The Gbe languages form a cluster of about 20 related languages
stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria.
The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and
eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe, followed by
Fon. The Gbe languages belong to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo
languages, and break up into five major dialect clusters: Ewe, Fon,
Aja, Gen, and Phla-Pherá. In the late 18th century, many speakers of
Gbe were enslaved and transported to the New World, causing Gbe
languages to play a role in the genesis of several Caribbean creole
languages. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Africanist
Diedrich Hermann Westermann was one of the most prolific contributors
to the study of Gbe. The first internal classification of the Gbe
languages was published in 1988 by H.B. Capo, followed by a
comparative phonology in 1991. The Gbe languages are tonal, isolating
languages and the basic word order is Subject Verb Object.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gbe_languages
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1533:
King Henry VIII of England was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England)
1798:
The United States Marine Corps was established.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps)
1804:
U.S. statesman Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded in a duel with
Aaron Burr.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton)
1811:
Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro published his memoir about molecular
content of gases.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Avogadro)
1859:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was published.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities)
1921:
The Irish War of Independence ended with a truce between the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish Republican Army.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_War)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men
honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." -- John
Quincy Adams
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams)