Ikwerre language

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Ikwerre
Pronunciation
Rivers state, Nigeria
Ethnicity
Native speakers
2,000,000 (2019)[1]
DialectsApara, Ndele, Ọgbakiri, Ọbịọ, Akpor Alụụ, Ịbaa, Elele[2]
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3ikw
Glottologikwe1242
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Ikwerre (Iwhuruohna)[3] is a language spoken primarily by the Ikwerre people,[4] who inhabit certain areas of Rivers State, Nigeria.

Classification

The Ikwerre language is a member of the Volta-Niger branch of Niger-Congo family of languages. Based on

mutually intelligible.[6]

Phonology

Vowels

Ikwerre distinguishes vowels by quality (frontedness and height), the presence or absence of

advanced tongue root
.

Front Back
High
+ATR
 		i ĩ u ũ
−ATR ɪ ɪ̃ ʊ ʊ̃
Mid
+ATR
 		e ẽ o õ
−ATR ɛ ɛ̃ ɔ ɔ̃
Low
 −ATR a ã

There is also a vowel */ə̃/ which is posited to explain syllabic nasal consonants in accounts of the language which state that Ikwerre has no nasal stops. This sound is realized as [ɨ̃] or a

homorganic
to the following consonant.

Vowel harmony

Ikwerre exhibits two kinds of vowel harmony:

  1. Every vowel in an Ikwerre word, with a few exceptions, agrees with the other vowels in the word as to the presence or absence of
    advanced tongue root
    .
  2. Vowels of the same height in adjacent syllables must all be either front or back, i.e. the pairs /i/ & /u/, /ɪ/ & /ʊ/, /e/ & /o/, and /ɛ/ & /ɔ/ cannot occur in adjacent syllables. Vowels of different heights, however, need not match for frontness/backness either. This doesn't apply to the first vowel in nouns beginning with a vowel or with /ɾ/, and doesn't apply to onomatopoeic words.

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Postalveolar
or palatal 		Velar Glottal
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
Plosive
or Affricate
voiceless
 		p
t
 		tʃ k kʷ
voiced
 		b
d
 		dʒ ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative
voiceless
 		f s
voiced
 		v z
Non-plosive stop plain ḅ~m
glottalized ʼḅ~ʼm
Tap
ɾ̃
Approximant
n
 		j~j̃ ɰ~ɰ̃ w~w̃ h~h̃ hʷ~h̃ʷ

The oral consonants [ḅ ʼḅ l ɾ j ɰ w h hʷ] occur before oral vowels, and their nasal allophones [m ʼm n ɾ̃ ȷ̃ ɰ̃ w̃ h̃ h̃ʷ] before nasal vowels. The "non-explosive stops" [ḅ ʼḅ] are not

implosives
in other varieties of Igbo.

The tap /ɾ/ may sometimes be realized as an approximant [ɹ].

Tone

Ikwerre is a

tonal language
with seven tones: high, mid, low, high-low falling, high-mid falling, mid-low falling and rising. Ikwerre also has a tonal downdrift. For example: rínya᷆ (high, mid-low falling) means "weight, heaviness", rìnyâ (low, high-low falling) means "female, wife", mụ̌ (rising) means "to learn", mụ̂ (high-low falling) means "to give birth", etc.

References

  1. ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (PDF) (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation. p. 45.
  2. ISBN 3-87118-848-4
    .
  3. ^ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  4. ^ https://www.omniglot.com/writing/ikwerre.htm
  5. ^ Williamson, Kay (1974). ODUMA: The Lower Niger Languages. Vol. 1. Rivers State Council of Arts & Culture, Port Harcourt.
  6. ^ Williamson, Kay; Roger M. Blench (2000). African languages: an introduction. Cambridge University Press.
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