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Difference between revisions of "Typological Features Template for Akan"

 
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By  [[User: Lilian Haugereid| Lilian Haugereid]]
 
By  [[User: Lilian Haugereid| Lilian Haugereid]]
 +
 +
'''To cite this page see footnote <ref> Lilian Haugereid. 2011. Typological Features for Akan - Phonology.  TypeCraft Typological Feature Template. http://www.typecraft.org. Accessed [DATE].</ref>'''
 +
 +
 +
'''The following Typological Feature Template covers some phonological features of Akan.'''
 +
 
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 
|-valign="top"
 
|-valign="top"
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|-valign="top"
 
|-valign="top"
 
|'''Phonological Features'''
 
|'''Phonological Features'''
|In the following I will describe the phonological inventory of Akan, not paying any special attention to a particular dialect, but sharing the features the three main dialects share, Asante Twi, Fante and Akuapem Twi share
+
|In the following I will describe the phonological inventory of Akan and the features that its dialects share. Some of these dialects are Asante, Fante and Akuapem as well as Bono. Dialects of Akan are mainly characterized by phonological differences, but other difference can also be described. The account we are providing here is directed towards a description of the grammatical features that all dialects of Akan share.
 
|-
 
|-
|Vowel inventory
+
|Vowel Inventory
|Vowels in Akan are divided into three groups.
+
  
A. Oral Vowels: In orthography there are 7 main vowels:  i e ɛ a ɔ o u. They are the vowels one will find in any written Akan text.
+
|Vowels in Akan are described here under five headings: oral, nasalised, and long vowels, diphthongs, and vowel harmony (or vowel combinations across syllables).
 +
The table below shows an overview of the vowels in the language.
  
For example:  Akua asɔ agya no asi so
+
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
              Akua a-  agya  no  a-si        so
+
|-valign="top"
              PN Perf-light NP  Def  Perf-stand  on
+
|width="20%"|'''Orthography'''
             
+
|width="20%"|'''Phonetic Symbols'''
              "Akua has set the fire (on)"
+
|width="20%"|'''+ATR'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''-ATR'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
    
 +
|i
 +
|i
 +
|i
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|e
 +
|ɪ/e
 +
|e
 +
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 +
 +
|
 +
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
               
 +
 
 +
|a
 +
|æ/a
 +
 +
|a
 +
|-valign="top"
  
              ɛsɛ sɛ yɛ da no asi
 
 
   
 
   
              ɛ-sɛ sɛ yɛ da no asi
+
     
              it-such             
+
             
+
|ɔ   
 +
|
 +
 +
|-valign="top"
  
But because Akan has the phonological feature Advanced Tongue Root (ATR), it is known to have 9 or 10 vowels: [e,ɔ,a,o,ɛ i,u,I, æ,ʊ ] depending on the dialect. These vowels divide into two sets, one + ATR and the other - ATR
+
|o
     
+
|o/ʊ
 +
|o
 +
 +
|-valign="top"
  
B. Nasalised Vowels: Nasalisation is an important phonological feature in Akan. It can for example bring changes in meaning. There are five nasalised vowels and they are marked in transcription by placing (~), which is normally called the tilde, above the vowel.
+
|u
 +
|u
 +
|u
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
  
These are the five nasalised vowels: i~ I~  ã , õ , ũ 
+
|-
 +
|}
  
Examples: Fante      Asante      Akuapem      English
 
          hũ - hu    hũ - hu    hũw - huw  see - blow (air)
 
                                               
 
                                                (Dolphyne 1988:4)
 
  
NB: In most cases the difference between Fante and Asante is tone.         
+
'''Oral Vowels'''
  
NB: Vowels  [o, ɛ, ɔ, o] are only nasalised in the Fante dialects
+
Akan has 9 or 10 oral vowels, depending on the dialect: [e,ɔ,a,o,ɛ i,u,ɪ,æ,ʊ ]. Vowel [æ] is only used in the Asante and the Akuapem dialects. So you can see from the example below that, where Akuapem and Asante use [æ] Fante uses [e]
  
