Akan () is a
Central Tano language and the principal native language of the
Akan people of
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...
, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana.
About 80% of Ghana's population can speak Akan,
and about 44% of Ghanaians are
native speakers.
It is also spoken in parts of
Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre ...
.
Four dialects have been developed as literary standards with distinct
orthographies
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...
:
Asante,
Akuapem,
Bono (collectively known as
Twi), and
Fante;
which, despite being
mutually intelligible,
were inaccessible in written form to speakers of the other standards until the
Akan Orthography Committee (AOC)'s development of a common Akan orthography in 1978, based mainly on
Akuapem Twi
Akuapem, also known as Akuapim, Akwapem Twi, and Akwapi, is one of the principal members of the Akan dialect continuum, along with Bono and Asante, with which it is collectively known as Twi, and Fante, with which it is mutually intelligible. The ...
. This unified orthography is used as the medium of instruction in primary school by speakers of several other Central Tano languages, such as
Akyem,
Anyi,
Sehwi,
Fante,
Ahanta
The Ahanta/Ayinda are Akan People who live to the north and east of the Nzema. The Ahanta land has been historically known as one of the richest areas on the coast of what is now Ghana.
The Ahanta land spans from Beposo to Ankobra in what is no ...
, and the
Guan languages.
The
Akan Orthography Committee has worked on the creation of a standard orthography.
With the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and ...
, the language was introduced to the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
, notably in
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...
, spoken by the
Ndyuka, and in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...
, spoken by the
Jamaican Maroons, also known as the
Coromantee.
The cultures of the descendants of escaped slaves in the interior of Suriname and the
Maroons
Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos. ...
in Jamaica still retain influences from this language, including the
Akan naming practice of naming children after the day of the week on which they are born, e.g. Akwasi/Kwasi for a boy or Akosua for a girl born on a Sunday. In Jamaica and Suriname, the ''
Anansi'' spider stories are still well-known.
[The Brong (Bono) dialect of Akan” by Florence Abena Dolphyne ]University of Ghana, Legon
The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities.
The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...
1979.
History
In history, the Akans who live in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...
migrated in successive waves between the 11th and 18th centuries. Others inhabit the eastern part of
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre i ...
and parts of
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
.
They migrated from the north to occupy the forest and coastal areas in the south in the 13th century. The Akans have a strong oral history tradition of their past and they're also known in the art history world for symbolic artifacts of wood, metal and terracotta.
Their cultural ideas are expressed in stories and proverbs and also in designs such as symbols used in carvings and on clothes.
The cultural and historic nature of the Akans in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...
makes it an area of research for various disciplines such as folklore, literary studies,
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
,
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
and history.
Relationship to other Central Tano languages
Akan is a
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
that includes
Twi,
Fante, and
Wasa. Ethnologue, whose classification is based on studies of mutual intelligibility and lexical similarity from a multitude of sources, classifies the varieties of Akan as dialects of the overarching Akan language, which belongs to the
Central Tano language family. Glottolog makes basically the same analysis, with the exception that the Akan dialect continuum is labeled "Akanic".
According to work done by P. K. Agbedor, Fante, Twi (Bono, Asante and Akuapem), Sefwi, Wassa, Asen, Akwamu, and Kwahu belong to Cluster 1 of the speech forms of Ghana, defined as in Ethnologue by the level of mutual intelligibility.
Cluster 1 may better be termed r-Akan, which do not have /l/ as a phoneme, while l-Akan refers to the Akan cluster comprising
Nzema,
Baoulé,
Anyin and other dialects spoken mainly in the Ivory Coast, which have /l/ in place of /r/.
Phonology
The Akan dialects contain extensive
palatalization,
vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...
, and
tone terracing.
Consonants
Before
front vowel
A front vowel is a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages, its defining characteristic being that the highest point of the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would otherw ...
s, all Asante consonants are
palatalized (or
labio-palatalized), and the
stops are to some extent
affricated. The
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...
s of are quite complex. In the table below, palatalized allophones which involve more than minor phonetic palatalization are specified, in the context of the vowel . These sounds do occur before other vowels, such as , though in most cases not commonly.
In Asante, followed by a vowel is pronounced , but in
Akuapem it remains . The sequence is pronounced .
A word final can be heard as a glottal stop . There is also a nasalization of and of as and , when occurring before nasal vowels.
The transcriptions in the tables below are in the order /
phonemic/,
Allophone">phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
]. Note that orthographic is ambiguous; in textbooks, = may be distinguished from with a diacritic: '. Likewise, velar () may be transcribed '. Orthographic is palatalized .
Vowels
The Akan dialects have fourteen to fifteen vowels: four to five "tense" vowels (advanced tongue root
In phonetics, advanced tongue root (ATR) and retracted tongue root (RTR) are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in Western and Eastern Africa, but also in Kazakh and M ...
