Frafra Alphabet

Frafra is written in the Latin alphabet, in this order: A B D E Ɛ F G H I K L M N Ŋ O Ɔ P R S T U V W Y Z, each with a capital and a small form. Three letters go beyond English: Ɛ ɛ (open e) comes right after e, Ŋ ŋ (eng) after n, and Ɔ ɔ (open o) after o, so in a Frafra word list words with ɛ follow all the words with e. Letters such as q and x are not part of the alphabet and turn up only in English names and loanwords kept in their English spelling.

The name of the main dialect shows the alphabet at work: Gurenɛ ends in an open e, and it is often written Gurune or Gurene without the ɛ. The language itself is also called Farefare, the cover name linguists use for the whole group of dialects, while Frafra is the name most Ghanaians use in English.

Frafra is a tonal language: the pitch of a syllable can change which word it is. Like the other written languages of Ghana, its everyday spelling does not mark tones with accents, so the alphabet needs no accented letters. A straight apostrophe ' is used inside some words to mark a short catch in the voice between two vowels, and it counts as part of the spelling, not as punctuation.

What ɛ, ɔ and ŋ sound like in Frafra

Frafra has more vowel sounds than the five Latin vowel letters, and ɛ and ɔ fill the gap. Plain e is a close e, near the vowel of French été, while ɛ is the open e of English bed. Plain o is a close o, near the o of go, while ɔ is the open o of British law. Because the two can tell words apart, writing ɛ as e or ɔ as o is a spelling mistake, not a matter of style.

ŋ is the ng of English sing. The same three letters are used by Dagbani, Kusaal and the other written languages of northern Ghana, and by Ga and Ewe in the south; Akan uses ɛ and ɔ but writes the velar nasal /ŋ/ as n.

Watch the look-alikes when you copy: ɛ (Latin small letter open e, U+025B) is not the Greek ε epsilon or the euro sign €, and ɔ (Latin small letter open o, U+0254) is not a reversed c ↄ. Text typed with a look-alike looks almost right but breaks search, spell-checking and sorting. The capitals Ɛ (U+0190) and Ɔ (U+0186) are separate characters too.

How to type ɛ, ɔ and ŋ on a phone and computer

On a phone, the quickest way is a Ghanaian-language keyboard with support for all three letters; for example, Keyman’s Ghana keyboard provides ɛ, ɔ and ŋ through key combinations. You can also copy the letters straight from this page and paste them; in chat some people write 3 for ɛ and c for ɔ, but the real letters are far easier to read.

On Windows, in Microsoft Word or WordPad type the code and press Alt+X: 025B gives ɛ and 0190 Ɛ, 0254 gives ɔ and 0186 Ɔ, 014B gives ŋ and 014A Ŋ. On a Mac, press Control+Command+Space to open the Character Viewer and search for open e, open o or eng.

In HTML, write ɛ for ɛ, Ɛ for Ɛ, ɔ for ɔ, Ɔ for Ɔ, and ŋ or Ŋ for ŋ and Ŋ. The cedi sign ₵ is 20B5 then Alt+X in Word, or ₵ in HTML.

Where the Frafra language is spoken

Frafra is spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana, in and around Bolgatanga, the regional capital, and in Bongo, Zuarungu, Sirigu, Tongo and the farming villages between them; CLDR lists about 1.2 million speakers in Ghana. Its dialects include Gurenɛ, the speech of Bolgatanga and Bongo and the best known, Nankani to the west towards Navrongo, and the closely related speech of the Talensi around Tongo and of the Nabdam, which are often counted with it. The language continues across the border into southern Burkina Faso.

Frafra belongs to the Gur languages, in the same Oti-Volta branch as Mossi (Mooré) of Burkina Faso, Dagbani, Kusaal and Dagaare, so many related words turn up in these neighbouring languages. It is taught in schools in the Upper East, broadcast on Bolgatanga radio, and sung in Frafra gospel music and in the kologo music of the region.

For money, Frafra speakers use the Ghana cedi: prices are written GH₵ 20 or, with the easier cent sign, GH¢ 20. For other alphabets of Ghana see the Akan, Ga, Ewe, Adangme, Nzima and Abron collections, for the neighbouring language across the border see Mossi, and for the flag, the cedi and the country's emoji see Ghana.

Bolga baskets, Sirigu murals and Frafra emoji

A few emoji belong to Frafra life as naturally as its letters. 🧺 stands for the Bolga basket, the brightly coloured basket woven by hand from elephant grass in Bolgatanga and the villages around it and sold far beyond Ghana. 🎨 and 🛖 fit Sirigu, the Frafra village near Bolgatanga where women decorate the walls of their compound houses with bold black, white and red earth-coloured patterns.

🪕 is the nearest emoji to the kologo, the two-string lute of the Upper East heard in the songs of musicians such as King Ayisoba. 🪨 is for the Tongo Hills, the granite boulders of the Talensi country, where the Golob festival is held before the planting season, and 🌾 for the millet and sorghum harvest. 👑 fits the chiefs, the naba, such as the Bolga Naba of Bolgatanga. Add 🇬🇭 and the message is complete.