Ikwerre language
Volta-Niger language spoken in Nigeria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ikwerre (Iwhuruohna)[3] is a language spoken primarily by the Ikwerre people,[4] who inhabit certain areas of Rivers State, Nigeria.
| Ikwerre | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | [ìkʷéré] |
| Native to | Rivers state, Nigeria |
| Ethnicity | |
Native speakers | 2,000,000 (2019)[1] |
| Dialects | Apara, Ndele, Ọgbakiri, Ọbịọ, Akpor Alụụ, Ịbaa, Elele[2] |
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ikw |
| Glottolog | ikwe1242 |
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.[5] 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.[6]
Dialects
Alerechi (2018) states that there are 24 divergent dialects. Those starred (*) below are only provided with their abbreviations:[clarification needed]
- Akpb*
- Akpọ (Akpo-Mgbu-Tolu)
- Alụu
- Apani
- Ibaa
- Igwuruta
- Ipo
- Isiokpo
- Egbedna
- Elele
- Ẹmowha (Emowhua)
- Obio
- Omagwna
- Omerelu
- Omudioga
- Omdm*
- Ozha*
- Ọdeegnu
- Ọgbakiri
- Ọmuanwa
- Rmkp*
- Rndl*
- Ubima
- Ubmn*
In addition, Glottolog lists two dialects that are unclear which of Alerechi's listing they correspond to (if any):
- Ndele
- 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]
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:
- 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.
- 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
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |||||
| 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 | ||
- Clements & Osu (2003) state that the oral consonants [ḅ ˀḅ l ɾ j ɣ̞ w h hʷ] occur before oral vowels, and their nasal allophones [m ˀm n ɾ̃ ȷ̃ ɣ̞̃ w̃ h̃ h̃ʷ] before nasal vowels. The "nonexplosive stops" [ḅ ˀḅ] are non-pulmonic and are equivalent to implosives in other varieties of Igbo.[7] Clements & Osu (2005) later clarify that the nasals are non-phonemic, but are frequent due to nasal vowel-consonant harmony.[8]
- Alerechi (2018) states that the consonants in parentheses occur in the Ọgbakiri dialect, while they may be allophonic or non-existent in other dialects. In addition, the palatal (postalveolar) fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ] as well as the glottal stop [ʔ] may be heard, but are non-phonemic.[9] Alerechi (2020) later clarifies that the phonological status of the affricates /tʃ dʒ/ is debated.[10]
The tap /ɾ/ may sometimes be realized as an approximant [ɹ].[citation needed]
Tone
Ikwerre is a tonal language with seven tones: high, mid, low, high-low falling, high-mid falling, mid-low falling and rising. Ikwerre also has a tonal 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.