Akan linguistic data

Word order, tone system, gender count, case marking, adposition direction, syllable structure, consonant inventory traits, vowel system (ATR vowel harmony), morphological alignment, script, register stratification, speaker count, and geographic area. Each row is one feature with Akan's value visible; you can add other languages to read the same feature side by side.

Typological features are merged from URIEL+ (Mortensen et al.) and a curated set authored against descriptive grammars. Speaker counts come from Ethnologue and Glottolog. Geographic area is computed from the Asher 2007 world language atlas. Similarity scores combine genetic distance, typological overlap, and lexical-borrowing data.

Akan is the linguistic macrolanguage covering several closely related sub-varieties. Twi (the largest, with Asante Twi and Akuapem Twi as sub-dialects) and Fante are the two major branches. They're mutually intelligible across the divide with minor adjustment. 'Akan' is the umbrella term used in linguistics; speakers usually identify with their specific Twi or Fante variety.

Akan vowels split into two sets based on whether the tongue root is advanced (ATR+) or retracted (ATR-). Within a word, all vowels generally agree — they're either all ATR+ or all ATR-. Suffixes alternate to match the stem. The system is widespread in West African languages and contrasts with the front/back harmony common in Turkic languages.

All three are Niger-Congo languages of West Africa (Akan and Ewe are Kwa, Yoruba is Volta-Niger), sharing SVO order, tonal phonology, vowel harmony, and a chunk of typological features. The factor breakdown chip on the row tells you which dimensions contributed most.