Kasena language
# Kasena language

Kasena or Kassena (Kasem or Kassem) is the language of the Kassena ethnic group and is a Gur language spoken in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana and in Burkina Faso.

## Orthography

An independent 30-letter alphabet called the Goulsse alphabet (from gʋlse, “writing” in Mooré) was devised by Burkinabé app developer Wenitte Apiou, Babaguioue Micareme Akouabou and Kassem linguist Fernand Ki in summer of 2021 based on the geometrical patterns found in Kassena architecture. The alphabet is also planned to be applicable for the related Mooré language as well.

## Phonology

### Tone

Kasena has three tones, a high tone, a mid level tone and a low tone. Tonal changes either change the lexical meaning of a word or its grammatical function.

Lexical

A

A

„I“

Á

Á

„You (PL)“

Grammatical

Wu

Wu

Negation

Wú

Wú

Futur

## Grammar

### Noun Class System

There are five classes of nouns that can be identified in Kasena. These classes correspond to grammatical genders and are differentiated in terms of number, such that there are five classes for singular nouns and five classes for plural nouns.

| Gender | SG | PL | Gloss |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | bu | biə | child/children |
| 2 | bɪnɪ | bɪna | year(s) |
| 3 | naga | nɛ | foot/feet |
| 4 | piu | pweeru | montain(s) |
| 5 | bʊŋʊ | bʊm | goat(s) |

### Pronouns

**Personal Pronouns/Possessive Pronouns**

There are two classes of personal pronouns. One class is referring to humans, whereas the other class is referring to non-human entities. The personal pronouns are also used as possessive pronouns, thus there is no special form for possessive pronouns in Kasena.

Human personal pronouns

| Person | SG | PL | Gloss |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1st | A | Dí | I/we |
| 2nd | N | Á | You/you |
| 3rd | O | Ba | He/she/They |

Non-human personal pronouns

| Class | SG | PL |
| - | - | - |
| I | O | Ba |
| II | Dɪ | Ya |
| III | Ka | Sɪ |
| IV | Kʊ | Tɪ |
| V | Kʊ | Dɪ |

**Emphatic Pronouns**

| Person | SG | PL | Gloss |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1st | amʊ | dcbam | Me/we |
| 2nd | nmʊ | abam | You/you |
| 3rd | wʊm/wʊntu | bam/bantʊ | He/she/they |

**Reciprocal Pronouns**

Reciprocity is expressed by the pronoun daanɪ, which sometimes occurs as a prefix or suffix.

Ba

3PL

soe

like

daanɪ.

each.other

Ba soe daanɪ.

3PL like each.other

„They like each other.“

**Reflexive Pronouns**

Reflexivity is expressed by a personal pronoun to which either tɪtɪ or katɪ ('-self')is added.

O

3SG

cɔgɪ

destroy

o

3SG

tɪtɪ.

self

O cɔgɪ o tɪtɪ.

3SG destroy 3SG self

„He destroys himself.“

**Relative Pronouns**

Relative pronouns are formed on the basis of the personal pronouns for non-human entities to which the suffix -lʊ is attached.

| Class | SG | PL |
| - | - | - |
| I | wʊlʊ | balʊ |
| II | dɪlʊ | yalʊ |
| III | kalʊ | sɪlʊ |
| IV | kʊlʊ | tɪlʊ |
| V | kʊlʊ | dɪlʊ |

**Indefinite Pronouns**

| Class | Number | Certain | Some | Any |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| I | SG | wʊdoŋ | --- | wʊlʊ wʊlʊ |
| I | PL | badonnə | badaara | balʊ balʊ |
| II | SG | dɪ doŋ | --- | dɪlʊ dɪlʊ |
| II | PL | yadonnə | yadaara | yalʊ yalʊ |
| III | SG | kadoŋ | --- | kalʊ kalʊ |
| III | PL | sɪdonnə | sɪdaara | sɪlʊ sɪlʊ |
| IV | SG | kudoŋ | --- | kʊlʊ kʊlʊ |
| IV | PL | tɪdonnə | tɪdaara | tɪlʊ tɪlʊ |
| V | SG | kudoŋ | --- | kʊlʊ kʊlʊ |
| V | PL | dɪdonnə | dɪdaara | dɪlʊ dɪlʊ |

**Demonstrative Pronouns**

| Class | SG | Gloss | PL | Gloss |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| I | wuntu | this/that | bantu | these/those |
| II | dɪntu | this/that | yantu | these/those |
| III | kantu | this/that | sɪntu | these/those |
| IV | kuntu | this/that | tɪntu | these/those |
| V | kuntu | this/that | dɪntu | these/those |

**Interrogative Pronouns**

| Class | SG who, what, which | PL who, what, which | How much |
| - | - | - | - |
| I | wɔɔ | bra | bagra |
| II | dɔɔ | yɔɔ | yagra |
| III | kɔɔ | sɔɔ | sɪgra |
| IV | kɔɔ | tɔɔ | tɪgra |
| V | kɔɔ | dɔɔ | dɪgra |

## Syntax

### Word Order

The Kasena language has a basic SVO word order.

Ada

Ada

diim

yesterday

toŋe.

work.PFV

Ada diim toŋe.

Ada yesterday work.PFV

„Ada worked yesterday.“

