Lower Cross River languages

Lower Cross River
Lower Cross, Ibibioid
Geographic distribution	Nigeria; Roughly west of the Imo estuary to east of the Cross estuary. lower Southwest Cameroon
Linguistic classification	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Cross River Lower Cross River
Subdivisions	Obolo Lower Cross proper (Ibibioid)
Language codes
Glottolog	obol1242

The Lower Cross River languages form a branch of the Cross River languages of Cross River State, Nigeria. They consist of the divergent Obolo language or Andoni, (200,000 speakers), and the core of the branch, which includes the 4 million speakers of the Efik-Ibibio cluster. ^[1]

• Obolo
• Lower Cross proper: Efik-Ibibio, Ibino (Ibeno), Oro (Oron), Okobo, Iko, Ebughu, Ilue, Enwang-Uda, Usaghade

Additionally, Ethnologue lists several more languages within the Efik-Ibibio cluster. (See Ibibio-Efik languages.)

Forde and Jones (1950) considered Ibino and Oro to be Efik-Ibibio.

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019). ^[2]

Language	Branch	Dialects	Alternate spellings	Own name for language	Endonym(s)	Other names (location-based)	Other names for language	Exonym(s)	Speakers	Location(s)	Notes
Ebughu				Ebughu	Ebughu	Oron			more than 5,000 (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Mbo and Oron LGAs
Enwang				Enwang	Enwang	Oron (incorrectly)			estimated 50,000 plus (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Mbo LGA
Iko				Iko		Obolo (incorrectly included within Obolo)			Three villages: 5,000+ (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Eastern Obolo LGA [3]
Ilue			Idua	Ilue					5,000 (1988); diminishing	Akwa Ibom State, Oron LGA
Ọkọbọ									11,200 (1945 F&J); 50,000	Akwa Ibom State, Okobo LGA
Uda				Uda					10,000 plus (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Mbo LGA
Ukwa										Cross River State, Akampka LGA
Usaghade			Usakade(t)	Usaghade		Isangele			estimate 10,000 (1990) although mostly in Cameroon	Cross River State, Odukpani LGA; mainly in Cameroon, Isangele sub–division
Idere				Idere					more than 5,000 (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Itu LGA	no data
Efai				Efai			Effiat (from Efik)		>5,000 (1988 est.)	Akwa Ibom State, Mbo LGA; Cameroon, Isangele sub–division
Ọrọ			Oron	Ọrọ (Oro)	Ọrọ (Oro)				319,000 (1963 per Kuperus)	Akwa Ibom State, Oron LGA
Ito				Ito					5,000 plus (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Akamkpa LGA	no data
Eki				Eki					5000 plus (1988)	Cross River State	no data
Etebi	Central			Etebi		Oron (incorrectly); Ekit (incorrectly)			estimate 15,000 (1989)	Akwa Ibom State, Uquo Ibeno LGA
Itu Mbon Uzo	Central		Itu Mbuzo	Itu Mbon Uzo					5,000 plus (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Ikono LGA
Anaang	Central	Abak, Ikot Ekpene, Ukanafun	Annang, Anang, Anaŋ						246,000 (F&J 1944-5): estimated 1,000,000 (1990)	Akwa Ibom State, Ikot Ekpene, Essien Udim, Abak, Ukanafun and Oruk–Anam LGAs
Efik	Central					Calabar			26,300 (1950 F&J), [4] 10,000 in Cameroon; 360,000 first language speakers; spoken as a second language by 1.3 million (UN 1960), 3.5 million (1986 UBS) diminishing	Cross River State, Calabar municipality, Odukpani and Akamkpa LGAs; and in Cameroon
Ekit	Central		Ekid, Eket						22,000 (1952 W&B); estimated 200,000 (1989)	Akwa Ibom State, Eket and Uquo Ibeno LGAs
Ibibio	Central	Nkari, Enyong, Central, Itak, Nsit etc. roughly according to clans	Ibibyo						800,000 (1952) (may include Efik); 283,000 (1945 F&J); 2 million (1973 census); estimated 2.5 million (Ibibio proper 1990)	Akwa Ibom State, Ikono, Itu, Uyo, Etinan, Ekpe–Atai, Uruan, Nsit–Ubium, Onna, Mkpat Enin and Abasi LGAs
Ibuoro	Central			Ibuoro					5,000 plus (1988)	Akwa Ibom State, Itu and Ikono LGAs
Obolo	West	From West to East: Ataba, Unyeada, Ngo, Okoroete, Ibot Obolo			Òbólò	Andoni			22,400 (1944 F&J); 90,000 (1983 Aaron); 100,000 (Faraclas 1989)	Rivers State, Andoni LGA: western dialects; Akwa Ibom State, Eastern Obolo LGA: eastern dialects [5]
Ibinọ	West		Ibuno, Ibeno						10,000 (Faraclas (1989)	Akwa Ibom State, Ibeno LGA [6]

Reconstructions

Proto-Lower Cross River has been reconstructed by Connell (n.d.) ^[7]

See also

• List of Proto-Lower Cross River reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

1. Essien, Okon (1990). A grammar of the Ibibio language. Ibadan, Nigeria: University Press Limited.
2. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
3. "Iko".
4. Forde, C.D. and G.I. Jones 1950. The Ibo and Ibibio speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria. Ethnographic Survey of Africa. Western Africa part III. International African Institute, London.
5. "Obolo".
6. "Ibino".
7. Connell, Bruce. n.d. Comparative Lower Cross wordlist.

 This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3.0 license.

Further reading

• Connell, Bruce. n.d. Comparative Lower Cross wordlist. Unpublished manuscript.