C. Long Vowels: Vowels in Akan can either be long or short. The length of the vowel can determine the meaning  difference of some words in the language. In orthography, long vowels are represented by doubling them.
+
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|width="20%"|'''Asante/Akuapem'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Ph.Trans Asante/Akuapem'''
 +
|width="20%"|''' Fante'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''PH.Trans Fante'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|ani
 +
|/æni/
 +
|enyiwa
 +
|/enyiwa/
 +
|'eyes'
 +
|-
 +
|}
  
Examples:
+
 
          Akan   English   Akan     English
+
In the orthography, the letters e and o represent two contrastive vowels each: e represents both [e] and [ɪ], and o represents both [o] and [ʊ].
          da      sleep     daa      everyday
+
 
          sa     dance     saa      exactly
+
For example 1:
          kɔ      go       kɔɔ      red
+
         
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="5"
 +
|-valign="top"       
 +
|width="20%"|'''Akan'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Ph.Trans'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Akan'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Ph.Trans'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|te(w) 
 +
|/tɪ(w)/
 +
|'to tear'      
 +
|kɛsi     
 +
|/kɛsɪ/         
 +
|'big'
 +
|-valign="top"      
 +
|fie
 +
|/fie/
 +
|'home'
 +
|esiw/esie
 +
|/(esiw)(esie)/
 +
|'ant hill'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|to(w) 
 +
|/tʊw/      
 +
|'to throw' 
 +
|horo     
 +
|/hʊhʊ/       
 +
|'to wash'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
         
 +
|obi   
 +
|/obi/   
 +
|'someone' 
 +
|ako        
 +
|/ako/         
 +
|'parrot'
 +
|-valign="top"           
 
|-
 
|-
|Vowel harmony
+
|}                                                             
| In this field you describe rule based assimilations involving vowels in [your language]
+
NB"Ph.Trans" refers to phonetic transcription.
 +
                         
 +
As can be seen from example 1 above, the vowel e in orthography represents vowels /ɪ/ and /e/, and the vowel o represents /o/, and/ʊ/.
  
 +
  Example 2a<Phrase>11538</Phrase>
 +
 
 +
  Example 2b<Phrase>11541</Phrase>
 +
 +
The two sentences above examplify the two contrastive vowels [e]=/e,ɪ/ and [o]= /o,ʊ/. They can be transcribed respectively as follows:
 +
 +
      2a. /bʊsʊmɪ asʊ/
 +
     
 +
      2b. /me tu kwan bronya yi/
 +
 +
So in any written Akan text, you will find some of these 7 vowel letters: i e ɛ a ɔ o u, used in the Akan sentence below.
 +
 +
Example 3:<Phrase>11543</Phrase>
 +
     
 +
In example 3, we have the occurrence of all 7 vowel letters in Akan. It can also be mentioned here that the vowels carry tone(s). This will be discussed later under "Tone", However, the two different sets of Akan vowels based on ATR is discussed under "Vowel Harmony" below.
 +
 +
'''B. Nasalised Vowels'''
 +
 +
Nasalisation  in Akan can be contrastive: as a result of assimilation nasality can spread to following vowels. There are five nasalised vowels in Akan; and they are: ἶ, ĩ, ã, ῦ, and ũ 
 +
 +
Example 4:
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"   
 +
|width="20%"|'''Fante'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Asante'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Akuapem'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|hũ - hu 
 +
|hũ - hu   
 +
|hũw - huw 
 +
|see - blow (air)
 +
|-valign="top"           
 
|-
 
|-
|Consonant inventory
+
|}                                               
| In this field you describe the consonants of [your language]  
+
                                                (Dolphyne 1988:4)       
 +
 
 +
In tha Akan word below; the nasal [ŋ] spreads to the sounds following it including the vowel [a].
 +
 
 +
            nkwa:  /ŋ̃kʷã/ - 'life'
 +
 
 +
NB: Vowels  [e, ɛ, ɔ, o] are not normally nasalised in Akan, however [ɛ], and [ɔ] can be nasalised in the Fante dialects when they occur as neighbours with nasal consonants, [m] and [n] in a word or a phrase.
 +
       
