Ghana–Togo Mountain languages

Kwa language group of West Africa

The Ghana–Togo Mountain languages, formerly called Togorestsprachen (Togo Remnant languages) and Central Togo languages, form a grouping of about fourteen languages spoken in the mountains of the Ghana–Togo borderland. They are part of the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo family.

Bernhard Struck, in 1912, was the first to group together these languages under the label Semibantu von Mitteltogo. Westermann, in his classification of the then Sudanic languages, adopted the grouping but called it Togorestsprachen. This was mainly a loose geographical typological grouping based on the elaborate noun class systems of the languages; lack of comparative data prevented a more definitive phylogenetic classification. Bernd Heine (1968) carried out comparative research among the group, establishing a basic division between Ka Togo and Na Togo based on the word for 'flesh' in the languages. Dakubu and Ford (1988) renamed this cluster the Central Togo languages, a term still used by some (e. g. Blench 2001); since the mid 90s, the term Ghana–Togo Mountain languages has become more common. No comparative study of the languages has appeared in print since Heine (1968); Blench (unpublished) presented a tentative reclassification of the group in 2001, noting the internal diversity of the grouping. It is still unclear whether the grouping forms a branch on its own within Kwa.

A characteristic of these languages is their Niger–Congo noun class system, since in many surrounding languages only remnants of such a system are found. All Ghana–Togo Mountain languages are tonal and most have a nine or ten vowel system employing ATR vowel harmony. Both Ewe and Twi, the dominant regional languages, have exerted considerable influence on many GTM languages.