Twi-Fante language

Uncommon card · No. 99835

Twi-Fante, commonly referred to by its speakers as either Twi (pronounced ) or Fante () and academically and institutionally known by the broader term Akan (pronounced ), is a widely spoken language of Ghana and the main native language of the Akan people. Spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana, about 44% of Ghanaians are native speakers, and about 80% of Ghana's population speak Akan as a first or second language. The Bono dialect is also widely spoken in Ghana and across the border in Ivory Coast. Three dialects of Twi-Fante were developed as literary standards with distinct orthographies: Asante Twi, Akuapem Twi, and Fante. Despite being mutually intelligible, they were inaccessible in written form to speakers of the other standards until the Akan Orthography Committee (AOC)'s development of a common Twi-Fante orthography in 1978, based mainly on Akuapem dialect. As the first Akan variety to be used for Bible translation, Akuapem Twi had become the prestige dialect. With the...

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