Twi | |
---|---|
Asante Twi | |
Native to | Ashanti |
Ethnicity | Asante people, Akuapem |
Native speakers
|
9 million (2015) |
Dialects | |
Official status | |
Official language in
|
Ashanti City-State and the Ashanti City-State capital Kumasi |
Regulated by | Akan Orthography Committee |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | tw (Twi) |
ISO 639-2 |
|
ISO 639-3 |
|
Glottolog |
akua1239 asan1239
|
Twi (pronounced [tɕɥi]) or Asante Twi, is spoken by 6–9 million Ashanti people as a first language and second language. Twi (or Asante Twi) is a common name for two former literary dialects of the Akan language, Asante (Ashanti) and Akuapem, which are mutually intelligible. There are about 9 million Twi speakers, mainly in Ashanti Region. Akuapem Twi was the first Akan dialect to be used for Bible translation, and became the prestige dialect as a result.