 +
           
 +
'''C. Long Vowels'''
 +
Long vowels can determine meaning. Akan orthography represents long vowels by doubling  the letter that represents the vowel.
 +
 
 +
  Examples 5:
 +
 
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|width="20%"|'''Akan'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Akan'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top" 
 +
       
 +
|da
 +
|sleep
 +
|daa
 +
|everyday
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|sa
 +
|dance
 +
|saa
 +
|exactly
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
| kɔ
 +
|go
 +
|kɔɔ
 +
|red
 +
|-valign="top"           
 
|-
 
|-
|Tone
+
|}   
|In this field you indicate if [your language] is a tone language and which tones are used; does [your language] have lexical tone?
+
 
 +
The following table represents which Akan vowel can be lengthtend and which ones can be nasalised.
 +
 
 +
  Example 6:
 +
 
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|width="20%"|'''Vowels'''
 +
|'''Oral vowel'''
 +
|'''English'''
 +
|'''Long vowel'''
 +
|'''English'''
 +
|'''Nasal'''
 +
|'''English'''
 +
|'''Long Nasal'''
 +
|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|* i
 +
|ti
 +
|head/chase
 +
|tii
 +
|chased
 +
|tἷ
 +
|scratch
 +
|tἷἷ
 +
|scratched
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|* ɪ
 +
|fɪ
 +
|go out
 +
|fɪɪ
 +
|cameout
 +
|fĩ
 +
|ribs
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|e
 +
|hwe
 +
|to suck
 +
|hwee
 +
|zero
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 +
|sɛ
 +
|resempble
 +
|sɛɛ
 +
|resembled
 +
|     
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|* u
 +
|pu
 +
|spit
 +
|puu
 +
|spat
 +
|pũ
 +
|reject/smoke
 +
|pũũ
 +
|rejected/smoked
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|* ʊ
 +
|tʊ
 +
|throw
 +
|tʊʊ
 +
|threw
 +
|tῦ
 +
|bake/roast
 +
|tῦῦ
 +
|roasted/baked
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|* a
 +
|ka
 +
|bite
 +
|kaa
 +
|bit
 +
|kã
 +
|drive/say
 +
|kãã
 +
|drove/said
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 +
|æni
 +
|eyes
 +
|dææbi
 +
|no
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|o
 +
|som
 +
|worship
 +
|apoo
 +
|cheating
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 +
|kɔ
 +
|go
 +
|kɔɔ
 +
|went
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"
 
|-
 
|-
|Syllable Structure
+
|}
|In this field you indicate the basic syllable structures of [your language].
+
 
 +
'''D. Diphthongs'''
 +
As can be seen in example 7, the verb 'dae' has the vowels [a] and and [ɪ] articulated by the tongue gliding from the central part of the mouth to the middle front part.  
 +
 
 +
Example 7:
 +
          <Phrase>8704</Phrase>
 +
 
 
|-
 
|-
|'''Morpho-syntactic Features'''
+
|Vowel harmony
|In the following fields you describe some of the basic morpho-syntactic parameters of [your language]
+
|
 +
Akan has +ATR and -ATR vowels:
 +
         
 +
            Set A(+ATR) [i, e, æ, o, u]
 +
 
 +
            Set B(-ATR) [ɪ, ɛ, a, ɔ, ʊ]
 +
 
 +
The +ATR and -ATR vowels can not co-occur. There should be harmony in the occurence of the vowels in the same word, meaning that vowels of one set (either +ATR or -ATR) can co-occur. The +ATR vowels are produced by pushing the root of the tongue forward and the -ATR vowels on the other hand, are produced by pushing the root of the tongue backwards. Example 8 shows some Akan words where there is harmony of vowel as a result of the advanced tongue root restriction.
 +
 
