Dagbani in Ghana

With about 500,000 speakers, Dagbani is the principal language of the Northern Region of Ghana. It is one of the government-sponsored languages in the country, which means that it is taught in schools and used for broadcasting on radio and television. It belongs to the Oti-Volta language group of Gur languages (Gur is a branch of the Niger-Congo family), also called Moore-Gurma, with about 25 languages spoken in Ghana, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso. These include Moore in eastern Burkina Faso; and Gurma, Gurune, Dagaare, Wali, Birifor and Safalba in northern Ghana. In northern Ghana, Dagbani has a close affinity with Mamprusi and Nanuni. The speakers of these three languages, spoken in the Northern and North East Regions of Ghana, are collectively called "Dagbamba". An interesting point is that the Mamprusi refer to themselves as "Dagbamba". To the Mamprusi, the people officially known as "Dagomba" are "Yooba".