| Dan | |
| Nativename: | Yacouba |
| States: | Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Liberia |
| Ethnicity: | Dan people |
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 2012 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam1: | Niger–Congo? |
| Fam2: | Mande |
| Fam3: | Eastern Mande |
| Fam4: | Southeastern |
| Fam5: | Mano–Dan |
| Fam6: | Guro–Dan |
| Fam7: | Tura–Dan |
| Script: | Latin |
| Lc1: | dnj |
| Ld1: | Dan |
| Lc2: | lda |
| Ld2: | Kla |
| Glotto: | dann1241 |
| Glottorefname: | Dan |
| Notice: | IPA |
Dan [1] is a Southern Mande language spoken primarily in Ivory Coast (~800,000 speakers) and Liberia (150,000–200,000 speakers). There is also a population of about 800 speakers in Guinea. Dan is a tonal language, with 9 to 11 contour and register tones, depending on the dialect.
Alternative names for the language include Yacouba or Yakubasa, Gio, Gyo, Gio-Dan, and Da. Dialects are Gio (Liberian Dan), Gweetaawu (Eastern Dan), Blowo (Western Dan), and Kla. Kla is evidently a distinct language.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrd. | Rnd. | Unrd. | Rnd. | |||
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Near-close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Syllabic | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrd. | Rnd. | |||
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | ||||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Implosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Trill | (pronounced as /link/) | ||||||||
The orthography of Liberia includes this alphabet:[3] [4]
| Dan alphabet (Liberia) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | D | Ɗ | E | F | G | GB | H | I | K | KW | L | M | N | NY | O | Ɵ | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |||||||||
| a | b | ɓ | d | ɗ | e | ɛ | f | g | gb | h | i | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | nw | ny | ŋ | o | ɔ | ə | ɵ | p | r | s | t | u | ɥ | v | w | x | y | z | |
| IPA value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Dan West alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | AƆ | B | D | E | ƐA | F | G | I | K | L | M | N | O | Ö | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z | ||||||||||||
| a | aɔ | b | bh | d | dh | e | ɛ | ë | ɛa | f | g | gb | gw | i | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | ng | o | ɔ | ö | p | r | s | t | u | ü | v | w | y | z | |
| IPA value | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | AƆ | B | D | E | ƐA | F | G | H | I | K | KW | L | M | N | O | Ö | P | R | S | T | U | Ʋ̈ | V | W | Y | Z | ||||||||||||
| a | aɔ | b | bh | d | dh | e | ë | ɛ | ɛa | f | g | gb | gw | h | i | ɩ | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | o | ö | ɔ | p | r | s | t | u | ü | ʋ | ʋ̈ | v | w | y | z | |
| IPA value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Dan East alphabet (Côte d'Ivoire), 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | D | E | Æ | F | G | H | I | K | KW | L | M | N | O | | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z | |||||||||||||
| a | œ | b | bh | d | dh | e | ʌ | ɛ | æ | f | g | gb | gw | h | i | ɩ | k | kp | kw | l | m | n | o | ɤ | ɔ | p | r | s | t | u | ɯ | ʋ | v | w | y | z | |
| IPA value | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
Tones are marked as follows:extra high tone: a̋;high tone: á;medium tone: ā;low tone: à;extra low tone: ȁ;high drop tone: â;extra low hanging tone: aʼ.
The digraphs keep the same values as in the spelling of 1982, and the nasal vowels are also indicated by appending the letter n after the letter of the vowel .