Moba (Muaba)

Moba is a member of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo language family. It is spoken by about 320,800 people mainly in northern Togo, and also in southeastern Burkina Faso. In Togo it is spoken by about 319,000 people in the prefectures of Tandjoaré, Oti and Tône in the Savanes region, while in Burkina Faso there are about 1,800 Moba speakers in Ouargaye subdistrict of Koulpelogo province in the Centre-Est region.

Moba is also known as Jifelm, Moa, Moab or Moare. Dialects include Natchaba, Ben, Lok and Yanbann. It is related to Bimoba, which is spoken in northern Ghana, however there is only limited intelligibility between the two languages.

Moba is written with the Latin alphabet, and there is some written material in the language, including a dictionary, grammar and other texts. There are two spelling systems for Moba: one used by the Peace Corps in Togo, and one used by SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics). The SIL version is shown below.

Moba alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Long vowels are doubled (aa)
Nasal vowels are indicated by an n after them in the SIL spelling system
An apostrophe is used for contractions
Tones are not usually marked.

Download an alphabet chart for Moba (Excel)

Corrections provided by Michael Peter Füstumum

Sample text (The Lord's Prayer - Luke 11: 2-4)

K Yiesu yet’b ɑ: «Yɑɑ tuu sii mei Yennu biɑnŋ nbɑ e nɑ: Bɑɑ, ɑ sɑnn n lɑ dontl. Ŋɑɑnt k ɑ nɑɑn n bɑɑl.
Tul’t mɑnn dɑɑl kul
Nyikn cɑb t biit nɑn tɑɑ mun nyikt k cɑbt bin nbɑ biil’t nɑ. A dɑɑ te k t kuɑ jɑnmi ni.»

Source: Bible.com

Translation (English)

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Source: King James Bible Online

Sample video in Moba

Links

Information about Moba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moba_language
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mfq
https://www.webonary.org/moba/overview/introduction/
https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Moba/moba2010.pdf
http://olac.ldc.upenn.edu/language/mfq
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/moba1244
Cours de grammaire et d'orthographe moba (PDF)

Gur languages

Berba, Birifor (Northern), Birifor (Southern), Dagaare, Dagbani, Frafra, Gourmanchéma, Hanga, Kabiye, Kasem, Konkomba, Kulango, Kusaal, Láá Láá Bwamu, Mampruli, Mbelime, Moba, Mossi, Nateni, Ngangam, Ntcham, Paasaal, Safaliba, Sisaali, Tammari, Tem, Tumulung Sisaala, Turka, Waama, Western Sisaala

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 23.09.22. Last modified: 29.09.22

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