Source: 101 Last Tribe
Gurene, also known as Frafra or Farefare is a Gur dialect that belongs to the Niger-Congo language family. It is considered as a stable language and used by all community members (Ethnologue, 2024 Ed.). It is also one of Ghana’s tonal languages (Bodomo, Abubakari, Issah, 2020).
Gurene is spoken in both Ghana and Burkina Faso. In Ghana, it is primarily spoken in the Upper East Region, while in Burkina Faso, it is spoken in the southern regions bordering Ghana. It’s worth noting that despite some misconceptions among some Akan speakers that the term “Frafra” means a mixture of languages, akin to the Akan term “forafora,” this is not the case. Instead, Frafra is a distinct language with its own unique linguistic characteristics and cultural heritage. Frafra actually came from “Ya Fare fare?”, which means “How is your suffering (work)?”, a colonialist term given to them by the Christian Missionaries, who when they first encountered Frafra farmers greeted them as such (Peoplesgroup.org.).
As a Gur language, Gurene maintains close linguistic relations with its sister dialects, such as Dagbani, predominantly spoken in Ghana’s Northern Region. Moreover, across the border in Burkina Faso, Gurene exhibits a notable relation with Moore, the national language.
According to Atintono (2011), Frafra can be classified into three main dialects: Gurenne, Nankani, and Boone. Atintono (ibid.) further suggests that there are additional Gur dialects that are sometimes mistakenly considered dialects of Frafra. Among these are Nabi, which is spoken in both the northern regions of Ghana and in Burkina Faso, and Talni, also spoken in both countries.
Academically, the language has an educational status and as such, it is studied from the basic level to the tertiary level. At the tertiary level, it is part of the 16 Ghanaian languages studied at the Faculty of Languages Education, University of Education, Winneba. It belongs to the Department of Gur-Gonja Education. It is now studied from the MPhil to the PhD level at same university.
In terms of digital contents and materials, Gurene is not lacking. The language has a Bible, both online and offline dictionaries, folktales, radio, dictionary, grammar, literature, etc. Gurene is also live on Wikipedia and a proud member of the Ghanaian language Wikipedia Community. It is also live on Wikipedia sister project Wikidata. Plans to introduce a Siri for Gurene was announced by Dr. Paul Azunre, Co-Founder of the Khaya app in December, 2023.
