Epie (or Epie-Atissa) is a language 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 ...
by the
Epie-Atissa people
The Epie and Atissa are two Nations that live along Epie Creek, northeast of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Together, they are commonly known as the Epie-Atissa. The influx of the Engenni migrants to the present location of Epie-Atissa led to its ...
.
Phonology
The language has a partially reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of eight vowels; these form two harmonic sets, and .
Epie has only one clearly phonemic nasal stop, ; alternates with , depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. (The other approximants, , are also nasalized in this position: see
Edo language
Edo (with diacritics, ), colloquially called Bini (Benin), is a language spoken in Edo State, Nigeria. It is the native language of the Edo people and was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo. Distribution ...
for a similar situation.) The inventory is:
[Jeff Mielke, 2008. ''The emergence of distinctive features'', p 136''ff'';]
also found in ''Variation and gradience in phonetics and phonology'', p 26''ff''
References
Further reading
* Thomas, Elaine and Kay Williamson. 1967. "Wordlists of delta Edo: Epie, Engenni, Degema." In Occasional Papers 8, p. 105. Accra: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
Edoid languages
{{Nigeria-stub