Cerma

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A language of Burkina Faso

ISO 639-3
cme
Alternate Names
Gouin, Gwe, Gwen, Kirma
Population

61,400 in Burkina Faso (1991). Population total all countries: 63,100.

Location

Comoé Province, north of Ouagadougou along main road to Banfora. Also in Côte d’Ivoire.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, North, Gur, Central, Southern, Kirma-Tyurama
Dialects

Banfora-Sienena, Gouindougouba, Niangoloko-Diarabakoko, Soubakanedougou. The Gouindougouba dialect is spoken in 1 or 2 villages. Turka [tuz] is the most similar language, but not inherently intelligible.

Typology

SVO; postpositions, articles, numerals, relatives after noun heads; question word final; no more than one affix per word; word order distinguishes objects and indirect objects; verb changes with tense and aspect; causatives by sentence order; comparatives; CV, CVC, CVV, VV, V; tonal

Language Use

All ages. Most also use Jula [dyu] or French [fra].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 12%. Literacy rate in L2: 15% Jula [dyu] or French [fra]. Literacy program run by language committee. Taught in primary schools. Radio programs. Dictionary. NT: 2011.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Cerma
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Traditional religion, Muslim, Christian.

Also spoken in:

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