TheMampruli language is aGur language spoken in northernGhana, NorthernTogo,Burkina Faso,Ivory Coast andMali by theMamprusi people. It is partiallymutually intelligible withDagbani. The Mamprusi language is spoken in a broad belt across the northern parts of theNorthern Region of Ghana, stretching west to east fromYizeesi toNakpanduri and centred on the towns ofGambaga,Nalerigu andWalewale.

The language belongs to the Gur family which is part of theNiger–Congo language family, which covers most ofSub-Saharan Africa (Bendor-Samuel 1989). Within Gur it belongs to the WesternOti–Volta subgroup, and particularly its southeastern cluster of six to eight languages (Naden 1988, 1989). Closely related and very similar languages spoken nearby are Dagbani, Nanun,Kamara andHanga in the Northern Region, andKusaal,Nabit andTalni in theUpper East Region. Not quite so closely related areFarefare,Waali,Dagaari,Birifor andSafalaba in the Upper East andUpper West Regions and southwest of the Northern Region.

Comparatively little linguistic material on the language has been published; there is a brief sketch as an illustration of this subgroup of languages in Naden 1988.^[2][3] A collection of Mampruli proverbs has been published by R.P. Xavier Plissart,^[4] and a translation of the New Testament is in print,^[5] a sample of which can be read and heard online.^[6] There are also beginning Mampruli lessons in which the spoken language can be heard.^[7]

The general and accepted name for the language isMampruli. The nameMamprusi Is mostly used to refer to the ethnic group who speak the language, and it is not accepted by native speakers to refer to the language.

Mampruli is also spoken at the border in theSavanes Region ofTogo, across the Ghanaian border. It is also spoken by some emigrated communities in parts ofBurkina Faso,Ivory Coast, andMali.

There is comparatively little dialect variation. The western (Walewale to theWhite Volta) and Far Western (west of the White Volta, area have some variant pronunciation standards. The far Eastern dialect (Durili) is most notable for pronouncing[r] and[l] where the rest of Mampruli pronounces[l] and[r] respectively, and for some characteristic intonation patterns.

Mampruli has ten phonemic vowels: five short and five long vowels:

Mampruli is written in an orthography based on theLatin alphabet, with the addition of the lettersɛ,ŋ,ɔ. Theliteracy rate is fairly low.^{[citation needed]} Theorthography currently used represents a number ofallophonic distinctions. There is a description of the process of formulating the orthography.^[8][9][10]

Mampruli has a fairly conservative Oti-Volta grammatical system. The constituent order in Mampruli sentences is usuallyagent–verb–object. There is a simple, non-technical grammatical study^[11]<<to be expanded>>

The rather unusual trilingual (Mampruli-Spanish-English) dictionary^[12] was superseded by the more-reliable simple glossary:^[13] a full-featured Mampruli dictionary is in course of preparation.^[14] A hundred-word sample can be seen on theKamusi project site^[15]

Mampruli language test ofWikipedia atWikimedia Incubator

• Languages of Ghana
• Oti–Volta languages
• Mamprusi people

• Pages containing links to subscription-only content
• Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
• CS1 errors: generic name
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2024