Ibibio language

Ibibio
(Ibibio proper)
Native to	Southern Nigeria
Region	Akwa Ibom State
Ethnicity	Ibibio
Native speakers	1.5 to 2 million (1998)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Cross River Lower Cross Ibibio-Efik Ibibio
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ibb
Glottolog	ibib1240[2]

Ibibio (proper) is the native language of the Ibibio people of southern Nigeria. It is the official language of Akwa ibom people.

The name Ibibio is also used for Ibibio-Efik-annang.

Phonology

Consonants

Ibibio consonant phonemes^[3]

		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.^[3]
  • /b/ has two allophones, which occur in complementary distribution: voiceless [p] and voiced [b].^[4]
• /n, d, s/ are alveolar [n, d, s], whereas /t/ is dental [t̪].^[3]
• Stem-initial /ŋ/ is realized as [ŋ͡w].^[3]

Intervocalic plosives are lenited:^[3]

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

Vowels

Ranges for Ibibio monophthongs, from Urua (2004:106)

Ibibio vowel phonemes^[3]

	Front	Back
	unrounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ʌ	o
Open	a		ɔ

• /i, u/ are phonetically near-close [ɪ, ʊ].^[3]
• /e, ʌ, o/ are phonetically true-mid; /ʌ/ is also strongly centralized: [e̞, ʌ̝̈, o̞].^[3]
• /a, ɔ/ are phonetically near-open; /a/ is central rather than front: [ɐ, ɔ̞].^[3]

Between consonants, /i, u, o/ have allophones that are transcribed [ɪ, ʉ, ə], respectively.^[3] 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/.^[3]

Tones

Ibibio has two tones: high and low.^[5]

References

1. Ibibio at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Ibibio". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Urua (2004), p. 106.
4. Urua (2004), pp. 105–106.
5. Urua (2004), p. 107.

Bibliography

• Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001550

Further reading

• Bachmann, Arne (2006): "Ein quantitatives Tonmodell für Ibibio. Entwicklung eines Prädiktionsmoduls für das BOSS-Sprachsynthesesystem." Magisterarbeit, University of Bonn.
• Kaufman, Elaine Marlowe (1972) Ibibio dictionary. Leiden: African Studies Centre / Cross River State University / Ibibio Language Board. ISBN 90-70110-46-6

External links

• Uyo Ibibio Dictionary, 2004
• My Ibibio – language resources, including dictionary, books, proverbs, stories and history.
• 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