KWA

The Central Tano or Akan languages are languages of the Kwa language family spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast by the Akan people. 

The Akan language (also known as Twi-Fante) is a group of dialects within the Kwa group of languages is in the Atlantic–Congo group within the Niger-Congo phylum. Also included under the term "Akan" are the Bia languages(in which case it is common to speak of "Akan languages", as a group of languages).

Subgroups of the Akan proper include: Asante, Akuapem and Akyem (the Asante, Akuapem and Akyem dialects are together known as Twi), Agona, Kwahu, Wassa, Fante (Fanti or Mfantse: Anomabo, Abura, Gomua) and Brong.

Subgroups of the Bia-speaking groups include: the Anyin, Baoulé, Chakosi (Anufo), Sefwi (Sehwi), Nzema, Ahanta and Jwira-Pepesa.

The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The name ‘Kwa’ was introduced 1885 by Gottlob Krause and derives from the word for 'people' (Kwa) in many of the in languages in the group, as illustrated by Akan names.

Kwa was proposed in the late 19th century for the Akan (or perhaps Tano), Gã, and Gbe languages, which have kwa or kua as their word for 'human being'.
Potou–Tano (including Akan). languages are the only large, well-established branch of the Kwa family. The Potou branch consists of two minor languages of Ivory Coast, Ebrié and Mbato. The Tano branch includes the major languages of SE Ivory Coast and southern Ghana, Baoulé and Akan.

The language came to the Caribbean and South America, notably in Suriname spoken by the Ndyuka and in Jamaica by the Jamaican Maroonsknown as Coromantee, with enslaved people from the region. The descendants of escaped slaves in the interior of Suriname and the Maroons in Jamaica still use a form of this language, including Akan naming convention, in which children are named after the day of the week on which they are born, e.g. Akwasi (for a boy) or Akosua (girl) born on a Sunday. In Jamaica and Suriname the Anansi spider stories are well known.

 
Gottlob Adolf Krause (born January 5, 1850 in Ockrilla near Messen, died February 19, 1938 in Zürich) was a German Africanist and linguist. Krause researched languages of Central and West Africa, and is credited with labeling the Kwa languages. Krause was an anti-colonialist, and did not cooperate with the German Empire's goals of imposing colonies in Africa.[1] Akinwumi cites[2] this as the reason for which Krause's scientific reputation was undermined in Germany.