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The name Grebo is used to refer to a language group or subgroup within the larger Kru language group of Niger-Congo languages in West Africa, or to certain of its constituent speech varieties, and spoken by members of the Grebo ethnic group or its various subgroups. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Kru Languages belong to the Niger-Congo language family and are spoken in the area ranging from the south-east of Liberia to the east of Côte The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa 's largest in terms of geographical area number of speakers and number West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. The name Grebo (or Glebo is used to refer to an Ethnic group or subgroup within the larger Kru group of West Africa, to certain of its constituent elements

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What is the Grebo language?

Since the first group contacted by European explorers and Americo-Liberian colonists reaching the area of Cape Palmas were the Seaside Grebo, or Glebo,[1] their speech came to be known simply as Grebo. Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, West Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent In the absence of other qualification, the term Grebo language will refer simply to the Glebo speech variety.

However, as will be seen from the discussion below, considerable ambiguity and imprecision continue to exist with respect to the use of the term Grebo; it is not always clear precisely which variety it is intended to denote, or, if it is being used as a group term, what is to be included in the group. The root of this imprecision grows from several factors:

The ISO 630-3 draft proposal classification of Grebo

The Grebo language group is comprised of a community of speakers of speech varieties covering an extensive language continuum punctuated by a collection of cultural centers of gravity, usually town clusters. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing While the affinity of these varieties is apparent, the internal structure of a classification is often difficult to delineate with any degree of precision.

The ISO 639-3 draft proposal, based on work of its registration authority SIL in its publication, Ethnologue, presents a classification differing somewhat from that established by Greenberg, [2] avoiding the disputed assignment of the Kru family to the Kwa group, dispensing with the putative superfamily Congo-Kordofanian, and employing the intermediate levels Atlantic-Congo and Volta-Congo. ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages A registration authority or maintenance agency is a body given the responsibility of maintaining lists of codes under international standards and issuing new codes to those wishing to register SIL International (the official name of what was originally the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is a worldwide U Ethnologue Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics a Christian The Niger-Kordofanian language family was proposed by Joseph Greenberg in his 1963 book Languages of Africa, originally under the name 'Congo-Kordofanian' In the classification of African languages, Atlantic-Congo constitutes the core of the Niger-Congo family, with the Noun class systems stereotypical In the classification of African languages Volta-Congo is a hypothetical major branch of the Niger-Congo family. The thirty-nine (39) languages of the Kru family are then subdivided into five (5) branches, including Western Kru[6] with twenty-three (23) languages, which latter branch is then further subdivided into four sub-branches, of which one is the sub-branch called Grebo[3]

Niger-Congo-->Atlantic-Congo-->Volta-Congo-->Kru-->Western-->Grebo

It is noteworthy that this classification is specifically characterized as being genetic, and is presented as a "Language Family Tree" by Ethnologue. However, Ethnologue also stipulates that language identities "must be operationally defined" using "social, cultural, or political factors" depending on one's purpose. [4]. In other words, sociolinguistic criteria may be employed, as well as genetic ones. Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of Society, including cultural norms expectations and context on the way Language is used List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The result may thus be something slightly different from a pedigree.

The "sub-branch" Grebo

Ethnologue proceeds to sub-classify the Grebo sub-branch as consisting of nine (9) languages, each "language" consisting of one or more "dialects. " It presents the classification as the "Linguistic Lineage" of the individual languages, although here, again, factors other than phylogenetic relationship are in evidence. [5]

". . . judgments regarding when two varieties are considered to be the same or different languages are based on a number of factors, including linguistic similarity, intelligibility, a common literature, the views of speakers concerning the relationship between language and identity, and other factors. . . . Some of the distinctions made on this basis may not be considered appropriate by some users or for certain applications. These basic criteria are thought to best fit the intended range of applications, however. "

It further states,[6]

"Dialects are quite distinct. . . . Ethnocentric attitudes are strong between subgroups. "

Most obvious in the range of applications alluded to are literacy and translation. Ethnologue expressly states that among the sociolinguistic factors is the desirablity of minimizing the amount of variety at the lower levels to facilitate these applications. For example, in the discussion of Barclayville Grebo, a proposal to unify two different languages is discussed:[7]

"Dialects are quite distinct. Barclayville, the capital and most populous settlement in Grand Kru County is located in southeastern Liberia about 10 miles inland from Picinicess In Mathematical logic, in particular as applied to Computer science, a unification of two terms is a join (in the lattice sense with respect Many phonological differences with Jabo, which would make literacy difficult if they were combined. The Jabo language is a Kru language spoken by the Jabo people of Liberia. . . .

