Editing Demographics of Ghana (section)

== Languages ==
{{See also|Languages of Ghana}}

Ghana is a multilingual country in which about 80 languages are spoken.<ref>{{Cite book
| editor1-last=Eberhard | editor1-first= David M.
| editor2-first= Gary F. | editor2-last= Simons
| editor3-first= Charles D. | editor3-last=Fennig 
| year=2023
| title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World
| edition=Twenty-sixth 
| place =Dallas | publisher= SIL International
|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/GH|access-date=2023-02-06}}</ref> English is the [[official language]] and [[lingua franca]].<ref name="USA">{{cite web|title=The Bureau Of Ghana Languages-BGL|url=http://www.ghanaembassy.org/index.php?page=language-and-religion|publisher=Ghana Embassy Washington DC, USA|year=2013|access-date=11 November 2013|archive-date=1 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301155437/https://www.ghanaembassy.org/index.php?page=language-and-religion|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A handbook of varieties of English. 1. Phonology, Volume 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtd3a-56ysUC&pg=PA847 |publisher=Oxford University Press |first1=Bernd |last1=Kortmann |first2=Walter |last2=de Gruyter |year=2004|access-date=11 November 2013|isbn = 9783110175325}}</ref> Of the languages indigenous to Ghana, [[Akan languages|Akan]] is the most widely spoken.<ref name="Introduction To The Verbal and Multi-Verbalsystem of Akan">{{cite web|title=Introduction To The Verbal and Multi-Verbalsystem of Akan|url=http://www.ling.hf.ntnu.no/tross/osam.pdf|work=ling.hf.ntnu.no|year=2013|access-date=16 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407085659/http://www.ling.hf.ntnu.no/tross/osam.pdf|archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref>

Ghana has more than seventy ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language.<ref name="johnchernoff.com">{{cite web|title=Master Drummers of Dagbon|volume=1 and 2|url=http://www.johnchernoff.com/Master%20Drummers%20of%20Dagbon%20notes.html|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=8 December 2013|date=1992|author1=Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulai|author2=John M. Chernoff|archive-date=22 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922184412/http://www.johnchernoff.com/Master%20Drummers%20of%20Dagbon%20notes.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Languages that belong to the same ethnic group are usually mutually intelligible.

Eleven languages have the status of government-sponsored languages: four [[Akan languages|Akan ethnic languages]] ([[Akuapem Twi]], [[Asante dialect|Asante Twi]], [[Fante dialect|Fante]] and [[Nzema language|Nzema]]) and two [[Oti–Volta languages|Mole–Dagbani ethnic languages]] ([[Dagaare]] and [[Dagbani language|Dagbanli]]). The rest are [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Dangme language|Dangme]], [[Ga language|Ga]], [[Gonja language|Gonja]], and [[Kasem language|Kasem]], [[Hausa language|Hausa]].<ref name="NCA">{{cite web|title=The Bureau Of Ghana Languages-BGL|url=http://www.ghanaculture.gov.gh/index1.php?linkid=331&page=2&sectionid=602|publisher=National Commission on Culture|year=2006|access-date=11 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112001558/http://www.ghanaculture.gov.gh/index1.php?linkid=331&page=2&sectionid=602|archive-date=12 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>