Twi language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Akan language(s) edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the most famous Akan speaker. His name "Kofi" means he was a boy born on a Friday.

Akan languages are those languages belonging to the Kwa language family spoken in Ghana and the Côte d'Ivoire: Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based free content encyclopedia project. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based free content encyclopedia project. ... Download high resolution version (600x827, 134 KB)Kofi Annan speaks to the media at Palazzo Chigi during a visit to Rome, Italy, February 17 to 19, 2003. ... Download high resolution version (600x827, 134 KB)Kofi Annan speaks to the media at Palazzo Chigi during a visit to Rome, Italy, February 17 to 19, 2003. ... Kofi Annan, current Secretary-General of the United Nations The Secretary General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Kwa languages are spoken in the south-eastern part of Côte dIvoire, in Ghana, Togo and Benin, and the south-Western corner of Nigeria. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ...

• Agona
• Ahafo
• Akan
  • Twi
    • Akuapem Twi
    • Asante Twi (Ashanti)
  • Fante (Fanti, Mfantse)
• Akyem (Akyem Bosome)
• Andoh
• Anyi
• Asen
• Attié
• Baule
• Brong
• Chakosi
• Dankyira
• Guang
• Kwahu
• Nzema
• Sefwi

Also, Akan is itself the name of a major Ghanaian language spoken comprising these dialects: Agona is a town in Ghana. ... Twi (pronounced chwee ) is a language spoken in Ghana by about 7 million people. ... Fante is one of the languages spoken in Ghana. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Districts of Brong-Ahafo The Brong-Ahafo Region is located in mid-western Ghana, between the Ashanti Region and the Côte dIvoire border. ... There are two common spellings, Kwawu and Kwahu. ... The Nzema are an Akan people numbering about 328,700 people of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte dIvoire. ...

• Twi - Both the Akuapem and Asante (Ashanti) dialects
• Fante (Fanti, Mfantse)

These variants all have written forms. In terms of numbers of speakers Brong should be included also but never has been laid down in written form. The Bureau of Ghanian languages compiled a 20,000-word list of a unified orthography for these three variants which is not in widespread use yet. Also exist the adinkra symbols, old ideograms. The Akan language is one of the primary government-sponsored languages in Ghana. It is written in the Roman alphabet. The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ... Adinkra are symbols common in Western African societies that represent concepts or aphorisms. ... A Chinese character. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

The language came to South America, notably Suriname, with the slaves. Escaped slaves in the interior of Suriname still use a form of this language, including the custom of naming children the day of the week that they were born e.g. Kwasi (for a boy) or Kwasiba (girl) born on a Sunday. In Suriname also the Anansi spider stories are well known. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Akan people frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. ... Anansi is one of the most important gods of west African lore. ...

According to work done by P K Agbedor of CASAS, Mfantse and Twi (together known as Akan) belong to Cluster 1 of the speech forms of Ghana. Clusters are defined by the level of mutual intelligibility. The Abron(Bono) and Wasa dialects are considered part of this cluster.

Cluster 1 comprises:

• Akan (Niger-Congo – Atlantic Congo – Volta Congo – Kwa – Nyo – Potou-Tano – Tano – Central)
• Abron (Niger-Congo – Atlantic Congo – Volta Congo – Kwa – Nyo – Potou-Tano – Tano – Central – Akan)
• Wasa (Niger-Congo – Atlantic Congo – Volta Congo – Kwa – Nyo – Potou-Tano – Tano – Central – Akan).

Cluster 1 may better be named r-Akan (mainly Twi, Fante, Akuapem, Akyem, Wasa, Bono, Asen, Akwamu, Kwahu spoken mainly in Ghana, parts of Togo) which do not explicitly have the letter “l” in their original proper use. On the other hand l-Akan, refers to the Akan cluster comprising Nzema, Baule, and other dialects spoken mainly in the Ivory Coast, whose use of the letter “r” in proper usage is very rare.

External links

• Dictionary of Standard Written r-Akan
• Akan Language Home Page