TWI BASIC COURSE This work wos compiled and pub- Usk ea ale opat esl Oras J. E. REDDEN N. OWUSU AND ASSOCIATES FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1963 DEP ARTM EN T O F STATETWI FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE BASIC COURSE SERIES Edited by CARLETON T, HODGE For saleby the Superintendent of Dacuments, US. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. Price $1.25 ceeBASIC COURSE PREFACE The Twi Basie Course is one of a series prepared by the Foreign Service Insti- tute in its Special African Languages Program, coordinated by Earl W. Stevick. This series is being produced under an agreement with the Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, under the National Defense Education Act. The course in its present form is based on classroom experience with a group of Foreign Service Officers. It is designed to provide basic structures and vocabulary for the situations in which the foreigner is most likely to need Twi. The linguist in charge of the project has been James E. Redden. He was as- sisted by Nelson Owusu, Siegfried Ayatey, Jude Aidoo, Anthony Aidoo, and Robert K. Nei, Language Instructors. The tapes which accompany the text were prepared in the Foreign Service In= stitute Language Laboratory under the supervision of Gabriel Cordova, _jofitiaypr- Howard B. Sollenberger, Dean School of Language and Area Studies Foreign Service Institute Department of State iiiTWI TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents ...eseeeereeeeeees Introduction Identification and location . Tone terracing .... Sentence intonation . Symbol list ...... Unit 1 Use of drills .. Sound drills ... Unit 2 Dialogue: ‘Greetings! .......+ Note: 9. Vowels and vowel harmony ...... 16. Subject and possessive pronouns . 11. Possessed nouns .... 12, Noun plurals ....... 14. Sentence Drill model .. Unit 3 Dialoguet 'Do you speak Twi? .. Note 6. Vowel before /r/ . 7. Subject with two verbs . 11. Negative of verbs .. 12, Nasal-stop assimilation 17. Spelling of double nasais s+... Unit Dialogue: 'How do you say....?! « Note: 1. Impersonal or passive of verbs 8. Imperative ......66- iv iv xiii 1 16 18 19 19 20 2h 26 26 26 27 32 32 33 3k.BASIC COURSE 15 17. Unit 5 Dialoguet Notes 1-3 Le 9. nu. 12. 23. Umt 6 Dialogues Note: 1. Unit 7 Dialogue: Note: 1. 7 1. Hee b. 19. al. Suppletave negative of /wo/ Spatial noun compounds .... ‘Ab the office.! ... Prd/ and /nof seeseeee [tami/ oe. Future positive .. Verb object order Sentence intonation .... Stative verds ..sseeeeee 'Pufu' . /agoo/ and /anée/ Noun plurals marked by nasal prefix .... Progressive positive of verbs ...... Reduplication of adjectaves ..... Comparison .......65 Verbal nouns ....... Spatzal/possessive compound nouns . /na/, /,/, Secondary tones ...... "Buying fish! ....... Auxiliary /ko/ .. Distributive plurals Double negative verbs Negative progressive and future.. /nf/ and ‘indirect! object es... 5 /pt/ plus verbal noun ...... Compound nouns ...++ 38 39 4o ya 4a 43 43 4a 4a 48 49 49 50 50 50 52 59 59 60 61 62 68 68 68 69 69TWI unit 8 Dialogue: Notes 1. ye cs 1 8. Unit 9 Dialogue: Note: 1: 2. 3 3. ue 8. 9. LB. 15. 1. Unit 10 Dialogues Note: 2. 3. ue 5 9. Unit 11 Dialogue: Note: 1. 2. 6 6. 'At the doctor's! Agent nouns .... Tone of object pronouns .. Locative nouns ... Emphatic subject pronouns .. Masculine and feminine compounds tHave you gone to eat yet? seeeeeeceseeee Past positive of verbs ..... Perfect positive of verbs ... Past negative of verbs .......65 Perfect negative of verbs ..eeeseeeeeeeeee Subyunetive positive and cohortative Thard person imperative « Negative cohortative .. Negative of /de/ sseseeee /win n6/ as verb subject . Mal! 'I went to Accra yesterday.' /ko/ plus consecutive of purpose /se/ with direct quotations ..... /séései/ and immediate present ..... /ve/ of purpose ...... /né/ with past tense .. tAn anterview.! .eeseeeee Days of the week and personal names .. Passive with third person plural /#1é/ with verbal nouns . /séései/ with perfect, thave just! .... vi 70 7m 77 77 78 78 719 80 80 81 81 81 86 86 87 87 87 88 89 89 89 95 96 97 103 10h. 10h 104,BASIC COURSE 7 8. 10. 1. 12. 13. Unit 12 Dialogues Note: 1. 4 A. Be 7 8. Unit 13 Dialogue: Note: 3. 6. t 1. Unit 1h Dialogué Note: 2. 6. 7 Umt 15 Dialogue: Note: 7. 8. 9. ql. Indirect quotation of commands ...... /t@/ and tenf/, permanent vs. temporary ... Prominence of initial position ...... Relatave /nga/ s.se+s Compound nouns with /ase/ Tones with verb objects ..... ‘What tame 1s 1?! se... eee Alternation of /n/ and /r/ ssseseceeeeeeoes Special uses of /ye/ . Numerals .....+ Compound numerals.. If clauses ....... /ng/, to bet seeee ‘How much 1s this? ..... (hil 7) sonoocododeganon09D0 Contraction in tame clauses /tad/, ‘do often! . Special uses of /fiyg/ "The telephone.! ......++ Spelling of borrowed English words Progressive with noun subject .... Noun-high-tone-adjective compounds .. "The bus! .......6- Spatial compounds and phrases .. Instrumental relationships ......++++ Partitive constructions .......- /xo/ as the second verd ..... vil 105 105 105 106 106 106 107 108 108 116 116 116 116 117 118 128 128 129 130 131 139 139 140 19 149 150 150TWI Unit 16 Dialogue: Note: 1. 6 Unit 17 Dialoguet Note: 6. 8. Unit 18 Dialogues Note: 3. 4. 5 Unit 19 Dialogue: Note: 1. Unit 20 Dialogues Notes 1. es Ae Glossary The filling station seeeseseeceeeeseeeees ‘please! .. /ve-/ of purpose with future .. /-wa/, /-ma/, /~ba/ «. Deraved nouns with /- /nd/ plus perfect .... ‘Directions to the market.! Distributive verbs .. Predicative adjectives .. 'The cocoa farm! ..... Emphatie questions Distributive /gu/ ... Secondary tones ..... ‘What will you do if 1t rains? . Plural of accompaniment ....+.++ 'An introduction! . Taking leave .....++-+ Prominent subject with /dge/ ..... Double spacial relationships ..... villi asl 152 153 159 159 159 160 170 im 172 173 173 160 182 183 192 193 200 201 202BASIC COURSE Introduction Twi 1s spoken in the southern two-thirds of Ghana, mainly between the Volta and Tano Rivers, but in the last few centuries at has spread over a larger area, especially to the west, so that there are now a large number of speakers in contiguous areas. There are about three million natave speakers of Tw, plus about one million more persons who regularly use the lenguage. All dialects of Twi are mutually intellegible; but at conversational speed and on some subjects, speakers from distant areas may have aifficulty understanding one another. The first grammar of Twa was published in Copenhagen an 176). Missionaries began to publish in Twi in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, Akvapim Twi, spoken in the south-east was the first dialect used for Bible translation and other literature. Because of this, Almapim Twa became the prestige dialect and 1s still regarded by many people as the 'real' or ‘pure! Twi. Fantz Twa, spoken in the south-central area, 1s rather different from the other dialects and also has a fairly extensive literature. This manual uses Ashanti Twi, spoken an the central area and by far the largest dialect. The speaker on whose speech the materials are based 18 from the eastern part of the Ashanta area, and some differences will be noted between the speech of Kumasi, regarded as the standard, and the form used herein. An effort has been made in the footnotes to indicate such differences. There 1s also the tendency to use the name of the local dialect as a name of the language, e.g., Ashanti instead of Ashanti Twi. Often Akuapim Twi and Twi are used interchangeably, a practice which speakers of other forms of Twi don't always appreciate. Because of this, an attempt 1s being made to substi- tute the name Akan for Twi. Akan 1s an ethnographic term referring to all the peoples of the area and consequently 18 not felt to favor any one group or form of the language above the others. ixTWI The Bureau of Ghana Languages has developed a common script for all the Twi dialects. The transcription system used in this manual 1s the standard orthography plus a number of diacritic markings to indicate tone, which is not usually written, and to make it clear how a word or segment 1s pronounced 1n cases where the student may have difficulty in interpreting the orthography. Some words have been respelled; but to andicate this, the mark ° 1s placed before a respelled word the first time it occurs, and the regular spelling 1s given in a footnote. English words, which are very commonly used even when speaking about everyday affairs, have been respelled as they are pronounced in Twi unless the word 1s one where an attempt would be made to pronounce it an the English fashion, e.g. /univérsity/, but /sirén/, ‘shilling’. Twi, like almost all the languages spoken south of the Sahara, 1s a tone language. Each syllable has ats own tone or patch. It 1s just as important to get the correct tones as 1t 1s to get the correct vowels and consonants. There are many words that are distinguished only by their tones, e.g., /papa/ 'a palm-leaf fan' (with two low tones), /papa/, 'good' (with two high tones), and /papé/, ‘father! (with a low followed by a high tone). Twi has three contrastive or phonemic tones: high /“/ mada /1/ low /*/ lake many West African tone systems, Twi tones are terraced, 1.0., mid tone 1s always a downstep in absolute pitch from the preceding syllable, and there 1s no upstep in the sequence mid to high, but the pitch remains approximately the same. After a low tone there are two possibilities: (1) remain on approximately the same pitch, which 1s interpreted as low, and (2) step up to a higher level, which 1s interpreted as high. After a juncture, i.e., a pause, there are also only two possibilities: (1) high, or (2) low. After a high or a mid tone, there are three possibilities (1) remain on approximately the same pitch, whach 18 interpreted asBASIC COURSE high; (2) step down slightly, which 18 interpreted as mid, and (3) step down a greater amount, which 1s interpreted as low. After reaching the most prominent syllable of the sentence, usually the farst high tone, the pitch level of the whole