Your Name: Cassie Whalen
Language of Investigation Fante and interchangeable with Twi both are a dialect of Akan. People
speak normally are three with ease interchanging letters, pitch, and words while speaking.
What places of origin (countries, regions, cities) are this language primarily spoken? East Coast of
Ghana
This closest/ most similar language to this language is Akan
How many speakers are there globally of this language? 1,723,573
Alphabet
This language has a Latin (every sign has a single sound) alphabet.
This language reads left to right, up to down
The letters/ characters of this alphabet are of Indo-European language family
Does this language depend primarily on tone or pitch? tone
Twi has three phonemic tones, high (/H/), mid (/M/), and low (/L/). Initial syllable may only be
high or low. The phonetic pitch of the three tones depends on their environment, often being lowered
after other tones, producing a steady decline known as tone terracing. /H/ tones have the same pitch
as a preceding /H/ or /M/ tone within the same tonic phrase, whereas /M/ tones have a lower pitch.
That is, the sequences /HH/ and /MH/ have a level pitch, whereas the sequences /HM/ and /MM/
have a falling pitch. /H/ is lowered (downstepped) after a /L/. /L/ is the default tone, which emerges in
situations such as reduplicated prefixes. It is always at bottom of the speaker's pitch range, except in
the sequence /HLH/, in which case it is raised in pitch but the final /H/ is still lowered. Thus /HMH/ and
/HLH/ are pronounced with distinct but very similar pitches.
After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep. This
syllable is usually stressed.
Is this language syllable or stress timed? syllable
Does this language have strong sound/symbol correspondence? (English does not) no
Complete this section ONLY if your language is Latin based (most languages you will encounter are).
Phonetics and phonology
There are 9 vowels in this language. They are
Wide Vowels
Narrow Vowels
a
å, like the a in father
e
ɛ
ĕ, like the e in bet
i
e
ĭ, like the i in pit
o
ā, like the a in
fate
ē, like the ee in
fee
ō, like the o in
so
u
ū, like the oo in
too
ɔ
o
aw, like the aw in claw
ʊ, like the u in put
Which vowels sound the same as English vowel sounds? (list L1 vowel and English vowel
correspondence). all
Which vowel sounds do not exist in English? none
There are 31 consonants in this language. This is the Akan Alphabet
("Akan languages, alphabet,")
Which consonant sounds do NOT exist in English? c,j,q,v,x.z
What sounds do speakers of this language have difficulty pronouncing?n/a
Are there any sound placements that are different between English and this language? What are
they? For example, yes in Akan: dw, dwi, gw, gyi, hw, hwi, hyi, kw, kyi, ng, ngi, nw, nwi, nyi/nnyi, ti,
twi, wi
Do any double letter combinations exist in this language? What are they and what do
they correspond to in English? (For example, Spanish: /ll/ = English /y/).
Found only these in Fante written form:
like the j in jewel
dw
kw
like the qu in quack
dz
gy
hw
hy
like the z in zebra
like the j in jack
like the wh in where
like the sh in shirt
ky
like the ch in church
ny
like the ny in Kenya
ts
like the ts in tsetse-fly
tw
like the ch in choose
Syntax and Grammar
How many tenses exist in this language?
Two future tenses: first future, marks action in the time to come and second and future
proximate, which marks actions in the next future.
What are they?
“The first future is expressed in Twi daakye or da bi (some day). Daa, that literally means every day,
also means forever. To speak of the future in Twi, speakers use preverbal marking and specify the
context of actual time of the expected future, i.e., next week, month, year” (Brown, 1999)
The word order of this language is Object, verb, subject (OVS), Subject, Verb, Object (SVO), Verb,
Object, Subject (VOS) (Downing,1995)
What are the punctuation forms used in this language? List using English comparisons.
Punctuation is the same as English
How does this language mark gender? Does not mark gender in fact there is not a word for he or she
Morphology
What are some shared cognates between English and this language?
Tu/ to
bukuu/book
cɔpoo/ cup
stiitse/street
posi/ police
atar/attire
What are some FALSE cognates between English and this language? N/a
Through your research what have you found are the biggest difficulties of speakers of this language
learning English? Please provide specific examples.
The language sometimes speaks of the past as the future. The language also references past
events to describe an occurrence. More or less this event is one know by all parties of the story. For
example translated into English.“How old was me? … I don know … I was growed … Sista …
now lemme see … Suga had two children when she died. Was tryin to study the years they
was born … One of em … now, lemme see, Duke, Duke was round 11 years old sumpin like
that … when my ?” (Brown,1999).
Another difficulty is the use of gender. There are no word for he or she everyone has a name Aunt,
Uncle, Father, Neighbor, etc.
If you have an early production ELL who this language is their L1, what would be the most important
thing you will teach them in regards to the difference between their language and English?
The English language has past, present, and future tenses. English has different pitch like a
question or a statement; however, this does not mean different words, unlike the pitch changes in
Twi.
Sample of writing
Fante
Wɔwo ɑdɑsɑ nyinɑ to fɑhodzi mu, nɑ hɔn nyinɑ yɛ pɛr wɔ enyimnyɑm nɑ
ndzinoɑ mu. Wɔmɑɑ hɔn nyinɑ ɑdwen nɑ tsibowɑ, nɑ ɔwɔ dɛ hɔn nkitɑhodzi
mu ndzeyɛɛ dɑ no edzi dɛ wɔyɛ enuɑnom.
Translation All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
("Akan languages, alphabet,")
References
Akan l a ng u ag es , al phabet and pro nu n ci ati o n . (n. d . ). R et ri ev ed fro m
h t t p : / / w w w. o m n i g l o t . c o m / w r i t i n g / a k a n . h t m
B r o w n , A . ( 1 9 9 9 ) . O f t i m e , l a n g u a g e , a n d w o r l d v i e w. I n P a r k E t h n o g r a p h y
P r o g r a m Wa s h i n g t o n D . c : R e t r i e v e d f r o m
h t t p : / / w w w. n p s . g o v / e t h n o g r a p h y / c o n t a c t . h t m
D o w n i n g , P. , & N o o n a n , M . ( 1 9 9 5 ) . Wo r d o d e r i n d i s c o u r s e . J o h n
Benjamins. Retrieved from
h t t p : / / b o o k s . g o o g l e . c o m / b o o k s ? i d = o 1 M Z 5 _ g y y Q E C & p g = PA 5 3 9 & l p g = P
A539&dq=word order for
f a n t e & s o u r c e = b l & o t s = w Z k i 4 M Z q y A & s i g = 5 G p l K B H m E 7 5 l n O K 8 LW w t 5 E F
BnsU&hl=en&ei=3_ClTvK_INS2tgfF99nHCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=
r e s u l t & r e s n u m = 4 & v e d = 0 C D c Q 6 A E w Aw
Fante.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fante.com/language/