Anlo (IPA: Aŋlo) is a dialect of the Ewe language. It is, like all other Gbe languages, a tonal language. No recent estimate of number of speakers is available; the 1960 Ghanian Census mentions a number of 230 000 speakers according to Clements (1977).
Anlo is primarily known for a peculiarity of its tonal system. Like its neighbouring dialects Anlo has three tone levels, High (H), Mid (M), and Low (L). Of these three levels, the lower two are not phonemically contrastive. However, Anlo contrasts with the other dialect in the possession of a fourth tone level, the extra-High tone (R).
The R tone is viewed as an innovation of Anlo, since the most economic way of generalising about the R tone is to apply 'R tone rules' to the common tonal forms to derive the Anlo tonal forms. Clements (1977) argues that the R tone is a case of tonal split caused by 'reanalysis of downstepped tone sequences as sequences of tones on distinct tone levels' (p 168).
Anlo (along with some other Gbe languages) is also the subject of ongoing research into the origin of Haitian creole languages (see Gbe languages for more info).
See also
References
- Clements, George N. 'Four tones from three: the extra-high tone in Anlo Ewe'. In Kotey and Der-Houssikian (eds.) Language and linguistic problems in Africa. South Carolina: Hornbeam Press Inc.
- Clements, George N. 'Downdrift in a tone language with four tone levels'. In York Papers in Linguistics 15, July, pp. 33-40