, or +ATR), five "lax" vowels (retracted tongue root
In phonetics, advanced tongue root (ATR) and retracted tongue root (RTR) are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in Western and Eastern Africa, but also in Kazakh and Mon ...
, or -ATR), which are adequately but not completely represented by the seven-vowel orthography, and five nasal vowels, which are not represented at all. All fourteen were distinguished in the Gold Coast alphabet of the colonial era. An ATR distinction in orthographic ''a'' is only found in some subdialects of Fante, but not in the literary form; in Asante and Akuapem there are harmonic allophones of , but neither is ATR. The two vowels written ''e'' ( and ) and ''o'' ( and ) are often not distinguished in pronunciation.
ATR harmony
Akan vowels engage in a form of vowel harmony
In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...
with the root of the tongue.
# -ATR vowels followed by the +ATR non-mid vowels /i̘ a̘ u̘/ become +ATR. This is generally reflected in the orthography: That is, orthographic ' become ''i e a o u''. However, it is no longer reflected in the case of subject and possessive pronouns, giving them a consistent spelling. This rule takes precedence over the next one.
# After the -ATR non-high vowels /e a o/, +ATR mid vowels /e̘ o̘/ become -ATR high vowels /i u/. This is not reflected in the orthography, for both sets of vowels are spelled , and in many dialects this rule does not apply, for these vowels have merged.
Tones
Akan has three phonemic tones, ''high'' (/H/), ''mid'' (/M/), and ''low'' (/L/). Initial syllable may only be ''high'' or ''low''.
Tone terracing
The phonetic pitch of the three tones depends on their environment, often being lowered after other tones, producing a steady decline known as tone terracing.
/H/ tones have the same pitch as a preceding /H/ or /M/ tone within the same tonic phrase, whereas /M/ tones have a lower pitch. That is, the sequences /HH/ and /MH/ have a level pitch, whereas the sequences /HM/ and /MM/ have a falling pitch. /H/ is lowered ( downstepped) after a /L/.
/L/ is the default tone, which emerges in situations such as reduplicated prefixes. It is always at bottom of the speaker's pitch range, except in the sequence /HLH/, in which case it is raised in pitch but the final /H/ is still lowered. Thus /HMH/ and /HLH/ are pronounced with distinct but very similar pitches.
After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep. This syllable is usually stressed.
Orthography
Morphology
Formation of plural nouns in Akan
Akan forms some plural nouns by adding the prefixes 'm' or 'n' to the original word and removing the first sound of the noun. Example include nouns like ''abofra'' (child), which forms its plural by removing the 'ab' from the word and adding 'mm' to form its plural: ''mmofra'' (children). Same goes for ''aboa'' (animal) to ''mmoa'' (animals), ''abusua'' (family) to ''mmusua'' (families), ''abirekyie'' (goat) to ''mmirekyie'' (goats) etc. in the Twi dialect.
The nouns which use the 'n' prefix include; ''adaka'' (box) to ''nnaka'' (boxes), ''adanko'' (rabbit) to ''nnanko'' (rabbits), ''aduro'' (medicine) to ''nnuro'' (medicines), ''atare'' (dress) to ''ntare'' (dresses), ''odwan'' (sheep) to ''nnwan'' (sheep plural), ''aduane'' (food) to ''nnuane'' (food plural), ''kraman'' (dog) to ''nkraman'' (dogs), ''kanea'' (light) to ''nkanea'' (lights), ''safoa'' (key) to ''nsafoa'' (keys).
Akan can create plural nouns by adding the suffix ''nom'' to the original word. Examples include; ''agya'' (father) to ''agyanom'' (fathers), ''nana'' (grandparent/grandchild) to ''nananom'' (grandparents/grandchildren), ''nua'' (sibling) to ''nuanom'' (siblings), ''yere'' (wife) to ''yerenom'' (wives).
Some Akan nouns are the same in both singular and plural. Nouns such as ''nkyene'' (salt), ''ani'' (eye), ''sika'' (money) e.t.c are written the same in both singular and plural.
Literature
The Akan language has a rich literature in proverbs, folktales, and traditional drama, as well as a new literature in dramas, short stories, and novels.[Nina Pawlak, “Akan Folk Literature and the Beginning of Writing in Twi,” ''Literatures in African Languages: Theoretical Issues and Sample Surveys'' by B. W. Andrzejewski and S. Pilaszewicz, 128-157 (Cambridge University Press, 2010).] This literature began to be documented in written form in the late 1800s. Later, Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia
Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (22 June 1921 – 13 March 2019) was a Ghanaian ethnomusicologist and composer. Considered Africa's premier musicologist, during his lifetime, he was called a "living legend" and "easily the most published and best ...
collected a number of proverbs and folktales, including ''Funeral Dirges of the Akan People'' (1969), ''Folk Songs of Ghana'' (1963), and ''Akan Poetry'' (1958). Some of the important authors in the language are A. A. Opoku (dramatist), E. J. Osew (dramatist), K. E. Owusu (novelist), and R. A. Tabi (dramatist and novelist). The Bureau of Ghana Languages
The Bureau of Ghana Languages is an agency of the government of Ghana that focuses on Ghanaian languages, including publication of materials in them. It was founded in 1951, originally as the Vernacular Literature Bureau, and later given its cu ...
has been unable to continue printing novels in the language, and the following are out of print: ''Obreguo, Okrabiri, Afrakoma, Obeede, Fia Tsatsala, ''and ''Ku Di Fo Nanawu''.
