Ghanaian English
Variety of English spoken in Ghana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ghanaian English is a variety of English spoken in Ghana. English is the official language of Ghana, and is used as a lingua franca throughout the country.[1] English remains the designated language for all official and formal purposes even as there are 11 indigenous government-sponsored languages used widely throughout the country.
| Ghanaian English | |
|---|---|
| Region | Ghana |
Early forms | |
| Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Ghana |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | sout3331 |
Demographics
Phonology
Due to Ghana's colonial history, Ghanaian English most closely resembles British English, although it is decidedly varied and deviates from the standard in many ways based on location and context.
In contrast to the twelve monophthongal vowels of Received Pronunciation, Ghanaian English has only seven, an attribute shared with other forms of African English.[3] Ghanaian English exhibits several mergers including the fleece–kit, foot–goose, and thought–cloth mergers.[3]
In Ghanaian English, the voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant [ɕ] is the usual realisation of the phoneme /ʃ/ (as in "ship" and "Chicago"), the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate [tɕ] is the usual realisation of /tʃ/ (as in "cheese" and ""watching") and the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate [dʑ] is the usual realisation of /dʒ/ (as in "general" and "magic").[4]
