Mooré is a Gur language of the Oti–Volta branch and one of four official languages of Burkina Faso. It is the language of the Mossi people, spoken by approximately 6.46 million people in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Niger, Mali, Togo, and Senegal as a native language, but with many more L2 speakers. Mooré is spoken as a first or second language by over 50% of the Burkinabé population and is the main language in the capital city of Ouagadougou.

It is closely related to Frafra, and less related to Dagbani.

The Lord's Prayer in Mooré translation (Church of the Pater Noster)
Blackboard with text in Mooré, including use of the letter Ʋ (v with hook)

Phonology

The Mooré language consists of the following sounds:[full citation needed]

Consonants

Mooré consonant phonemes
LabialAlveolarPostalveolar / palatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmnɲ
Stopvoicelessptkʔ
voicedbdɡ
Fricativevoicelessfsh
voicedvz
Liquidr
Approximantljw

Remark:

  • The semivowel /j/ ⟨y⟩ is pronounced [ɲ] (palatal nasal) in front of nasal vowels.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closecloseiu
near-closeɪʊ
Close-mideo
Opena

Notes:

  • All vowels (other than /e/ and /o/) can also be nasalized.
  • All vowels (oral and nasal) can be short or long.
  • Other linguists include the vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/; here, they are analysed as diphthongs, (/ɛ/ is considered to be ea and /ɔ/ is considered to be oa).

Orthography

In Burkina Faso, the Mooré alphabet uses the letters specified in the national Burkinabé alphabet. It can also be written with the newly-devised Goulsse alphabet.

Burkinabé Mooré alphabet
AʼBDEƐFGHİƖKLMNOPRSTUƲVWYZ
aʼbdeɛfghiɩklmnoprstuʋvwyz
Phonetic values
aʔbdeɛfɡhiɪklmnoprstuʊvwjz

See also

External links

Learning materials

  • Protestant Mission, Assemblies of God. . Ouagadougou, Upper Volta: World Digital Library.