 +
Example 8:
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|width="20%"|''' +ATR'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''-ATR'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|/koko/
 +
|'chest'
 +
|/kɔkɔ(w)/
 +
|'red'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|/Kun(u)/
 +
|'husband' 
 +
|/kʊn/     
 +
|'neck'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 +
|/efie/   
 +
|'home'
 +
|/afɪ/
 +
|'year'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|/adi/
 +
|'has eaten'
 +
|/ædɪ/
 +
|'thing'
 +
|-valign="top"
 
|-
 
|-
|morphological classification (1)
+
|}
|[Your language] could be an isolating language (not (or nearly not) making use of morphology, agglutinative, such as the Bantu languages of Africa, or synthetic, such as the Saami languages of Scandinavia, or even polysynthetic such as Greenlandic. In this field you classify [your language] according to these parameters if possible.
+
 
 +
 
 +
Harmony Exceptions:
 +
There are few words in Akan that deviates from the harmony rule. The unadvanced vowel /a/ is known to usually occur in such words. However /ɛ/ too does deviate sometime. The following are examples of such deviations.
 +
 
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|width="20%"|'''Akan'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''English'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|sika
 +
|'money'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|kura
 +
|'to hold'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|dua
 +
|'to plant'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|nyinsɛn
 +
|'to be pregnant'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|pinkyɛn
 +
|'come close'
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|ohia 
 +
|'s/he needs'
 +
|-valign="top"
 
|-
 
|-
|morphological classification (2)
+
|}
|Linguists have distinguished between head- and dependent-marking languages. Semitic languages are head marking languages; it is the head of the noun phrases that needs to have a special form when followed by a dependent noun; in the Germanic languages it is the head of the verb phrase that expresses person-number features of its subject. Grammatical dependencies on the other hand are in some of the Germanic languages expressed on the dependent noun phrases in form of case. [Your language] might be both, head- and dependent-marking, depending on the category of speech and or the type of feature expressed. This is what you can describe in this field.
+
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
In summary, these are the vowels and their names in Akan:
 +
 
 +
            i      Advanced High Front
 +
            ɪ      Unadvanced High Front
 +
            e      Advanced Mid Front
 +
            ɛ      Unadvanced Mid Front
 +
            æ      Advanced Low Central
 +
            a      Undvanced Low Central
 +
            o      Adavnced Mid Back
 +
            ɔ      Unadvanced Mid Back
 +
            u      Advanced High Back
 +
            ʊ      Unadvanced High Back
 
|-
 
|-
|'''Nominal Phrases'''
+
|Consonant inventory
|In the following fields follows a description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of nominal constituents
+
|
 +
Akan has 16 consonants: [j, w, p, b, f, d, t, s, m, n, k, kʷ, h, hʷ, g, gʷ]. The table below gives the articulation of these consonants:
 +
 
 +
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
|width="20%"|
 +
|width="20%"|'''Bilabial'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Labiodentals'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Alveolar'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Pre-palatal''' 
 +
|width="20%"|'''Palatal'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Velar'''
 +
|width="20%"|'''Glottal'''
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 +
|Stop
 +
|p,b       
 +
|           
 +
|t,d         
 +
|         
 +
|   
 +
|k/kʷ,g/gʷ   
 +
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|Fricative
 +
|       
 +
|f             
 +
|s           
 +
|ɕ(hy)       
 +
|   
 +
|         
 +
|h
 +
|-valign="top"
 +
 
 +
|Labialized
 +
Fricatives
 +
(-Voice)   
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|ɕʷ(hw)
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"             
 +
 +
|Affricate   
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|ʥ(gy)/ʨ(ky)
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|               
 +
|-valign="top"             
 +
                                                     
 +
|Labialized affricate
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|ʨʷ,ʥʷ
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"             
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|Lateral(voiced)     
 +
|       
 +
|
 +
|l
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|   
 +
|       
 +
|-valign="top"                 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|Nasal(voiced)
 +
|m
 +
|
 +
|n
 +
|
 +
|ɲ(ny) 
 +
|ŋ(n)     
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"             
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|Labialized           
 +
Nasal (voiced)
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|
 +
|ɲʷ(nw)
 +
|ŋʷ(nw)     
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"             
 +
 
 +
 
 +
|Glide (voiced)       
 +
|       
 +
|           
 +
|r           
 +
|         
 +
|y     
 +
|w         
 +
|
 +
|-valign="top"             
 
|-
 
|-
|syntactic structure
+
|}
|In this field you describe the linear order of elements in the noun phrase
+
 
