Typological Features Template for Akan (Twi)
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
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| 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 (1) | Twi is mildly inflectional. There is a noun prefix and some verbal inflection indicating tense and aspect as well as negation. |
| morphological classification (2) | In Twi the subject and the verb do not agree.But there is some agreement with the nominal head in noun phrases. See below. |
| 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] |