Ewe

Ewe (Eʋegbe; ISO 639-3: ewe) is a Gbe language of the Niger-Congo family spoken chiefly in southeastern Ghana and southern Togo, with related varieties extending into neighboring areas. It is tonal and has seven oral vowels, five phonemic nasal vowels, and a contrast between bilabial fricatives written ƒ and ʋ and labiodental f and v. A written literary variety based largely on the Anlo dialect began developing when the North German, or Bremen, Mission established its Keta station in 1853; Bernhard Schlegel published an Ewe primer in 1856 and a grammar in 1857. The modern Latin-based orthography uses letters including ɖ, ɛ, ƒ, ɣ, ŋ, ɔ, and ʋ, while tone marking is limited in ordinary writing. Ewe has subject–verb–object order and uses serial verb constructions extensively.