Baoulé (native name: wawle), also known as Baule or Bawule,[citation needed] is a language spoken in central and southern Ivory Coast, including in the regions of Lacs, Lagunes, Gôh-Djiboua, Sassandra-Marahoué, Vallée du Bandama, Woroba, and Yamoussoukro, by approximately 5.3 million people.
[1] It is a Kwa language of the Central Tano branch, forming a dialect continuum with Anyin and closely related to Nzema and Sehwi.
[2] It is the common language of the Baoulé people, the largest ethnic group in Ivory Coast.
[3] In 1946, portions of the Bible translated into Baoulé were first published; the full New Testament followed in 1953.
[4][5] Baoulé has five tones: high, low, mid, rising, and falling.