Education
Primary
In 1978 the AOC established a common orthography for all of Akan, which is used as the medium of instruction in primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
. The Akan language is recognized for literacy, from at least the lower primary level (primary 1–3).
University
The Akan language is studied at several major universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
in the United States, including Ohio University
Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subse ...
, Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...
, Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universi ...
, University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, and The University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
. Akan has been a regular African language of study in the annual Summer Cooperative African Languages Institute (SCALI) program. The Akan language is studied in these universities as a bachelor or masters program.
Common phrases
*''Akwaaba'' – Welcome
*''Aane'' (Twi) - Yes
*''Nyew'' (Fante)– Yes
*''Yiw'' (Akuapem) – Yes
*''Yoo'' – Okay/Alright
*''Oho / anhã'' (Fante)/''Daabi'' (Twi)– No/Nope
*''Da yie'' (Twi) – Good night (literally "sleep well")
*''Me rekɔ da''(Fante) – I'm going to sleep
*''Ɛte sɛn?'' (Twi) – How is it going/How are you? (could also be used in the non lit. sense as "hello")
*''Medaase'' – Thank you
*''Mepa wo kyɛw'' – Please/excuse me/I beg your pardon
*''Ndwom'' (Fante)/''nnwom'' (Twi) – Song/songs or music
*''Wo din de sɛn?/Yɛfrɛ wo sɛn?'' (Twi) - What is your name?
*''Wo dzin dze dεn?'' (Fante) – What is your name?
*''Me dzin dze...''/''Wɔfrɛ me...'' (Fante) – My name is/I'm called...
*''Woedzi mfe ahen?'' (Fante) – How old is he/she?
*''Edzi mfe ahen'' (Fante) – How old are you?
*''ɔwɔ hen?'' – Where is it?
*''Me rekɔ'' – I am going/ I am taking my leave.
*''Mbo'' (Fante)/''Mmo'' (Twi)– Good
*''Jo'' (Fante)/''Kɔ'' (Twi) – Leave
*''Ayɛ Adze'' (Fante) – well done
*''Gyae'' – Stop
*''Da'' – Sleep
*Bra - Come
*Bra ha - Come here
*Bɛ didi - Come and eat
Names of Places
* Fie - Home
* Sukuu - School
* Asɔre - Church
* Dwaaso - Market
* sukuupon - University or a tertiary Institution
* Ayaresabea - Hospital
References
Bibliography
* Kasahorow Editors (2005), ''Modern Akan: A concise introduction to the Akuapem, Fanti and Twi language''. kasahorow, Accra.
* Dolphyne, Florence Abena (1988), ''The Akan (Twi-Fante) Language: Its Sound Systems and Tonal Structure''. Ghana Universities Press, Accra.
* F.A. Dolphyne (1996) ''A Comprehensive Course in Twi (Asante) for the Non-Twi Learner''. Ghana University Press, Accra. .
* Schacter, Paul (1968). ''A Phonology of Akan: Akuapem, Asante, Fante''. Los Angeles: UC Press.
* William Nketia (2004) ''Twi für Ghana:; Wort für Wort.'' Reise Know-How Verlag, Bielefeld. . (In German)
* Obeng, Samuel Gyasi. (2001). ''African anthroponymy: An ethnopragmatic and norphophonological study of personal names in Akan and some African societies''. LINCOM studies in anthropology 08. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa. .
* J.E. Redden and N. Owusu (1963, 1995)
''Twi Basic Course''
Foreign Service Institute (Hippocrene reprint).
External links
English-Tshi (Asante) : a dictionary = Enyiresi-Twi nsem-asekyere-nhõma (1909)
Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft in Basel
Akan Language Resources
Journal of West African Languages: Akan
My First Akan Dictionary
Online Akan (Twi, Fanti) Dictionary
Twi Word of the Day and Articles
Twi Language Resources
The Bible in Twi
The Quran in Twi Language
Watch Twi Music Videos
Open Twi Project
a project to bring Akan (Asante Twi at the moment) to standard e.g. in software, dictionary, and grammar
Literature and articles in Ahanta
Literature and articles in Ahanta.
{{Authority control
Central Tano languages
Languages of Ghana
Akan people