Ibibio language

Native language of the Ibibio People From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ibibio language

Ibibio is the native language of the Ibibio people of Nigeria, belonging to the Ibibio-Efik dialect cluster of the Cross River languages. The name Ibibio is sometimes used for the entire dialect cluster. In pre-colonial times, it was written with Nsibidi ideograms, similar to Igbo, Efik, Anaang, and Ejagham. Ibibio has also had influences on Afro-American diasporic languages such as AAVE words like buckra which come from the Ibibio word mbakara and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.

Quick Facts Native to, Region ...
Close
An Ibibio speaker, recorded in the United Kingdom.

Geographic distribution

The Ibibio people are found in the South-South region of Nigeria in Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State, and Eastern Abia State (Arochukwu and Ukwa East LGAs). Ibibio communities in Opobo Nkoro and Oyigbo LGA's of Rivers State are largely unknown.

Some Ibibios are also found in other neighboring countries (western Cameroon, Bioko — central Guinea, and Ghana).

Phonology

Summarize
Perspective

Consonants

More information Labial, Coronal ...
Close

Intervocalic plosives are lenited:[2]

  • /b/[β]
  • /t, d/[ɾ]
  • /k/[ɢ̆] or [ɰ]

Vowels

Thumb
Ranges for Ibibio monophthongs, from Urua (2004:106)
More information Front, Back ...
Ibibio vowel phonemes[2]
Front Back
unrounded unrounded rounded
Close i u
Mid e ʌ o
Open a ɔ
Close

Between consonants, /i, u, o/ have allophones that are transcribed [ɪ, ʉ, ə], respectively.[2] At least in case of [ɪ, ə], the realization is probably somewhat different (e.g. close-mid [e, ɘ]), because the default IPA values of the symbols [ɪ, ə] are very similar to the normal realizations of the Ibibio vowels /i, ʌ/. Similarly, [ʉ] may actually be near-close [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 phonemic tones: high, mid, rising, falling and low.

Orthography

More information Essien 1983, Essien 1990 ...
Ibibio alphabet
Essien 1983[4]Essien 1990[5]IPA
aaa
bbb
ddd
eee
ǝǝə
fff
ghghɣ
hhx
iii
ɨ
kkk
kpkpkp
mmm
nnn
ñŋ
ñwn̄wŋʷ
nynyɲ
ooo
ɔ
ʌʌʌ
ppp
sss
ttt
uuu
ʉ
www
yyj
Close

Proverbs

The following Ibibio proverbs with English translations come from The Sayings of the Wise: Ibibio Proverbs and Idioms by Anietie Akpabio, published in 1899.[6]

  • "Ekpo ufɔk ɔkɔbɔ owo." "Trouble often begins at home."
  • "Eto keet isikabake akai." "One tree does not make a forest."
  • "Ikpat eka unen isiwotdo nditɔ." "A hen's feet cannot kill the chickens (i.e. the mother's actions are never meant to be harmful to the children)."
  • "Ekpo atua ekpo". "One who mocks another may hide their own troubles."
  • "Idop, idop ewa, enye ata ɔkpɔ unam." "It is a quiet dog that eats the fattest bone."
  • "Ofum ese ekpep eto unek." "The wind teaches the tree how to dance (i.e. someone's action that generates good will in another person)."

References

Bibliography

Further reading

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.