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The Dagbani orthography employed in the text has been standardized to the system employed by the translators of the Assemblies of God New Testament Revision Committee. The Introduction provides a description and rationale for that decision.
The Dagbani orthography in the text employs five phonetic characters:
ɣ pronounced as a guttural “g,” a velar fricative like the ending sound of “Bach”
In words ending with -ɣu, such as “Ashaɣu” or “Bimbiɛɣu,” the stress is normally on the end of the word; for English-speakers not used to the gutteral “g,” the sound resembles a final “l” as in “awl.”
Ŋ, ŋ pronounced as “ng” in “tongue” or “singer” (NOT as in “finger”)
At the beginning of words and when followed by a vowel, the sound is closer to “nw”; for English-speakers, for example, an approximate pronunciation “Ŋun’ da’ nyuli” would be “Nwun-da-nyuli.”
Ʒ, ʒ pronounced as soft “zh” as in “measure” or as a French “j”
ɛ pronounced as “eh”, a short “e” as in “any”
ɔ pronounced as “o” in “ought”, a short “o”
Because the Dagbani language has been transliterated phonetically, readers unfamiliar with the pronunciation of African languages can follow several ideas:
Pronounce all vowels and consonants evenly. The general rule is that where possible, medial syllables end with the vowel sounds, as in French. Thus “Dagbamba” is pronounced: “Da - gba - mba.”
The differences among Dagbani vowels, particularly shortened ones, are often difficult to distinguish in practice, and the ambiguities are often reflected in different orthographic sources.
Doubled vowels are pronounced the same as single vowels, but the sound is extended.
At the end of words, an apostrophe indicates an elided vowel. For example, “Sambani luŋa” becomes “Samban’ luŋa.”
With regard to doubled consonants in the text:
Diagraphs like “gb,” “kp,” “ŋm,” “mp,” or “mb” are implosive.
In Dagbani, some other doubled consonants are pronounced as if an elided (epenthetic) neutral vowel is inserted between the first consonant and any succeeding consonant. For example, frequently after “r,” “l,” “b,” “ɣ,” the epenthetic vowel precedes any succeeding consonant. Thus the consonant cluster is pronounced with a slight medial roll, as in “athlete” or “jewelry.” In spoken Dagbani, a word like “Garba” is pronounced with a slight roll on the “r,” almost as “Garaba”; “yɛlga,” is pronounced with a slight roll on the “l,” almost as “yɛliga,” Other examples are words like “kurli,” “sabli,” “kpalgu,” or “dɔɣri.”
Some orthographic systems, as noted above, insert an epenthetic “i,” although in such representations the “i” is short and is not emphasized in pronunciation.
With particular regard to the names of places, Dagbani place-names are often inconsistent with spellings on maps and other sources using the English alphabet, spellings which themselves vary based on interpretations of Dagbani pronunciation. The text generally relies on the current Ghanaian spelling, although historical locations such as “Yɔɣu” and “Yiwɔɣu” are consistent with Dagbani. An attached file gives Dagbani and current spellings of some places mentioned in the text.
Of particular significance, “Dagbon” is spelled without phonetic characters; it should be pronounced “Dagbɔŋ.”
Other compromises for English readers involve some compound words. Although signifiers like “kpɛma” (“the elder”) should be attached to a name (as in “bakpɛma” for “senior father”), to avoid confusion we have divided several chiefs’ and elders’ names into two words. Thus “Naa Mahamankpɛma” is represented as “Naa Mahaman Kpɛma”; “Naa Mahamambila” is represented as “Naa Mahamam Bila”; “Subekpɛma” is represented as “Subee Kpɛma”; and so on. More frequently, the compounded form is maintained. Examples are “Nanton-Naa Alaasambila” and “Naa Zombila” and “Naa Abilabila.”
Also for clarity are the distinctions among the three uses of Naa Abilaai, who are also distinguished as Naa Abilaai (Naɣbiɛɣu), Naa Abudu (Saŋmar’ Gɔŋ), and Naa Abilabila.
Similar to the treatment of place names, and to avoid confusion, we have also occasionally used differing but conventional spellings for what are basically the same names.
Plural conventions are followed in most Dagbani words and expressions; however, we have made some compromises for English readers with regard to English plural forms for several frequently used words, for example: “tindanas” instead of “tindaannima” or ‘tindamba”; guŋgɔŋs instead of “guŋgɔŋa.”
In other cases, we have substituted widely-used West African forms such as “maalam” and “maalams” for the Dagbani “afa” and “afannima.”