The Akan alphabet

Lesson: The Akan Alphabet  

Introduction:

The Akan language uses the same script as the English alphabet. The two alphabets are quite similar, with 20 of the 22 letters in the Akan alphabet also found in the 26 lettered English alphabet.

Akan Alphabet: 

Aa   Bb   Dd   Ee   Ɛɛ  Ff   Gg   Hh   Ii   Kk   Ll   Mm   Nn   Oo   Ɔɔ   Pp   Rr   Ss   Tt   Uu   Ww   Yy

You may have noticed that the Akan alphabet does not have several consonants (j, q, v, x and z) that you find in the English alphabet. Two additional vowels Ɛɛ and Ɔɔ are unique to the Akan language.

Consonants pronunciation:

Below are the 15 Akan vowels and words in English that have the same sound.

B, b    /b/ as in book, boom
D, d   /d/ as in dance, drum
F, f     /f/ as in fish, food
G, g   /g/ as in go, good
H, h   /h/ as in hat, halt
K, k    /k/ as in car, come
L, l     /l/ as in loud, ball
M, m /m/ as in moon, mute
N, n  /n/ as in name, anoint
P, p   /p/ as in purse, pour
R, r   /r/ as in round, road
S, s   /s/ as in sing, surprise
T, t    /t/ as in teach, talk
W, w /w/ as in we, win
Y, y   /y//j/ as in yam, you

Vowel pronunciation:

Below are the seven Akan vowels. Note how some vowels have different sounds.

A, a    a as in bath, add     and    æ as in man, pan
E, e    e as in hate, date    and    I as in dip, sip
Ɛ, ɛ     ɛ as in set, get
I, i      i as in feet, heat
O, o   o as in old, sold       and    ʋ as in foot, good
⊃,⊃   ⊃ as in all, short
U, u   u as in moon, food

Practice:

Write and speak each consonant three times.

Listen and practice saying the consonants using Peace Corps Lesson 1 recording.

Write and speak each vowel three times.

Listen and practice saying the vowels using Peace Corps Lesson 2 recording.