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Phla-Pherá languages

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Languages

   The Phla-Pherá languages form a subgroup of Gbe languages spoken mainly
   in south-eastern and south-western Benin; some communities are found in
   south-eastern Togo and south-western Nigeria. The group, comprised of
   about ten lects, was introduced by H.B. Capo in his 1988 classification
   of Gbe languages as one of the five main branches of Gbe. Additional
   research carried out by SIL International in the nineties corroborated
   many of Capo's findings and led to adjustment of some of his more
   tentative groupings; in particular, Phla-Pherá was divided in an
   eastern and a western cluster. Phla-Pherá is one the smaller Gbe
   branches in terms of number of speakers. It is also the most
   linguistically diverse branch of Gbe, due partly to the existence of
   several geographically separated communities, but mainly because of
   considerable influence by several non-Gbe languages in the past. Some
   of the Phla-Pherá peoples are thought to be the original inhabitants of
   the region having intermingled with Gbe immigrants.

   The term Phla-Pherá is a conjunction of the names of two major dialects
   of this grouping. There exist many spelling variants of both names.
   Phla, pronounced [χʷlà], has been previously spelt Pla, Kpla, Xwla,
   Hwla, and Fla ^. Pherá, pronounced [χʷèlá] or [χʷèrá], has been
   previously spelt Peda, Fida, Péda, and Houéda. For simplicity's sake,
   this article will use the unified standard orthography of Gbe set forth
   by Capo.

Geography and demography

   The Gbe language area. Green spots are languages of the Phla-Pherá
   cluster according to Capo (1988).
   Enlarge
   The Gbe language area. Green spots are languages of the Phla-Pherá
   cluster according to Capo (1988).

   Most Phla-Pherá languages are spoken in the Mono, Atlantique, and Oueme
   (Weme) provinces of Benin. Alada, a lect that is sometimes included in
   the Phla-Pherá group, is spoken in southwestern Nigeria just southeast
   of Benin's administrative capital Porto-Novo. One Phla-Pherá language,
   Xwla, is spoken west of the Mono river, along the coast between Anexo
   (Togo) and Grand Popo (Benin); this language has been called Popo in
   the past ^. Fon in its various shapes, representing another branch of
   Gbe, is the dominant language in this area and communities of
   Phla-Pherá speakers are scattered across the Fon area.

   The Phla-Pherá languages are among the least investigated of the Gbe
   languages. In some cases, barely more is known than the name of a
   dialect and the village where it is spoken. Because of this, it is
   difficult to determine the total number of speakers of Phla-Pherá
   languages. A tentative approximation, based on the scanty demographic
   data available in the Ethnologue, is 400 000 speakers excluding Alada,
   or 600 000 to 700 000 including Alada.

Capo's initial classification

   Much of the comparative research for Hounkpati B.C. Capo's influental
   classification of the Gbe languages was carried out in the seventies,
   and partial results trickled down in the late seventies and early
   eighties in the form of articles on specific phonological developments
   in various branches of Gbe. In his 1988 work Renaissance du Gbe, the
   internal classification of Gbe was published in full for the first time
   (part of the introduction in his 1991 A Comparative Phonology of Gbe is
   an English translation of this). In this classification, Phla-Pherá is
   considered one of the five branches of Gbe, the others being Ewe, Gen,
   Fon, and Ajá. According to Capo (1988:15), the Phla-Pherá group
   consists of the following lects:
     * Alada (Allada, Arda) — southwest Nigeria, southeast of Porto-Novo.
     * Tɔli (Tori) — Atlantique and Weme province, west of the Ayizɔ area.
     * Tɔfin (Toffi, Tofin) — Weme province, Benin, north of Nokoué Lake.
     * Phelá (Fida, Péda) — east of Ahéme Lake in the Atlantique province
       of Benin.
     * Phla (Pla, Xwla, Hwla, Popo) — in the coastal borderland of Togo
       and Benin, between Anexo and Grand Popo.
     * Ayizɔ (Ayizo, Ayize) — Weme province, Benin.
     * Kotafon (Kotafohn) — Mono province, Benin.
     * Tsáphɛ (Sahwe, Saxwe) — northern Mono province, Benin.
     * Gbési (Gbesi) — Mono province, north of Ahéme Lake, Benin.
     * Sɛ (Se) — west Mono province, Benin.

