Twi ([tɕᶣi]) is the common name of the Akan literary dialects of Asante and Akuapem.[1] Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the Fante people. It is not a linguistic grouping, as Akuapem Twi is more closely related to Fante dialect than it is to Asante Twi.[2] Twi generally subsumes the following Akan dialects: Ahafo, Akuapem, Akyem, Asante, Asen, Dankyira and Kwawu, which have about 4.4 million speakers in southern and central Ghana.[3]
| Twi | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | [tɕᶣi] |
| Native to | Ghana |
| Region | Ashanti Region |
| Ethnicity | |
| Dialects | |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Ashanti Region |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Akan Orthography Committee |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | tw |
| ISO 639-2 | twi |
| ISO 639-3 | twi (see [aka] for Ethnologue description) |
Etymology
editThe name "Twi" is derived from the name of a Bono king, Nana Baffuor Twi.[4]
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ Dolphyne, Florence Abena (1986) The languages of the Akan peoples. Research review. Vol. 2 No. 1, Pages 1-22[1] University of Ghana.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
e27was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ The Akan of Ghana: Their Ancient Beliefs. Faber & Faber. 1958.
External links
edit Twi edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Twi.
- Akan at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
- Language resources at LangMedia (Five College Center for World Languages)
- Akan basic course
- Bibliography of structural properties of the Twi language at WALS Online (The World Atlas of Language Structures)
- Akuapem Twi to English Parallel Text Dataset