Ethnicity Gurma people ISO 639-3 gux | Native speakers 900,000 (1999–2012) Glottolog gour1243 | |
Native to Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Gur
Northern
Oti–Volta
Gurma
Gourmanchéma | ||
Gourmanchéma (Goulmacema, Gourma, Gourmantche, Gulimancema, Gulmancema, Gurma) is a major language of the Gurma people spoken in Burkina Faso, northern Togo and Benin, and Niger.
All nouns in the language are classified into eight classes, identified by their prefixes and suffixes in both singular and plural. All mass nouns, states of existence, languages, for example, begin with the prefix mi- and end with the suffix -ma (that is, they take the circumfix mi—ma), as in blood (misuama), water (minyima), sand (mitambima), fire (mifantama), existence (miyema), state of being crazy (migadima), Gourmantché language (migourmantchema). All trees have a set of circumfixes bu—bu and i—di in the singular and plural, as in busaabu (shea tree) and isaandi (shea trees).