sentence gradually steps down so that a high near the end of the sentence may be lower than a low near the beginning of the sentence. A prominent syllable 1s usually stressed, 1.e., louder than sur- rounding syllables That 1s to say, on any one syllable an any one position in the sentence, there are at the most only three possible tones: high, mid, and low; but the absolute pitch of the syllable 1s lamited or determined by a number of factors. The first tone in an utterance 1s more or less determined by the natural pitch level of the speaker's voice, and somewhat by his emotions. (See Unit 5 note 12 for explanation of statement and question intona- taon.) Perhaps diagrams will make this clearer. TONE TERRACING HoH MoE Woe Xx L L L xiTWI SENTENCE INTONATION \\y The above diagrams illustrate the pitch level of a sentence being gradually lowered by either tone terracing or sentence 1n- tonation; but in a real sentences both of these factors operate simultaneously. A single low between two highs 1s higher 1n pitch than are two or more lows between highs. In addition, the second high of the high-low-high 1s lower than that of the high-low-low-high sequence. Because of this, the sequences high-low-high and high- mid-high are easily confused by the new student. Using the first two diagrams as source, compare the diagrams below. (L) (2) xdBASIC COURSE The system for marking tones used in this manual does not mark every syllable. Unmarked 1n1tzal syllables and unmarked syllables after a low tone are low. Unmarked syllables after a high or mid tone are high. Word boundarzes are indicated by spaces between words, and the tone marking system begins anew after each space. In the five column chart given below, column I gives the symbols used in this manual, column II gives those used by the ordinary orthography, column III gives the phonemes, column IV gives the phonetic symbols, and column V 1s an approximation of the sound using American English and French sounds for comparison. I tHE oe oo = Symbol Orthography Phoneme Phonetics Approximation P P Pf (phy pin t t /t/ [eh tems tan k xk Lf Lah] ‘come wy ky /e/ Le) ae chin bd b fof tb] be a a JV la}? do g g Sef {e] go ey ey /e/ cis gem f o /t/ {f] fee 8 8 /s/ (s] gee h h fof (a) hoe hy hy po/ [g) 7+ whispered he n n fi/ [m] me n n fof {n] no R n fof {ol sing ng ng [on/ C00] double 9 * : EDT ze peoaggse nose fy ng fof tpl ** B adiTWI nw aw a ny ng hw nw nu fon/ /on/ /of ff /o/ fof fat] /e"/ /e/ /e4?*,/g2/ pw] /ri/ Jon'/ /ot/ [nb/ ae /v/ 3. h/ /1/, /e/* /e/ 7 feo/, fa /e/ double pp double p P tree, ladder want French 1u2 simultaneous chew and w symul taneous ‘ump and w simultaneous ump and w cr. aw simultaneous ¢ and when 3 plus rounded Pp plus rounded p rounded p plus nasalized 1 9 plus 9 without voice hum hello avenue beat? bat bait® bet bat bottleBASIC COURSE ° 2 fof [o] bought ° ° /o/ [07] boat? 9 ° feof, Jo/* [ur] book u /s/ (wy boot? f [8/ (f*] nasalized 1 & ft/ [£7] nasalized I & Lf tery nasalized & € /8/ [er] nasalized @ & /8/ (4) nasalized a 8 /3/ [3] nasalized 0 6 1 [ar] nasalized u t [ef (ay nasalized u a 2 #/ step down in pitch on pre- ceeding syllable and pause , , ale pause and/or step down an pitch on the following syllable ? ? /W/ elevation of the whole sen- tence level and a steep, abrupt fall on preceding syllable. ! ! [x/ preceding syllable at least tripled in length A number of special symbols are also used as explained below. ( ) Enclosed Twi elements usually elided at conversation speed. (1 1) Lateral English translation of the Twi. xvTWI / / In the chart above, this symbol, means Twi phonemics; elsewhere, when enclosing Twi, 1t means the symbolization used an this grammar. When enclosing English, 1t means words not occurring in the Twi, but needed for clarity or accuracy of trans- lation in English. W ff Standard Twi orthography. Spaces between words to mark word boundaries are the same as those used in the orthography except as given in the footnotes. NOTES 1. In general, before front vowels all consonants are to a greater or lesser degree palatalized and stops affricated, but the exact distribution of allophones, especially of /n/, 18 quite complex. 2. In Ashanta /gu/ when followed by a vowel 1s pronounced like /@a/; but 1n Akuapim and some other dialects, 1t 18 still pro- nounced /gu/. 3. /1/ and /v/ are used in recent loan-words only. 4. In most dialects there 1s little or no contrast of /¢/ versus /e/, /9/ versus /o/, /4/ versus /a/, /8/ versus /t/, and /5/ versus /5/. 5. There 1s no y- or w- offglide with Tw vowels in contrast to English vowels which sound somewhat the same. 6. WNasalaized vowels are regularly indicated in the transcription. The ordinary orthography does not usually mark nasalized vowels. Where there 1s ambiguity, the nasalized vowel 1s sometimes marked. In the transcription, only the first vowel of a cluster of nasal- ized vowels 1s marked with /~/. xviBASIC COURSE UNIT 1 Unit I Unit I consists of forty-eight drills of pairs of words that are distinguished by tone or consonant and vowel differ. ences that often cause difficulty for speakers of English. On the tapes at the beginning of each drill, the two words are translated, identified as to how they differ, and said twice. Each drill is divided into two parts. In the first part, ten pars of words are given. The student 1s to listen to the pairs and to tell whether the two words are same or different. Space 1s left on the tapes so that the student will have tame to answer before the correct answer 15 given for verification. In the second part, ten single words are given. The student 1s to identify each word by 1ts distanc. ‘tive difference as explained at the beginning of each drill. Again space 18 left on the tape for the student to answer before verification 18 given.UNIT 1. TWI Drill 1 - tones Drill 2 - vowel length he opens, low low high, obad a child, short, obd @ woman, low high high, obéa a woman, long, obda 1. obéa lbh 1. oba 3 2. obad hb 2. obda a: 3. obéa tbh 3. obda 1 4. obad nh ke obéa. 1 5. obad nh 5. ob 8 6. obda inh 6. obda 1 7. obéa hh 7. ob s 8. obéa ahh 8. obéa 1 9. obad ah 9. obd s 10. obad ah 10. oba 8 Drill 3 - tones Drill 4 - tones entirely, hhh, kGraa brother-in-law, 11h, ak6nté small calabash, 11h, kgrad arithmetic, lhmlh akéntad 1. kéraa hhh 1. akénté 11h 2. korad dh 2. akéntad bmn ae kgraa hhh 3. akOnta 11n be xorad uh 4. ak6nta 1h 5. kGraa hhh 5. akéatad lbmlh 6. kéraa hhh 6. akéntad Tbm1h 7. kgraa ln 7. akdnté 11h 8. korad lh 8. akdntd 11h 9. kgraa hhh 9. akéntad lhnih 10. korad ih 10. akénté iinBASIC COURSE UNIT 1 Drill 5 - tones Drill 6 - tones good, high high, papa a fan, low low, papa father, low high, papa good, high high, papa a papa hh 1. papa n ED papa 1h 2. papa hh 3. papd ih 3. papa hh ke papa hh ye papa 1 3. papa 1h 3. papa bh 6 papa hh 6. papa nl (b papa lh fe papa 1 8. papa hh 8. papa hh % papa lh % papa 1 10. papa hh 10. papa bh Drill 7 - tones Drill 8 - vowel length a fan, low low, papa a fan, short, papa father, low high, papa to pat, long, paapaa Ll papa n 1. papa 8 2 papa ih 2. paapaa 1 3. papé dn 3. paapaa 1 he papa n Ae papa 8 ch papd, lh 5. paapaa al 6 papa lh 6 papa 8 Te papa chy 1 papa 8 8. papa 1 8. paapaa a % papa lh o papa 8 lo. papa wu 10. paapaa aUNIT 1 TWI Drill 9 - tones and length Drill 10 - tones male twin, low high, ata to speak, low low, kasa female twin, low low high, atad a language, high mid, késa a. até th lL kasd hm 2) atad Dh 2. kasa n 3. ata th 3. xdsd hm he ated llh he kdsa hm Be ated nh 5. kasa nn 6. ata ih 6. xésd hm th até lh I xésd hn 8. ataad ih 8. kasa l % ata th 9 késd hm 10. ated 1h lo. kdaa hm Drill 11 - tones Drill 12 - tones at is different, 111, esono to hold, seaze, low low, fug elephant, lbh, esgnq single, one, low high, fug 1. esgng ibh 1 tug sae 2. esong mi 2. fag lh 3. esgng hh 3. tug ih he esong ill ey fug 1 Se esgng hh 5. fug. n 6. esgng nh 6. fug Ih in esqng 1 1 fug a 8. esong 11 8. fug th a esgng hh ce tug th 10. esqng 1 10. fug lhDrill 13 - tones white, high high high, fifuo BASIC COURSE fufu, low high high, fuftio 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6 7 8 9 lo. fituo fiituo fufiio fituo futio fuftio hhh hhh lbh hhh bh hh hhh lbh lbh hhh Drill 15 - vowel length something, long, hweg to beat, short, hwé 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 6 7 8. 9 10. hg hw huge hug nawge huge hug huge hag hw ue Drill 14 - tones UNIT 1 to tell a lie, low high, b9d to help, low low, bga i. 2. 3. 4. 5 6 7 8 a 10. Drill 16 - nasal vowel to take, oral, fa bga bga 1 sbi, lh lh n to be hoarse, nasal, f& ae oe 3. 4 Be 6 7 8 9 10. fa fa fe fe fa re fa fa ré fe ° °UNIT 1 TWI Drill 17 - nasal vowel Drill 16 - vowel length hand, oral, ns& to be hoarse, short, f& palm wine, nasal, nsf tottering, long, féa 1. ns& ° a fe 8 2. ns& n 2. féa a 3. nsf n 3. féa 1 ke ns& ° rT te 8 5 ns& n Be fe 8 6 ns& ° 6 féa 1 I ns& ° I fe 8 8. nsf& n 8. fia 1 cs ns& ° % té 8 lo. ns ° 10, fa 3 Drill 19 - nasal vowel Drill 20 - vowel before /r/ to dip, oral, sa to mx, @, fgrd to lie along, nasal, si to put on native dress, u, fura a) sa, ° 1. fora ° 2 sa ° 2. fera e 3. sé n 3. fura u Ae sa ° 4. fra g 5. si n 5 fura u 6. sé n 6 fura u 1 sa ° iA tgré e 8. sf n 8. fura 9. 3f n % fgrd e 10. sa ° 10. fura uBASIC COURSE UNIT 1 Drill 21 - tones to thatch, low low, kuru @ sore, high high, kiru lL kuru n 2. kuru n 3. kira hh he kuru fa) 5. kira hh 6. kira hh 7 kuru n 8. kira hh % xara hh lo. kuru aa Drill 23 - tones co-wife, high low, kérd to hide, low low, kgra a gra hl 2. kgrad hi 3 kqra a ke kgra hl 5. kgra el 6 kgra ce he kre hl 8. kqra n % kgra 1 10, xgra, hl Drill 22 - vowel before /r/ to leave, ¢, kgrd to grasp, u, kura rn kérd q 2. xkura u 3. 