Twi (pronounced 'chwee' [tɕʷi]) is a language spoken in Ghana by about 7 million people. It is a dialect of the Akan language, which in turn belongs to the Kwa language family. The Akan language belongs to the Kwa language family. ... 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. ...

There are many divisions of the Twi languages, but they are all mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Consonants

Before front vowels, all consonants are palatalized and plosives are affricated to some extent. The allophones of /n/ are quite complex. In the table below, palatalized allophones are shown with the vowel /i/ when they involve more than phonetic palatalization. Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ...

In Ashanti, /gu/ followed by a vowel is pronounced as /gʷ/, but in Akuapem it remains /gu/. [tɕʷ], [dʑʷ], [çʷi], [ɲʷ] would be more narrowly transcribed as [tɕ^ɥ], [dʑ^ɥ], [ç^ɥ], [ɲ^ɥ], for they are simultaneously labialized and palatalized. /nh/ is pronounced [ŋŋ̊].

The order of the cells in the table below is /phonemic/, [phonetic], <orthography>. Note that orthographic <dw> is ambiguous; in textbooks, <dw> = /g/ may be distinguished by the diacritic in d̩w. Likewise n̩w for <nw> when it's velar. <nu> is palatalized [ɲʷĩ]. In human language, a phoneme is a set of phones (speech sounds or sign elements) that are cognitively equivalent. ... In phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar phones that belong to the same phoneme. ... 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. ...

Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Dorsal consonants are articulated with the back of the tongue against either the hard palate, or the flexible velum just behind it, or even against the uvula. ... Labialisation is a secondary articulatory feature of phonemes in a language, most usually used to refer to consonants. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that does not have voicing. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-20, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

Vowels

Five nasal vowels.

Advanced tongue root ("tense") vowels: /i̘ e̘ a̘ o̘ u̘/ [i e æ~ɑ o u] <i e a o u> In phonetics, advanced tongue root, abbreviated ATR or +ATR, or expanded, is the expansion of the pharyngeal cavity by moving the base of the tongue forward, and often lowering the larynx, during the pronunciation of a vowel. ...

Retracted tongue root ("lax") vowels: /i e a o u/ [ɪ~e ɛ ɑ ɔ ʊ~o] <e ɛ a ɔ o> In phonetics, retracted tongue root, abbreviated RTR or –ATR, is the retraction of the base of the tongue in the pharynx during the pronunciation of a vowel. ...

The two orthographic e’s and o’s are often not distinguished in pronunciation. The two orthographic a’s are only distinguished in Fante. For the writer, see John Fante. ...

ATR harmony

Harmony rules:

1. –ATR vowels followed by +ATR non-mid vowels /i a u/ become +ATR. This is reflected in the orthography: e ɛ a ɔ o become i e a o u. (However, this is no longer reflected in orthography in e.g. subject and possessive pronouns, which therefore now have a consistent shape.) This rule takes precedence over the next one.

1. After –ATR non-high vowels /e a o/, +ATR mid vowels /e o/ become –ATR high vowels /i u/. This involves no change in orthography, for both sets are spelled <e o>, and in many dialects it involves no change in pronunciation either, for these vowels have collapsed together and this harmonic change no longer operates.

Tones

(in progress) High (H), mid (M), low (L). Initial syllable HIGH or LOW only.

Tone terracing

HIGH = same level as previous HIGH or MID; MID = lower than previous MID. LOW always at bottom of speaking range, unless a single LOW is between two HIGHs, in which case it is raised but the following HIGH is still lowered. Therefore phonemic HMH and HLH are similar phonetically. LOW is the default tone, which emerges in situations such as reduplicated prefixes.

HIGH is lowered (downstepped) after a LOW. Combination of HIGH & MID lowering after MID, and HIGH lowering after LOW, results in tone terracing. Tone terracing is a type of phonetic downdrift, where certain tones shift downward in pitch after other tones. ...

After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep. This syllable is usually stressed. Downstep is a phonemic or phonetic downward shift of tone between the syllables or words of a tonal language. ...

Bibilography

• J.E. Redden and N. Owusu (1963, 1995). Twi Basic Course. Foreign Service Institute (Hippocrene reprint). ISBN 0-7818-0394-2
• Obeng, Samuel Gyasi. (2001). African anthroponymy: An ethnopragmatic and norphophonological study of personal names in Akan and some African societies. LINCOM studies in anthropology 08. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa. ISBN 3-89586-431-5.

See also

Twi language edition of Wikipedia

Akan language(s) edition of Wikipedia