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Ibibio language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ibibio
Usem Ibibio
Native toNigeria
RegionAbia State, Akwa Ibom State, Rivers State, Cross River State
EthnicityIbibio
Native speakers
L1: 6.3 million (2020)[1]
L2: 4.5 million (2013)[1]
Latin
Nsibidi
Language codes
ISO 639-3ibb
Glottologibib1240
An Ibibio speaker, recorded in the United Kingdom.

Ibibio is the native language of the Ibibio people of Nigeria, belonging to the Ibibio-Efik dialect cluster of the Cross River languages. The name Ibibio is sometimes used for the entire dialect cluster. In pre-colonial times, it was written with Nsibidi ideograms, similar to Igbo, Efik, Anaang, and Ejagham. Ibibio has also had influences on Afro-American diasporic languages such as AAVE words like buckra which come from the Ibibio word mbakara and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.

Geographic distribution

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The Ibibio people are found in the South-South region of Nigeria in Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State, and Eastern Abia State (Arochukwu and Ukwa East LGAs). Ibibio communities in Opobo Nkoro and Oyigbo LGA's of Rivers State are largely unknown.

Some Ibibios are also found in other neighboring countries (western Cameroon, Bioko — central Guinea, and Ghana).

Phonology

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Consonants

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Ibibio consonant phonemes[2]
Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Labial-velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless b t k k͡p
voiced d
Fricative voiceless f s
Approximant j w

Intervocalic plosives are lenited:[2]

  • /b/[β]
  • /t, d/[ɾ]
  • /k/[ɢ̆] or [ɰ]

Vowels

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Ranges for Ibibio monophthongs, from Urua (2004:106)
Ibibio vowel phonemes[2]
Front Back
unrounded unrounded rounded
Close i u
Mid e ʌ o
Open a ɔ

Between consonants, /i, u, o/ have allophones that are transcribed [ɪ, ʉ, ə], respectively.[2] At least in case of [ɪ, ə], the realization is probably somewhat different (e.g. close-mid [e, ɘ]), because the default IPA values of the symbols [ɪ, ə] are very similar to the normal realizations of the Ibibio vowels /i, ʌ/. Similarly, [ʉ] may actually be near-close [ʉ̞], rather than close [ʉ].

In some dialects (e.g. Ibiono), /ɪ, ʉ, ə/ occur as phonemes distinct from /i, u, o/.[2]

Tones

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Ibibio has five phonemic tones: high, mid, rising, falling and low.

Orthography

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Ibibio alphabet
Essien 1983[4] Essien 1990[5] IPA
a a a
b b b
d d d
e e e
ǝ ǝ ə
f f f
gh gh ɣ
h h x
i i i
ɨ
k k k
kp kp kp
m m m
n n n
ñ ŋ
ñw n̄w ŋʷ
ny ny ɲ
o o o
ɔ
ʌ ʌ ʌ
p p p
s s s
t t t
u u u
ʉ
w w w
y y j

Proverbs

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The following Ibibio proverbs with English translations come from The Sayings of the Wise: Ibibio Proverbs and Idioms by Anietie Akpabio, published in 1899.[6]

  • "Ekpo ufɔk ɔkɔbɔ owo." "Trouble often begins at home."
  • "Eto keet isikabake akai." "A tree cannot make a forest."
  • "Ikpat eka unen isiwotdo nditɔ." "A hen's feet cannot kill the chickens (i.e. the mother's actions are never meant to be harmful to the children)."
  • "Idop, idop ewa, enye ata ɔkpɔ unam." "It is a quiet dog that eats the fattest bone."
  • "Ofum ese ekpep eto unek." "The wind teaches the tree how to dance (i.e. someone's action that generates good will in another person)."

References

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  1. ^ a b Ibibio at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Urua (2004), p. 106.
  3. ^ Urua (2004), pp. 105–106.
  4. ^ Urua, Eno-Abasi; Gibbon, Dafydd. Orthography, globalisation and IT: A proposal for Ibibio text technology (PDF) (Report). p. 12., citing Essien, O. E., ed. (1983). The Orthography of the Ibibio Language. A publication of the Ibibio Language Panel. Calabar: Paico Press & Books. pp. 7–8. OCLC 16152696.
  5. ^ Essien, Okon E. (1990). "0.3.6". A Grammar of the Ibibio Language. Ibadan: University Press. ISBN 978-978-2491-53-4. OCLC 24681999.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ Akpabio, Anietie (1899). The Sayings of the Wise: Ibibio Proverbs and Idioms.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Bachmann, Arne (2006). Ein quantitatives Tonmodell für Ibibio. Entwicklung eines Prädiktionsmoduls für das BOSS-Sprachsynthesesystem [A quantitative tone model for Ibibio. Development of a prediction module for the BOSS speech synthesis system] (MA thesis) (in German). University of Bonn. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7307214.
  • Kaufman, Elaine Marlowe (1972). Ibibio dictionary. Leiden: Cross River State University and Ibibio Language Board, Nigeria, in cooperation with African Studies Centre. ISBN 978-90-70110-46-8.
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