// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Lelemi language say? It's a tongue twister.

Lelemi
Lefana
Native to	Ghana
Region	Jasikan
Ethnicity	Buem
Native speakers	72,000 (2017)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Kwa Na-Togo Lelemi languages Lelemi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lef
Glottolog	lele1264

Lelemi or Lefana (Lε-lεmi, Lε-fana) is spoken by the Buem people in the mountainous Volta Region of Ghana. It belongs to the geographic group of Ghana Togo Mountain languages (traditionally called the Togorestsprachen or Togo Remnant languages) of the Kwa branch of Niger–Congo.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k	k͡p
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ	ɡ͡b
Fricative	voiceless	f	s				h
	voiced	v
Approximant			l	j		w
Trill			r

• /b/ may also be heard as an implosive [ɓ] in word-initial position.
• /f/ may have a variety of allophones when preceding /w/. Most notably a bilabial fricative [ɸ]. Although occasionally also as pharyngeal [ħ] and glottal [h] fricatives among different speakers.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	e		o
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a