The Edoid languages are a few dozen languages spoken in southern Nigeria. Edoid-speaking

ethnic groups An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...

are predominantly located in the States of Edo and

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

however, smaller Edoid-speaking communities are also present in the states of Ondo, Bayelsa, and

Rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

. The term "Edoid" for the language group derives from its most widely spoken member, Edo, which is natively spoken in Southern Edo. Edoid languages collectively have approximately 10 million primary and secondary speakers.

Classification

Elugbe (1989)

The following classification is based on that of Elugbe (1989). * Edoid ** Delta: Degema, Epie, Ẹgẹnẹ (Engenni) ** North-Central *** Edo: Edo (Bini), Ivbiosakon (Ora, Emai, Iuleha), Esan (Ishan) *** Yekhee: Ghotuo, Yekhee, Enwan, Igwe, Ikpeshi, Okpela (Ivbie North, Arhe), Ososo, Sasaru, Uneme *** ? Ihievbe ** Northwestern: *** Osse River: Ehuẹun– Ukue, Iyayu– Uhami *** Southern Northwestern: Okpamheri, Akuku, Okpe, Oloma *** ? Aduge ** Southwestern: Isoko, Urhobo, Eruwa, Okpe, Uvbie Ihievbe and Aduge are unclassified within their branches.

Lewis (2013)

An alternative classification of the Edoid languages by Lewis (2013:160): * Proto-Edoid **North-Western *** Okpella, North Ibie *** Atte, Enwa, Ikpeshi *** Ibilo, Dagbala, Aiyegunle, Somorika *** Akuku *** Okpe **North-Central *** Ghotuo, Sasaru, Igwe, Ososo *** Eese, Ihievbe, Uneme- Yekhee, Uokha- Uroe- Ake- Warake, Ikhin- Arokho, Esan, Bini **South-Western *** Okpe *** Urhobo *** Isoko *** Eruwa **Delta *** Eipe-Atisa *** Egene (Engenni) *** Degema Lewis's study is an improvement on Elugbe's classification, as more languages were identified and classified. However, omitted the Uvbie of the South-Western Edoid branch (cf. Emoefe et al. (2017).Emonefe, A. O., C. U. C. Ugorji and P. O. Ekiugbo. (2017). Is Uvwie a Dialect of Urhobo? University of Benin Journal of Humanities 5(1): 27-52.)

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).

Comparative vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary for some northern Edoid languages from Lewis (2013):

Phonology

Proto-Edoid is reconstructed as having a contrast between oral and nasal consonants and oral and

nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are p ...

s typical for the region. However, in some Edoid languages nasal vowels have been reanalyzed as allophones of oral vowels after nasal consonants, and in others nasal consonants have been reanalyzed as allophones of oral consonants before nasal vowels, reducing the number of phonemically nasal consonants. Urhobo retains three nasals, , and has five oral consonants with nasal allophones, ; in Edo this is reduced to one phonemic nasal, , but eight additional consonants with nasal allophones, ; and in Ukue there are no indisputably phonemic nasals and only two consonants with nasal allophones, .

Notes

References

Bibliography

*Frank Kügler, Caroline Féry, Ruben Van De Vijver (2009) ''Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology'' *Elugbe, Ben Ohiọmamhẹ. 1989a. "Edoid". In Bendor-Samuel (Ed.), ''The Niger–Congo Languages''. Lanham: The United Press of America. 291-304. *Elugbe, Ben Ohiọmamhẹ. 1989b. ''Comparative Edoid: phonology and lexicon''. Delta Series No. 6. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press. *Blench, Roger
Delta Edoid wordlists
{{Niger-Congo branches Volta–Niger languages