Voltan language

Voltan
Voltaern
Native to	Volta
Native speakers	30,000,000
Language family	Creole
Writing system	Voltan alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Volta
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The Voltan language, also known as Voltan Creole, is a _____-based creole language spoken in Volta. It is the most commonly spoken language in Volta, and is also one of the two official languages in the country. The language started developing during the 17th century, after the ____ initially colonized the region.

Phonology

Consonants

			Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar/ Uvular	Glottal
Nasal			m	n		ŋ
Plosive		fortis	p	t		k	(ʔ)
		lenis	b	d		ɡ
Affricate		fortis		t͡s	t͡ʃ
		lenis			d͡ʒ
Fricative	sibilant	fortis		s	ʃ
		lenis		z	ʒ
	non-sibilant	fortis	f		ç		h
		lenis	v		j
Lateral				l

• [p͡f] is commonly replaced with either [p] or [f]
• [x] pronounced after back-vowels (and allophonic with [ç]) is commonly replaced with [h]

Vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː					u	uː
Close-mid	e	eː		øː			o	oː
Open					a	aː

• [ɪ] is replaced with [i].
• [ʊ] is replaced with [u].
• [y] and [yː] are merged with [u] and [uː] respectively.
• [ɛ] is replaced with [e].
• [ɛː] is merged with [eː].
• [ɔ] is replaced with [o]