North Akoko, usually abbreviated as Akoko and also known as Arigidi, is a
dialect cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
spoken in
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
. It appears to form a branch of the "Yoruba–Edo–Akoko–Igbo" () group of
Niger–Congo languages
Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages, Atlantic-Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly ...
. It is spoken in the LGAs of
Akoko North East
Akoko North-East is a Local Government Area in Ondo State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Ikare. Ikare consist of 15 districts or towns, namely: Okela, Okorun, Eshe, Odo, Ilepa, Okoja, Iku, Odeyare, Odoruwa, ...
,
Akoko North West,
Ekiti East, and
Ijumu (''Ethnologue'').
Varieties
Akokoid varieties include Arigidi, Erúṣú, Oyín, Ìgáṣí Eṣé, Urò, Ọ̀jọ̀, Àfá, Ògè, Ìdò, and Àjè.
Below is a list of Arigidi language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).
Internal classification
The internal classification of Akokoid language varieties is given by Fadoro (2010) as:
[Fadọrọ, Jacob Oludare. 2010. ''Phonological and lexical variations in Akokoid''. Doctoral dissertation, ]University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 1962 ...
.
;Akokoid
*Arigidi
**Arigidi
**Erushu
*Ọ̀wọ̀n
**''varieties in Oke Agbe''
***Afa
***Aje
***Udo
***Oge
**''varieties outside Oke Agbe''
***Oyin
***Igashi
***Uro
Arigidi and Erushu are mutually intelligible with each other; varieties spoken in Oke Agbe with each other; and varieties spoken outside Oke Agbe with each other. However, these three groups are not mutually intelligible with each other.
Reconstructions
The following list of Proto-Akokoid reconstructions is from Blench (n.d.).
[Blench, Roger]
Comparative Akokoid
:
See also
*
List of Proto-Akokoid reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
*Blench, Roger
Comparative Akokoid
{{Niger-Congo branches
Volta–Niger languages