba word Moba tone
high-low /kándì/ /ka̋nt/ extrahigh
high-high /kándí/ /kánt/ high

In three-tone Gur languages, the underlying high tone is pronounced higher before a low tone than before a high tone, though this difference is not contrastive. Moba lost the second syllable (and thus the second tone) but retained the phonetic distinction between extrahigh and high tones, and has grammaticalized that difference as a fourth tone.[13]: 74 

Grammar

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Moba is an SVO language, like English. It has both a noun class system and a verb class system. Most Moba morphemes are monosyllabic.[4]: 79  Negation generally occurs before the verb, but is placed clause-finally in some constructions.[5]: 332 

Writing system

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Bimoba alphabet (SIL)[10]
All letters correspond to IPA unless noted
a b ch /tʃ/ d e f g gb h i j /dʒ/ k kp l m n ny /ɲ/ ŋ ŋm o ɔ p r s t u w y /j/
Moba alphabet (Peace Corps Togo)[11]
a ã b c d e ẽ ɛ ɛ̃ f g h i ĩ ɩ ɩ̃ j k l m n ŋ o õ ɔ ɔ̃ p s t r u v w y

References

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  1. ^ Moba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Bimoba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Moba-Bimoba". Glottolog 5.2. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  3. ^ Bisilki, Abraham Kwesi (3 July 2025). "Online linguistic landscaping and indigenous languages in multilingual Ghana". International Journal of Multilingualism. 22 (3): 1794–1819. doi:10.1080/14790718.2025.2465601. ISSN 1479-0718. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b Snider, Keith L. (August 1998). "Phonetic realisation of downstep in Bimoba". Phonology. 15 (1): 77–101. doi:10.1017/S0952675798003534. ISSN 1469-8188. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b Dryer, Matthew S. (2009). "Verb-object-negative order in central Africa". In Cyffer, Norbert; Ebermann, Erwin; Ziegelmeyer, Georg (eds.). Negation Patterns in West African Languages and Beyond. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-0668-8. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  6. ^ Ouédraogo, Cheick Félix Bobodo (2024). "Linguistic Policy in Burkina Faso". The Palgrave Handbook of Language Policies in Africa. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 405–435. ISBN 978-3-031-57308-8. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  7. ^ Mouzou, Palakyem (2024). "Diachronic View of the Language Policy in Togo". The Palgrave Handbook of Language Policies in Africa. Springer International Publishing. pp. 385–404. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_19. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Moba Language (MFQ)". Ethnologue. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  9. ^ "Bimoba Language (BIM)". Ethnologue. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d Chanard, Christian (2006). "Langue : bimoba". Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines d'après Alphabets des langues africaines Unesco-SIL 1993 (in French). Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  11. ^ a b Moba OPL Workbook (Oral Proficiency Learning) (PDF). Peace Corps Togo. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  12. ^ Rialland, Annie (2005). "Phonological and phonetic aspects of whistled languages". Phonology. 22 (2): 237–271. doi:10.1017/S0952675705000552. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  13. ^ a b Clements, G. N.; Rialland, Annie (2007). "Africa as a phonological area" (PDF). A Linguistic Geography of Africa. pp. 36–85. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511486272.004. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
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