Dictionnaire Ninkare

Discover the language ninkare / frafra through his words and colors. Great!

Trilingual ninkare / farefare dictionary - French-English

By clicking on the "search" button (the small magnifying glass at the top right), a window opens and you can type words in Ninkare, French or English. Type "search" and a new window will display the results. Select the word you want to consult closely, and a new window will open on your screen.

Foreword

The term ‘Frafra’ is often used to refer to a set of dialects which is made up of the following subgroups: Gurene, Nankani, Booni and Ninkare. Between these different languages ​​there is a very high degree of mutual understanding.

The dialect spoken in Burkina Faso is called Ninkare. It is quite close to farefare (gurenne gold / gurune spoken in neighboring Ghana), dagaare and mooré, in addition ninkare has appeared in Kusaal (also spoken in Burkina Faso and Ghana). Even the dagbani and the mampruli are close "linguistic cousins". In Burkina Faso, the geographically close languages ​​of Ninkare are Kassem in the west, Bisa in the north and east.

The Ninkãrɛ language is an oti-volta language which has been classified in the western group of the Gur subfamily. Ninkãrɛ or frafra (also called gʋrnɛ or 'gurenne' and nankam) is spoken by around 500,000 speakers in Ghana and around 30,000 people in Burkina Faso. In Ghana there are 4 dialects. There is only one to speak of, however, with few dialect differences in Burkina Faso.

In Burkina Faso, the people concerned agree to take the language of Guélwongo, the commercial center of the region, as standard for the written language. The spelling is different from that of Ghana because of the national alphabet which is different and because the Ninkãrsɩ of Burkina have developed their own spelling according to the conventions of the country.

The same dictionary can be viewed online at the following website:

https://www.webonary.org/ninkare/

Ninkare books can be downloaded from the following website:

https://frafra-ninkare.com/fr/bienvenue-sur-le-site-ninkare

A version of this same dictionary for free download on Windows computer with around 3700 audio files is available from the following website:

https://frafra-ninkare.com/fr/bienvenue-sur-le-site-ninkare

Frafra / Gurne - French - English dictionary

To search an item, just click on the small search icon on the top right and a search window will appear. Type the word (in Ninkare / Frafra / Gurne, French or English) you are looking for into the search field and click "search". A new window with the search results will open and you can find your dictionary entry.

The term ‘Frafra’ is often used to designate the cluster of dialects of which Gurene, Nankani, Booni and Ninkare are members. There is a considerable degree of mutual intelligibility among these dialects.

The dialect spoken in Burkina Faso, called Ninkare is most closely related to Farefare (or Gurenne / Gurune spoken in neighboring Ghana), Dagaare and Moore, but is also related to Kusaal (also spoken in Burkina Faso and in Ghana), and to Dagbani and Mampruli. In Burkina Faso, the neighboring language to the west is Kasem, with Bissa to the north and east. In Ghana, the neighboring languages ​​are Buli, Kusaal and Mampruli.

The Ninkare region in Burkina Faso is located in the country's south-eastern corner, in the province of Nahouri, about 200 km from Ouagadougou. However, the great majority (over 90%) of this ethnic group is found in northern Ghana.

The traditional religion continues to have a very strong influence among the Ninkarse. Christianity and Islam were only introduced after the middle of the 20th century.

Terms used to refer to the language and its speakers are:

Ninkãrɛ - the language

Ninkãrga - a person who speaks Ninkare

Ninkãrsɩ - people who speak Ninkare

Ninkɔrŋɔ - the homeland of the Ninkarse