Approximants

Whether or not the lexifier [ɹ] is realized as an approximant or a trill depends on the quality of the r-sound in the speaker’s first language and his phonetic competence. Most of the Akan dialects have an r-sound similar to English [ɹ], while other languages spoken in Ghana, e.g. Hausa, have trills or fricatives instead. The trills and the approximant may be used interchangeably or in stylistically different registers (e.g. [r] = basilectal and [ɹ] = more mesolectal/acrolectal), but they are not phonologically distinctive. Uneducated GhP, especially the variety spoken by northern immigrants in the zongos, prefers the trill, while the educated variety prefers the more BrE realization. Intervocalic flapping of /t/, acquired by some GhE speakers in the US and Canada, is uncommon in GhP.

There is allophonic distribution or free variation of [l] and [r] in the major Ghanaian substrate languages, e.g. in Akan, Dangme, Ewe, Ga, but also in Gur languages like Dagbani and Dagarti. As a consequence, the two sounds may be used interchangeably on the lower end of the GhP continuum. This phenomenon is most common with older speakers who had little formal education, but it is at times also found in other speakers. Examples of /l ~ r/ alternation are broke /blok/ and bottle /bçtru/.