Uvbie language

Uvbie
Evrie
Native to Nigeria
Region Delta State
Ethnicity Urhobo
Native speakers
 20,000 (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 evh
Glottolog uvbi1238[2]

Uvbie (Uvwie, Evrie, or Evhro) is a Niger Congo language spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria. It is classified alongside Urhobo, Okpe, Isoko and Eruwa as co-ordinate members of South-western Edoid branch of Proto Edoid language[3] spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria.

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Uvwie, amongst other things, consists of seven vowels.[4] Although earlier studies identified nine vowels in two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.[5][6]

The consonant system is somewhat conservative, and nearly the same as that of Urhobo. The only significant differences are the loss of ɸ, ɣ, and of the distinction between l and n: these alternate, depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. /ɾ, ʋ, j, w/ also have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.

  Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Nasal m ɲ      
Plosive p  b t  d c  ɟ k  ɡ k͡p  ɡ͡b  
Fricative f  v s  z ʃ  dʒ   h
Trill   r        
Flap   ɾ        
Approximant ʋ l [n] j   w  

References

  1. ↑ Uvbie at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Uvbie". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Elugbe, B. O. 1989. A comparative Edoid: Phonology and lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.Pp 26
  4. ↑ Ekiugbo, P. O. 2016. The sound system of Uvwie. M. A. Thesis, University of Benin
  5. ↑ Omamor, A. P. 1973.
  6. ↑ Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.