   Capo grouped the Phla-Pherá lects mainly on the basis of a number of
   shared phonological and morphological features, including the
   development of proto-Gbe *t^h and *d^h into /s/ and /z/, the retained
   distinction between *ɛ and *e, and the occurrence of various nominal
   prefixes.

   Capo noted that ‘the name Phla-Pherá is not used by speakers of the
   various lects which it comprises’ and that ‘in fact, the Phla-Pherá
   section is less unified than the others’ ^. However, according to Capo,
   their speakers ‘recognise a closer link between the lects listed here
   than between any of those listed in other [branches]’. He marked the
   Alada variety as an exception, as some people 'consider Alada and the
   Fon language Gun to be one and the same language'.

Subsequent research

   In the early nineties, the Summer Institute of Linguistics initiated a
   study to assess which Gbe communities could benefit from existing
   literacy efforts and whether additional development programs in some of
   the remaining communities would be needed. Linguistic research carried
   out in the course of this study was to shed more light on the relations
   between the various varieties of Gbe. Some of the results of this study
   were presented in Kluge (2000, 2005, 2006).

   Based on a synchronic analysis of lexical and grammatical features
   elicited among 49 Gbe varieties, Kluge divided the Gbe languages into
   three major groupings: western, central, and eastern ^. The eastern
   grouping consists of three clusters: Fon (roughly equivalent to Capo's
   'Fon' branch), western Phla-Phera, and eastern Phla-Phera (together
   roughly equivalent to Capo's Phla-Pherá languages). Among other things,
   this part of Kluge's analysis confirmed the uncertainty of the
   classification of the Alada dialect: some possible results point to
   inclusion in the Fon group, while others suggest membership of one of
   the Phla-Pherá clusters ^. Likewise, Kluge's results indicate
   uncertainty regarding the classification of Ayizo and Kotafon ^.

   A number of lects considered by Kluge were not included in Capo's
   research (cf. Capo 1991:14ff), namely Ajra, Daxe, Gbesi, Gbokpa,
   Movolo, Se, and Seto, all of which Kluge 2000:32, 2005:41ff,47,
   2006:74ff,79)classified as Phla-Phera.

Linguistic diversity

   Just like Capo readily admitted the considerable diversity of the
   Phla-Pherá branch, Kluge's analysis did not result in conclusive
   evidence regarding the exact make-up of the western and eastern
   Phla-Pherá branches — various modes of computation yielded different
   configurations of the respective dialects (cf. 2000:62–3, 2005:45ff).
   The diversity in this subfamily is probably due in part to the fact
   that the various Phla-Pherá communities do not occupy one specific
   geographical area but are scattered along the coast of the Bight of
   Benin.

   However, a more substantial reason for the noted diversity is one of
   historical nature. In a 1979 work on the history of the Gbe peoples
   (called Adjatado back then), the Catholic missionary Roberto Pazzi
   pointed out that 'three dialects emerged out of the half-breeding
   between immigrant groups and the indigenes from Tádó: they are Gɛ̀n,
   Sáhwè and Xweɖá.' ^. The latter two dialects are part of Capo's
   Phla-Pherá branch, and Capo adds that Tsáphɛ and Phelá have Cábɛ (
   Yoruboid) and E̟do respectively as substrata. This contact and
   intermingling of non-Gbe peoples with Gbe peoples and the influence of
   this processes on language inevitably diffuses the picture presented by
   comparative linguistic research. Further research into the historical
   origins of the Phla and Pherá peoples has yet to take place ^.

   Due to the uncertainty about the internal structure of the eastern Gbe
   major grouping, the Ethnologue has omitted Phla-Pherá altogether from
   its subclassification of Gbe languages. Some of the lects of Capo's and
   Kluge's Phla-Pherá are included in other branches (for example, Xwla is
   found under Aja) while others are not included in any subgroup of Gbe
   (e.g. Xwela).
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