Ebira language

Ebira (pronounced as /eh 'be ra/; also known as Igbira, Egbura, or Okene[2]) is a Niger-Congo language. It is spoken by around 2 million people in North central Nigeria. It is the most divergent Nupoid language.[2]

Ebira
Native toNigeria
RegionKogi state, Nassarawa state, FCT, Kwara state, Niger State, Benue state, Edo state, Ondo State
EthnicityEbira
Native speakers
2.2 million (2020)[1]
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3igb
Glottologebir1243

Geographic distribution

The majority of speakers are in Kogi State in the Central part of that state; constituting the second largest ethnic group according to national population commission census 2006 Nasarawa State in Toto Local Government Area, where the name is usually spelt Egbura; Edo State in the Town of Igarra, where the language is usually known as Etuno; and in the Federal Capital Territory in the Town of Abaji. It is also spoken in Lapai (Niger State), Makurdi (Benue State and Kwara State and some are also found in Ondo State (Akoko).

Dialects

Varieties of Ebira are:[2]

  • Tao dialect, the more prominent dialect used in media and publishing. It is spoken to the west of the Niger-Benue confluence
  • Koto (Okpoto) dialect, spoken to the northeast of the Niger-Benue confluence. It is known only from a wordlist in Sterk (1978a).

Blench (2019) lists Okene, Etuno (Tụnọ), and Koto.[3]

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate		 voiceless p t t͡ɕ k
voiced b d d͡ʑ ɡ
Fricative voiceless s (ʃ) h
voiced v z (ʒ)
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Tap ɾ
Approximant w (l) j
  • Sounds /s, z/ are heard as [ʃ, ʒ] when before a front-close vowel in syllable-initial position.
  • [l] is in free variation with /ɾ/.
  • Voiceless sounds /p, t, k/ can also be heard as slightly aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ].[4]

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ ʊ
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

References
  1. Ebira at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Blench, Roger. 2013. The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list.
  3. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  4. Adive, John R. (1984). A descriptive study of the verbal piece in Ebira (a language of Kwara State of Nigeria). University of London.


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