 +
Some consonants are palatalized or labialized in Akan as in the words; kyerɛ - /ʨɪrɛ/, 'to show' and dwene - /ʥʷɪnɪ/ 'to think'. There is also free variation especially for the consonants [d],[r] and [l] as in the following Akan words: àkwàdàá, àkwàlàá or àkwàràá, all meaning 'a child'
 +
 
 
|-
 
|-
|nominal modification
+
|Tone
|In this field you indicate the basic types of nominal modification (adjectives, relative clauses, adpositions...)
+
|Akan is a tone language and it also has downdrift. Tone can determine meaning in Akan. In the following Akan words, its is the tone that shows difference in the meaning of the words.
 +
 
 +
      Example 9:
 +
  pàpà  father  pápá  good  pàpá  fan
 +
 
 +
Akan has two types of downsteps; automatic dwonstep and non-automatic downstep. In a sequence of a High-Low-High sequence, the second high tone is downstepped oir lowered in pitch than the first one.
 +
 
 +
  For example: 10
 +
<Phrase>12891</Phrase>
 +
 
 +
Example 10 above has a tonal sequence: High-Low-ꜜhigh, meaning that the second high tone is downstepped as a result of the middle low tone. 11 below illustrates a gradual drop of tone in an Akan sentence with Low-High tone sequence.  
 +
 
 +
  Example 11
 +
<Phrase>12892</Phrase>
 +
 
 
|-
 
|-
|nominal specification
+
|Syllable Structure
|In this field you indicate the basic types of specification. Does [your language] have determiners, demonstratives (deixis), numerals, quantifiers. Are there affixes expressing reference, deixis. Are there nouns or other elements expression a portion of a noun that the co-occur with?
+
|In Akan the syllable structure can be described in terms of tone apart from consonants (C), and vowels (V). It has V, CV and C syllables. The C syllable, which is a syllabic consonant always bears a tone. There are however no VC or CVC syllable types in Akan. Meaning that, it does not have syllables ending in consonants.
|-
+
 
|possession
+
  Examples 12:
|In this field you describe how possession is expressed (for example, syntactically or by use of prepositions, through juxtaposition or morphologically) Does [your language] feature possessive pronouns?
+
          a. V-syllable: '''ɔ'''sa - ɔˋ-sá  - 's/he dances' 
|-
+
                          ohu'''i'''- ò-hù-í - 'he saw it' 
|pronominal system
+
         
| In this field you indicate if [your language] has free pronoun forms? Are pronouns marked for their grammatical function (object versus subject pronouns)? Does your language have bound pronouns (affixes) or pronoun doubling? Are reflexives expressed by pronouns?
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          b. CV-syllable: kɔ - kɔ´- 'go'
|-
+
         
|'''Verbal Phrases'''
+
          c. C-syllable:  '''n'''suo -  ǹ-sù-ó  - 'water' 
|In the following fields serve for the description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of verbal constituents
+
                          so'''m'''  -  sò-ḿ    - 'hold it'
|-
+
                          '''n'''kwa - ŋˋ- kʷá - 'life'
|word order
+
                          etsi'''r''' - è-tsí-ŕ - 'head'
|In this field you indicate the basic word order of your language (SOV, SOV ...)
+
Akan has syllabic nasals which are often realised as plural markers in nouns and negative markers in verbs.
 +
  For example:13 
 +
<Phrase>12893</Phrase>
 +
 
 +
Asante has open syllables but Fante and Akuapem may have close syllables.  
 +
 
 +
    For example;
 +
  Asante: kai - 'to read'
 +
  Fante and Akuapem: kan - 'to read'
 +
 
 
|-
 
|-
|TAM
 
|In this field you indicate which tense and/or aspects are morphologically or tonally marked; does [your language] make use of periphrastic tense or aspect constructions?
 
 
|-
 
|-
|infinitival forms
+
|}
|In this field you indicate if [your language] makes use of an infinitive marker? How many infinitival forms does your language have?
+
 
 +
===References===
 +
<references/>
 +
 
 +
Dolphyne, Florence A. 1988. The Akan (Twi-Fante) language: Its sound systems and tonal structure.
 +
Accra, Ghana: Ghana Universities Press.
 
