Cross River languages
Cross River | |
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Delta–Cross | |
Geographic distribution | Southeastern Benue–Congo
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Subdivisions |
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Glottolog | delt1251 |
![]() The Cross River languages shown within Nigeria and Cameroon:
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The Cross River or Delta–Cross languages are a branch of the
Greenberg's Cross River family originally included the Bendi languages. The Bendi languages were soon seen to be very different and thus were made a separate branch of Cross River, while the other languages were united under the branch Delta–Cross. However, the inclusion of Bendi in Cross River at all is doubtful, and it has been tentatively reassigned to the Southern Bantoid family, making the terms Cross River and Delta–Cross now synonymous.
Demographics
In Nigeria, this languages are spoken in
Languages
There are four primary branches of Cross River:
- Central Delta, 8 languages, the most populous being Ogbia with 100,000 speakers
- Ogoni, 5 languages, with Ogoni proper (Khana) having 200,000 speakers
- Lokaawith 120,000 speakers
- Lower Cross River, 23 languages, the most populous being Ibibio language (3.5 million speakers)
Branches and locations
Below is a list of major Cross River branches and their primary locations (centres of diversity) in southeast Nigeria and southwest Cameroon based on Blench (2019).[1]
Branch | Primary locations |
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Upper Cross River | Obubra, Abi, Biase, Yala, Yakurr, Odukpani, Ikom and Akamkpa LGAs, Cross River State The Kukele, Mbembe language of Ebonyi State The Korop language of Southwest Cameroon |
Lower Cross River | Akwa Ibom State (All local Government Areas)
Andoni LGA, Rivers State |
Ogoni | Gokana, Tai, Khana and Eleme LGAs, Rivers State |
Central Delta | Abua–Odual, Ahoada West LGAs, Rivers State Ogbia, Yenagoa LGAs, Bayelsa State |
Internal classification
Roger Blench (2008: 4)[2] classifies the Cross River languages as follows.
- Cross River
- ? Bendi (Yakoro, Bendi, Alege, Bumaji, Bokyi, etc.)
- Delta-Cross
- Upper Cross
- Core
- North-South (Koring, Kukele, Kohumono, Agwagwune, etc.)
- East-West (Ikom, Mbembe, Legbo, etc.)
- Ukpet-Ehom
- Agoi, Doko, Iyongiyong
- Kiong, Korop
- Core
- Lower Cross
- East (Efik, Ibibio, Anaang, Efiat, etc.)
- Central (Enwang, Uda)
- West (Ebughu, Oro, Usakade, Obolo, etc.)
- Ogoni
- Eleme; Baan (Ogoi)
- Gokana; Tẹẹ (Tai); Kana
- Central Delta
- Abuan, Odual
- Kugbo, Ogbia, etc.
- Upper Cross
Although Blench (2004) tentatively included the
See also
- Cross River (Nigeria), the namesake of the language group
References
- ^ a b Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2008. The Ogoni languages: comparative word list and historical reconstructions.
Bibliography
- Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- Connell, Bruce (1994). "The lower Cross river languages: A prolegomena to the classification of the Cross river languages". Journal of West African Languages. 24 (1): 3–46.
- Faraclas, Nicholas (1986). "Cross river as a model for the evolution of Benue-Congo nominal class/concord systems" (PDF). Studies in African Linguistics. 17 (1): 39–54. S2CID 126381408.
- Greenberg, Joseph H. (1963). The Languages of Africa. Bloomingtom: Indiana University.
External links
- ComparaLex, database with Cross River word lists
- Journal of West African Languages: Cross River Languages