Akan is the most prominent indigenous language spoken in Ghana in terms of number of speakers; it is the most widely spoken language across the country. The term Akan is used to refer to a group of genetically related dialects spoken by over of eight million people in the southern belt of Ghana and south-western Cote d’Ivoire. Those who speak any of the dialects of this language are also referred to as Akan, the same as the language. Interestingly, the term Akan was introduced by linguists to refer to the people and the language in the early 1950’s but it seems to have caught on well with the various communities over several decades.

There are two main dialects of Akan, coastal and inland. The coastal dialects, spoken in

central (around Cape Coast) and western (around Takoradi) regions of Ghana, are generally

referred to as Fante/Mfantse, and the speakers are called Fante-ni/Mfantse-nyi ‘Fante-person’ or Fante-fo/Mfantse-fo ‘Fante-people’. The inland varieties are called Twi, and the speakers Twi-ni ‘Twi-person’ or Twi-fo(O) ‘Twi-people’. The Twi dialects are spoken in Ashanti region (Asante), eastern region (Kwahu, Akyem, Agona, Akwamu, Akuapem), and Brong/Bono, among others. Generally, speakers associate themselves with the names of the dialects even though the dialects are mutually intelligible and the material culture of the people is quite similar. All the dialects are mutually intelligible, that is, different dialect speakers can understand each other’s dialect. However, mutual understanding between the dialects reduces as geographical distance increases between dialect speaking areas.

Among the dialects, Akuapem, Asante and Fante have different orthographies which are

officially recognized and taught in schools. However, in the 1950’s, a committee was charged to develop a unified orthography for the dialects, known as Akan Orthography, so that publications in the language would not have to be written over again into the different dialects (Dolphyne and Dakubu 1988). In practice, however, the unified orthography has not been rigorously enforced, therefore, there is still considerable variation in writing across dialects and even within the same dialect