Kwa is a proposed but not fully demonstrated family within the Niger-Congo languages' Atlantic-Congo and Volta-Congo branches, comprising around 50 languages spoken by about 25 million people across southeastern Ivory Coast, southern Ghana and central Togo. Its subgroups include Potou-Tano, which contains the family's largest members, Twi-Fante and Baule, along with Ga-Dangme and several smaller Togo-region branches. The name Kwa was introduced in 1895 by the linguist Gottlob Krause, taken from the shared word for people found across many of its languages.
Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language StatusA Proto-Kwa vowel inventory has been proposed, but Kwa itself, in its modern (Stewart) sense, remains a proposed and as-yet-undemonstrated family: it has not been shown that its constituent branches are more closely related to each other than to neighboring Niger-Congo languages. 1 The name and membership have narrowed substantially since Greenberg's broader 1963 Kwa; the reduced grouping is sometimes called New Kwa to distinguish it from that earlier, larger sense. RegionSouth-eastern Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and central Togo. 1 Speaker Count Connections
Descends From
Kwa is a primary branch of Volta-Congo spoken across southern Ghana, Togo, Benin and southwestern Nigeria.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Kwa Languages
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction, first paragraphQuote, Introduction, first paragraph
The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages
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