Ibibio language
| Ibibio | |
|---|---|
| Usem Ibibio | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Abia State, Akwa Ibom State, Rivers State, Cross River State |
| Ethnicity | Ibibio |
Native speakers | L1: 6.3 million (2020)[1] L2: 4.5 million (2013)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Latin Nsibidi | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ibb |
| Glottolog | ibib1240 |
Ibibio is the native language of the
abakua
.
Geographic distribution
Ibibio is the language of the
Opobo Nkoro and Oyigbo LGA's of Rivers State
are largely unknown.
Some Ibibio are found in other countries (Western Cameroon, Bioko and Ghana).
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar
| ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n
|
ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive
|
voiceless | b | t
|
k | k͡p | |
| voiced | d
|
|||||
Fricative
|
voiceless | f | s | |||
Approximant
|
j | w | ||||
- /m, b/ are bilabial, whereas /f/ is labiodental.[2]
- /n, d, s/ are t̪].[2]
- Stem-initial /ŋ/ is realized as [ŋ͡w].[2]
Intervocalic plosives are lenited:[2]
Vowels
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ʌ | o |
| Open | a | ɔ | |
- /i, u/ are phonetically near-close [ɪ, ʊ].[2]
- /e, ʌ, o/ are phonetically true-mid; /ʌ/ is also strongly centralized: [e̞, ʌ̝̈, o̞].[2]
- /a, ɔ/ are phonetically near-open; /a/ is central rather than front: [ɐ, ɔ̞].[2]
Between consonants, /i, u, o/ have allophones that are transcribed [ɪ, ʉ, ə], respectively.ʉ̞], rather than close [ʉ].
In some dialects (e.g. Ibiono), /ɪ, ʉ, ə/ occur as phonemes distinct from /i, u, o/.[2]
Tones
Ibibio has five tones: high, mid, rising, falling and low. A word can mean two or more different things based on the tone ascribed to it.
Orthography
| Essien 1983[4] | Essien 1990[5] | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| a | a | a |
| b | b | b |
| d | d | d
|
| e | e | e |
| ǝ | ǝ | ə |
| f | f | f |
| gh | gh | ɣ |
| h | h | x |
| i | i | i |
| ị | ị | ɨ |
| k | k | k |
| kp | kp | kp |
| m | m | m |
| n | n | n
|
| ñ | n̄ | ŋ |
| ñw | n̄w | ŋʷ |
| ny | ny | ɲ |
| o | o | o |
| ọ | ọ | ɔ |
| ʌ | ʌ | ʌ |
| p | p | p |
| s | s | s |
| t | t | t
|
| u | u | u |
| ụ | ụ | ʉ |
| w | w | w |
| y | y | j |
References
Bibliography
- Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109,
Further reading
- Bachmann, Arne (2006). Ein quantitatives Tonmodell für Ibibio. Entwicklung eines Prädiktionsmoduls für das BOSS-Sprachsynthesesystem [A quantitative tone model for Ibibio. Development of a prediction module for the BOSS speech synthesis system] (MA thesis) (in German). University of Bonn. .
- Kaufman, Elaine Marlowe (1972). Ibibio dictionary. Leiden: Cross River State University and Ibibio Language Board, Nigeria, in cooperation with ISBN 978-90-70110-46-8.
External links
- Ibibio kasahorow – language resources, including dictionary, books and proverbs.
- Bachmann's Master Thesis, Paper, Presentation
- BOSS-IBB documentation v0.1-r4
- ELAR Documentation of Dirge songs among the Urban people [Efik, Ibibio]
- ELAR Documentation of documenting drums and drum language in Ibibio traditional ceremonies
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
