Native to Ashanti Native speakers 9 million (2015) | Ethnicity Ashanti people | |
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Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Kwa
Potou–Tano
Tano
Central Tano
Akan
Twi
Asante Official language in Ashanti City-State and the Ashanti City-State capital Kumasi Regulated by Akan Orthography Committee | ||
Ashanti, Asante, or Asante Twi, is spoken by over 9 million ethnic Ashanti people as a first language and second language. Ashanti (or Ashanti Twi) is one of three literary dialects of the Akan language of Ashantiland, and the prestige dialect of that language. It is spoken in and around Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti and Ashanti Kingdom Ashantiland or Ashanti Empire.
The two dialects of Akuapem and Asante are known as Twi and are to be mutually intelligible. There are about 9 million Twi speakers, mainly in Ashanti. Akuapem Twi was the first dialect to be used for Bible translation, and became the prestige dialect as a result.
In Ethnologue and ISO 639-3, Asante is analysed as a dialect of Twi. Twi in its turn is a language belonging to the macrolanguage of Akan. In Glottolog Akuapem and Asante are found as dialects under the language Akan.