6rd e Ae sure u 3 kura u 6 kérd @ te kérd ¢ 8. kura u 9% kéra @ 10. kura u Drill 2h - tones soul, high md, kérd to leave, high low, kgra lL xgra hm 2. kérd hl 3. xéra hl ke xérd hn 5 xéra nl 6. kérd hm te xéra hm 8. kérd hl % xgrad hm 10. kérd nlUNIT 1 TWI Drill 25 - fricatives Drill 26 - palatal affricates like, as, 3, s€ (alveolar) to cut up, voiced, dwg insert, hy, hye (palatal) to cut, voiceless, twq a se s 1. aug va 2 se 8 2. tw vl 3. hye hy 3. tw v1 ke hye hy 4. aug va Be se 8 5. twa vi 6. hye hy 6 aug va Te se 8 7 aug va 8. hye hy 8. twa, vi % hye hy % aq, va 10. se s lo. aug, va Drill 27 - vowel before /r/ Drill 28 - fi after nasal vowel to tie up, bind, ¢, dwere to lie along, without #, sf to crush, mash, €, dwerg to return, with fi, sf as awgrg @ 1 sf 7 2. awgrg @ 2. shit V8 3. awerg e 3. sf ¢ 4. awerg e 4 ffi wh Se awerg g 5. sf v 6. awerg e 6 sh 7 Te duerg e Te ffi wh 8. awerg e 8. Gf A % awerg e 9 3& 10. augrg @ 10. sfBASIC COURSE UNIT 1 Drill 29 - tones a snake, low high, ows he has, low low, owo 1, 2, 3. 4 Be 6, 7, 8. o 10. Drill 31 - that I may I wouldn't 10. ows owo owo ows ows wo ows owe owo ows tones buy, hhh, ménto buy, hlh, méatd nénto méats ménto nits nits nits ménto nénto méntd méntd 1h n n 1h Ih n lh a n BEEEEEEREE b 5 or Drill 30 = tones I don't buy, 11h, méntéd I wouldn't buy, hih, méatéd 1, 2e 3. ke Se 6 Te 8. % 10. Drill 32 - tones méntd méntd mats méntd méntd mots méntd ménts méntd méntd lh lh hlh ih hlh hlh 1h lh lh that I may buy, hhh, ménto I don't buy, 1lh, méntd 1. 2. 3 de 5. 6 Te 8 CA 10. ménto méntd méntd nénto ménto méntd méntd nénto méntd nénto hhh 1h Uh ih Wh lhUNIT TWI Drill 33 - statement and question Drill 34 - tones that I may buy, statement, ménto. a girl, lhhh, abéawa Should I buy, question, ménto? a servant girl, lllh, abaawa a. ménto? q as abaawa lh 2. ménto 8 2. abaawa 11h 3. nénto 8 3. abéawa nh he ménto? q 4. abaawa Uhhh Be nénto 8 5. abéawa Unhh 6 ménto? qa 6 abaawa alin te nénto 8 7 abéawa hhh 8. ménto 8 8. abaawé 1h % mento? q 9. abéawa hhh 10. ménto? q 10. abaawa 11h Drill 35 - tones and length Drill 36 - tones mouse, 11h, gkuré already, 111, dedaw vallage, 111h, qkuraa an old thing, hli, déaaw ae qkura nh a dedqu a1) 2. qkurad 11h 2. dedgw Hla 3. qkurd, 1h 3. dedqu aaa) ke qkuré 1h A aéagw nll 5. qkurad ih 5. dedgw 1 6. qkured ih 6. aéagw nll A qkuré 1h le aéaqw nll 8. qhurad lin 8. aéagu nll 9. qkurad lh 9. dedqw nu 10. qiurd lh 10. aéagu nil 10Drill 37 - tones an agreement, 11h, mméii rather, hih, siméit a 2. 3e Ae Be 6. Te 8, oe 10. Drill 39 - nasals palm ol, velar, ng, ne& moth mmo mmoin mm mind moi mmo, rimdth mmoin mméin 1h hlh lh hlh hlh lh dh uh lh it, alveolar, en, en& 1 2, 3. 4 5: 6 7 8. % 10. BASIC COURSE Drill 38 - tones a bear, high high, sisi to cheat, low low, sisi 1. 2. 3. de 5. 6. lh 8. % 10. Drill 0 - nasal length sisi sisi sisi sisi sisi sisi sisi sisi sisi sisi BEE EEE E w B hh bh UNIT to blow a mysical instrument, short, hy6s bright, long, hyenn a5 2. 3. 4 Be 6. 7. 8. oe 10. n ny &x hy ft hyenn hyenn ny EA hyeny hy€f nyenn hyenn ny&s 1UNIT 1 TWI Drill 41 - tones Drill 42 - tones to dedicate, low low, mmf car, high low, kaa forrid, high high, méma ring, low high kad l mom& she 1. kad ih 2 mone n 2. Kea, hl 3. ming hh 3. kad ih he méma hh he kaa hl 5 noni hy Be 6a, hl 6 nbn hh 6 kad ah 1 mb nét hh te kad lh 8. mon n 8. ea, nl % nbn hh 9. kad th 10, mdm aD 10. wea nl Drill 43 - nasal and oral Drill 4h - tones vowels don't wave, nasal, firtyém wave, high, fyém don't grind, oral, fydm don't wave, low high, fifiym a ftiyém n ae ftyém h 2. fiiyfm a 2. 3. ftyén ° 3. A Attyfin n Ae 5. Ayam ° 5. 6 Ayam ° 6 te ritydn n 1 8. flyém ° 8. % nityén n % 10. fyam ° 10. 12Drill 45 - tones he has gone, lh, wak5 you have gone, hh, wako 1. 2. 3. he 5. 6. ia 8. % lo. Drill 47 - tones Accra, 1111, Wkeraff wako wako wako wakd waks wako waks wako wako wako BEERE& E BR RE black ant, lbh, nkéréfi ne 2. 3. Ae Be 6 Te 8. oe 10. Wkeréit nkeraii Wkeraet nkéraft nkgrait Nkerdfi nkéraft nigra Wkeréit nkératt ni hhh ani Uhhh hhh ni Uhhh a Uhhh BASIC COURSE Drill 46 - tones UNIT 1 he didn't come, 1lh, wammd you didn't come, hlh, watimé i. 2. 3. ye 5. 6 La 8. % lo. Drill 48 - tones wammd ward, wammd 1h nih ln 1h hlh lh hih hlh hn ln here I am, hhh, mfnni I don't have, llh, mfnni il. 2. 3. 4. 5 6 te 8. % 10. B minni minni mfnna mfnni mfnni mfnni mfnna mfnn mfnni nfnna lin 1h hhh hhh lh ih lhUNIT 2 TWI Unit 2 Basic Dialogue = mf to give, present; cause let; for, on behalf of aky$ a becoming clear or visible, a coming-forth 1 Ma akyé Good morning. (1/I/ bid /you/ dawning. ') Be yaa a response tc greetings off (rg) (pl. g-n&m) brother, sister 2 Yea fag. Yes, brother. — your (ce) en& the whole body;.exterior; at, by, near te to perceive, feel, hear; live, dwell; speak a language sta what, how 3 Wo né te ster How are you? B mé, mf, m, mé, mf my ye to be, become; do, make; amount to; seem; be in good conditionBASIC COURSE UNIT 2 home né ye. I'm fine. na and, but fisg also, too 5 Na wo tso, wo nd te séiir And you, how are you? 6 Mé né ye. I'm fine. ofie (fie) (pl. e-) home, house 7 Ofte te séne How 1s everything at home? -B- Page to have, possess; be, be in a state of; contanue, keep on; cause, make bokoo soft, tender, cheap 8 Ofte dee bokoo. Everything 1s fine at home. ("Home 1s /in a state of/soft.') Notes 1. /Ma& aky8/ 1s usually //maakye//. 2. /f0g/ means either brother or sister, but 1t 15 used in greet- angs as a matter of politeness. /Yaq filg/ 1s a customary way of acknowledging a greeting; 1t could be just as well translated, ‘thank you! or 'good morning'. This response 1s used by persons of about the same age and social status. 3. /yaa f0g/ 1s yag f0¢/. See vowel harmony rules below. /u/ followed by /a/ 1s similar to the French semi-vowel 'u!, e.g., /s4/. 15UNIT 2 TWI 4. /s€8/ 18 Ashanta Twx. /edén/ or /aén/ 1s Akwapim Twi. In 1961 the Bureau of Ghana Languages issued Language Guide's for the various Twi dialects with the recommended spellings. Since most Twi texts printed before this time are based on Akuapim, 1t 18 necessary to know the forms for both dialects. 5. /ye/ 'to be im good conditaon', 1s /yé/ in Akuapam. 6. Many words that end in a single vowel in Aluapim have a daphthong 1n Ashanti: Akuapin Ashanta house oft ofie thing odg adée fufa furi futto caretaker ohwétg ohwétgo 7. The noun prefixes /o, 0, &, e/ are usually omitted if they are not with the first word in the sentence, e.g., /Yaa ntg/. Other noun prefixes aren't usually omitted. Og tte wescece ss tyes 6p calece concern ve one health or physical condition. If /né/ 1s not used, one-is asking for a description, e.g., /Wo ygr¢ te sé8/, tWhat kind of wife do you have?! 1.0., tall, fat, dark-haired, ete. 9. There are two series of vowels 1n Twi or Akan: a tense or outer series, and a lax or inner series. Tense series: 1 e ao Lax series: eea -o 8 The relationship of the two series 1s perhaps more easily seen in a vowel triangle diagram. 16BASIC COURSE UNIT 2 tense tense There are limtations as to which vowels can precede or follow certain other vowels. These limitations are called vowel harmony. Vowel harmony rules. I. Lax vowels followed by /1/, /g/, or /u/ are replaced by the next highest (see vowel triangle diagram) vowel in the tense series: ¢ as replaced by a e e a a ° ° g u It. After /a/, /e/, or /o/, /e/ ana /o/ are replaced by the next highest vowel in the lax series: e 1s replaced by @ 0 g III, Rule I takes precedence over Rule II. 17UNIT 2 TWI IV All contaguous vowels are in the same series, If there a8 a tense vowel in a diphthong, all the vowels of the daphthong will be of the tense series. 10. The vowels of subject and possessive pronouns are determined by vowel harmony. Notace the underlined vowels: mye I am yeye we are wéy? you (sg.) are méyé you (pl.) are eye he, she, 1t is woye they are sye at is eye they are mihu I see yehtl we see wiht you (ag.) see nfm you (pl.) see oht he, she, 1t sees woht they see The third person singular /o- ~o-/ often translates '1t! when referring to animals. The third person impersonal prefix /e-~e-/ 18 always used for inanimates (including ghosts), but 1t 18 occasionally used when referring to animals in a general way. m& ba my child ye ba our child wg ba your (sg.) child mo ba your (pl.) child n€ bé has, her, 1ts child won né b& — thear child nf tifa my brother 3S fitka our brother wi fitg your (sg.) brother mf fit your (pl.) brother nf fifg bis, her, its won nf fig their brother brother In the new orthography, vowel harmony 1s never indicated in the possessive pronouns, e.g., /mf fita/ 1s fme nua/. But some texts printed before the latest spelling revision do have /mi nuaf. 18BASIC COURSE UNIT 2 /win nf/ has an alternate form /won/ and is / won/f, /ye/ has an alternate form /yep/. Compare Unit 9 note 15. The final consonant of /yen/ and /won/ 1s homorganie with the following consonant. See notes eleven and twelve of lesson three. Compare Unit 3, notes 11 and 12, 11. The tone pattern of some nouns differs when preceeded by a possessive pronoun from the pattern of the non-possessed form, e.g., /fig/, 'brother', and /mf fitg/, 'my brother', If the tones of the possessed form are different, the possessed form is given an parentheses when the word first appears in the lessons, e.g., /oxtnu/, ‘husband! (Ininu). When the possessed noun has a high tone on the first syllable, the possessive pronoun 1s low; other- wise, the possessive pronoun 1s high. See also notes 1h and 15. 12. There are a number of ways of marking the plural of nouns. If the plural form 1s not the same as the singular, the plural prefix and/or suffix 1s listed in parentheses with the designation 'pl.'! when the word first occurs. The plural of /okimi/ is /okinuném/. It appears as /okinu/ (Kinu) (pl. -ném). If the plural 1s irregular, the entire form is given. If there is more than one plural, the most common plural 1s given. A hyphen /-/ after a form means the form is a prefix; a hyphen before a form means 1t 1s a suffix. Some plurals have both a prefix and a suffix. New words in the drills. obé (pl. m) child, young one oygrg (pl. -ném) wife papa (pl. -ném) father m&amé (pl. -ném) mother olin (ininu) (pl. -ném) husband 19UNIT 2 TWI 13. Note that /mbé/ 1s /mmi/. Compare Unit 3 note 12. ly. In part of the exercises in this manual, the student 1s asked to replace or insert a word or phrase 1n a previous utterance. The tutor gives a sentence. The student repeats. The tutor gives the word or phrase, which 1s underlined in the next sentence. The student fits 1t into the previous utterance. Example: Tutor: Wa nS te shir Student : Wa h& te sffe Tutor: ne né. Student: NS nd te séae Lexical Drill A 1. Wa h& te sfar How are you? 2. NE nS te shi How 18 he? 3. MO nb te séfe How are you (pl.)