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In the middle of the pulsating chaos of Accra, Ghanas capital, lives a language with a history ranging from Egypt to Brazil. The Ga once named themselves after the unstoppable "Gaga" ants, a sign of their strength as a warrior culture. Today the Ga is a multiethnic group in the Greater Accra, whose identity is interwoven from many different strands.

Millions of people travel annually to Accra, but hardly anyone knows that the name of the Ghanaian capital comes from ants. The Ga-Dangme moved centuries ago from the east, probably from Benin City or Ife in today's Nigeria, along the Gulf of Guinea, to today's Accra Great Region. They came in so large numbers that they looked like hiking ants from a distance. In addition, her fighting style was reminiscent of the feared soldier ants who move through the forest in endless columns and slew everything on their way. After this animal The Ga himself called the model “Gaga". The neighboring Akan translated this name into their language and called the people "Nkraine" or "Nkranfou", ant people.

The closest relationship of the Ga is to the people of the Dangme. Both of them come from a common ancestor Proto-Ga-Dangme and separated a little more than 1,000 years ago. While Dangme remained more linguistically conservative, Ga continued to develop more innovatively through intensive contact with Akan and Guan groups.

About 8% of vocabulary from today Akan, there are influences from Guantán and Words from English and Portuguese. Also the Kla name, the day name after the weekday of birth, took the Ga from the Akan. Who was born on a Sunday is Kwashi or Akoshia. A common saying in Accra points out: “There is no pure Ga."

Ga belongs to the tonal languages West Africa. Two basic tones, high and low, decide the meaning of a word. What sounds like the same sound for European ears can mean something completely different depending on the pitch. Ga shares this principle with neighboring languages such as Twi and Ewe.

Some sounds call for the mouth in a new way. At /kp/ and /gb/, lips and palates close at the same time as saying "k" and "p" in a single moment. Such doubll tolls also come in other African languages such as Yoruba, Igbo and Wolof before.

Ga works differently from German. In the German we ask "Wann?", Ga asks "Quarterly or not finished?" Just say the verb, the action is complete. If you want to say that you're in, add a prefix. 'Mi ye means 'I have eaten', 'Miíye means 'I have eaten'.

The first written record of the Ga comes from the Year 1764, written by Christian Jacob Protten, an Afro Danehis mother came from a Ga family with Togolese roots. In the 19th century, missionary Johannes Zimmermann and historian Carl Christian Reindorf built on his work. They developed grammars, dictionaries and translated the Bible into Ga. Today's alphabet is based on Latin, extended by special characters calibre, silhouette and vac for soundsthat does not cover the Latin alphabet.