Rigwe language

Last updated
Rigwe
Nkarigwe
Native to Nigeria
Region Plateau State, Kaduna State
Native speakers
(40,000 cited 1985) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 iri
Glottolog irig1241
Rigwe
PeopleNneirigwe
LanguageNkarigwe
ɾȉgʷȅ [2]
Personƴîɾìgʷȅ
Peopleyíɾìgʷȅ
Languageɾȉgʷȅ

The Rigwe language, Nkarigwe, is a Plateau language of Nigeria spoken by the Irigwe people mainly found in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State. [3] [4]

Contents

Rigwe has highly complex phonology. [5] The presence of the lateral fricative /ɬ/ in Rigwe, unusual among Plateau languages, suggests that there used to be West Chadic languages in the area with this phoneme. [6]

Phonology

Rigwe phonology: [7]

Rigwe Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palato-alveolar (Alveolo-) Palatal Velar Labial–velar/

Glottal

plain pl. lb. plain pal. plain pl. plain pl. lb. plain lb. plain pl. lb. glo. plain lb. glo. plain pal glo.
Nasal voiced m ɱ n ɲ , ɲːɲʷ ŋ ŋʷ, ŋʷʲ ŋ͡m
Stop voiceless p t c ˀc k ˀk k͡p ˀkp
voiced b , ˀb d ɟɟʲɟʷ ɡ ɡʷˀɡʷ ɡ͡b ˀɡb
Fricative voiceless f s , ˀs ʃ ʃʷ, ˀʃʷ h
voiced v ððʲ z ʒ ʒʷ
Affricate voiceless ps ts tsʲt̠ʃt̠ʃʷtɕʷ
voiced d̠ʒd̠ʒʷ
Approximant voiceless ɬ j̊ʷ w
voiced l j ˀjʍʍʲˀʍ, ˀʍʲ
Tap ɾɾʲɾʷ
Trill ʙr
Rigwe Vowels
Front Central Back
OralNasalOralNasalOralNasal
Close i ĩ u ũ
Close-mid e o õ
Open ɛ ɛ̃ a ã ɔ ɔ̃
Rigwe Tones
Toneme
High˦
Mid˧
Mid-low˨
Low˩

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References

  1. Rigwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  3. "Irigwe (African people)". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  4. "Rigwe". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  5. Blench, Roger M. 2018. Nominal affixes and number marking in the Plateau languages of Central Nigeria. In John R. Watters (ed.), East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs, 107–172. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi : 10.5281/zenodo.1314325
  6. Blench, Roger (2022). Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence . 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien.
  7. "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2022-06-10.