? kh. Won né te sfftr How are they? 5. Wo dé n& te séar How 18 your child? 6. Wo yére h& te sfar How 18 your wife? 7. WS papa n& te stne How 1s your father? 8. Wo m&amé né tg séite How 1s your mother? 9. wa fitig n& te sti How 18 your brother? 10. Wi kim hé te sftr How 18 your husband? 20BASIC COURSE UNIT 2 Lexical Drill B 1. ME ho ye. I am fine. 2. NE né ye. He 1s fine. 3. Yené ye. We are fine. 4. Won bf ye. They are fine. 5. ME ba hé ye. My child is fine. 6. Mé yére né ye. My wife 1s fine. 7. M& papa n& ye. My father 1s fine. 8. mG m&am§ né ye. My mother 1s fine. 9. Mé tite n& ye. My brother 1s fine. lo. Mf kunu H6 ye. My husband 1s fine. Lexical Drill ¢ 1. 2. 3. ue 5. 6. 1 8. % 10. dye n€ méamé. oye n€ papa. Méye né papa. Méye nf fda. Wéyé nf fitg. Weve ng ba. Dye né ba. oye ng yére. oye nf Ininu. Méye nf kninu. 2 She 1s his mother. He 1s his father. Iam his father. I am his brother. You are her brother. You are her child. She 18 his child. She 18 his wife. He 18 her husband. I_am her husband.UNIT 2 TWI Lexical Drill D l. ca 3. 4 5. 6. a 8. 9. 10. Yeye ubyé ubyé Woye Woye eye Yeye wéyt ubyé Woye né md. n& md. & anf migntm. nf titgndm. ng _yérendm. né yfrgndmn. win_n& iinundm. win nf kninundm, xé_papan&m. yé papaném. Lexical Drill E Woye Woye Yeye Yeye Yeye byt ubyé Méyé vy? Woye nf fitgndm. wi_fitgndm. + aha nt wi ftlgnin. win nf fidigndm, won nd mm. won n& mm. nf mma n&_yérenén. me yérendm. ye ygrqndn. 22 We are his children. You are his children. You are his brothers and sisters. They are her brothers. They are his wave We are his waves. We are ther husbands. You (pl.) are their husbands. You (pl.) are our fathers. They are our fathers They are my sisters. They are your sisters. We are your brothers and sisters. We are their brothers. We are their children. You are their children. You are his children. You are his waves. You are our wives. They are our wives.BASIC COURSE UNIT 2 Lexical Drill F 1. Woye me mma. They are my children. 2. Woye ye mm, They are our children. 3. Méyt ye mma. You are our children. y. Méy$ won né mma. You are their children. 5. Xeye won n& mmf. We are their children. 6. Yeye mé_mmd. We are your (pl.) children. 7. Woye mS mmé. They are your (pl.) children. 8. Woye wg mma, They are your (sg.) children. 9. Yeye wo mma. We are your (sg.) children. 10. Yeye n& mma. We are her children. 1k. Nouns with a low nasal prefix in the possessed form have a low-tone pronoun possessor, e.g., /mé mmi/, 'my child'. 15. When followed by a low tone, /won né/ 1s sometimes /won nd/. 23UNIT 3 TWI Unit 3 Basic Dialogue edd (pl. n-) ane owird (ward) (pi. qwirdndn) 2 Yaa owira. owt “anda 3 WOtg Twit anfiar Chan, Binb, 88 4 Aa, mete wwii. Borofg 5 Wétg Borof§ andar “Ae 2h. day to cool, be cool night Good evening. sir, mister, owner Yes sir. the Akan or Twi language or, a question marker Do you speak Twi? ('You hear Twa or?!) yes Yes, I speak Twa. English Do you speak English?BASIC COURSE UNIT 3 Paggot, dqnt no, never me, te, fe, Qo not 6 Dag, mént§ Bgrof}. No, I don't speak English. “Ae 4 to speak, say, talk wo to be at; have, own 7 Wgk& twil °wo tfe anda? Do you speak Twi at home? ("You speak Twi 1s at home or?!) bs as . 8 AQt, mék& Twili wo the. Yes, I speak Twa at home. Notes 1. /owkra/ is more polite than /offtij/ and is used for an older man or one in @ higher social status. The feminine form 1s /quured/, madam, lady, landlady, mistress, miss, and does not andicate marital state. Janka/ 18 / ana//or // anaa/p. 3. /tg/ means to possess both understanding and speaking ability ana language. /k&/ means to speak in a particular language at a partacular tame. A. /twii/ as / taf, 5. /Bgrofg/ means 'the language of the Europeans', but English will be understood 1f another language 18 not specified, 0.g., /Paransge Bgrofg/, 'French'. 25UNIT 3 TWI 6. Pay special attention to the short vowels between @ consonant and /r/, as in /Bgrofg/. There are no clusters of a consonant plus /r/. It may be difficult for the student to tell which vowel is present. /¢/ 1s probably the most difficult vowel to hear between a consonant and /r/, e.g., /kgra/, 'soul'. Many of these short vowels, especially /¢/, are not indicated in the orthography. 7. Before /1/ ana /u/, /o/ 1s /o/, e.g., /wo fle/ 1s /wo tle/ at conversation speed. In slow speech or if there 1s a pause between /wo/ and /fie/, /wo/ 18 not replaced by /wo/. Vowel harmony across word boundaries is not indicated 1n the orthography. Also note the examples of /wo/ 1m lexical drill A. 8. /wo/ 18 a verb and means to be located at a given place. Twi has many constructions of the type: subject plus verb plus object plus verb plus or minus object, e.g., /Ngk& Twit wo fle anfaz/. 9. /xiro/ is // warow/,. 10. /mf/ is very often /i/, e.g., /kiro mi/ 1s very often /xiron/ and is //kurow m/or / kurow mt, 11. A negative verb 1s formed by prefixing a low-toned nasal to the verb stem plus a high tone on the last syllable. ‘The nasal is homorganic with the following consonant of the verb stem, 1.¢., 1t 15 made or articulated in the same position as the following consonant: m before nm, p, b, f n n, w, t, a, 8 R a, k, g, bh a A, y, wi, ky, tw, gy, aw, hw (Some verbs with secondary tones have a high-toned negative prefix. See Unit 18, note 5.) 26BASIC COURSE UNIT 3 12, Combinations of nasal plus homorganie voiced stop do not occur. This combination 1s replaced by a long or geminate (double) nasal: mb 1s replaced by mm nd nn fey fifi, 1.e., /fifly or A¥/ ng mh, re+, /ne/ See also note 17. 13. Vowel harmony doesn't usually operate across a nasal plus another consonant: /méhti/ is replaced by /mthit/, but /ménh&/ 1s usually not replaced by /minh&/. Vowel harmony does operate across two nasal consonants nearly always. Substatution Drill A 1. Méte Twi. I speak Twi. 2. Yete twii, We speak Tw. 3. Ote Twii. He speaks Twi. k. Wote Twi. They speak Twi. 5. Mf kumi te Twili. My husband speaks Twi. 6, MB yére te Twili. My wife speaks Twi. 7. M& m&amé te Twili. My mother speaks Tw2. 8. mé& papd te Twi. My father speaks Twi. 9. ME ba te Twit. My child speaks Twi. 10. mf fhe te Twil, My brother speaks Twi. 27UNIT 3 TWI Substitution Drill B 1 1. Ment Twili. 2. Yentg Bwii. 3. ontg Twii. 4. Wontg Twii. 5. ME wim ntg Twili. 6. MB yére ntg Twil. 7. M6 méamé ntg Twili. 8. M& papé ntg Twili. 9. ME b& ntg Twii. o. mf fit ntg twil. Question and Answer Drill A By ative 1. 2. 3. he Se 6. 2. 8. A 10. he tutor gives the question. response. Wot Twili anfar uétg wil anfar ote Twii anfar Wotg Twili anfar WG kinu tg Twil andar Wg ygre te Twil anfar Wo m&am& tg Twii andar Wo papa te Twii anfaz Wg ba te Twii anfar Wy fig te Twii anfa? 26 I don't speak Twi. We don't speak Twi. He doesn't speak Twi. Whey don't speak Twi. My husband doesn't speak Twi. My wife doesn't speak Twi. My mother doesn't speak Twi. My father doesn't speak Twi. My child doesn't speak Twi. My brother doesn't speak Tw. The student gives the affirm Aga, mbtg twii. fas, yetq wil. Aya, ote twill. gai, wote Twili. Aa, mf wim te twil. Aga, m8 yGrqg tq Twill. Af, mé m&amé tg Twili. ARs, n& papd tg Tile Aga, mo v& tq twill. Riis, nf tity te tefl.BASIC COURSE UNIT 3 Question and Answer Drill B Student gives negative answer. WOtg Twil andar vété Twili anfar Ote Twii ankar Wote Twii anfar Wa Ininu te Twii andar Wo yére te Twil anfar WG méamé te Twil anfar WS papd te twil anfar Wg bé te Twii andar wil titi te Twil anfer Lexical Drill A 1. 2. 3. Ae Be 6. 1 8. 9. 10. MBwo MBwo MBwo MBwo MBwo Méwo Méwo Méwo Méwo Méwo tie. fie nf mi. Wer aa fie bi Bag. Kumise. va. pénsgre. sult nf mf. fie wo Kumisg. 29 Degot, mint$ Taft. Dggbi, yentg Twii. Dggot, wontg twit Deght, ontg twii. Degbs, mf toina ntg ould. Dggbi, m& ygre ntg Twili. Degds, mé néané nté twit. Degbt, m& papd nt§ owl. Dggbi, mé bd nt§ twill. Dgqbt, mt fig nté Twili. am at home. ee eee am an the house. am at Accra. own a house. have a brother. am at Kumasi. have a chili have a pencal. am an the school. have a house in Kumes..UNIT 3 TWI 1. NkerGfi/ is /Nkran/. 15. bi a, an, any, some Avoid the use of /bi/, especially in reference to persons, unless you intend to mean 'some kind or other', ‘any kind oft, or "just any kind'., In lexical drill A sentence four, /bi/ is required to distinguish 'I own a house! from 'I am at home’. A noun without the following demonstrative or article /n&/, 'the', 'that', 18 andefinite, 1.e., 1t translates ‘a! or ‘an’. Grammatical Drill A Gave the negative form of the following verbs. Affirmative Negative 1. te (to feel) nt@ erie (to speak) nté 3. wo (to have) nni lee aa (to eat) nni eye (to be) efigé 6 ye (to be good) engé ee da) (to sleep) nna 8. mi (to gave) mn 9. ke (to speak) qué 10. 8 (to learn) nig 11. kasa (to talk) kasd 12. da asg (to lie down) enn as¢ 13. wo (to be at) nni Wy. ht (to see) mht 15. twq. (to cut) fitwg 30BASIC COURSE UNIT 3 16, to (to buy) ntd 17. ko (to go) kd 18. berd (to come) mind 19. hye (to insert) fhyé 20. bo (to strike) — mmd 16. /dggbi/ 1s Akuapim and also eastern Ashanti. /dabi/ 1s the form most used in Ashanti and 1s /dabi/in the new orthography. 17. The underlying aim of the new (1961) orthography 1s to pro- vide a common writing system for all Twi dialects. Since 1t 18 necessary for the system to be readily intelligible to readers of all dialects, a number of words have been spelled without the assimilative changes that have taken place in Ashanti dialect. Youn plurals of stems beginning with voiced stops are not spelled with geminate nasals, e.g., /nna/, 'days', 18 fnda/; but the same assimilation is written in the verbs, e.g., /nné/, 'Don't lie!, ‘Don't sleep', is /nnef 18. /&afi/ 18 faanef in the new orthography. 31UNIT hy Tw Umt k Basic Dialogue na and, omphatac partacle 1 sina yek& thank you wo How do you say 'thank you! in Twii mir an Twi? -Be da to lie, sleep, rest asg; asge the lower part; down, under; meaning, sense 2 M&da asq. Thanks. ('I lie down.'), ('T prostrate /nyself before you/.') 