Urhobo language
| Urhobo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Delta State |
| Ethnicity | Urhobo people |
Native speakers | 550,000 (1993)[1] |
|
Niger–Congo
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
urh |
| Glottolog |
urho1239[2] |
Urhobo is one of the Edoid languages and is spoken by the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. Urhobo is endangered by the impact of Nigerian Pidgin English.
Phonology
Urhobo has a rather reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of seven vowels; these form two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /i ɛ a ɔ u/.[3]
It has a conservative consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants, /ɺ, l, ʋ, j, w/, have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.
| Labial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | c ɟ | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | ||
| Fricative | ɸ | f v | s z | ɕ ʑ | ɣ | h | |
| Trill | r̝ | ||||||
| Flap | ɺ [ɾ̃] | ||||||
| Approximant | ʋ [ʋ̃] | l [n] | j [ɲ] | w [ŋʷ] |
Examples
Temu: A substance or person reaching a position or status respectively.
- It is likely to originate from Atamu/Atumu, meaning 'Sun'.
Dictionaries
Urhobo dictionaries have been compiled by Ukere, Osubele, Ebireri Okrokoto of Urhobo Language Institute,[4] and Julius Arerierian. A multilingual dictionary of English, Okpe, Urhobo and Uvwie was compiled by Akpobọmẹ Diffrẹ-Odiete with funding from Foundation for Endangered Languages.
References
- ↑ Urhobo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Urhobo". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
- ↑ http://www.urhobolanguageinstitute.com/imagenes_libros/U%20%20R%20%20H%20%20O%20%20B%20%20O%20%20(%20T%20%20O%20)%20%20E%20%20N%20%20G%20%20L%20%20I%20%20S%20%20H%20%20%20%20%208-2-12%20%20%20%20(%20RE-EDITED)%20%20for%20upload.pdf
- Frank Kügler, Caroline Féry, Ruben Van De Vijver (2009) Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology
- Okrokoto Ebireri. Ukoko re Ephere R'Urhobo[1]