Ukaan (also Ikan, Anyaran, Auga, or Kakumo) is a poorly described
Niger–Congo language or dialect cluster of uncertain affiliation.
Roger Blench
Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ...
suspects, based on wordlists, that it might be closest to the (East)
Benue–Congo languages
Benue–Congo (sometimes called East Benue–Congo) is a major branch of the Volta-Congo languages which covers most of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Subdivisions
Central Nigerian (or Platoid) contains the Plateau languages, Plateau, Jukunoid languages, Juk ...
(or, equivalently, the most divergent of the Benue–Congo languages). Blench (2012) states that "noun-classes and concord make it look Benue-Congo, but evidence is weak."
Speakers refer to their language as ''Ùkãã'' or ''Ìkã''.
Varieties
The name ''Anyaran'' is from the town of
Anyaran, where it is spoken. Ukaan has several divergent dialects: Ukaan proper, Igau, Ayegbe (Iisheu), Iinno (Iyinno), which only have one-way intelligibility in some cases.
Roger Blench (2005, 2019) considers Ukaan to consist of at least 3 different languages, and notes that Ukaan varieties spoken in Ìshè,̣ Ẹkakumọ, and Auga all have different lexemes.
Salffner (2009: 27) lists the following four dialects of Ukaan.
*Ikaan: spoken in Ikakumo (
Edo State
Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...
)
*Ayegbe: spoken in Ise
*Iigau or Iigao: spoken in Auga
*Iino: spoken in Ayanran
Distribution
''Ethnologue'' lists the following locations where Ukaan is spoken.
*
Ondo State
Ondo () is a States of Nigeria, state in Points of the compass, southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State (Nigeria), Western State. Ondo borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast fo ...
:
Akoko North-East LGA
LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the northwestern shore of Long Island, bordering Flushing Bay. Covering , the facility wa ...
*
Edo State
Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...
:
Akoko Edo LGA
*
Kogi State
Kogi State is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti State, Ekiti and Kwara State, Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Fe ...
:
Ijumu LGA
Blench (2019) lists
Ondo State
Ondo () is a States of Nigeria, state in Points of the compass, southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State (Nigeria), Western State. Ondo borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast fo ...
, Akoko North LGA, towns of Kakumo–Aworo (Kakumo–Kejĩ, Auga and Iṣe);
Edo State
Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...
, Akoko Edo LGA, towns of Kakumo–Akoko and Anyaran.
Reconstruction
Proto-Ukaan has been reconstructed by Abiodun (1999).
[Abiodun, Michael Ajibola. 1999. ''A comparative phonology and morphology of Ukaan dialects of Old Akoko division''. Doctoral dissertation. University of Ilorin.]
See also
*
List of Proto-Ukaan reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
External links
* ELAR archive o
Farming, food and yam: language and cultural practices among Ikaan speakers
{{Niger-Congo branches
Niger–Congo languages
Languages of Nigeria
Ondo State
Benue–Congo languages