3 Wtg asgé andar Do you understand? “Ae 4 As, metg Cwase. Yes, ‘I understand you. ebio again 5 K& dio. Say 1t again. kasa to talk, speak °nerecoo slow, soft, mld 6 Kasa bereeoo. Talk slowly. Talk softly. -B 7 Méda wase. Thank you. 32BASIC COURSE UNIT -A- 8 sf na yek& you are welcome How do you say 'you are welcome! wo Twii mite an Twit -B 9 °Mmé enn ase. You are welcome. Don't mention it. (‘Don't cause /yourself/ don't lie down. ') Notes 1, The first person plural of the Twi verb often translates with an English passive or impersonal you. /yekf&/, literally ‘we say', often corresponds to '1t is said! or tyou say'. 2. /ma/, tand', ‘butt, joans sentences; /né/, 'and', ‘with’, connects words. /na/ is put after a word or at the beginning of a sentence to add emphasis. It often isn't translated into English. Compare Unit 10, note 10. 3. /wg asgé/ 1s usually /wasgé/ and 1s /wo ase/or //wo asee/. If there 1s an expressed object, 1.0., 1f the sentence tells who 1s understood, the student should use /as¢/ because /asgé/ doesn't occur often with an object. If there 1s no expressed object, use /asgé/ because /as¢/ may be misunderstood. /Mgt$ asg?/ may not only mean 'Do you understand?', but also ‘Are you sittang down? !, and ‘Are you stall lavang?!. /Wét} aagée/ means only 'Do you understand? '. 4. On the telephone only can you say /M&t$ ase/ or /MBtg asge/, with a high tone on /té/, meaning 'I understand the meaning or message!, 33UNIT TWI 5. /a/ followed by /y/ 1s high and front like a French 'a'. Jo/ followed by /1/ 18 /o/, 0-g., /wo Twii/ 1s /wo Twii/. At less than conversation speed or 1f there 1s a pause be- tween words, these vowel replacements don't occur. Vowel harmony across word boundaries 1s never shown in the orthography. 6. /ebio/ has an alternate form /ebibio/. /ebio/ 1s the more common form. 7. /Kasa berecoo/ means both "Talk slowly and softly.! and 1s perce oof or foreew/f. /oo/ 18 an emphasis marker. 8. The imperative (command form) singular 1s the same as the habitual stem, but with all low tones, e.g., /kasa/, 'talk', addressing one person. The imperative plural prefixes /mén-/, e.g-, /Ménkasa/, 'talk', with all high tones. 9. Before initial /-nn/, /e-/ occurs, e.g., /nnd ase/ 1s /ennd ase/. When a word beginning with a vowel is preceeded by a word ending in a vowel, the final vowel of the preceeding word 18 usually replaced by the same vowel as that which begins the following word, 1.e., a long or reartaculated vowel occurs, e.g., /riné enn ase/ is /Ymé ennd ase/, but 1t 1s / Mma ennaase//. fc) Were tae ere neectres meee a ac Lexical Drill A 1. WOtg aséé anfaz Do you understand? 2. Wotd nase anfar Do you understand me? 3. WOtg Snase anfaz Do you understand him? 4. W6tg won ase anda? Do you understand them? 5. woté yen ase andar Do you understand us? 3hBASIC COURSE UNIT 4 Lexical Drall B ila 2. 3 4. 5. tg asgé anfar ote masg anfar ote °wase anfar tq °misg andar Ot won ase anfa? Lexical Drill ¢ 1. 2. 3. Ae 5 Méte asgé. MBte wasg. Méte nase. Mét¢ won ase. Métq mésg. Lexacal Drill D ae 2 3. he Be Ot asgt. tg masg. te wasg. Ote msg. Ote won ase. Lexical Drill E 1. a 3 Ae 5. né m&amé nté Borofd. né m&am& te Twii. on n§ m&amé te Twili. oné né m&am& k& twii. MB_n& mé papd uf Twili. 35 Does he understand? Does he understand me? Does he understand you? Does he understand you (pl.)? Does he understand them? I understand. I understand you. I understand hin. I understand them. I understand you (pl.). He understands. He understands me. He understands you. He understands you (pl.). He understands them. His mother doesn't know English. His mother knows Twx. He and his mother know Twi. He speaks Twi wath his mother. I speak Twi with my father.UNIT 4 TwI 6. MB né mé papd te My father and I know Ga. Nkerat 7. Mf file te ykeran. My sister knows Ga, 8. Mt fidg te Nkeraii. My sister lives at Accra. 9. ME ba te kerf. My child laves in Accra. 10. MG ba wo Nkerait. My child is at Accra. Lexical Drill FP 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. t 8. % 10. Wok& wii wo sukii. Yest{ Twii wo sukii. Yesuf Twii wo Nkergf. Wgwd fie wo Nkgr&it. Wows tle wo Tamale. N& papé wo Tamale. Mé papé wo fie. Ye yérentm wo fie. Ye y§rgn6m nni fie. mi toinu nni fie. Lexical Drill G 1. 2. 3. he 5. Kasa bgreeoo. Kasa défi. eyé asf. €yé betee. Me_ns& ye betee. 36 They speak Twi at school. They study Twi at school. We study Twi at Accra. You have a house at Accra. You have a house at Tamale. Your father 1s at Tamale. Your father 1s at home. Our wives are at home. Our wives aren't at home. My husband isn't at home. Talk slow. Talk loud. It as hard. It as soft. My hand is tender.BASIC COURSE 6. MB ns& ye téntén. 7. ME kad n& ye téntén. 8. Me Kha nf age. 9. NS _pénsére nf fyé. 10. N& pénsgre nb da hd, New words in the drills. pénsgre (pinssre) da (acd) Be Lexical Drill # 1. Méte Twii. 2. MBte Nkeréff. 3. Méte Nkerait. kL. MBte asgé. 5. Méte ase. 6. MSte adn né. 7. Méte m& m&amé dsim. 8. Méte gxoniiag sd. 9. MBte sé _wo. 10. M&te sé¢ abofara. New words in drills. eddn, odin (pl. n-) qkorifiag (pl. n-) asém (dsém) (pl. n-) 37 unit 4 My arm is long. My car 1s long. My car 1s no good. His pencil is bad. His pencil 1s lying there. pencil automobile I speak Twi. I speak G&. Ilive at Accra. I understand. Im sitting down. I hear the bell. I gbey my mother. I'm sittang ina chair. I am as you are. I am like a child. bell chair, stool word, saying, story, talk to obeyUNIT 4 Twi até as, like, that (as in 'I said that ae to be the sane as, be in the same condition or position as Pabgféra (pl. m-) child sg, 39 top, upper part; on, up, upon, over, above nl. /masg/ 1s //me ase//or f/m! ase. /ras9/ 1s //ne ase/f/ or //n' ase/h fris3/ 18 //n0 ase// or //m' ase/h /wise/ rs [wo asef/ or fw! aseff Usually elision 18 not indicated in the orthography. 12, /n&/ means ‘and! or ‘witht, /on$/ 1s a contraction of /orb n&/. /oné né méam$/ 1s a contraction of /ond né né m&amé/. 13. /sti§/ means 'to study', ‘learn', 'imitate', "follow the example oft. 1h. /keraff/ or G& 1s also the name of the language of the Aykerafi/ or GX people. The G& live in the region of Accra, Twi and G&@ are both Kwa languages, 1.¢., they are related to each other and "descended" from the same earlier form of the language, as French and Spanish are both Romance languages " descended" from Latin. 15. /wo/ has a suppletive negative, 1.e., a different word 18 used to form the negative. /nni/ is the negative of /wo/. /nni/ us the negatave of /di/, ‘to use, eat, contain, last, exist!. 38BASIC COURSE UNIT y 16. /abgféra/ is /abofra/., /abgtéra/ 1s used only of humans. /ové/ may be used for the young of animals and also as a daminutave. 17. Phrases like /Twii m&/, '1n Twi! are possessive nominal compounds. Literally, this compound 1s 'Twi's insides', This compound noun 1s the object of the verb /wo/. Modifiers of various kinds may occur between the possessive and possessed nouns. See Unit 6, note 22. araeUNIT 5 TWI Unit 5 Basic Dialogue aha 1 M& ahd. 2 Yqg owird. end (pl. e-ném) 3 Owird Omist wo hd anfa? ae ehd (pl. e-ném) AR, owo nd. tumi nd, hing on$, nd 5 MYtumi gnit nf andar ye °reré ~A ho weariness Good afternoon. Yes sir. Is Mr. Yes, there; that; from Owusu in? he, she, it here; this he 1s here. to be able, can, to be well-versed in, to have permission to see ham, her, 1t Can I see him? we to callBASIC COURSE UNIT 5 6 Svergréw shiv What's your name? ("We call you what?!) 7 Yetgré m& Kofi Asanté. My name 1s Kofi Asante. -B xt to speak, tell, say kygré to show, teach, advise kb that 8 Méké& kyeré nd séé wows ha. I will tell him you are here. Notes 1. /owo hd/ usually means 'He, she, or 1t 1s there'; but if you come into or upto a building and ask /owo hé?/, you are asking, ‘Is he an?!, 'Is he in the buildang?', or 'Is he around here somewhere?', The affirmative response will probably be /owo ha/, ‘He 1s hore'. However, if the person answering doesn't know just where the other person 18, he may answer you /owo hd/, 'He 18 around here somewhere!. 2, /owo hé/ usually means 'He, she, or 1t 18 here'; but if you come into or upto a building and ask /owo ha?/, you are asking, 'Is this his place?', 1.e., "Does he live here?', or 'Does he work here?', The affirmative answer 1s /owo hé/, 'This is his place’, You may then ask /owo ho?/. 3. After a noun /hé/ and /n3/ can be translated like demonstra- tives, e.g., /ofie ha/, 'this house', and /ofie h5/, ‘that house'. 4. after /tumi/ the following verb is in the consecutive form, which has an /é- ~g-/ prefix. The consecutive form often corresponds to an English complimentary infinitive, e.g., 4aUNIT 5, TWI (Mitumf &3/, "I am able to go's The amplicataon of this form 1s often 'I am equal to /the task/', or '/I am sure/ I can do it /because I have done 1t before/!. It may also be used to ask and give permission, as in thus dialogue. The student should avoid the use of /tum{/ in the future (See note 9), when addressing someone because this form has a pejorative implication that you don't think the other person can do something or that you are daring the other person to do something, e.g., /Wobetima yé séiz/ '/Just/ what could you /pos- sibly/ do?' implying that the person addressed 1s not equal to the situation being discussed. If following a verb not ending in high tone, the consecutive prefix 1s low. Subject pronouns are not prefixed to the consecutive after /tumi/ except in the first singular, and this 1s not common. See also Unit 10, note 8. The first person future of /tumi/ implies that you think you can do something but you aren't certain because you really don't imow or you've never done the particular thing before, e.g., /Métim. 4k3/, ‘I will be able to go', or !/I think maybe/ I can go'. The student ahould avoid use of /tum{/ in the future when talking of himself because he will be thought to be boasting. 53. /séé/, ‘that', 1s required to introduce subordinate clause after verbs of ‘saying! or 'telling'. See also Unit 18, note Be 6. Many speakers use /h&/ before an object pronoun and /hiinif/ elsewhere. Some use these forms interchangeably. Some use /ht/ before an object and /hin&/ without an object. 