Àná | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 436,000[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Benin | 111,130 (2013)[2] |
 Ghana | 45,000 |
 Togo | 240,000 (2013)[3] |
| Languages | |
| |
| Religion | |
| PredominantlyChristianity Minor:Yoruba religion,Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Yoruba people Akposo,Ewe,Mahi | |
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TheIfè people also known as theAna,Atakpame orBaate people, are an ethnic group ofBenin andTogo. In Togo, the Ifè are indigenously concentrated aroundAtakpame, primarily in the Gnagna (Ñaña) and Djama (Jama) quarters, and on the vertical land strip between the towns ofGlei andSokode on the west and the Togo-Benin international border in the east. In Benin, they are found domiciled in the area between the aforementioned border and the town ofSavalou.
Ethnologists identify the Ifè (Ana) as the most western of theYoruba subgroups. In fact, the Ana trace their origins toIfe, and their language is also calledIfè, which has more than 400,000 speakers.[4][5][6][7][8]
In Togo, the Ife or Ana people can be found domiciled in the eastern half of thePlateaux Region mostly east of the N1 National highway that runs vertically through the spine of the country, specifically in the prefectures of;
There is also a smaller Ana-Ife community in the immediate environment of Esse-Ana community in theYoto Prefecture.The biggest settlements of the Ife people are; Atakpame, Elavagnon, Kamina, Datcha (Dadja), Adogbenou, and Moretan (Morita).[9]
The Yoruboid dialect spoken in theCantons of Goubi andKaboli in theTchamba Prefecture of theCentral Region, although sometimes erroneously considered to be one and same with Ife, is simply another Yoruba linguistic community of the Manigri-Kambole variety located to the north of the Ifes with which it shares 87-91% lexical similarity.[10]
In Benin, the Ife (Ana) communities can be found domiciled mostly in thecommune ofSavalou in the west of theCollines Department. They inhabit theArrondissements of;Doumè,Tchetti,Ottola,Lema,Djaloukou and partially within Savalou township itself.
It is also spoken in some villages in the communes of Bante andDjidja (in theAgouna arrondissement). These towns and villages are bordered by theIsha-Yoruba communities of theBantè commune to the north and theMahi ethnic community to the east.
These are all within theCollines Department of south-central Benin.
The Ife (Ana) people speak theIfe language or Ede Ife. In Togo, there are three major varieties based on the towns of Atakpame (Djama variant), the Dassa variant is spoken in Dadja town, and a third one is based in Kamina. In Benin, the language is based on the dialect ofTchetti.[11]Like all the other dialects ofYoruba, Ife has three tones; (High, Mid and Low). Many speakers of Ife are bilingual in Ewe in the south of Togo and Standardized Yoruba (SY) in the North.[12]
On the converse, Ede Ife is in turn used as a second language (L2) by speakers of;Bago-Kusuntu and Kpessi in Togo, those ofAnii in Benin, as well as the Northern Nago andAguna speakers in both countries.
The Ife language enjoys vigorous use as first language among all members of its ethnic community and geographic region.[13] It is used on the local radio based inTchetti, [Radio FM Ore Ọ̀fẹ́] 102.1 Mhz, disseminating news to the surrounding region.[14]