1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
The Akan (Twi, Twi-Fante) dialect cluster belongs to the Central subgroup of the (Volta-) Comoe group, which falls within the New Kwa (Greenberg's Western Kwa) branch of Niger-Congo. It is spoken primarily in southern Ghana but extends into northwestern Côte d'Ivoire.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
WTPR (1982) lists four million speakers. Voegelin and Voegelin (1977) cite two million, a figure attributed to Welmers.
3 DIALECT SITUATION
Akan has five main dialects, generally considered mutually intelligible. They are Akyem, Akuapem, Asante, Brong, and Fante.
4 USAGE
The 1960 population census of Ghana indicates that about 40 percent of the population are members of Akan-speaking groups. This census gives a larger figure for "Akan," but that includes the entire Central Comoe branch (Stewart, personal communication, 1985). Two periodicals are published in Akan: Nkwantabisa and Akwansosem. Akan radio broadcasts are also heard in Ghana.
5 ORTHOGRAPHIC STATUS
Standardized orthographies exist for Asante, Akuapem, and Fante; a unified Akan orthography for these three is nearing completion (Bureau of Ghana Languages project).
Also visit the Amharic 1999 Intensive Summer Language Program webpage
1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language of South Semitic (Bender 1976) spoken in the central highlands of Ethiopia.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Amharic has 8.5 million first-language speakers and about 5.5 million second language speakers (Bender 1976; WBTR 1982).
3 USAGE
Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, is the official language of that country's educational system. There are many periodic publications in Amharic, including Ethiopia, a weekly law, commerce, and trade journal. Radio transmissions include Ethiopia's Voice of Revolutionary Ethiopia as well as foreign transmissions by Deutsche Welle Relay, the Sudan Broadcasting Service, and South Africa broadcasting from Rwanda.
4 DIALECT SURVEY
No extensive dialect survey work on Amharic has come to our attention.
5 ORTHOGRAPHY STATUS
Amharic has a standard orthography.
Fulfulde/Pulaar (Fulani, Fula, Peul)
1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Fulfulde belongs to the northern branch of West Atlantic and is spoken throughout West Africa. Most speakers are found within a band running from Senegal to northern Cameroon, including the countries of Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, northern Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Technically, Fulfulde or Pulaar is the name of this language, while ful'be (singular = pullo) is the name of the people who speak Fulfulde. Fulani is the Hausa designation for these people, while Fula is the Mandinka term, and Peul is Wolof.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Sauvegeot (1978) cautiously estimates there are around 5 million speakers of Fulfulde. The population statistics of the ICAO (1980-1981) are given as follows:
Country Estimated Speakers Source Benin 80,000 ICAO Burkina Faso 600,000 ICAO Cameroon 400,000 ICAO Chad 5,500 ICAO Côte d'Ivoire 100,000 ICAO Gambia 1,000,000 Guinea 2,100,000 ICAO Guinea Bissau 100,000 ICAO Mali 600,000 ICAO Mauritania 100,000 ICAO Niger 400,000 ICAO Nigeria 5,000,000 ICAO Senegal 1,152,451 Vital Statistics Senegal, 1981 Total: 10,000,000+ 3 DIALECT SITUATION
Although no dialect survey has come to our attention, Arnott (1970:3) reports the following dialect areas: "Fuuta Tooro (Senegal), Fuuta Jalon (Guinea), Maasina (Mali), Sokoto and western Niger, `Central' northern Nigeria (roughly Katsina, Kano, Zaria, Plateau, Bauchi, and Bornu Provinces and eastern Niger), Adamawa." All dialects of Fulfulde are mutually intelligible.
4 USAGE
Fulfulde is an officially recognized national language in the following countries: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Gambia. It is one of the six national languages of Senegal, French being the official language. It is current government policy to teach each student to read in the prominent national language of each major region. Radio broadcasts in Fulfulde can be heard in the countries where it is an officially recognized language. In addition, the USSR and Radio Cairo broadcast in Fulfulde. Senegal has a Fulfulde press. Each country where it is an official language has (1) a government office responsible for adult literacy in Fulfulde and (2) a section in the Department of Education responsible for introducing national languages into the school system and radio broadcasts in Fulfulde (Fagerberg-Diallo, personal communication, 1985).
5 ORTHOGRAPHY
A standard orthography (based on the 1966 Bamako conference on orthographic standardization) has been adopted in all of West Africa, Europe, and the United States. Exceptions are Guinea and Nigeria, although Guinea has now accepted the future use of the standard orthography (Fagerberg-Diallo, personal communication).
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