7. /feré/ ais feref. /Yetgréi/ 1s a contraction and alternate form of /Yeferé wo/ and is /Vefre w'// or /Nefre wof 8. The use of the first person plural, 1.e., the we-form, often corresponds to English passive. /Yeferé nd séiiz/, ‘What 1s it called?', but literally ‘We call it what?'. The student will also hear /Wu afm de afftz/. /eafa/ means mame', 'reputation', and 'fame'. This 1s an Akuapim construction. 42BASIC COURSE UNIT 5 9. The positive future is marked by the prefix /bé-/, e.g, /wobeko/, tyou will go.' In the first person singular, a con- +, /méko/, "I will go'. Verbs stems that are low high or low low an the present are mid high 1n the future. High low stems are high high in the future. Other stems have the same tones in the future as in the present. tracted form occurs, e. 10. You can /k&/ a story or something. /ké& kyeré/ has the mean- ang 'to convey information! or trelate'. ll. Order of verb objects 1s the same as English; the indirect object (1) preceeds the direct (2) e.g., /Mék& kyeré nB (1) séé wows hé (2)/, 'I wall tell ham (1) you are here (2)', Pattern Drill A 1. Yeteréy sénz What's your name? 2. Yeferé no séiz What's his name? 3. Yeteré n& star What are your names? A. Yeteré won séite What are their names? 5. Yeferé wo loimu séfie What's your husband's name? 6. Yeferé wo yére sft What's your wife's name? 7. Yeteré wo m&amé séav What's your mother's name? 8. Yeferé wo papa séiz What's your father's name? 9. °veteré wo ba sbaz What's your child's name? 10. °veferé wo tite séte What's your brother's name? Lexical Drill A 1. Yeferé mé Kofi. My name 1s Kofi. 2. Yeferé no Kofi. His name 1s Kofi. 3. Yeferé yen Kofi né atid. our names are Kofi and Afua. 4. Yeferé won Kofi né arid. Thear names are Kofi and Afua. 43TWI lo. Yetgré mf kinu Kofi. Yeferé m& yore Ati. Yefgré m m&amé anig. vergré mé_papé Kofi. Yergré mé bd Kofi. Yeferé mf fite Kori. Pattern Drill B Answer affirmatively. as a. Owo hoe Aga, owo nd. Owo ha? Aga, owo nd. Owo fie? AG, owo owo fle n& mite Aga, owo Owo fie hdr fie. fie nf mi. mn +. ue AGH, owo tle na. Owo fie no? fs te ng, Aga, owo tie nd. My husband's name 1s Kofi. My wife's name 1s Afua. My mother's name is Afua. My father's name 1s Kofi. My child's name 1s Kofi. My brother's name 1s Kofz. Is he there? Yes, he 18 there. Is he here? Yes, he is here. Is he at home? Yes, he 15 at home. Is he in the house? Yes, he 1s 1n the house. Is he an this house? Yes, he 1s 1n this house. Is he in that house? Yes, he 1s 1n that house.BASIC COURSE UNITS Pattern Drill ¢ Answer negatively. 1. Owo hd? Dggbi, onni hd, 2. Owo har Dggbi, onni ha. 3. Owo fier Dgqbi, onni fie. 4. owo fhe n& mbz Dggbi, omni fie nf mé, 5. owo fie haz Dgqbi, onni fie ha. 6. owo fie hdr Dggbi, onni fie hd. Pattern Drill D 1. Méko hd. 2. Wgbeko hd. 3. Wébeko nné. 4. obéxo nn’. 5. ovéko okyéna. 6. Yebéko okyéra. 7. Yeb&ko bio. 8. Wgbeko bio. us Is he an? No, he 18 not around. Is this his place? No, this isn't his place. Is he at home? No, he isn't at home. Is he in the house? No, he isn't in the house. Does he own this house? No, he doesn't own this house Does he own that house? No, he doesn't own that house I wall go there. You will go there. You will go today. He will go today. He will go tomorrow. We wall _go tomorrow. We will go again. You will go again.UNIT 5 TWI 9 10. ne 12. Wgbeko Tamale. Wobéko Tamale. Wobéko Kumisg. Méko Kumisg. Pattern Drill E 9. 10. Méba hd. méba aff mf. Métis ght nd wo aff mi Métima ghd n& wo sult MG _n& nf békhoa wo subid. MN né nf dékdsa wo fie. Méka kyeré nd st wgwd fie. Méka kygré n& s€€ wgbeba na. ME_yérq béba ha. MB ygre béfgre wo. Pattern Drill F Yefgré nd shiz Yefgré n& Kofi. MEké& kyor’ Kofi. Méké& kygré won. Otumi feré won. Otumi feré mS. 46 You will go to Tamale. They will _go to Tamale. They will go to Kumasi. Lwall go to Kumasi. I will be there. I will come anto the house. Ican see him in the room privately. I can see him at school. Iwill talk to_him at school. I wall talk to him at home. Iwill tell him you are at home. I will tell him you will be here. My wife will come here. My wife will call you. What 1s his name? Has name 1s Kofi. Iwill tell Kofi. I wall tell them. He can phone them. He can call me.BASIC COURSE UNIT 5 7. Dbéke kyeré me. He will tell me. 8. obéké kyeré wo. He will tell you. 9. Onts wo. He doesn't hear you. 10. ont wase. He doesn't understand you. New words in the drills od&i = (pl. a-) building, house, room, apartment 12, In addition to syllable tone, Twi also has sentence tone or intonation, 1.e., tone used to distinguish statements and quos- tions; compare English 'John 1s here.', and ‘John 1s here?! In Twa the end of a sentence 1s signalled by a depression of the entire tone register on the last syllable, 1.e., no matter what the phonemic status of the tone 18, it will be lower on the absolute scale than a non-final tone of the same phoneme. And also the voice trails off to silence: In additaon, a question signalled by intonation (1.e., not by a question word), the register of the whole sentence 18 elevated, and the last syllable falls down to the same level as the end of a statement. This of course means that there 1s a longer fall on the last syllable of.a question than of a statement because the fall of the question begins higher. For this reason, 1t would probably be helpful to use an inverted question mark /3/ at the beginning of a question marked by antona- tion. Twa orthography like English uses at the end of a sentence a period /./ to mark statement intonation and a question mark /?/ to mark question intonation, When there 1s a question word, e.g., /stfi/, statement intonation 1s used; however, a question mark is still written. This manual follows the orthography in this usage. 13. Statave verbs such as /wo/, 'to be at', aren't usually in- flected for tense. /ba/, 'to come', 1s used as a suppletaive future for /wo/, /méba h&/, 'I will come here', also is used like English, ‘I will be here’. Compare Unit 10, note 10, 47UNIT 6 eps (pl. m-) Pee 3 We mpé mf cee 4 M& mpé mf age vokoo. ede hat vé 5 €defn na °wooyer no futto 6 “Méensd futio. pe 7 Wéopé tutto anfar TWI Unit 6 Basic Dialogue Is anybody there? joint, bump, knob @ question marker How are you? (tYour joints! in, what about? ') -B I'm fine. oAe what, what thing to make, do What are you making? -B to boil, cook by boaling fufu I'm making fufu. to like, be fond of, want, seek, provide, try to get Do you like fufur 48BASIC COURSE UNIT 6 pa good, much pépaapa, papapapa very good, very much 8 M&pe fufio p&paapa. I lake fufu very much. -B ampesie ampes1 sti to surpass, pass; more than, than 9 Mépe ampesie sti fufio. I like ampesi better than fufu. ("I like ampesi exceed fufu.') Notes 1. /aggg/ 18 @ verbal signal to let another person lmow you are approaching. /am@e/ lets you know that 1t 1s all right to enter. If the person inside does not wish you to enter, he will probably answer /dgqbi/, 'no'. /aggg/ 1s also used to ask for the attention of a group or crowd. The response /am&e/ then means 'Speak, I'm listening’. 2, /o/ followed by /u/ becomes /o/, e.g-, /mpd mi/ is /mpd mi/, but is /mpo m/. 3. Fufu is boiled and mashed yams or plantains which 1s served with soup, /pkw&fi/, Ampesi 1s boiled and diced yams or plantains which 1s served with a stew, /gbomtu/. 4. One of the ways of forming noun plurals 1s changing e- to m or n epd joant mp joints edd aay nnd days 49UNIT 6 TWI 5. The progressive tenses are formed by lengthening the vowel of the pronoun. méyé I make °nBeyé I'm making méké I speak °mdek& I'm speaking In the regular orthography, the long vowel in the progressive us not written; instead //-re-//1s written, as 1s spoken in the Akuapim dialect, e.g., /méexf/ is written //mereka//. An Ashanti speaker may also say /mérek&/ sometimes. The /r@-/ form 1s often used when there 1s a noun subject, but /ee-/ 1s more common. 6. /a/ followed by vowels other than /e/ 18 short and sounds somewhat like /w/, e.g., /mi ee/. 7. /ee/, which 1s / e//, means ‘what about', 'as to', ‘concerning! in sentences where there 1s no verb. With a verb, 1t has an adver- bial or subordinating function. See Unit 9, note 1. 8. Adjectives are reduplicated for intensity, 1.¢., all or some part of the word 1s repeated. For monosyllabic stems, the most common form is with a long middle vowel, e.g., /papaapa/, ‘very gooa'. 9. The consecutive form, /& ~ §/ plus simple stem, 1s not used after /pe/. 'I want him to go.! as /Mépe séé okd/, laterally 'I want that he go’. 10. To show degree of comparison corresponding to English adjective plus '-er' or '-est', Twi employs the verb /s&i/, 'to move along', 'to surpass', If you ask a native speaker of Twi to translate /s€i/, he will probably say 1t means 'than'. There are two basic constructions using /st#/; (1) /stf/ plus or minus an object after a preceeding verb, and (2) /s€8/ with an object, as the verb of the sentence. Compare the examples below. /«y@/, ‘to surpass', 'excel', 15 also used 1n the same way to express comparison. 50BASIC COURSE UNIT 6 (1) (a) oware. oware ttt. ware stn nf file. owarg stn nf fvinga, (>) Byé dura. Eyé duru sf. Eyé duru sff pidku nf. Eyé duru stn nf fytnda. (2) (a) ostn nf atte patty fa. (>) ostn nf fitig né wo gdesttg nf, New words ware fyinfa guru op§fiy ff (pl. m-) adestd 51 He He He He It It It It He He as tall. as taller. us taller than his brother. 1s the tallest. 1s heavy. as heavier. as heavier than the book. 1s the heaviest of all. as older than his brother. (1He surpasses his brother an age.') as better educated than his brother. ('He sur- passes his brother an earning. ') to be tall, long all heavy adult, old person, person of rank; old, aged learning, study, educationUNIT 6 TWI ll. /adge/, 'thing', plus a verb stem is a very productive type of compound, 1.e., 1t can be used to form many new words, e.g., /adge/ plus /stig/, 'to learn' gives /adesti/, 'learning'. 12. /yé/ has an alternate form /y3/, which 1s fairly common in Ashanti, but /y3/ wall not be understood by some speakers outside the Ashanti area. Lexical Drill A 1. Edefy na Soyer What 1s she doing? 2, €defn na woye? What are they doing? 3. edefn na whoyer What are you doing? 