This for you Torgbui Vypa Kwabla. You asked this: Is Ewe originally a German Language? I hope its helps us get an understanding into the involvement of the Germans in our language. The main sources of information about the development of the Standard Ewe language are in German. There are two main reasons for this: First, German missionaries were the first to bring Christianity, with the formal western education that was associated with it, to Eweland. Secondly, the German colony of Togo lay in the heartland of Eweland. It is true that sections of ewe speakers like the Peki, Tongu were outside of the Togo colony. As a result of these two factors, most of the literature on the language, especially before World War I, is in German. The German missionaries in a strategy to spread the Gospel, had to make people literate so as to enable them read Christian Literature. These literature, the missionaries always insisted, whenever possible, should be in the indigenous language (EWE) of the people to be served. Schools were founded through which both Christianity and secular education was imparted to the people. Ewe was the main medium of instruction, and Anlo which is spoken in Keta and its surrounding was the obvious basic dialect selected, hence Anlo agreed to be used as the Standard Ewe. German and English were introduced at a later stage. Nevertheless, it was a primary concern of propagating Christianity in Eweland. This policy led to the production of an impressive amount of literary works in and on the Anlo dialect. By the turn of the century, the Scriptures, school textbooks, and a number of textual collections had been produced in the Ewe language.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 10:54:35 +0000
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