Abron | |
---|---|
Bron | |
Native to | Ghana, Ivory Coast |
Ethnicity | Bono |
Native speakers | 1.4 million (2013) [1] |
Latin | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Ghana |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | abr |
Glottolog | abro1238 |
Bono, also known as Abron, Brong, and Bono Twi, is a Central Tano language common to the Bono people and a major dialect of the Akan dialect continuum, and thus mutually intelligible with the principal Akan dialects of Asante and Akuapem, collectively known as Twi. [2] It is spoken by 1.2 million in Ghana, primarily in the Central Ghanaian region of Brong-Ahafo, and by over 300,000 in eastern Ivory Coast. [3]
Bono is mutually intelligible with all dialects of Akan, but the degree of intelligibility depends on the geographical distance between the dialects. Bono is geographically close to Asante, and therefore linguistically close, while a further-away dialect such as Fante is linguistically further as well. [4] Most speakers of Bono are bilingual or bidialectal with Asante. [5]
Along with Fante, Bono is the most conservative dialect of Akan, retaining several features, such as the third-person plural pronoun bɛ, that have since been lost elsewhere in Akan. [4] [5] [6]
Independent | Subject | Possessive | Object | |
---|---|---|---|---|
First sing. | me | me- | me- | m |
Second sing. | wo | wo- | wo | w |
Third sing. | ɔno | wɔ- | ɔ-; ne | no |
First pl. | yɛ | yɛ- | yɛ | yɛ |
Second pl. | hõ | hõ- | hõ | hõ |
Third pl. | bɛ | bɛ- | bɛ | bɛ |
Unspecified | ɛ- |
Asante, also known as Ashanti, Ashante, or Asante Twi, is one of the principal members of the Akan dialect continuum. It is one of the three mutually intelligible dialects of Akan which are collectively known as Twi, the others being Bono and Akuapem. There are 3.8 million speakers of Asante, mainly concentrated in Ghana and southeastern Cote D'Ivoire, and especially in and around the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
The Gbe languages form a cluster of about twenty related languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe, followed by Fon. The Gbe languages were traditionally placed in the Kwa branch of the Niger–Congo languages, but more recently have been classified as Volta–Niger languages. They include five major dialect clusters: Ewe, Fon, Aja, Gen (Mina), Gun and Phla–Pherá.
The Mfantsefo or Fante are an Akan people. The Fante people are mainly located in the Central and Western regions of Ghana, occupying the forest and coastal areas. Their land stretches from the Pra estuary in the west to the Accra borders in the east. The Fante can be broadly categorized into two groups - the Borbor Fante and the non-Borbor Fante. Over the last half century, due to fishing expeditions, Fante communities have been established as far as Gambia, Liberia and even Angola. Major Fante cities in modern Ghana include Kasoa, Winneba, Agona Swedru, Tarkwa, Oguaa, Edina (Elmina), Mankessim, Sekondi, and Takoradi.
Nafaanra, also known as Nafanan or Nafana, is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the border with Ivory Coast, east of Bondoukou. It is spoken by approximately 90,000 people. Its speakers call themselves Nafana, but others call them Banda or Mfantera. Like other Senufo languages, Nafaanra is a tonal language. It is somewhat of an outlier in the Senufo language group, with the geographically-closest relatives, the Southern Senufo Tagwana–Djimini languages, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the west, on the other side of Comoé National Park.
Akan is a group of several closely related languages within the wider Central Tano languages. These languages are the principal native languages of the Akan people of Ghana, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana. About 80% of Ghana's population can speak an Akan language as a first or second language, and about 44% of Ghanaians are native speakers. There are populations of polyglots in Ghana who speak an Akan language as a third language. They are also spoken in parts of Côte d'Ivoire.
The Akan people are a Kwa group living primarily in present-day Ghana and in parts of Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa. The Akan speak dialects within the Central Tano branch of the Potou–Tano subfamily of the Niger–Congo family. Subgroups of the Akan people include: the Agona, Akuapem, Akwamu, Akyem, Anyi, Ashanti, Baoulé, Bono, Chakosi, Fante, Kwahu, Sefwi, Wassa, Ahanta, and Nzema, among others. The Akan subgroups all have cultural attributes in common; most notably the tracing of matrilineal descent in the inheritance of property, and for succession to high political office.