4. €defy na mboyer What are you (pl.) doing? 5. defn na wiuaae What are you eating? 6. Edefn na wooton? What are they selling? 7. Ede’ na méotor What are you (pl.) buying? 8. defy na Sondme What 1s he drinking? 9. defn na wéohwer What are they looking at? 10. edefn na woghwehwer What are you searching for? Lexical Drill B a. fréa na Sodaaa. Now he 18 eatang. 2, Area na woodida Now they are eatang. 3. Area na mfida. Now I am eatang. 4. Aeéa na yéedraa. Now we are eating. 5. fda na mfrar didi. wow T am eatang an orange. 6. Atéa na w5oton nsf Now they are selling palm wine. See Unit 18 notes 5 and 6 for discussion of secondary tones as in Lexical Drill B. 52BASIC COURSE UNIT 6 7. ftéa na yéeto bankyé. 8. hrax na Sondm Ssogaréite, 9. ff81 na woohwe oseran. 1o. fré1 na mfehwenwe m& pin. New words non hhwghwé f1, afer alutt, £ ns& sgaaréite, agedrete. Soseram (pl. a-) pén (pén) Lexical Drill ¢ 1. owdre stn nf iit, 06. 2. NS né yé défi stn nf file fo. née n& yé fe stn nf fia nb. 53 We are now buying cassava. He 18 now smoking a cigarette. They are now looking at the moon. I'm now looking for my pen. to employ, use, eat, spend, consume to eat to buy to sell to drink, smoke tobacco to look for, search now orange palm wane, alcoholic beverage cigarette moon, month pen He 1s taller than his brother. He 1s stronger than his brother. She 1s prettier than her sister.UNIT 6 TWI 4, 4. on6é futio stn nf tite né. 5. Ope ampesie stn nf tite nb. 6. dpe adidiadial stn nf fide n6. 7. yt gawima stn nf tity nb. Owo siké stn nf fidg nf. 9. wo nngema stn nf nig nf, 10. O86 stn nf fig né. New words fe siké 36 garage adidigdial adge (age) (pl. nngema) 5k. She cooks fufu better than her sister. He likes ampesie better than his brother. He likes to eat better than has brother. He works better than his brother. He hag more money than his brother. He has more things than his brother. He 1s bigger than his brother. pretty, nice, beautiful gold, money to be big, large, much; to reach, arrive at use, enjoyment, benefit enjoyment of eating a food thing, partBASIC COURSE UNIT 6 Lexical Drill D MB xda nb 36 sett wo My car is bigger than yours. age nf, Me nént ye £étéro st My book 18 newer than yours. wS age nd. Mé nénk ye téféro sth My book 1s newer than his. né age nf. wa gkorintd ye ahi sti Your chair 1s stronger than né age né, his. 5. Wi gk6ffitd ye défi sth Your chair is stronger than ad age nb. mane. né ad nf vgo ye a8h His house 1s more expensive sti mS age nb. than mine. Né aati né vgo ye ast His house 1s more expensive stfi ye dge nb, than ours. 8. N& kéd n& bdo ye °ro His car costs less than mine. sti mé age nb. NS xéad n& vgoye °Lo Has car costs less than yours. sti m& age nb. 10. Mé pénsgre nf _yé st My pencil is better than yours. nf age nb. 55BASIC COURSE UNIT 6 New words ghéné (ném&) (pl. Spedma) £6f6rq odfn (adit) (pl. n-~a-) ebgo (pl. m-) Pf Lexical Dr2ll E 1. odd yi mi sug sti baaké nf, 2. Kanga yi hyerfs sea baaké nf, 3. okwe yi ye st baaké& né. 4. akonmag yt baaké né, © fo sti 5. Mhéma yi mi ye auru st baak’ nf, New words in drilis emf (pl. a-) sug eyi paak& 56 skin, hide; vellum; book, letter; leather new, another house, room, building price; stone, pit, seed cheap, plenty, plentaful This room 1s smaller than that one. This light 1s brighter than the other one. ‘This road is better than that one. This chair 1s cheaper than that one. This book 18 heavier than that one. whole, entirety to be small, few this, these oneBASIC COURSE UNIT 6 hygr fst to penetrate, get through, shine okw&t (pl. n-) road, path, way Lexical Drill F 1. Nea ewo hé na eyé for Which one 1s cheaper? 2. Nea ewo hé na eyér Which one 1s better? 3. Nea ewo hé na ebékye? Which one will last longer? kh. Nea ewo h€ na eyé aft Which one 1s harder? 5. Nea ewo hé na ewo Which one 1s stronger? ahSoaéiir New words ye to last, endure; divide separate, share ahdodgn -strength, (literally ‘body hard!) nga he who, that which, he whose, where ah how much, how many, how long Pattern Drill A zs 1. €deén na wépé What would you like to eat? 2. €dgén na wSpt = Bs k What would you like to see? = lB. IS 3. €defn na wopt What would you like to buy? 4. eden na wips wOkSftieest 5. €agfn na wépé sé wGném? What would you like to drank? What would you lake to read?UNIT TWI Pattern Drill B 1. Mépe séé midi gkwaat. I'd like to eat a banana. 2. Mépe séé méhwé Ghana. I'd like to see the University University nb. of Ghana. 3. Mépe sé& métd mpabga. I'd like to buy some shoes. ye Mépe sé mikgf nhéma. I'd like to read a book. 5. Mépe séé méném ns&. I'd like to drink palm wine. New words xan to count, read xed to read, count qkwgdi (pl. n-) banana mpaboa (mpdbda) shoe, pair of shoes 13. /edeff/ is a contraction and alternate form of /edge déf/, twhat thing'. /b&fi/ 1s 'what', 'whach', 'what kind of '. 14. In statements if /di/ 1s not followed by the name of some food, 1t 18 necessary to say /didi/ for clarity and propriety because /mfdi/ can mean 'I eat! or 'I have sexual relations with'. 15. /§f81/ may also occur at the end of an utterance, but in response to a question like /€dgén na Soyer/ you must use /gfé2 na/ at the beginning of the response 1f /4fé1/ 1s used. 16. Stative verbs like /pe/ and /wo/ have low tone. Other monosyllabic verbs have high tone in the present tenses. 17. /segarééte/ 1s /crgarette//. /osqran/ 18 fosran/. 18. For explanation of /ampesie/ and /fufio/, see Unit 9. 58BASIC COURSE UNIT 6 19. /f£9/ 18 / fou. 20. /adée/ does not refer to persons. To compare persons, you must use two nouns, e.g., 'My child is taller than yours', is (MB ba wire st wg ba/. 21. /baak& n6/ means 'the second one', ‘the other one', as opposed to the one previously mentioned. 22. Phrases, like those with /mf/, such as /oaffi yi mf/, ‘the whole of this room', 'this room's entirety', are nominal phrases and function in a sentence 1n the same manner as any single-stem or compound noun. In this type of construction, the second noun (which indicates place or location) is always high-toned and never loses its vowel. For example, /mf/ 1s always /mi/ after a phrasal compound, but it may be /-m/ after a single-stem or compound noun. See also Unit 4, note 17. Possession in nouns 1s marked by word order. The first noun 1s the possessor, the second, the possessed. If the first noun has modifiers other than possessive pronouns, they will occur between the two nouns, e.g., /n& défi n& bgo/, this house's price', ‘the price of his house', literally ‘his structure that one seed', 23. /ne6mé/ 1s //nhoma//, /h6m&/ has a number of plurals: /ngSmi/, /anbm&/, /ghémi/. These are dialectal or regional variants. 2h. It 1s VERY IMPORTANT to eat only with the RIGHT hand. The left hand 1s for toilet functions only. Do not hand another per- son anything with the left hand. Do not wave at anyone with the left hand. 25. Verbs have secondary tones after /na/. See Unit 18, note 5. Conjuntions which are followed by secondary tones are also followed vy /,/. The /,/ 18 not written in this manual, as in the orthog- raphy, since 1t 1s predictable. 59UNIT 7 TW Unit 7 Basic Dialogue ko, ko to go, go away °s§tod store 1 Méko °sdtod mi okyéné. I will go to the store tomorrow. -B 2 wogxotd ag bar What are you goang to buy? qdugng (pl. n-) food 3 Méekotd qdugné. I'm going to buy food. Be kh Aaugng vén na wogxotd? What kind of food are you going to buy? nstio, nati water enam meat, flesh nsuomnam fish 5 Méekotd nsuomém I'm going to buy fish. -B ené (pl. e-ndm) where off (r&) (pl. aftaré) half, piece; other side, other part én to sell 60BASIC COURSE UNIT 7 6 enér& na yetSA nsuomém Where do they sell good fish? papa? a °K faswer Kingsway super market 7 “«ffiswéa na etdn ndm pa. Kingsway sells good fish. -B 8 Na nsuomém bgo ye déf Is fish expensive? anfa? Ae mmgr¢ cheap 9 Dagbi, ném n& bgo ye mmgrg. No, fish 1s cheap. Notes 1. Twa (like English) uses /ko/ 'go' as an auxiliary verb (1) for an immediate future and (2) to express purpose. For example (Mf1kodidi/ can mean either (1) 'I am going relatively soon to eat! or (2) 'I am going for the purpose of eating'. The first syllable of the verb following /ko/ has high tone; the other syllables have the same tone as the present stem. The future /médidi/, ‘I will eat', 15 @ proximate future. The implication of the proximate future is that the tame referred to 1s more indefinite and/or further in the future than that referred to by an immediate future. Auxiliary /ko/ 1s always in the progressive. 2, /sgto3/ is /store/, /qguadiddi/, 'trading house', 1s also common. /ggug/ rs tmarket', ‘market place, /a1 ggug/ 1s 'to trade', ‘deal in'. 3. One of the characteristics of Ashanti Twi 1s an /¢g/ at the end of many words which end in a nasal an other dialects, e.g-, /qaugng/. Consequently, in printed texts both //aduan/ and 61UNIT 7 TWI UW advane// i211 occur. 4. A schwa (a sound like the second vowel in English 'sofa') usually occurs between an /m/ and an /n/, as in /nsuomném/. 5. /eh8/ and /ehért/ can be used interchangeably. 6. /kffisies/ 1s //Kingsway/, 7. Locative nominals like /ch&/ and /chd/ have a distributive plural. /ehéném/ means ‘whereabouts', /ehdn&m/, thereabouts', tan this general vicanity'. 8. /of&/ has an alternate form /ef&/. Pattern Drill A 1. Méko sftod mi okyéna. I wall go to the store tomorrow. 2. Média fuftio okyénd. Iwill eat fufu tomorrow. 3. Méto Sveredg okyénd. I_will buy bread tomorrow. 4. Ob&ba nd okyénd. He will come here tomorrow. 5. Obéba hd firi Kumase He will come here from Kumase okyéna. tomorrow. 6. Wob&ko Nkeréfi okyéna. They will go to Accra tomorrow. 7. Wobétu gfira Nkeraft They will leave from Accra oky&n&. tomorrow. 8. Xebéto% yen kd n& We will sell our car tomorrow, okyén&. 62BASIC COURSE UNIT 7 9. XebSaa_nsuomnam okyéna. 10. ghért na méhii we okyénie Pattern Drill B bout edtos m& olvbek 1. Méénkd sgtod mi onyéna. 2. Mégnni futio okyéng. 3. MéSntd beredg okyénd. 4. S3mmé_hd okyén’. 5. Sdmmé né mfiri Kumise okyéna. 6. Winks Wkeréft okyénk. 7. Wodmm4 mfari Weerdft okyén&. 8. vétmmé wo fie okyéné. 9. M&dmma sult okyénd. 10. Méentumi_ykS okyénd. 