The Orthography of Ewe and Logba: The Role of North German Missionaries

Abstract

The North German Missionaries contributed more to the development of the Ewe language than other missionary groups before independence and even the post independence contributions that we see being made by political administrators, academics and other groups are without doubt based on the firm foundations they had built. The NGM adopted strategies that helped in reducing the Ewe language in writing. Through their dedication a written Ewe language emerged known as a standard Ewe (SE) Duthie (1963:3). This standard written form was employed as TL for translation of the Bible and church hymns. These translations continue to influence the Ewe language. The paper also notes that with the publication of a concise grammatical sketch on Logba by Westermann a firm foundation was been laid for Logba to be written. The paper focuses on the historical background on the NGM and continues with issues related to reducing Ewe and Logba to writing