Fante dialect

Fante
Fanti
Native to Ghana
Ethnicity Fante people
Native speakers
 1.9 million (2004)[1]
Official status
Regulated by Akan Orthography Committee
Language codes
ISO 639-2 fat
ISO 639-3 fat
Glottolog fant1241[2]

Fante (Mfantse, Fanti) is one of the three formal literary dialects of the Akan language. It is the major local dialects in the Central Region of Ghana as well as in settlements in other regions from mid to southern Ghana. One such community is Fante New Town in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

Fante is the common language of communication among the several kingdoms of the Fante people though each has its own (sub)dialect: Agona, Anomabo, Abura, Gomua, Oguaa. Many Fantes are bilingual. Notable speakers include John Atta Mills, Maya Angelou, Roman Catholic Cardinal Peter Turkson, and Kofi Annan.

One striking characteristic of Fante is its tolerance of the English language. This is exemplified by the constant mixing of the two languages even among uneducated folks. Example, in the phrase "Ofi mber tu mber", literally meaning "from time to time", the word "tu" is used in the same way an English speaker would use the word "to".

The Fante language has many more such examples. This has been a particular source of concern to those Ghanaians who believe that the trend may adversely affect the language and thus lead to its extinction. However, proponents of the mix say that over the centuries it has helped to encourage the Fantes to like and learn to speak, read and write the English language well.

Counting in Fante

Number Nkanee
1 Kor
2 Ebien
3 Ebiasa
4 Anan
5 Anum
6 Esia
7 Esuon
8 Awɔtwe
9 Akrɔn
10 Du
11 Dubiako
12 Duebien
13 Duebiasa
14 Duanan
15 Duenum
16 Duesia
17 Duesuon
19 Duakron
20 Eduonu
30 Eduasa
40 Eduanan
50 Eduonum
60 Eduosia
70 Eduosuon
80 Eduowɔtwe
90 Eduokrɔn
100 Ɔha
200 Ahaebien
300 Ahaebiasa
400 Ahaanan
500 Ahaenum
600 Ahaesia
700 Ahaesuon
800 Ahaawɔtwe
900 Ahaakrɔn
1000 Apem
2000 Mpemebien
10000 Mpemdu
1000000 Ɔpepem

References

  1. ↑ Akan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Fante". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.