Nupe language
Nupe | |
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Native to | L2: 200,000 (1999) |
?
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Dialects |
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Latin, Arabic[2] | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nup |
Glottolog | nupe1254 |
Nupe (also known as Anufe, Nupenci, Nyinfe, Tapa Nupe is closely related to Kakanda in structure and vocabulary. There are at least two markedly different dialects of Nupe: Nupe central and Nupe Tako.
Demographics
Nupe is the language spoken by the Nupe people,[5] who reside mainly in Niger State in Nigeria, occupying a lowland of about 18000 square kilometers in the Niger Basin, mostly north of the river between the Kontagora and Guara confluents from Kainji to below Baro, and also Kwara State, Kogi State and the Federal Capital Territory.
Nupe is spoken mainly in
Nupe-Tako (meaning ‘The Nupe Below’; also known as
Classification
The Nupe language belongs to the Nupoid branch of the Benue-Congo group of languages. Other languages in the group are Igbira (Ebira), Gade, and Kakanda. Nupe is related most closely to Kakanda in structure and vocabulary. There are at least two markedly different dialects: Nupe central and Nupe Tako.[6]
Phonology
Front | Back | |
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Close | i ĩ | u ũ |
Mid | e | o |
Open | a ã |
Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop
|
voiceless | p | t
|
k | k͡p ⟨kp⟩ | |||
voiced | b | d
|
g | ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩ | ||||
Affricate | voiceless | t͡s ⟨ts⟩ | t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ | |||||
voiced | d͡z ⟨dz⟩ | d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ | ||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | h | |||
voiced | v | z | ʒ ⟨zh⟩ | |||||
Nasal | m | n
|
||||||
Approximant | l
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j ⟨y⟩ | w | |||||
Trill | r ⟨r⟩
|
High tone | (´) acute |
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Low tone | (`) grave |
Mid tone | unmarked |
Falling tone | (ˆ) circumflex or (ˇ) caron |
Rising tone | (ˇ) caron or (ˆ) circumflex |
Proverbs
Common sayings come in the forms of egankogi (parable), gangba (warning), egancin (idiom), ecingi (riddle/tales) and eganmagan (proverb).[7][clarification needed]
Eganmagan (proverb, plural eganmaganzhi) are wise sayings spoken among the Nupes. They are didactic proverbs which educate, entertain, and teach morality. They form part of the oral culture on norms and ethics of Nupe societies, and are passed from one generation to another through songs, stories, fables, folk tales, myths, legends, incantations, communal discussions, and worship.[citation needed]
Similar to other African proverbs, Nupe proverbs associate or relate people's action to their immediate environment in order to explain or correct particular situations, norms, issues, or problems. They also enlighten, warn and advise, or teach language in order to change perception which is believed to become reality.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Nupe at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Roger Blench. «Oral literature genres of the Nupe of Central Nigeria». Pages 5—6.
- ^ a b c Blench, Roger. 2013. The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list.
- ^ omotolani (2021-08-17). "Discovering the Nupe people". Pulse Nigeria. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ISBN 978-978-36187-0-1.
- ^ "Nupe | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ Ibrahim, Isyaku Bala (2009) Eganmaganzhi Nupe (Nupe Proverbs), over a thousand (1000) proverbs). Minna: Gandzo Enterprises.
External links
- PanAfriL10n page on Nupe
- Takada nya Aduwa nya Eza Kama kendona zizi nya Anglican Church yi na Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Nupe (1955) digitized by Richard Mammana