Edo language

Not to be confused with Ido.

Edo (Ẹ̀dó; English: /ˈɛdoʊ/,^[2] West African English: /ˈedo/^[3]), also known as Bini, is the language spoken by the Edo people in Edo State, Nigeria. It was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo for thousands of years. It is the majority language spoken in Edo State, particularly in Benin City, and the surrounding local governments and senatorial districts in the Southern parts of the State.

Edo
Bini
Ẹ̀dó
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Edo State
Ethnicity	Edo
Native speakers	2 million (2020)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue-Congo Akpes-Edoid Edoid North-Central Edo–Esan–Ora Edo
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-2	bin
ISO 639-3	bin
Glottolog	bini1246
Location of Edo speakers in Nigeria.

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 Edoid language. These languages are also spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

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 Edoid language. It maintains only a single phonemic nasal, /m/, but has 13 oral consonants, /r, l, ʋ, j, w/ and the 8 stops, which have nasal allophones such as [n, ɲ, ŋʷ], and nasalized allophones [ʋ̃, j̃, w̃] before nasal vowels.

	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 rhotics have been described as voiced and voiceless trills as well as a lax English-type approximant. However, Ladefoged^[4]: 241 found all three to be approximants, with the voiced–voiceless pair being raised (without being fricatives) and perhaps at a slightly different place of articulation compared to the third but not trills.

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