Grusi languages

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July 16, 2026

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The Grusi languages are a subbranch of the Gur languages, which are part of the larger Niger-Congo language family. These languages are spoken by approximately 20 million people in the savanna regions north of the forest belt, spanning parts of Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and Benin.1

The Grusi languages are difficult to classify precisely due to historical population movements and intermingling of ethnic groups. They are characterized by features such as syllabic nasals, noun class systems, and tonal systems that often carry grammatical rather than lexical functions.12

While the term "Grusi" refers to a linguistic group, it also denotes an ethnolinguistic group residing in northern Ghana and adjacent areas of Burkina Faso and Togo.2

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Gur languages
…Benin, and Burkina Faso) and Grusi (with a further 20 languages, some to the west and others to the east of the Oti-Volta group). The largest languages in the Oti-Volta group include Moore, the principal language of eastern Burkina Faso; Gurma (600,000); Gurenne (550,000); Dagbani, the principal language of northern…
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…Benin, and Burkina Faso) and Grusi (with a further 20 languages, some to the west and others to the east of the Oti-Volta group). The largest languages in the Oti-Volta group include Moore, the principal language of eastern Burkina Faso; Gurma (600,000); Gurenne (550,000); Dagbani, the principal language of northern…
Read More