Gola language

Gola is not closely related to other languages and appears to form its own branch of the Niger–Congo language family.Guillaume Segerer & Florian Lionnet 2010. [http://25images.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/player/player.php?id=72&id_sequence=431 "'Isolates' in 'Atlantic'"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331180907/http://25images.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/player/player.php?id=72&id_sequence=431 |date=March 31, 2012 }}. Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyon, Dec. 4 Previously, Fields (2004) had classified Gola as a Mel language most closely related to Bullom and Kisi.Fields, Edda L. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/4129008 Before "Baga": Settlement Chronologies of the Coastal Rio Nunez Region, Earliest Times to c.1000 CE]. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2004), pp. 229-253. Boston University African Studies Center.

According to Ethnologue, Gola is spoken in widespread regions across Liberia. It is spoken in Gbarpolu County, Grand Cape Mount County, and Lofa County (between the Mano River and Saint Paul River), as well as in inland areas of Bomi County and Montserrado County.

Dialects are Deng (Todii), Kongba, and Senje.

There are at least two tones: high and low. Middle, falling, and rising tones can also be found, but may be allophones conditioned by the presence certain consonants that have a lowering or raising effect on the pronunciation of the tone.

Multiple writing systems have been used to transcribe the Gola language. Until recently, the Vai script was used across Liberia and Sierra Leone.{{cite Q|Q86531772|page=29}}

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{{Languages of Liberia}}

{{Atlantic languages}}

{{Niger-Congo branches}}

Category:Atlantic languages

Category:Gola people

Category:Languages of Liberia

Category:Languages of Sierra Leone

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