Ibibio language

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

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

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

Intervocalic plosives are lenited:

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

Vowels

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

Ibibio vowel phonemes

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

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

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

Tones

Ibibio has two tones: high and low.

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