Akan Language

Until recent times, literacy in TWI was synonymous with literacy in Akuapem Twi. This was due to the work of the Basel Missionaries who introduced Christianity to the area and developed the a written character set for the language in 1842. 

Most of the consonant sounds in Akan are similar to those in English.  The difficult sounds are those represented by the digraphs below.

kw : sounds like 'qu' as queen.

hy : sounds like 'sh' as in she.

ky : sounds like 'ch' as in cheap.

gy : sounds like 'j' as in jeep.

ny : sounds like the Spanish word manana.

dw : sounds like 'jw' when 'j' and 'w' are rapidly articulated together without an intervening vowel.  Very similar to the pronunciation of Jew.

tw : sounds like 'ch' and 'w' in catch wind or choo choo when these two sounds are rapidly articulated together without an intervening vowel.  For example Twi is pronounced chwi.

hw : sounds like 'sh' and 'w' when these two sounds are rapidly articulated together without an intervening vowel.

nw : sounds like 'n' and 'we' when these two sounds are rapidly articulated together without an intervening vowel.

a : is pronounced as ( a as in charter, e.g., fa to take) or ( a as in take, e.g., aburow which means corn)

i : is articulated like the vowel sound in Sea.

e : is pronounced as( i as in sit, e.g., te meaning sat ) or ( e as in her, e.g., efrisɛ which means because)

ɛ : is articulated like the vowel sound in bear.

u : is pronounced as the vowel in mood.

o : is pronounced as (u as in put, e.g., tomu meaning lock) or ( o as in go, e.g., obi meaning someone)

ɔ : is articulated like the vowel sound in four.

A great deal of our initial resource has been gathered from the publication of PAUL A. KORTEY, who in turn was supported by members of the Breau of Ghana Languages and a grant from the United States Department of Education.  We are stand on the shoulders of giants - too many to mention here.   Kotey says something baffling in his book. He explains that 'As a tone language, every syllable (all vowels and some consonants) are tone bearing units in Twi'. But then he goes on to say something ridiculous - in my view. He says 'tone marking is not a feature of the orthography of Akan or any other Ghanaian languages for that matter', so tone is not marked in writing.

This leads me to ask the question why?  It is marked in other long established spoken languages all over Europe and the world so why not? Perhaps you might be able to shed light on it dear reader. Nevertheless, he goes ahead and uses it in his pronunciation dictionary.

High tone is indicated by [ ` ]
Low Tone is indicated by [ ' ]