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Typological Features Template for Akan (Twi)

Revision as of 12:14, 19 October 2013 by Dorothee Beermann (Talk | contribs)

by Kofi Busia Abrefa

University of Cape Coast, Ghana.


Feature Description
Phonological Features In this field I describe the phonological inventory of Twi.
Vowel inventory In this field I describe the vowels of Twi. See below:

Twi has ten vowels.They are /i, ι, e, ε, a, æ, ɔ, o, υ, u/Seven of them are written,//i, e, ε, a, ɔ, o, u/ but three /ι, æ, υ/ are not written. These three are normally represented by other vowel sounds autographically.

Vowel harmony In this field I describe rule based assimilations involving vowels in Twi.

Vowel harmony is one of the major processes in Twi, especially in Akuapem Twi. Most often in this dialect, the vowels in a particular lexical item type in affixes agree with the vowel type in the base. Where the vowel in the base is a plus ATR, or an advanced vowel, the sounds in the affexes must also be +ATR. If on the other hand, the base has a minus ATR or unadvanced vowels, all the affixes must also be minus ATR vowel type. Verbs inflect for tense and aspect.

    bu (break) has a +ATR vowel type.
    æ-bu   - has broken  (Perfect)
    rι-bu  - is breaking (Continues)
    be-bu  - will break  (Future)
    bu-i   - broke       (Past)
    bu     - break       (Habitual)

It must be noted that with continues,the aspect marker which is unadvanced, does not change even at the environment of an advanced vowel.

    ka (say) has a -ATR vowel type.
    a-ka   - has said    (Perfect)
    rι-ka  - is saying   (Continues)
    bε-ka  - will say    (Future)
    ka-ι   - said        (Past)
    ka     - say         (Habitual)

Also, when there is a verbal with a nominal prefix there is an agreement between them.

    di (eat) +ATR
    mi-/wu-/o-/ ye-/ mu-/ wo-di
    mi-/ wu-/ o-/ ye-/ mu-/ wo-di-i
    mι-/wυ-/ɔ-/ yε-/ mυ-/ wɔ- rι-di
    me-di/ wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-be-di
    m-/wυ-/ w-/ yε-/ mυ-/ wɔ-æ-di
    gyina (stand)
    mi-/wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-gyina
    mi-/wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-gyina-ι
    mι-/wυ-/ɔ-/yε-/mυ-/wɔ-rι-gyina
    me-/ wu-/ o-/ ye-/mu-/wo-be-gyina
    m-/wυ-/w-/yε-/mυ-/wɔ-æ-gyina
    mi-/wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-gyina
Consonant inventory In this field you describe the consonants of [your language]
Tone In this field you indicate if [your language] is a tone language and which tones are used; does [your language] have lexical tone?
Syllable Structure In this field you indicate the basic syllable structures of [your language].
Morpho-syntactic Features
morphological classification of Akan Like all dialects of Akan also Twi is mildly inflectional. There is a noun prefix and some verbal inflection indicating tense and aspect as well as negation.

In Twi the subject and the verb do not agree, butthere is some agreement with the nominal head in noun phrases.

Plural inflection Regular nouns build their plural by adding the prefix "n" to the noun. Nouns starting with "m", "b", "p" or "f" carry the prefix "m".

The following examples illustrate this fact:


tuatua ntokuro no nyinaa
“Seal all the holes”
tuatua
tuatua
REDPseal
V
ntokuro
ntokuro
PLhole
N
no
no
DEF
DET
nyinaa
nyinaa
all
QUANT
Nominal Phrases
syntactic structure
nominal modification
nominal specification
possession
pronominal system
Verbal Phrases
word order
TAM
infinitival forms
verbal constructions
Adpositions
Complementation
Special Properties of [your language]