Twi (; ) is the common name of the

Akan Akan may refer to: People and languages *Akan people, an ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire *Akan languages, a language group within the wider Central Tano languages *Kwa languages, a language group which includes Akan *Central Tano language ...

literary language of

Asante Asante may refer to: *Asante people, an ethnic group in Ghana *Asante Empire *Asante (name) *Asante dialect, a dialect of the Akan languages * Asante Kotoko S.C., a Ghanaian professional association football club *Asante (album), 1974 jazz album b ...

and Akuapem. Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the

Fante people The modern Mfantsefo or Fante ("Fanti" is an older spelling) confederacy is a combination of Akan people and aboriginal Guan people. The Fante people are mainly located in the Central and Western regions of Ghana, occupying the forest and coast ...

. It is not a linguistic grouping, but more of a common name used by inland Akans as Akuapem Twi is more closely related to the

Fante dialect Fante (), also known as Fanti, Fantse, or Mfantse, is one of the three literary dialects of the Akan language, along with Asante dialect, Asante and Akuapem dialect, Akuapem, with which it is Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. It is ...

s than it is to Asante Twi. Aside from the Fante, other Akan groups such as the Nzema,

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 ...

Chakossi The Anufo or Chakosi are an Akan people who live in the Dapaong and (Sansanné-)Mango areas of Togo, as well as in Ghana. They trace their origin to a place called Anou or Ano on the Komoé River in the Ivory Coast. Thus, they refer to themsel ...

, Sefwi, and Baoulé, all classified under the Akan Bia languages, do not use Twi as the name of their languages. Twi generally subsumes the following Akan tongues: Ahafo, Akuapem,

Akyem The Akyem Kingdoms (also known as Greater Akyem, Akim, Great Akim, or Akan Grande) were prominent Akan people, Akan kingdoms in precolonial Ghana, consisting of the three related states of Akyem Abuakwa, Akyem Kotoku, and Akyem Bosome. Located in ...

Assin The Assin (also known as Asin and Asen) are an ethnic group of the Akan people and Guan (Etsii) people who live in Ghana. The Assin people live predominantly in the Central Region of Ghana. The capital of the Assin district is Assin Foso Ass ...

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

Denkyira Denkyira (also known as Denkira, Denchira, Inguira, or Dinkira) was a powerful Akan kingdom that rose to prominence in precolonial Ghana, dominating large parts of the forest zone in the south-central Gold Coast. Centered around its capital at ...

and Kwawu, which have about 4.4 million speakers in southern and central

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 ...

References

External links

*
Language resources
at LangMedia (Five College Center for World Languages)

Bibliography of structural properties of the Twi language
at WALS Online (The World Atlas of Language Structures)
Akuapem Twi to English Parallel Text Dataset
{{Authority control Ashanti people Akan language Languages of Ghana