Urhobo language

Last updated
Urhobo
Native to Nigeria
Region Delta State, Edo State
Ethnicity Urhobo people
Native speakers
1.1 million (2020) [1]
Niger–Congo?
  • Atlantic–Congo
    • Volta–Niger
      • yeai
        • Edoid
          • Southwestern
            • Urhobo
Language codes
ISO 639-3 urh
Glottolog urho1239
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Urhobo is a South-Western Edoid language [2] spoken by the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. [3] [4] It is from the Delta and Bayelsa States. [5]

Contents

Phonology

Urhobo has a rather reduced system of sound inventory compared to proto-Edoid. The inventory of Urhobo consists of seven vowels; which form two harmonic sets, [6] /ieɛaoɔu/ and ɛ̃ãɔ̃õũ/. [7]

It has a conservative consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants, /ɾ,l,β̞,j,w/, have nasal allophones before nasal vowels. [6]

  Labial Labiodental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar
Nasal m (n) ɲ ŋ͡m
Plosive p  b t  dd͡ʒ  ɡʲk  ɡk͡p  ɡ͡b
Fricative ɸ  f  vsʃ(ç  ʝ)x  ɣ 
Trill     r    
Flap   (ɾ̥  ɾ)    
Lateral   l~n    
Approximant β̞[β̞̃] (ɹ̥  ɹ) [ɹ̃] j[j̃](ɰ  ɰ̥)w[w̃]

According to Anthony Ukere, Urhobo has two tones, a high tone and a low tone. These can also combine to form rising and falling tones. [8]

Syntax

Urhobo has the SVO constituent order type as illustrated with the example below:

Òtítí

Otiti

ò

3SG

chó

steal.PST

ọhọ

hen

DET

Òtítí ò chó ọhọ ná

Otiti 3SG steal.PST hen DET

‘Otiti stole the hen.’

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References

  1. Urhobo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Elugbe, B. O. 1989. Edoid: Phonology and Lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
  3. "Nigeria | History, Population, Flag, Map, Languages, Capital, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  4. "Supplemental Information 3: An excerpt from Data Downloads page, where users can download original datasets". doi: 10.7717/peerj.9467/supp-3 .{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. "Bayelsa State Government – The Glory of all Lands" . Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  6. 1 2 Rolle, N. 2013. “Phonetics and phonology of Urhobo.”UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report, 2013: 281-326.
  7. Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
  8. Ukere, Anthony Obakpọnọvwẹ. 1986. Urhobo-English dictionary. Benin City: Ilupeju Press.

General references