Ikwerre language

Ikwerre
Pronunciation[ìkʷéré]
Native toRivers state, Nigeria
Ethnicity
Native speakers
(200,000 cited 1976)
DialectsApara, Ndele, Ọgbakiri, Ọbịọ, Akpor Alụụ, Ịbaa, Elele
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3ikw
Glottologikwe1242
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Ikwerre (Iwhuruohna) is a language spoken primarily by the Ikwerre people, who inhabit certain areas of Rivers State, Nigeria.

Classification

The Ikwerre language is an Igboid language of the Volta-Niger branch of Niger-Congo family of languages. Based on lexicostatistical analysis, Kay Williamson first asserted that the Ikwerre, Ekpeye, and Ogba, languages belonged to the same language cluster, and were not dialects. After subsequent studies and more research by both Williamson and Roger Blench, it was concluded that lexical similar languages like Ikwerre, Ogba, Igbo and Ekpeye form a "language cluster" and that they are somewhat mutually intelligible.

Dialects

Alerechi (2018) states that there are 24 divergent dialects. Those starred (*) below are only provided with their abbreviations:[clarification needed]

  1. Akpb*
  2. Akpọ (Akpo-Mgbu-Tolu)
  3. Alụu
  4. Apani
  5. Ibaa
  6. Igwuruta
  7. Ipo
  8. Isiokpo
  9. Egbedna
  10. Elele
  11. Ẹmowha (Emowhua)
  12. Obio
  13. Omagwna
  14. Omerelu
  15. Omudioga
  16. Omdm*
  17. Ozha*
  18. Ọdeegnu
  19. Ọgbakiri
  20. Ọmuanwa
  21. Rmkp*
  22. Rndl*
  23. Ubima
  24. Ubmn*

In addition, Glottolog lists two dialects that are unclear which of Alerechi's listing they correspond to (if any):

  1. Ndele
  2. Rumuji

Phonology

Vowels

Ikwerre distinguishes vowels by quality (frontedness and height), the presence or absence of nasalization, and the presence or absence of advanced tongue root.[citation needed]

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 syllabic nasal which is homorganic to the following consonant.[citation needed] Alerechi (2018) states that while earlier sources treat [ɛ] as an allophone of /e/, this is only true for some dialects; in others, it is fully contrastive. In addition, Alerechi does not recognize a nasalized variant of this vowel.

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 does not apply to onomatopoeic words.

Consonants

Derived from Clements & Osu (2003)
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
unroundedrounded unroundedrounded
Plosive or
Affricate		 voiceless p t tʃ k kʷ
voiced b d dʒ ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative voiceless f s
voiced v z
Nonexplosive plain ḅ ~ m
glottalized ˀḅ ~ ˀm
Tap ɾ ~ ɾ̃
Approximant l ~ n j ~ j̃ ɣ̞ ~ ɣ̞̃ w ~ w̃ h ~ h̃ hʷ ~ h̃ʷ
Derived from Alerechi (2018)
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ
Plosive or
Affricate		 voiceless (p) t tʃ k kʷ
voiced (b) d dʒ ɡ ɡʷ
Implosive voiceless ƥ
voiced ɓ
Fricative voiceless (f) s hʷ h
voiced (v) z
Tap ɾ
Approximant l j ɰ w

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

Tone

Ikwerre is a tonal language with seven tones: high or high rising, mid, low, high-low falling, high falling (rarer), mid-low falling and low rising. Ikwerre also has a partial 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. 54,600 (1940 F&J); possibly 200,000 (SIL), note however p. xxi: "West African countries have had a fairly active programme of language survey conducted either by the French research establishment or by the SIL. In Nigeria, since the virtual cessation of SIL activities in 1976, very limited further survey work was conducted" justifying use of 1976 for date.
  2. ↑ Alagoa, Ebiegberi Joe; Anozie, F. N.; Nzewunwa, Nwanna (1988). The early history of the Niger Delta. Buske Verlag. p. 81. ISBN 3-87118-848-4.
  3. ↑ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  4. ↑ "Ikwerre language and alphabet".
  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.
  7. ↑ Clements, G. N.; Osu, Sylvester (2003), Ikwere Nasal Harmony in Typological Perspective, pp. 1–20
  8. ↑ Clements, George N.; Osu, Sylvester (2005). "Nasal harmony in Ikwere, a language with no phonemic nasal consonants". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 26 (2): 165–200. doi:10.1515/jall.2005.26.2.165. S2CID 144317723.
  9. ↑ Alerechi, Roseline Ihuoma C. (2018). "9: Consonant Substitution in Child Language (Ikwere)" (PDF). In Kandybowicz, Jason; Major, Travis; Torrence, Harold; Duncan, Philip T. (eds.). African linguistics on the prairie: Selected papers from the 45th Annual Conference on African Linguistics. Contemporary African Linguistics. Vol. 3. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1219141. ISBN 978-3-96110-036-1. ISSN 2511-7726.
  10. ↑ Alerechi, Roseline Ihuoma C. (2020). "The Syllable Structure of Ikwere" (PDF). ERUDITE Journal of Linguistics and Language. 2 (1): 82–103.

Further reading