Edo language
| Edo | |
|---|---|
| Bini | |
| Ẹ̀dó | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Edo State |
| Ethnicity | Edo people |
Native speakers | 2 million (2020)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | bin |
| ISO 639-3 | bin |
| Glottolog | bini1246 |
 Location of Edo speakers in Nigeria. | |
Edo
Distribution
Most of the Edo language-speakers live in the Southern parts of Edo State, Nigeria.The current state: Edo State derives its name from the Edo speaking people of the state. A smaller number of Edo speakers are also found in Delta State and Ondo State and in other parts of Nigeria.
Edo is an
Phonology
Vowels
There are seven vowels, /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/, all of which may be long or nasal, and three tones.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a | |
Consonants
Edo has a rather average consonant inventory for an
| Labial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal
|
m | ||||||
Plosive
|
p b [pm bm] |
t d [tn dn] |
k ɡ [kŋ ɡŋ] |
k͡p ɡ͡b [k͡pŋ͡m ɡ͡bŋ͡m] |
|||
Fricative
|
f v | s z | x ɣ | ɦ | |||
| Trill | r | ||||||
Close approximant
|
ɹ̝̊ ɹ̝ | ||||||
| Open approximant
|
ʋ [ʋ̃] |
l [n] |
j [ɲ] [j̃] |
w [ŋʷ] [w̃] |
The three
Phonotactics
Syllable structure is simple, being maximally CVV, where VV is either a long vowel or /i, u/ plus a different oral or nasal vowel.
Orthography
The Edo alphabet has separate letters for the nasalised allophones of /ʋ/ and /l/, mw and n:
| A | B | D | E | Ẹ | F | G | Gb | Gh | H | I | K | Kh | Kp | L | M | Mw | N | O | Ọ | P | R | Rh | Rr | S | T | U | V | Vb | W | Y | Z |
| /a/ | /b/ | /d/ | /e/ | /ɛ/ | /f/ | /ɡ/ | /ɓˠ/ | /ɣ/ | /ɦ/ | /i/ | /k/ | /x/ | /kp/ | /l/ | /m/ | [ʋ̃] | [n] | /o/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ | /r/ | /ɹ̝̊/ | /ɹ̝/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /v/ | /ʋ/ | /w/ | /j/ | /z/ |
Long vowels are written by doubling the letter. Nasal vowels may be written with a final -n or with an initial nasal consonant. Tone may be written with acute accent, grave accent, and unmarked, or with a final -h (-nh with a nasal vowel).
See also
- Edo people
- Edo literature
- Benin Empire
References
- ^ Edo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
- ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
Further reading
- Adénéyì, Harrison 'Rótìmí (2007). A morphology of Edo (MA thesis). University of Ibadan. .
- Adeniyi, Harrison (2007). "A comparative study of reduplication in Edo and Yoruba". MorphOn: e-Journal of Morphology: 1–23.
- Ajiboye, Oladiipo Jacob (2001). "A comparative study of Èdó and Yorùbá gerunds". University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. 4.
- Aluede, Charles O.; Braimah, Abu A. (2005). "Edo folk songs as sources of historical reconstruction". Studies of Tribes and Tribals. 3 (2): 123–128. S2CID 49571460.
- Baker, Mark C. On the Interplay of the Universal and the Particular: Case Studies from Edo. 35th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. Chicago.
- Baker, Mark C.; Osumuyimen, Thompson Stewart (2001). "Unaccusativity and the adjective/verb distinction: Èdó evidence". University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. 4.
- Dunn, Ernest F. (1968). An Introduction to Bini. African Monograph. Vol. 8. assisted by Agheyisi, Rebecca N. East Lansing: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. OCLC 614956253.
- Emovon, Joshua A. (1979). A phonological study of Edo (Bini), with special reference to the verbal phrase (MPhil thesis). SOAS, University of London. .
- Imasuen, Ekhato Otamere (1998–1999). "Languages in contact: the case of Edo and Portuguese". Journal of West African Languages. 27: 39–50.
- Manfredi, Victor B. (2003). "A fonosyntactic parameter within Benue-Kwa and its consequences for Edó". In Sauzet, Patrick; Zribi-Hertz, Anne (eds.). Typologie des langues d'Afrique et universaux de la grammaire. Paris: L'Harmattan. pp. 127–162.
- Morrison, Megan (2001). "Plurality and multiplicity in Èdó and English". University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. 4.
- Naumann, Ralf; Gamerschlag, Thomas (2020). "Serial verb constructions and covert coordinations in Edo – an analysis in Type Logical Grammar". Journal of Language Modelling. 8: 337–413.
- Ogie, Ota (2001). "Some comments on Èdó syntax". Africa & Asia: Göteborg working papers on Asian and African languages and literatures. 1: 50–59. S2CID 64227751.
- Ogie, Ota (2003). "About Multi-verb Constructions in Edo". Proceedings of the workshop on Multi-Verb constructions (PDF). Trondheim Summer School.
- Ogie, Ota (2009). Multi-Verb Constructions in È̱DÓ (PhD thesis). NTNU. hdl:11250/243996.
- Omozuwa, Edosa Victor (1998). "A spectographic study of Edo [ɹ] and [l]". Onsei Kenkyu: Journal of the Phonetic Society of Japan. 2 (3). Archived from the original on 2022-05-08.
- Sheedy, Cory R. C. (2001). "Grammatical tones in Èdó: an optimality theoretic account". University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. 4.
- Wescott, Roger W. (1962). A Bini grammar. Vol. 1: Phonology. East Lansing: African Languages and Area Center, Michigan State University.
- Wescott, Roger W. (1962). A Bini grammar. Vol. 2: Morphology. East Lansing: African Languages and Area Center, Michigan State University.
- Woo, Florence Fung Lam (2001). "Serial verb constructions in Èdó and Cantonese". University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. 4.
- Yuka, Lendzemo Constantine; Mercy, Omoregbe (2006). "Re as a post-verbal free form in Edo: a morpho-semantic re-analysis". MorphOn: e-Journal of Morphology: 1–13.
External links
- Edo Language Dictionary Online Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Hans Melzian's Edo-English Dictionary
- Rebecca Agheyisi's Edo-English Dictionary
- Centre for Edo Studies
- PanAfrican L10n page on Edo (Bini)
- Edo/Africa names dictionary{source Edoworld}
- Bini (Edo) wordlists and recordings at the UCLA Phonetics Archive
- Bini (Edo) Market Days Calender [sic] on Naija local
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