|-
 
|-
|verbal constructions
 
| In this field you indicate if [your language] has ditransitive constructions, serial verb constructions or complex verb forms composed of several verbs. Does your language have so called light verbs, perhaps only used to indicate a certain tense or aspect?
 
|-
 
|'''Adpositions'''
 
|In this field you indicate if [your language[ makes use of prepositions or postpositions. Does your language have spatial nouns? Does your language use adpositions or particles to indicate grammatical relations between the verb and a nominal argument?
 
|-
 
|'''Complementation'''
 
| In this field you describe complementation strategies. Does [your language] make use of complementizers?
 
|-
 
|'''Special Properties of [your language]
 
| In this field you should mention properties of [your language] which did not fit into any of the other categories mentioned in this template
 
 
|}
 
  
[[Category:Akan]]
+
[[Category:Typological Features Template|Akan]]

Latest revision as of 21:36, 20 July 2014

By Lilian Haugereid

To cite this page see footnote [1]


The following Typological Feature Template covers some phonological features of Akan.

Feature Description
Phonological Features In the following I will describe the phonological inventory of Akan and the features that its dialects share. Some of these dialects are Asante, Fante and Akuapem as well as Bono. Dialects of Akan are mainly characterized by phonological differences, but other difference can also be described. The account we are providing here is directed towards a description of the grammatical features that all dialects of Akan share.
Vowel Inventory Vowels in Akan are described here under five headings: oral, nasalised, and long vowels, diphthongs, and vowel harmony (or vowel combinations across syllables).

The table below shows an overview of the vowels in the language.

Orthography Phonetic Symbols +ATR -ATR
i i i
e ɪ/e e ɪ
ɛ ɛ ɛ
a æ/a æ a
ɔ ɔ ɔ
o o/ʊ o ʊ
u u u


Oral Vowels

Akan has 9 or 10 oral vowels, depending on the dialect: [e,ɔ,a,o,ɛ i,u,ɪ,æ,ʊ ]. Vowel [æ] is only used in the Asante and the Akuapem dialects. So you can see from the example below that, where Akuapem and Asante use [æ] Fante uses [e]

Asante/Akuapem Ph.Trans Asante/Akuapem Fante PH.Trans Fante English
ani /æni/ enyiwa /enyiwa/ 'eyes'


In the orthography, the letters e and o represent two contrastive vowels each: e represents both [e] and [ɪ], and o represents both [o] and [ʊ].

For example 1:

Akan Ph.Trans English Akan Ph.Trans English
te(w) /tɪ(w)/ 'to tear' kɛsi /kɛsɪ/ 'big'
fie /fie/ 'home' esiw/esie /(esiw)(esie)/ 'ant hill'
to(w) /tʊw/ 'to throw' horo /hʊhʊ/ 'to wash'
obi /obi/ 'someone' ako /ako/ 'parrot'

NB"Ph.Trans" refers to phonetic transcription.

As can be seen from example 1 above, the vowel e in orthography represents vowels /ɪ/ and /e/, and the vowel o represents /o/, and/ʊ/.

Example 2a
Bosome aso
“The month has ended”
Bosome
bosome
monthSBJ
N
aso
aso
beUp
V


Example 2b
Me tu kwan bronya yi
“I will travel this christmas”
Me
me
meSBJ
PN
tu
tu
takeFUT
Vtr
kwan
kwan
travel
N
bronya
bronya
christmasOBJ
N
yi
yi
thisDEF
DEM


The two sentences above examplify the two contrastive vowels [e]=/e,ɪ/ and [o]= /o,ʊ/. They can be transcribed respectively as follows:

      2a. /bʊsʊmɪ asʊ/
      
      2b. /me tu kwan bronya yi/

So in any written Akan text, you will find some of these 7 vowel letters: i e ɛ a ɔ o u, used in the Akan sentence below.

