A cluster of languages in the mountains bordering Ghana and Togo has resisted attempts to fully relate the languages to each other. All are under pressure from adjacent, larger languages and may disappear before linguists can sort out the history embedded in these relationships. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. James Essegbey of the University of Florida will undertake an extensive language documentation project that will help unravel these mysteries. In the process, an invaluable collection of material on a seldom-studied language will be amassed and digitally archived. Spontaneous materials of various sorts will be recorded, but Essegbey will also elicit overt judgments on grammaticality and meaning that will help show the full workings of this unusual language. For example, it is one of only a few Kwa languages to have an active noun classification system, so typical of Bantu languages.
This project will dovetail with efforts by the Ghana-Togo Mountain Languages Working Group and with another documentation effort on related languages coming from the University of Leiden. Members of the Nyangbo community will be trained in the transcription process and will gain general linguistic expertise. A primer is planned, and it is hoped that that plus an on-going dictionary project will lead to the development of didactic material for the language. The materials obtained in this project will be of great use in any language effort the community decides to make.
