Sehwi, also known as Sefwi, Esahie, and Asahyue, is a
Niger-Congo language spoken by 305,000 across southwestern
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 To ...
, principally in the
Western Region.
It is a
Kwa language of the
Central Tano branch, closely related to
Anyin, and mutually intelligible with the Sannvin dialect of Anyin; its two main dialects are Wiawso, spoken in the southern area of the Sehwi territory, and Anhwiaso, spoken in the northern area. It is the common language of the
Sehwi people.
Virtually all speakers of Sehwi are
bilingual in
Twi
Twi () is a dialect 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 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...
, which is used as the
trade language
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
in the region. However, the Sehwi people are fond of their language, such that other tribes who come to stay with Sehwi people tend to speak Sehwi.
References
Central Tano languages
Languages of Ghana
Sefwi people
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