Example 3:
Esi bɛkɔ owura no hɔ
“Esi will go to the gentleman”
Ési´
Esi
esiSBJ
N
bɛ́kɔ́
bɛ́kɔ́
FUTgo
V
oˋwuˋraˋ
owura
gentlemanOBJ
N
noˋ
no
DEF
DET
hɔ´
thereDXSDIST
PN


In example 3, we have the occurrence of all 7 vowel letters in Akan. It can also be mentioned here that the vowels carry tone(s). This will be discussed later under "Tone", However, the two different sets of Akan vowels based on ATR is discussed under "Vowel Harmony" below.

B. Nasalised Vowels

Nasalisation in Akan can be contrastive: as a result of assimilation nasality can spread to following vowels. There are five nasalised vowels in Akan; and they are: ἶ, ĩ, ã, ῦ, and ũ

Example 4:
Fante Asante Akuapem English
hũ - hu hũ - hu hũw - huw see - blow (air)
                                                (Dolphyne 1988:4)        

In tha Akan word below; the nasal [ŋ] spreads to the sounds following it including the vowel [a].

            nkwa:  /ŋ̃kʷã/ - 'life'

NB: Vowels [e, ɛ, ɔ, o] are not normally nasalised in Akan, however [ɛ], and [ɔ] can be nasalised in the Fante dialects when they occur as neighbours with nasal consonants, [m] and [n] in a word or a phrase.


C. Long Vowels Long vowels can determine meaning. Akan orthography represents long vowels by doubling the letter that represents the vowel.

 Examples 5:
Akan English Akan English
da sleep daa everyday
sa dance saa exactly
go kɔɔ red

The following table represents which Akan vowel can be lengthtend and which ones can be nasalised.

 Example 6:
Vowels Oral vowel English Long vowel English Nasal English Long Nasal English
* i ti head/chase tii chased tἷ scratch tἷἷ scratched
* ɪ go out fɪɪ cameout ribs
e hwe to suck hwee zero
ɛ resempble sɛɛ resembled
* u pu spit puu spat reject/smoke pũũ rejected/smoked
* ʊ throw tʊʊ threw tῦ bake/roast tῦῦ roasted/baked
* a ka bite kaa bit drive/say kãã drove/said
æ æni eyes dææbi no
o som worship apoo cheating
ɔ go kɔɔ went

D. Diphthongs As can be seen in example 7, the verb 'dae' has the vowels [a] and and [ɪ] articulated by the tongue gliding from the central part of the mouth to the middle front part.

Example 7:

Yaa dae
“Yaa slept”
Yaa
yaa
YaaSBJ
Np
dae
dae
sleepPAST
Vitr


Vowel harmony

Akan has +ATR and -ATR vowels:

           Set A(+ATR) [i, e, æ, o, u]
           Set B(-ATR) [ɪ, ɛ, a, ɔ, ʊ]

The +ATR and -ATR vowels can not co-occur. There should be harmony in the occurence of the vowels in the same word, meaning that vowels of one set (either +ATR or -ATR) can co-occur. The +ATR vowels are produced by pushing the root of the tongue forward and the -ATR vowels on the other hand, are produced by pushing the root of the tongue backwards. Example 8 shows some Akan words where there is harmony of vowel as a result of the advanced tongue root restriction.

Example 8:
+ATR English -ATR English
/koko/ 'chest' /kɔkɔ(w)/ 'red'
/Kun(u)/ 'husband' /kʊn/ 'neck'
/efie/ 'home' /afɪ/ 'year'
/adi/ 'has eaten' /ædɪ/ 'thing'


Harmony Exceptions: There are few words in Akan that deviates from the harmony rule. The unadvanced vowel /a/ is known to usually occur in such words. However /ɛ/ too does deviate sometime. The following are examples of such deviations.

