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Dagbani was an unwritten language, and because written Dagbani is still not standardized, readers may encounter Dagbani written differently in other contexts. Nonetheless, because Dagbani orthography has been variously developed by transcribing its sounds into the Roman alphabet with a few added phonetic characters, readers should be able to pronounce most Dagbani words and names from the way they are written. The Introduction provides a description and rationale for the Dagbani orthography in A Drummer's Testament, and this page provides several general ideas as a practical guide to pronouncing the Dagbani words in the text.
Written Dagbani employs five phonetic characters that may be unfamiliar to readers:
ɛ pronounced as “eh,” a short “e” as in “any” or “pet”
ɔ pronounced as a short “o” as in “all” or “walk”
ɣ pronounced as a guttural “g”
The sound of the letter ɣ is familiar to English-speakers through adopted foreign words. Examples are the ending sound of “Bach,” the Scottish “loch” as in “Loch Ness,” or the beginning of the Yiddish “chutzpah.” The sound is somewhat throaty or gravelly, made by pushing air through a narrow gap at the back of the mouth. It is therefore sometimes described as a guttural “g” as opposed to a hard or soft “g.”
In words ending with -ɣu, such as “Ashaɣu” or “Bimbiɛɣu,” English-speakers can approximate the sound as in “awl,” “haul,” or “growl.”
Ŋ, ŋ pronounced as “ng” in “tongue” or “singer” (not with a hard “g” as in “finger”)
The sound of “ŋ” is produced at the back of the mouth. If one quickly says a phrase like “sung a song,” the “ng-a” sound gives an idea: the tongue pulls back almost as if to swallow but stops to say the “ŋ” with a nasal quality.
Ʒ, ʒ pronounced as soft “zh” as in “measure,” “vision,” or “rouge”
One should try to pronounce all vowels and consonants. 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 representations.
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.”
Digraphs
Digraphs like “gb,” “kp,” “ŋm,” “mp,” and “mb” represent single, unified sounds rather than two consonants pronounced one after another.
To pronounce “kp” and “gb,” the lips and the back of the throat close together and then open together, producing a single, explosive pop as they release.
To pronounce “mb,” “mp,” and “ŋm,” a brief nasal hum leads directly into the consonant that follows, functioning as a launching point rather than a separate syllable.
Consonant Clusters
In Dagbani, certain consonant clusters — often those following “r,” “l,” “b,” or “ɣ” — are pronounced with a brief, unstressed sound bridging the two consonants. This added sound, called an epenthetic sound, is an artifact of pronunciation. It arises naturally as the tongue moves quickly from one consonant to the next. English speakers produce the same effect in words like “athlete,” “world,” “jewelry,” “problem,” “film,” and “realtor.”
Thus a word like “Garba” is pronounced with a brief transitional sound on the “r”; “yɛlga” carries the same transitional sound on the “l.” Other examples are “kurli,” “sabli,” “kpalgu,” and “dɔɣri.”
Some Dagbani orthographic systems represent this transitional sound as a vowel, often as a full “i.” However, the sound is not a vowel in the ordinary sense, for it does not carry an independent syllable of its own. A Drummer's Testament does not represent the epenthetic sound in writing because doing so might lead readers unfamiliar with Dagbani to pronounce an extra, unintended syllable.
With particular regard to the names of places, spoken Dagbani place-names, regardless of variations in dialect, are often inconsistent with spellings on maps and other sources that use the Roman alphabet and avoid phonetic characters. The text generally relies on the current Ghanaian spelling, although historical locations such as “Yɔɣu” and “Yiwɔɣu” are consistent with Dagbani.
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,” “Naa Zombila,” and “Naa Abilabila.”
Also for clarity are the distinctions among the three uses of Naa Abilaai, who are distinguished as Naa Abilaai (Naɣbiɛɣu), Naa Abudu (Setaŋ' Kuɣli), and Naa Abilabila (Saŋmar' Gɔŋ).
Similar to the treatment of place names, and to avoid confusion about different persons, we have also occasionally used differing but conventional spellings for what are basically the same names. As is appropriate, we have also written names as pronounced or the way the persons themselves have written or said them. Readers will see such examples as “Alaasan” and “Alhassan,” “Abilaai” and “Abdulai,” “Sumani” and “Simaani,” “Bukari” and “Abukari,” and “Fuseini” and “Fusheni.”
Plural conventions are followed in many 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.”