Twi

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Twi (pronounced 'chwee' Template:IPA) 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.

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

Contents

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Phonology

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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.

In Ashanti, /gu/ followed by a vowel is pronounced as Template:IPA, but in Akuapem it remains /gu/. Template:IPA would be more narrowly transcribed as Template:IPA, for they are simultaneously labialized and palatalized. /nh/ is pronounced Template:IPA.

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 Template:IPA. Likewise Template:IPA for <nw> when it's velar. <nu> is palatalized Template:IPA.

labialalveolardorsallabialized
voiceless plosive/p/Template:IPA<p>/t/Template:IPA<t, ti>/k/Template:IPA<k, kyi>Template:IPATemplate:IPA<kw, twi>
voiced plosive/b/[b]'''/d/[d]<d>/g/Template:IPA<g, dw, gyi>Template:IPATemplate:IPA<gw, dwi>
fricative/f/[f]<f>/s/[s]<s>/h/[h, çi]<h, hyi>Template:IPATemplate:IPA<hw, hwi>
nasal stop/m/[m]<m>/n/Template:IPA<n, ngi> Template:IPATemplate:IPA<nw, nu>
geminate nasal /nn/Template:IPA<ng, nyi, nnyi> Template:IPATemplate:IPA<nw>
other /r/Template:IPA<r> /w/Template:IPA<w, wi>
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Vowels

Five nasal vowels.

Advanced tongue root ("tense") vowels: Template:IPA Template:IPA <i e a o u>

Retracted tongue root ("lax") vowels: Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA

The two orthographic e’s and o’s are often not distinguished in pronunciation. The two orthographic a’s are only distinguished in Fante.

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ATR harmony

Harmony rules:

  1. –ATR vowels followed by +ATR non-mid vowels /i a u/ become +ATR. This is reflected in the orthography: Template:IPA 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.
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Tones

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

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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.

After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep. This syllable is usually stressed.

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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.
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See also

Template:InterWiki Template:InterWikibr:Twieg ca:Twi de:Twi (Sprache) es:Idioma twi is:Tví nl:Twi ja:トウィ語 pt:Twi sh:Twi jezik tw:Twi zh:多威語

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