Twi

For other uses, see TWI (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Tiwi language.
Twi
Akwapem Twi
Pronunciation[tɕᶣi]
Native toGhana
RegionAshanti Region
Ethnicity
Native speakers
4.4 million (2013)[1]
Dialects
Latin
Official status
Official language in
Ashanti Region
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byAkan Orthography Committee
Language codes
ISO 639-1tw
ISO 639-2twi
ISO 639-3twi (see [aka] for Ethnologue description)
Glottologakan1251
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A man speaking Twi

Twi ([tɕᶣi]) is a variety of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 4.4 million speakers.[1]

Twi is a common name for mutually intelligible former literary dialects of the Akan language of Asante, Akuapem and Bono.[2][3][4] Akuapem, as the first Akan variety to be used for Bible translation, has become the prestige dialect as a result.[5] It is also spoken by the people of southeastern Côte d'Ivoire.[6][3][7] It generally subsumes the following dialects: Ahafo, Akuapem, Akyem, Asante, Asen, Dankyira and Kwawu.[8]

Phonology

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Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal voiced m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ny, n⟩ ŋ ⟨ng, n⟩
labialized nʷ ⟨nw⟩
Stop/
affricate 		voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ d͡ʒ ⟨dw⟩ d͡ʑ ~ ɟ͡ʝ ⟨gy⟩ g ⟨g⟩
aspirated pʰ ⟨p⟩ tʰ ⟨t⟩ t͡ɕʰ ~ c͡çʰ ⟨ky⟩ kʰ ⟨k⟩
labialized t͡ɕʷ ⟨tw⟩ kʷ ⟨kw⟩
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ç ⟨hy⟩ h ⟨h⟩
labialized hʷ ⟨hw⟩
Approximant j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩
Tap/flap ɾ ⟨r⟩ ɽ ⟨r⟩
Trill r ⟨r⟩
Lateral l ⟨l⟩

Vowels

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Front Central Back
Close +ATR i u
–ATR ɪ ʊ
Mid +ATR e o
–ATR ɛ ɔ
Open +ATR æ
–ATR ɑ

Front vowels additionally show a distinction in duration, where –ATR front vowels are shorter than their +ATR counterparts.[9]

Tone

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Twi has at least five tones:

  • High tone: H
  • Mid tone: M
  • Low tone: L
  • Rising tone: R
  • Falling tone: F

However, when writing Twi using the Latin script, tone marks are not used.

Diphthongs

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Twi contains the diphthongs /ao/, /eɛ/, /ei/, /ia/, /ie/, /oɔ/, /ue/, and /uo/.[10]

Orthography

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Uppercase A B D E Ɛ F G H I K L M N O Ɔ P R S T U W Y
Lowercase a b d e ɛ f g h i k l m n o ɔ p r s t u w y

The letters C, J, Q, V, X and Z are also used, but only in loanwords.[11]

Naming system

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The Akan peoples use a common Akan (Ghana) naming system of giving the first name to a child, based on the day of the week that the child was born. Almost all the tribes and clans in Ghana have a similar custom.

Day Male name Female name
English Akan
Monday Dwoada Kwadwo, Kojo Adwoa
Tuesday Benada Kwabena, Kobina Abena
Wednesday Wukuada Kweku, Kwaku Akua
Thursday Yawoada Yaw, Kwaw Yaa
Friday Fiada Kofi Afia/Afua
Saturday Memeneda Kwame Ama
Sunday Kwasiada Akwasi, Kwasi, Kwesi Asi, Akosua, Esi

Proverbs

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In his 1865 collection, Wit and Wisdom from West Africa,[12] Richard Francis Burton published over 250 Twi (Oji) proverbs and sayings with English translations, taken from Hans Nicolaus Riis's Grammatical Outline and Vocabulary of the Oji-language[13] published in 1854. (Riis, nephew of Andreas Riis, went to Ghana as a missionary in 1845.) Here are some of those sayings:

  • "Wo te adur-a ebi ka w'ano." "If you lay poison (i.e. attempt to poison others), some will touch your mouth." (#2)
  • "Sika ben wo-a, ehoa." "When gold comes near to you it glistens (i.e. an alluring object placed before the eyes stimulates desire)." (#9)
  • "Ohi enni ni yonku." "A poor man has no friend." (#18)
  • "Oduacen se, nea 'ko ne yem no, enni nede, na nea vo n'afonnom no, enye nedea." "The monkey says that which has gone into his belly is his, but what is in his mouth is not his (i.e. any external possession is uncertain, however well secured)." (#27)

References

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  1. ^ a b Twi at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Arhin, Kwame; Studies, University of Ghana Institute of African (1979). A Profile of Brong Kyempim: Essays on the Archaeology, History, Language and Politics of the Brong Peoples of Ghana. Afram.
  3. ^ a b Christaller, Johann Gottlieb (1875). A Grammar of the Asante and Fante Language Called Tshi Chwee, Twi Based on the Akuapem Dialect with Reference to the Other (Akan and Fante) Dialects. Harvard University. Printed for the Basel evang. missionary society.
  4. ^ Jane Garry, Carl R. Galvez Rubino, "Facts about the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages, Past and Present", H.W. Wilson, USA, 2001, page 8
  5. ^ Ager, Simon. "Omniglot". Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Akan". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2019-12-25.
  7. ^ Ofosu-Appiah, L. H. (1998). "Christaller, Johannes Gottlieb". Dictionary of African Christian Biography.
  8. ^ Twi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  9. ^ Kirkham, Sam; Nance, Claire (2017). "An acoustic-articulatory study of bilingual vowel production: Advanced tongue root vowels in Twi and tense/lax vowels in Ghanaian English". Journal of Phonetics. 62: 65–81. doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2017.03.004. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Akan languages, alphabet and pronunciation". www.omniglot.com. Retrieved 2017-06-26.
  11. ^ "Language Guide". The African Linguists Network Blog. 2013-05-14. Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  12. ^ Burton, Richard (1865). Wit and Wisdom from West Africa. pp. 65-130.
  13. ^ Grammatical Outline and Vocabulary of the Oji-language
[edit]
Twi edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Twi.
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