Language name: | AKAN |
UPSID number: | 4115 |
Alternate name(s): | TWI, ASANTE, FANTE |
Classification: | Niger-Kordofanian, Kwa |
This language has | 35 segments |
Its Frequency index is | 0.315426037 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
The language has these sounds: | ph b kh g cC cCW djjF djjFW f CW m h i i~ I I~ e a a~ u u~ U U~ o O j th E d s n r nj njW wj |
Comment: | Labialized palatals appear as labialized velars before back vowels. Velar stops and palatal affricates are largely complementary in distribution but show contrast before /a/. |
Source(s): | Dolphyne, F.A. 1988. The Akan (Twi-Fante) Language: Its Sound Systems and Tonal Structure. Ghana Universities Press, Accra. Ladefoged, P. 1964. A Phonetic Study of West African Languages. Cambridge University Press. Schachter, P. and Fromkin, V.A. 1968. A Phonology of Akan: Akuapem, Asante, Fante (UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics 9). Phonetics Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles. Stewart, J.M. 1967. Tongue root position in Akan vowel harmony. Phonetica 16: 185-204. Welmers, W.E. 1946. A Descriptive Grammar of Fanti (Language Dissertation 39). Linguistic Society of America, Philadelphia. |