Twi

Twi is an African language spoken in the southern two-thirds of Ghana.  Like most languages spoken south of the Sahara, Twi is a tone language.   Akuapim Twi became the prestige dialect because it was the first dialect to be used for Bible translation.  Fante Twi and Ashanti Twi are also spoken by a large population.  All dialects of Twi are mutually intelligible.  They are written by a common script developed by the Bureau of Ghana Languages.

Phonology

Akan Twi is a tone language, which means that word distinction is determined not only by vowels and consonants, but also by the pitch on which each syllable is pronounced.  For example, (high-high) 'good', (low-high) 'father', and (low-low) 'fan' are separate words that differ only in tone.  Additionally, in Akan tone also distinguishes certain grammatical categories such as the habitual* and stative** forms of verbs.

	'she wears a dress'	Habitual verbs
	'she has on a dress'	Stative verbs

* Habitual form: A verb aspect indicating something done, etc. consistently or habitually.

** Stative form: A verb aspect indicating something done, etc. at one point in time.

Syntax

In Twi, it is common to have a consecutive sequence of verbs in one sentence.  These verbs are called serial verbs.  For example:

I'll come   will-receive   play

When the sentence containing serial verbs is negative, all verbs in the sentence get a negative prefix n-.  For example:

Me-n-tumi   n-sre           n-k

I-not-can     not-get-up    not-go

'I cannot get up and go'.

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