Akan phonology

Because the Akan dialects' phonologies differ slightly, Asante dialect will be used to represent Akan. Asante, like all Akan dialects, involves extensive palatalization, vowel harmony, and tone terracing.

Consonants
Before front vowels, all Asante consonants are palatalized (or labio-palatalized), and the stops are to some extent affricated. The allophones of are quite complex. In the table below, palatalized allophones which involve more than minor phonetic palatalization are specified, in the context of the vowel. These sounds do occur before other vowels, such as, though in most cases not commonly.

In Asante, followed by a vowel is pronounced, but in Akuapem it remains. The sequence is pronounced.

The transcriptions in the table below are in the order /phonemic/, [ phonetic ], $\langleorthographic\rangle$. Note that orthographic $\langledw\rangle$ is ambiguous; in textbooks, $\langledw\rangle$ = may be distinguished from  with a diacritic: . Likewise, velar $\langlenw\rangle$ may be transcribed . Orthographic $\langlenu\rangle$ is palatalized.

Vowels
The Akan dialects have fourteen to fifteen vowels: four to five "tense" vowels (advanced tongue root, or +ATR), five "lax" vowels (retracted tongue root, or −ATR), which are adequately but not completely represented by the seven-vowel orthography, and five nasal vowels, which are not represented at all. All fourteen were distinguished in the Gold Coast alphabet of the colonial era. An ATR distinction in orthographic a is only found in some subdialects of Fante, but not in the literary form; in Asante and Akuapem there are harmonic allophones of, but neither is ATR. The two vowels written e ( and ) and o ( and ) are often not distinguished in pronunciation.

ATR harmony
Twi vowels engage in a form of vowel harmony with the root of the tongue.
 * 1) −ATR vowels followed by the +ATR non-mid vowels /i̘ a̘ u̘/ become +ATR. This is generally reflected in the orthography: That is, orthographic  become i e a o u. However, it is no longer reflected in the case of subject and possessive pronouns, giving them a consistent spelling. This rule takes precedence over the next one.
 * 2) After the −ATR non-high vowels /e a o/, +ATR mid vowels /e̘ o̘/ become −ATR high vowels /i u/. This is not reflected in the orthography, for both sets of vowels are spelled $\langlem\rangle$, and in many dialects this rule does not apply, for these vowels have merged.

Tones
Twi has three phonemic tones, high (/H/), mid (/M/), and low (/L/). Initial syllable may only be high or low.

Tone terracing
The phonetic pitch of the three tones depends on their environment, often being lowered after other tones, producing a steady decline known as tone terracing.

/H/ tones have the same pitch as a preceding /H/ or /M/ tone within the same tonic phrase, whereas /M/ tones have a lower pitch. That is, the sequences /HH/ and /MH/ have a level pitch, whereas the sequences /HM/ and /MM/ have a falling pitch. /H/ is lowered (downstepped) after a /L/.

/L/ is the default tone, which emerges in situations such as reduplicated prefixes. It is always at bottom of the speaker's pitch range, except in the sequence /HLH/, in which case it is raised in pitch but the final /H/ is still lowered. Thus /HMH/ and /HLH/ are pronounced with distinct but very similar pitches.

After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep. This syllable is usually stressed.

Important words and phrases

 * Akwaaba/Akɔaba – Welcome
 * Aane – Yes
 * Yiw (Akuapim) - Yes
 * Yoo - oh Okay/Alright
 * Daabi – No/Nope
 * Da yie – Good night (lit. sleep well)
 * Me rekɔ da (pronounced mee ko da) -I'm going to sleep
 * Ɛ te sεn/Wo ho te sɛn? – How is it going/How are you? (could also be used in the non lit. sense as "hello")
 * Me da wo ase – Thank you
 * Me pa wo kyɛw – Please/excuse me/I beg your pardon
 * Dwom/nnwom - Song/songs or music
 * Wo din de sεn? - What is your name?
 * Me din de .../Yɛfrɛ me ... - My name is/I'm called ...
 * Wadi mfeɛ ahe/sɛn? - How old is he/she?
 * Woadi mfeɛ ahe/sɛn? - How old are you?
 * Ɛ wɔ hen? - Where is it?
 * Me rekɔ - I am going