central Tano languages

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{{Short description|Niger–Congo language subgroup of West Africa}}

{{Infobox language family

|name=Central Tano

|altname=Akan

|region=Ghana, Ivory Coast

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Volta–Congo

|fam4=Kwa

|fam5=Potou–Tano

|fam6=Tano

|child1=Bia

|child2=Akan

|glotto=cent2262

|glottorefname=Central Tano

}}

The Central Tano or Akan languages are a pair of dialect clusters of the Niger-Congo family (or perhaps the theorised Kwa languages{{cite book|last1=Ameka|first1=Felix K.|last2=Dakubu|first2=Mary Esther Kropp|title=Aspect and Modality in Kwa Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8vzkqDsv-IC&pg=PA4|year=2008|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-90-272-0567-4}}, p. 4) spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast by the Akan people.

There are two or three languages, each with dialects that are sometimes treated as languages themselves:Stewart, John M. 1989. Kwa. In Bendor-Samuel, John (ed.), The Niger-Congo Languages, 216-245. University Press of America & SIL. p. 225.Dolphyne, Florence Abena (1986) The languages of the Akan peoples. Research review. Vol. 2 No. 1, Pages 1-22[https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5dz0640k] University of Ghana. p. 15.

• Akanic (primarily in Ghana)
• core Akan (Asante, Akuapem and Fante dialects)
• Bono
• Wasa
• Bia (primarily in Ivory Coast and Western Ghana)
• Northern Bia language
• Anyin dialect
• Baoulé dialect
• Chakosi (Anufo) dialect
• Sefwi (Sehwi) dialect
• Southern Bia language
• Nzema dialect
• Ahanta dialect
• Jwira–Pepesa dialect

All have written forms in the Latin script.