Talk:Typological Features Template for Akan

Hi again There is still a font problem - the nasalized vowels (section B) don't look right

Hi Lilian

I have just gone over the phonology section, and it seems to me you got started on the wrong foot, probably because of what was there already. I suggest you go straight to the 9/10 vowel system and only mention at the end of it that in the orthography the -Advanced vowels are written e and o, so that those letters stand for 2 sounds each. You could then use the 2 example sentences to demonstrate this, showing the phonetic vowels in the second line. --Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu 12:35, 8 March 2010 (UTC)Mary Esther Dakubu

Another point worthwhile thinking about has to do with the two annotated examples inserted in the phonology section. In particular the first one does not seem representative really, since what we would like to exemplify are the phonological features that are characteristic for Akan. Perhaps we can find better examples.

Another point is that one should really make sure that one has these examples annotated for the phonological features that one discusses in this section of the template. That might not yet be the case. Hm... It might be necessary to go back into the database and improve somewhat on the annotation.

--Dorothee 12:16, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi Lilian,

I used the keyboard to put in a nasalized ẽ. I hope that was the vowel you were looking for. --Dorothee 12:08, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi again,

I changed a little the opening text slightly, since I was worried that one highlighted in the old text certain dialects and forgot others. --Dorothee 11:38, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi Lilian,

Here something seems to have gone wrong with the representation of the third vowel. :)

Vowels  [o, 3, ), o] are only nasalised in the Fanti dialects.

--Justus Turamyomwe 11:56, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Akan templates - comments

Hello Lilian

Some comments on the templates you have just started:

General Akan

1. I'm surprised you use the expression "Fanti Twi" - Fantes wouldn't like it. Just Fante is more normal - other dialects are called Twi. Also I am surprised that you spell them Asanti and Fanti instead of Asante and Fante, and Akuapem.

2. Vowel inventory: there is some confusion between phonology and orthography here. The 7 "main vowels" are the orthographic representation, but there are in fact 9 or 10 vowels, depending on the dialect, which divide into 2 sets, one +ATR and one -ATR. In the orthography the mid +ATR and the high +ATR are collapsed, so that the letters e and o represent 2 contrastive vowels each. This should be clarified, because what the template is most interested in is the phonological contrasts. But the note that the orthography doesn't reflect all the contrasts is of course in order.

3. nasalization - hasn't appeared properly on the high vowels. Are you sure you are using a Unicode 8 font? I strongly suggest Doulos SIL, or Charis SIL. If you type the material in Word and paste it in it should work very well.

Asante template

1. You are using the wrong symbol for the high front -ATR vowel - see comments above.

2. The sentence on Vowel Harmony is very awkward and needs revision. Tongue Root Position is not a "system" - You need something like "The sequence of vowels within the word is governed by vowel harmony based on tongue root position. The vowels divide into two sets based on this feature..."

Keep up the good work.

--Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu 11:54, 3 March 2010 (UTC)