63 We wil eat fish tomorrow. Where wll _you be tomorrow? (‘Where I will see you tomorrow? ') I wall not go to the store tomorrow. I wali not eat fufu tomorrow. I_wall not buy bread tomorrow. He wll not come here tomorrow. He will not come here from Kumase tomorrow. They will not _go to Accra tomorrow. They will not leave from Accra tomorrow. We won't come to your house tomorrow. You (pl.) won't be at school tomorrow. I_won't be able to_go tomorrow.UNIT 7 TWI Pattern Drill ¢ 1. enétd na wSoko? Where are they going? 2, WookS sgtod mf. They are going to the store. 3. WookotS guuti wo sfto3 They are going to buy oranges mt. at the store. k. WookotS gkati wo They are going to buy oranges Kffsien. at Kingsway's. 5. Yetdh nsuomém papa. They sell good fish at wo Kitowsi. Kingway's. 6. YetS} nsuomndm papa wo They sell good fish at Accra. Wkeran. 7. Mifura Wkergii. Iam from Accra. 8. Mffir2 Kumse. I am from Kumasi. 9. Métu fir Kumisg. Twill move from Kumasi. lo. Métu gfira ha. I will move from here, Pattern Drill D 1. MéekotS fife wo I'm going to buy a house at Koforidig. Koforidua. 2. Méekotda fie wo I'm going to sell a house at Koforidig. Koforidua. 3. Méekotd} nsuonmam yi. I'm going to sell these fish. hk. Méekof& nsuomnam yi. I'm going to take these fish. 5. Méekoté nf siké gm& nf. I'm going to take the money to hin.BASIC COURSE 6. Mizkogyg siké né anf. nb. 7. Mirkogy§ n6 wo fie. 8. “MBekoseré n& wo fie. 9. MBekosgré m& papé. 10. Mfakoht mé papd. New words fa Bye Scand sera Question and Answer Drill A 1. €defn na doKenkat ookéf nhém& a etd Ghana _né. 2. €defn fuftioc na wope? Wope berodge fufio. enérk na yetdi mpabgd? vets} mpabod wo_sto3 £ mi. 65 UNIT 7 Im going to leave the money for him. I'm going to leave her at home. I'm to visit him at home. I'm going to visit my father. i'm going to see my father. to take, take away, sieze, obtain, get; up to, as far as; by means of} about, concerning to leave, quit, forsake; send away} accompany to visit; smear, grease What is he reading? He 1s reading a book about Ghana. What kind of fufu do they like? They lake plantain fufu. Where do they sell shoes? They sell shoes at the store.UNIT 7 4. Obédi nnd ahée Obéda oseram wo ha. 5. WObekd dkygré no séé méwo hav Aan, mika akygré no sté wows nde New Words odge berodge 38 Question and Answer Drill B 1. deft gduang na wépé aie Mpe gkotudie. 2. ede&t na wopé yéz Mépe sintiko. 3. Edeff na wopi nsfndme Mepe nsfndm. 66 TWI How long wall he be here? ("He wall consume days how many? ') He will spend a month here. Wall you tell him I am here? Yes, I will tell him you are here. yam plaintain, ‘European yam! which, that, what, where What do you like to eat? I lake to eat oranges. (‘I like orange-eating. ') What do you like to do? I like to go to the movies. What do you like to drank? I lake to drink palm wane.BASIC COURSE UNIT 7 Le defn na wopé ye? What do you like to do? M@pe anansesemk&. I lake to tell fairy tales. (‘I lake spider story telling. ') 5. €degn na wopé kordt What do you like to save? Mépe sikdkgré. I like to save money. Pattern Drill B 1. KE kygré no 8&8 ewo Tell him that it 1s here. na. 2. Bisa n6 sé ewo ha. Ask him if 1t 1s here. 3. Bisa n6 séé oké anfa. Ask him if he 1s gone. 4. Hw séé okd anda. See 1f he 1s gone. 5. Hwé séé owo nd anfa, See if he 1s here. 6. Wintm s& owo hd anfa? Do you know if he 1s here? 7. Wintm nea _owo? Do you know where 1t 1s? 8. Onnfin nga owo. He doesn't know where he 1s. 9. Onnfm nea _ewo. He doesn't know where it is. 10. Bisa nf nga ewo. Ask him where 1t 19. New words sti... af, whether nin to know, know how 9. /ogrqdg/ 1s /brodof. Another common word for bread 18 [pang /. lo. /Mffari Kumése/ is 'I am from Kumasi', 1.e., ‘Kumasa is my home town'. /Mffari Kum&s¢ na méeb&/ 1s 'I am coming from Kumasi'. 67UNIT 7 TWI 11. Ifa subject has two verbs, both verbs have the negative prefix if the sentence 1s negative, e.g., /Womma mfiri Kumas¢/, ‘They won't leave from Kumasi'. 12. The negatave of the present progressive 1s also the negative of the future, e.g., /M6Spk5/ corresponds to both 'I am not going! and 'I will not got. /M&épk3/ 1s //Merenko/A 1B. /sqrk/ as // raf. 1k. Farst person plural impersonal often corresponds to English third person plural impersonal, e.g., /Yetsn/, ‘they sell'. Compare Pattern Drill C, sentences 5 and 6, 15. /m&/, ‘to give', 'cause', when the second verb with a subject often corresponds to an English indirect object or benefactive prepositional phrase, 1.¢., 1t translates 'to', 'for', ‘on the behalf of', 'for the benefit of'. For example, /MSekofé nf sika ama n6/, ‘I'm going to take him the money', ‘I'm going to take the money to give /1t/ to him', 16. You can only /seré/, 'to visit', a person. You /hwe/, 'to look at', 'observe! a building or place. You can /nii/, 'to see', tyasit', a person, building, or place. 17. Verbs without objects are often reduplicated for clarity or specification, e.g., /kéfi/ is 'to read’, 'count'; /k&f phém&/ 1s ‘to read a book!; /kéfk&fi/ without an object usually means 'to read', See Question and Answer Drill A, sentence one. 18. An English noun followed by @ prepositional phrase corresponds an Twi to a noun plus @ subordinate clause, e.g., /nbémi aa ef Ghana n6/, 'a book about Ghana', 'a book which 1s about Ghana’, laterally 'book which takes hold of Ghana's self". 68BASIC COURSE UNIT 7 19. Habitual desires or preferences are expressed by the simple stem following /pe/, "to like! alternate form ending in /-1¢/, Stems ending in /-1/ have an e.g., /dl ~ die/. 20. In Ghanian folklore the spider 1s a wily, crafty fellow who nevertheless often gets the worse of a bargain or situation. 21. Compound nouns are formed in several ways. In some compounds, the first noun has the same tone(s) as in isolation and the second noun has the same tone(s) as when following a possessive pronoun. Compare Unit 6 note 22, In other compounds, the first noun has all low tones and the second the same tone(s) as in isolation, e.g., /nston ném/ 1s /nsuomnén/ 22, /€&/ is fbf. 69UNIT 8 TWI Unit 8 Basic Dialogue oi yarg 8 oyargsdfgo (pl. a-) 1 oyargséfgo n& wo hd anfa? B es 2 . 2 Aga, oyaresdfgo nf wo hd. amanngé (andnnge) 3 Waminnge? k Méntg aps. -C- Ceyd ete 5 wo ned na eyé wo yds eti, etiri (pl. 4-) 6 Mi ti y& mé yd. yan 7 Mi y$a Asq y8 m8 yd. 70 to be 111, sick to cure physician Is the doctor ant Yes, the doctor 1s in message, mission What's the matter? Why have you come? (Your mission? ') I don't feel well. pain, ache; grief, distress Where do you hurt? (tYour where half then 1s your pain? ') head My head hurts. the insides of the body My stomach hurts too.BASIC COURSE UNIT 6 eye to take, receive, accept, take internally qdiru (pl. n-) medicane 8 aya gadrn yf. Take this medicine. Notes 1. /-t$0/, which 18 //-fo//, corresponds to English (1) ter! which forms agent nouns from verbs, e.g., /oyargséfgo/, tdiseasecurer', 'physician', and (2) '-er! or '-an! meaning 'the people of', ‘the inhabitants of', e.g., /Nkgréiif§o/, ‘the people of Acera', /-f§0/ occurs (a) with both the singular and plural of some stems, (b) with only the plural of some stems, having /-ni/ with the singular, and (c) with both the singular and plural, having /-ni/ as an alternate form with the singular. This type of noun has an /o- ~ o-/ prefix in the singular and an /a- ~ 9-/ prefix in the plural. Sometimes /n-/ also occurs with the plural. /oyargaafgo/, 'doctor', has an alternate form /oyargsgni/. /ayargsafgo/, 'doctors', has an alternate form /fiyargsafdo/. /oséfqo/, 'dancer' and /osgni/, 'warrior', both have the plural /asdfgo/. 2. feya/ is // eyaw/, Ashanti dialect usually has a final vowel where Akuapim dialect has a vowel plus /-w/, as in /eyaw/. 3. /Gy. qdiru yi/ as //Gye aduru yif, Vowel harmony agreement will not be footnoted after this unit. Review vowel harmony rules in Unit 2. ceUNIT 8 TWI Lexical Drill A 1. Mi tf yé mé yd. My head hurts. 2. Mi yg yé mo ya. My stomach hurts. 3. Mé ns& y€ mé ya. My hand hurts. 4. Mé n&i yé ms yd. My foot hurts. 5. Mgkyt yé ms yd. My back hurts. 6. “Mabati yé mé ya. My shoulder hurts. Pattern Drill A 1. Wamannge. What's your problem? 2. Namdnnge. What's his problem? 3. Méaménnge. What's your (pl.) problem? 4. Wn am&nnge. What's their problem? 5. amdnnge. What's our problem? New Words ns& hand, arm enffi foot, leg qkyi the back, rear; back, behind bata, bgtira (bgti) (pl. m-) shoulder Pattern Drill B 1. Meni. I see at. 2. Meni nd. I see hin. 3. Méehwehwé né. I'm looking for him. lL. MBehwehwé oyaresdfgo nf. Im looking for the doctor. 5. Kohtt oyaresdtgo nb. Go_see the doctor. T2BASIC COURSE UNIT 8 6. Kohf n6_s& ope biribi gai. + Bisa n6 séé ope baribi fal. 8. Bisa n& sét né nért na 10. Hwé sé& ope phém& és. New word baribi Question and Answer Drill A 1. dyargsdtgo nf wo haz Dagbt, oyaresdtgo nf moi ha. 2. enérk na oyargsatgo nf wo? oyargsdt}o nf wo ayaresdbga hd. 3. oyaresdto nf wo obgdtgo anfa? BGA, owe obgérgo. 3 Go see if he wants some~ thing to ea Ask ham if he wants some- thing to eat. Ask him where he hurts. See where he hurts. See if he wants to buy a book. something, anything, nothing (an negative sentences) Is the doctor in? No, the doctor isn't an. Where 1s the doctor? The doctor 1s at the hospital. Does the doctor have an assistant? Yes, he has an assistant.UNIT 8 TWI 10. édefn nti na wiukohi ddkgta née Minkohf ddkgta esagng séé méyarg. Wpé 8&2 m&b5 we paanger Aas, mépe sf! woo ms péange. Mngfara nb °regor§ wo sultiiddn nb mite Dagbi, woogorg wo sukiiiddn nf _gkyt. Mmgrtéra n& rggor$ wo agorgbga ho? es ‘ ABR, woogor$ wo agorgbga hd? oyargsétgo nf rakont abgfara nf anfat bs Agi, obéhi nd. Wo n& te stn nnéz Me nS yé nné sin Wibeda nnd ahf wo hd? Média osgram. 7 Why are you going to see the doctor? I'm going to see the doctor because I am sick. Do you want me to give you a shot? ('¥You like that I strike you needle?') Yes, I want you to give me a shot. Are the children playing in the school building? No, they are playing behind the school building. Are the children playing at the playground? Mes, they are playing at the playground. Is the doctor going to see the child? Yes, he will see him. How are you today? I feel better today than I dad yesterday. How long will you be here? I will be here a month,