The Akan people of Ghana frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. These "day names" have further meanings concerning the soul and character of the person. Middle names have considerably more variety and can refer to their birth order, twin status, or an ancestor's middle name.
The Bono, also called the Brong and the Abron, are an Akan people of West Africa. Bonos are normally tagged Akan piesie or Akandifo of which Akan is a derivative name. Bono is the genesis and cradle of Akans. Bono is one of the largest ethnic group of Akan and are matrilineal people. Bono people speak the Bono Twi of Akan language. Twi language, thus the dialect of Bono is a derivative of a Bono King Nana Twi. In the late fifteenth century, the Bono people founded the Gyaaman kingdom as extension of Bono state in what is now Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
Fante, also known as Fanti, Fantse, or Mfantse, is one of the four principal members of the Akan dialect continuum, along with Asante, Bono and Akuapem, the latter three collectively known as Twi, with which it is mutually intelligible. It is principally spoken in the central and southern regions of Ghana as well as in settlements in other regions in western Ghana, Ivory Coast, as well as in Liberia, Gambia and Angola.
Yugambeh, also known as Tweed-Albert Bandjalang, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Yugambeh living in South-East Queensland between and within the Logan River basin and the Tweed River basin, bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean and in the west by the Teviot Ranges and Teviot Brook basin.
Adinkra are symbols from Ghana that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adinkra are used extensively in fabrics, logos and pottery. They are incorporated into walls and other architectural features. Adinkra symbols appear on some traditional Akan goldweights. The symbols are also carved on stools for domestic and ritual use. Tourism has led to new departures in the use of the symbols in items such as T-shirts and jewellery.
Ghana is a multilingual country in which about eighty languages are spoken. Of these, English, which was inherited from the colonial era, is the official language and lingua franca. Of the languages indigenous to Ghana, Akan is the most widely spoken in the south. Dagbani is most widely spoken in the north.
The Nukak language is a language of uncertain classification, perhaps part of the macrofamily Puinave-Maku. It is very closely related to Kakwa.
The Asante, also known as Ashanti, are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asante people as a first or second language.
Twi is a variety of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 626,000 speakers in total, including second-language speakers; about 85% of the Ghanaian population speaks Twi as a first or second language.
The Gold Coast alphabet also Gold Coast language was a Latin alphabet used to write the Akan language during the Gold Coast era, now Ghana. It differed from the current Akan alphabet in several ways, of which the most fundamental was in vowel notation.
Akuapem, also known as Akuapim, Akwapem Twi, and Akwapi, is one of the principal members of the Akan dialect continuum, along with Bono and Asante, with which it is collectively known as Twi, and Fante, with which it is mutually intelligible. There are 626,000 speakers of Akuapem, mainly concentrated in Ghana and southeastern Cote D'Ivoire. It is the historical literary and prestige dialect of Akan, having been chosen as the basis of the Akan translation of the Bible.
Florence Abena Dolphyne is a Ghanaian linguist and academic. She was the first female professor and first female pro-vice chancellor of the University of Ghana.
Johann Gottlieb Christaller was a German missionary, clergyman, ethnolinguist, translator and philologist who served with the Basel Mission. He was devoted to the study of the Twi language in what was then the Gold Coast, now Ghana. He was instrumental, together with African colleagues, Akan linguists, David Asante, Theophilus Opoku, Jonathan Palmer Bekoe, and Paul Keteku in the translation of the Bible into the Akuapem dialect of Twi. Christaller was also the first editor of the Christian Messenger, the official news publication of the Basel Mission, serving from 1883 to 1895. He is recognised in some circles as the "founder of scientific linguistic research in West Africa".
Wasa, also known as Wassa and Wasaw, is the common language of the Wasa people and a dialect of the Akan dialect continuum. It is spoken by 273,000 in southwestern Ghana, mainly in the Wasa Amenfi West and Wasa Amenfi East districts. There are also some Wasa speakers in Ivory Coast. Wasa is mutually intelligible with Fante, Akuapem, Asante, and Abron, the latter three which are collectively known as Twi. Its dialects include Amenfi and Fianse.