TheKpelle/kəˈpɛlə/^[2] language (endonym:Kpɛlɛɛ^[3]) is spoken by theKpelle people ofLiberia,Guinea andIvory Coast and is part of theMande language family. Guinean Kpelle (also known asGuerze in French), spoken by half a million people, is concentrated primarily, but not exclusively, in the southeasternforest regions of Guinea borderingLiberia,Ivory Coast, andSierra Leone. Half a million Liberians speak Liberian Kpelle, which is taught in Liberian schools.

TheLord's Prayer in Kpelle:^[4]

Kunâŋ gáa ŋele sui,
Tɔɔ ku iláai siɣe a maa waa.
Tɔɔ Ikâloŋ-laai é pá,
Tɔɔ ínîa-mɛni é kɛ́,
Nɔii ma ɓɛ yɛ̂ɛ berei gáa la Ɣâla-taai.
I kukɔ sâa a kuɣele-kuu tɔnɔ-tɔnɔ mii-sɛŋ;
I ipôlu fe kutɔ̂ŋ-karaa-ŋai dîa,
Yɛ̂ɛ berei kwa kupôlu fè la kuɓarâai ditɔ̂ŋ-karaa-ŋai dîai;
Tɔɔ kutúɛ kufe pili yee-laa-maa su,
Kɛ́lɛ, i kukúla mɛni nyɔ́mɔɔ su.

^[5]

Kpelle is a tonal language with a three-way level tone distinction: high, mid, and low.^[6] Tone patterns within a word are limited, only including:

• High throughout:pɛ́le "also"
• Mid throughout:pɛlɛ "to start"
• Low throughout:pɛ̀le "small"
• High to low:pɛ̂rɛ "side of body"
• Mid to high-low:pɔmûn "germinate"

These patterns apply to words without affixes, as affixes carry their own tone patterns.

Words with high, high-low and low tone patterns are stress-initial. Mid to high-low have second-syllable stress.

All nouns fall into either the alienable or inalienable category.^[7] Inalienable nouns are called dependent, and include integral parts of the possessor that cannot be discarded. This category encapsulates body parts, relatives, and membership names. Most Kpelle nouns have one form to represent both singular and plural, with number usually indicated by context. This is except for nouns for people, where the plural is indicated in different ways for dependent and independent nouns. While dependent nouns suffix-ni-, independent nouns have varied plurals.

Dependent nouns always require a possessor and cannot stand alone. For example,nán "father" is not a valid noun, wherekúnan "our father" is.

Compounds are formed by combining two or more words. The compounding process transforms the final stem into having a low tone, or the tone 'high-low' pattern if the preceding word contains a mid-tone. The compounds arehead-final, meaning that the base word being modified is the last morpheme. (e.g.mii "to eat" +sále "medicine" →mii-sále 'pill').

The order in a noun phrase goes, from earliest to latest:

1. possessor
2. noun
3. adjective
4. numeral
5. specificity suffix
6. demonstrative pronouns

There are two classes of adjectives in Kpelle, predicating and descriptive. Most verbs are predicating, being derived from verbs. This can be done through lengthening or changing the value of the final vowel. The suffix takes a high tone except for when the stem has a low tone, in which case the suffix. Examples includetáma "to be plentiful" →támaa "much, a lot" andkpɔlu "ripen" →kpɔluɔ "ripe". Another method for deriving predicative adjectives is altering the tone of the word. These adjectives are then used as a verb, suffixing low tone-ì. These phrases follow the pattern object + adjective stem + suffix vowel +-ì. The noun that is described by the adjective takes the form of an object.

Locatives, the set of adverbs or adjectives that place an agent or action in a location. There are multiple locative prefixes that Kpelle employs for different styles of location. Examples include:pɛrɛ "house" +mù "inside" →ɓɛ́rɛimu "inside the house" andpɛrɛ "house" +lá "near" →ɓɛ́rɛila "near the house". These can be taken also as the complement of a noun phrase to express explicit locationality. It can also be used as a noun phrase as the subject to express the location itself, and can be described with predicating clauses.

Kpelle has a markedly complex pronominal system, with sets of pronouns that differ often in tense and have distinct sets for affirmative and negative.

Affirmative 1 is used for present, future, and customary tenses. Affirmative 2 is used for past and hortative-consecutive tenses. Affirmative 3 is only used for conditional phrases.

Negative 1 is used for present, future, past, and hortative-consecutive tenses. Negative 2 is used for the customary tense. Negative 3 is used for conditional tenses.

• Thach, Sharon V.; Dwyer, David J. (1981).Kpelle: A Reference Handbook of Phonetics, Grammar, Lexicon, and Learning Procedures(PDF). African Studies Center, Michigan State University: United States Peace Corps.

• PanAfriL10n page on Kpelle/Guerzé
• Omniglot: Kpelle syllabary

• Languages of Liberia
• Languages of Guinea
• Mande languages
• Kpelle people

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• Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Kpelle-language text
• Language articles with old Ethnologue 18 speaker data
• Languages with ISO 639-2 code