Obviously, having this applied linguistic goal will introduce a systematic bias in favor of reducing the number of entities at the lowest level.

The elements within the Grebo sub-branch, together with their ISO 639-3 identifiers are as follows:

Grebo sub-branch (9 languages)

The "macrolanguage" Grebo

In addition to this "genetic" classification, Ethnologue innovates a construct which it calls a macrolanguage, which would constitute a taxon in a sociolinguistic taxonomy[8] The specific criteria enumerated make it clear that a "macrolanguage" covers approximately the same range of meanings as either a Dachsprache or an Ausbausprache. The Jabo language is a Kru language spoken by the Jabo people of Liberia. ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of Society, including cultural norms expectations and context on the way Language is used The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties The Ausbausprache - Abstandsprache - Dachsprache ( framework is a tool developed by sociolinguists for analysing and categorising the status of language varieties

"In various parts of the world, there are clusters of closely-related language varieties that. . . can be considered individual languages, yet in certain usage contexts a single language identity for all is needed. In various parts of the world, there are clusters of closely-related language varieties that. . . can be considered individual languages, yet in certain usage contexts a single language identity for all is needed. . . . the individual languages that correspond to a macrolanguage must be very closely related, and there must be some domain in which only a single language identity is recognized. "

For example, the sociolinguistic criteria that in "some [i. e. any] context" it may function, or be desired to function as a "single language entity," leads, to the construct Chinese macrolanguage, ISO 630-3 code zho (formerly [chi]), which includes Mandarin and twelve (12) other mutually unintelligible languages, because they share the same writing system. In theoretical linguistics one would never refer to the Chinese language (because there are many of them); yet perhaps in applied linguistics, or in international diplomacy, one might.

Similarly, ISO 639-3 identifier grb is applied to the Grebo macrolanguage.

"Grebo" macrolanguage
Identifier: grb
Name: Grebo
Status: Active
Code sets: 639-2 and 639-3
Scope: Macrolanguage
Type: Living

The individual languages within this Grebo, together with their ISO 639-3 identifiers, are as follows:

Grebo (macrolanguage) (5 languages in Liberia)

It is worth noting that the Grebo macrolanguage[9] contains exactly the same list of five(5) languages as the Liberian Grebo Western Kru sub-branch. Thus, as a genetic taxon, it would:

Ambiguity

The ambiguity created is such that any of the twenty-five (25) or more "dialects" in the group is likely to be called (a variety of) Grebo. As an example of the confusion which may arise as a result of using Grebo in this way, consider the following case>

In discussing "Barclayville Grebo. Barclayville, the capital and most populous settlement in Grand Kru County is located in southeastern Liberia about 10 miles inland from Picinicess . . (Wedebo Grebo)," Ethnologue specifies:[7]

"Wedebo, Kplebo. A dialect cluster. Dialects are quite distinct. Many phonological differences with Jabo, which would make literacy difficult if they were combined. . . . They identify with Klao, but understand Grebo better. There are strong ethnocentric attitudes between subgroups. "

Here we are told that speakers of Barclayville Grebo understand Grebo better than they do Klao. The Kru Languages belong to the Niger-Congo language family and are spoken in the area ranging from the south-east of Liberia to the east of Côte It is unclear whether Grebo refers to the nearby Jabo dialect of Southern Grebo or to the dominant Glebo (Seaside Grebo dialect of Southern Grebo), or to some other variety Grebo (Kplebo, i. e. Kplio?).

One may note, in fact, that the term Grebo may refer to any of the following:

Multilingualism

A degree of bilingualism / bidialectalism is normal in such a context, but so is the commonly observed thrust for autonomy. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of Nevertheless, factors such as exogamy and the needs of commerce foster intercommunication strategies. Exogamy has two related definitions both biological and cultural This makes the degree of interintelligibility of the varieties seem less than if they were considered in isolation.

Diglossia (extended or not), often with Liberian (Pidgin) English provides an addition dimension to the complexity described above. In Linguistics, diglossia is a situation where in a given society there are two (often closely-related languages one of high prestige, which is generally used

References

  1. ^ Classified as a dialect of Southern Grebo by ISO 639-3. ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages
  2. ^ Greenberg, 1966
  3. ^ a b Subid 89962 denotes the Grebo sub-branch of the Western Kru branch of the Kru family[1].
  4. ^ Ethnologue, "Introduction"[2].
  5. ^ ISO 639-3 Scope of denotation
  6. ^ Southern Grebo, code grj[3].
  7. ^ a b Barclayville Grebo[4]
  8. ^ ISO definition at [5].
  9. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named grb

Bibliography

External links

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