Sefwi, also known as Sefwi, Esahie, and Asahyue, is a
Niger-Congo language spoken by 305,000 across southwestern
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
, principally in the
Western Region. It is the common language of the
Sehwi people Sefwi or Sehwi may refer to:
* Sefwi people, an ethnic group of Ghana
* Sehwi language
Sefwi, also known as Sefwi, Esahie, and Asahyue, is a Niger–Congo languages, Niger-Congo language spoken by 305,000 across southwestern Ghana, principally in ...
.
Sehwi 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. According to Dolphyne, the
Aowin dialect, putatively of Anyin, is actually closer to Sehwi.
[Dolphyne, Florence Abena (1986) The languages of the Akan peoples. ''Research review''. Vol. 2 No. 1, Pages 1-]
University of Ghana.
Virtually all speakers of Sehwi are
Multilingualism, bilingual in
Twi
Twi (; ) is the common name of the Akan literary language of Asante and Akuapem.
Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the Fante people. It is not a linguistic grouping, but more of a common name used by inland Akans as ...
, 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, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a language systematically used to make communication possib ...
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
{{kwa-lang-stub