Akan English
sika 'money'
kura 'to hold'
dua 'to plant'
nyinsɛn 'to be pregnant'
pinkyɛn 'come close'
ohia 's/he needs'


In summary, these are the vowels and their names in Akan:

           i       Advanced High Front 
           ɪ       Unadvanced High Front
           e       Advanced Mid Front 
           ɛ       Unadvanced Mid Front 
           æ       Advanced Low Central 
           a       Undvanced Low Central
           o       Adavnced Mid Back 
           ɔ       Unadvanced Mid Back 
           u       Advanced High Back 
           ʊ       Unadvanced High Back
Consonant inventory

Akan has 16 consonants: [j, w, p, b, f, d, t, s, m, n, k, kʷ, h, hʷ, g, gʷ]. The table below gives the articulation of these consonants:

Bilabial Labiodentals Alveolar Pre-palatal Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p,b t,d k/kʷ,g/gʷ ʔ
Fricative f s ɕ(hy) h
Labialized

Fricatives (-Voice)

ɕʷ(hw)
Affricate ʥ(gy)/ʨ(ky)
Labialized affricate ʨʷ,ʥʷ
Lateral(voiced) l
Nasal(voiced) m n ɲ(ny) ŋ(n)
Labialized

Nasal (voiced)

ɲʷ(nw) ŋʷ(nw)
Glide (voiced) r y w

Some consonants are palatalized or labialized in Akan as in the words; kyerɛ - /ʨɪrɛ/, 'to show' and dwene - /ʥʷɪnɪ/ 'to think'. There is also free variation especially for the consonants [d],[r] and [l] as in the following Akan words: àkwàdàá, àkwàlàá or àkwàràá, all meaning 'a child'

Tone Akan is a tone language and it also has downdrift. Tone can determine meaning in Akan. In the following Akan words, its is the tone that shows difference in the meaning of the words.
      Example 9:
 pàpà   father   pápá   good   pàpá   fan

Akan has two types of downsteps; automatic dwonstep and non-automatic downstep. In a sequence of a High-Low-High sequence, the second high tone is downstepped oir lowered in pitch than the first one.

 For example: 10
Ama fɛre
“Ama is shy”
Ama
àmá
amaSBJ
N
fɛ̀ré
fɛ̀ré
shy
V


Example 10 above has a tonal sequence: High-Low-ꜜhigh, meaning that the second high tone is downstepped as a result of the middle low tone. 11 below illustrates a gradual drop of tone in an Akan sentence with Low-High tone sequence.

  Example 11
Odi nokware dabiara
“S/he is truthful all the time”
Odi
ò
s/he3SGspeak
V
nokware
nokware
truthOBJ
N
dabiara
dabiara
everyday
ADVtemp


Syllable Structure In Akan the syllable structure can be described in terms of tone apart from consonants (C), and vowels (V). It has V, CV and C syllables. The C syllable, which is a syllabic consonant always bears a tone. There are however no VC or CVC syllable types in Akan. Meaning that, it does not have syllables ending in consonants.
  Examples 12:
          a. V-syllable: ɔsa - ɔˋ-sá  - 's/he dances'  
                         ohui- ò-hù-í - 'he saw it'  
         
          b. CV-syllable: kɔ - kɔ´- 'go' 
          
          c. C-syllable:  nsuo -  ǹ-sù-ó  - 'water'  
                          som  -  sò-ḿ    - 'hold it'
                          nkwa -  ŋˋ- kʷá - 'life'
                          etsir - è-tsí-ŕ - 'head'

Akan has syllabic nasals which are often realised as plural markers in nouns and negative markers in verbs.

  For example:13  
Mbɔfra no anfa ntɛ no anto ambɔ wɔn
“The children did not pick marbles and throw them at them.”
Mbɔfra
mbɔfra
PLchild
N
no
no
DEF
DET
anfa
anfa
PASTNEGtake
V
ntɛ
n
PLmarble
N
no
no
DEF
DET
anto
anto
PASTNEGthrow
V
ambɔ
am
PASTNEGhit
V
wɔn
wɔn
them3PLOBJ
PN


Asante has open syllables but Fante and Akuapem may have close syllables.

   For example; 
 Asante: kai - 'to read'
 Fante and Akuapem: kan - 'to read'

References

  1. Lilian Haugereid. 2011. Typological Features for Akan - Phonology. TypeCraft Typological Feature Template. http://www.typecraft.org. Accessed [DATE].

Dolphyne, Florence A. 1988. The Akan (Twi-Fante) language: Its sound systems and tonal structure. Accra, Ghana: Ghana Universities Press. |-