Languages of Liberia

Liberia is a multilingual country with more than 30 indigenous languages ​​spoken in the country of the local population.

The languages ​​belong to the Niger - Congo language family, and can be divided into three language groups: Manding, the East and South West Atlantic and Kru languages. Mande is spoken in the west and north of the country.

However, the English language de facto the only official language of the country. The Liberian population uses English as its official language, but interspersed as Liberian English with numerous Lehnworten from West African languages ​​in a modified form. None of the African languages ​​has been able to occupy a dominant position in the national context of Liberia. In daily life, still outweighs the use of the languages ​​of individual ethnic groups.

None of the language constitutes a majority.

Only 2.5 percent of the population that identify as descendants of freed slaves from the United States rückgesiedelten English as a native language.

Writings

Some of the Liberian people have become known in the development of their own writing systems by many acclaimed performances. All the known examples of the Vai script were collected in the Museum of Monrovia. The Vai type represents a feature under the headings: it was developed to record the African family and place names and other personal data in the church books. The writing was dominated by only a few people group members had to report to the authorities that such data.

In the 20th century, were also among the Kpelle ( Kpelle font), Bassa ( Bassa Vah ), Mende ( Mende font) and Loma discovered other writings, which are also phonetic script fonts based on existing pictograms.

Language groups

  • Liberian English
  • Liberian Creole ( Vernakuläres Liberian English )
  • Merico ( Amerikoliberianisch )
  • Kisi
  • Bandi
  • Dan
  • Kpelle
  • Loma
  • Maninka
  • Man
  • Manya
  • Mende
  • Vai
  • Bassa
  • Dewoin
  • GBII
  • Glaro - Twabo
  • Grebo
  • Klao
  • Krahn
  • Kuwaa
  • Sapo
  • Tajuasohn
  • Gola
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