Baoulé (native name: ), also known as Baule or Bawule, is an Akan language spoken in central and southern Ivory Coast, including in the regions of Lacs, Lagunes, Gôh-Djiboua, Sassandra-Marahoué, Vallée du Bandama, Woroba, and Yamoussoukro, by approximately 5.3 million people. It is the common language of the Baoulé people, the largest ethnic group in Ivory Coast.
Translations of the Bible
In 1946, portions of the Bible translated into Baoulé were first published; the full New Testament followed in 1953. The complete Bible was published first in 1998, by the Bible Society in Abidjan.
Phonology
Consonants
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |
!Labial
!Alveolar
!Palatal
!Velar
!Labial-<br>velar
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |Plosive
!<small>voiceless</small>
|p
|t
|c
|k
|kp
|- align="center"
!<small>voiced</small>
|b
|d
|ɟ
|g
|gb
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |Fricative
!<small>voiceless</small>
|f
|s
|
|
|
|- align="center"
!<small>voiced</small>
|v
|z
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |Nasal
|m
|n
|ɲ
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |Lateral
|
|l
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |Trill
|
|r
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |Approximant
|
|
|j
|
|w
|}
Vowels
{| class="wikitable"
!
!Front
!Central
!Back
|- align="center"
!Close
|i
|
|u
|- align="center"
!Close-mid
|e
|
|o
|- align="center"
!Open-mid
|ɛ
|
|ɔ
|- align="center"
!Open
|
|a
|
|}
Of these vowels, five may be nasalized: /ĩ/, /ɛ̃/, /ã/, /ũ/, and /ɔ̃/.
Tones
Baoulé has five tones: high, low, mid, rising, and falling.
Orthography
Baoulé uses the following letters to indicate the following phonemes: