Ikwerre
Pronunciation[ìkʷéré]
Native toRivers state, Nigeria
Ethnicity
Native speakers
2,000,000
Niger–Congo?
DialectsApara, Ndele, Ọgbakiri, Ọbịọ, Akpor Alụụ, Ịbaa, Elele[1]
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3ikw
Glottologikwe1242
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Ikwerre, sometimes spelt as Ikwere, is an Igbo language spoken primarily by the Ikwerre people, who inhabit certain areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. It is also the biggest Igbo language along with Ngwa in Abia State.

Classification

The Ikwerre language is classified as an Igboid language. Based on lexicostatistical analysis, Kay Williamson first asserted that the Ikwerre, Ekpeye, Ogba, Etche and other Igbo languages belonged to the same language cluster, and were not dialects.[2] However, after subsequent studies and more research by both Williamson and Roger Blench, it was concluded that Igbo languages like Ikwerre, Ogba and their sister languages apart from Ekpeye form a "language cluster" and that they are somewhat mutually intelligible.[3] There are indications that the Ikwerre society was bilingual even in the pre-colonial Nigeria, with people speaking other Igbo varieties, as well as the Ikwerre language.[4]

Phonology

Vowels

Ikwerre distinguishes vowels by quality (frontedness and height), the presence or absence of nasalization, and the presence or absence of advanced tongue root.

Front Back
High +ATR i ĩ u ũ
−ATR ɪ ɪ̃ ʊ ʊ̃
Mid +ATR e ẽ o õ
−ATR ɛ ɛ̃ ɔ ɔ̃
Low −ATR a ã

There is also a vowel */ə̃/ which is posited to explain syllabic nasal consonants in accounts of the language which state that Ikwerre has no nasal stops. This sound is realized as [ɨ̃] or a syllabic nasal which is homorganic to the following consonant.

Vowel harmony

Ikwerre exhibits two kinds of vowel harmony:

  1. Every vowel in an Ikwerre word, with a few exceptions, agrees with the other vowels in the word as to the presence or absence of advanced tongue root.
  2. Vowels of the same height in adjacent syllables must all be either front or back, i.e. the pairs /i/ & /u/, /ɪ/ & /ʊ/, /e/ & /o/, and /ɛ/ & /ɔ/ cannot occur in adjacent syllables. Vowels of different heights, however, need not match for frontness/backness either. This doesn't apply to the first vowel in nouns beginning with a vowel or with /ɾ/, and doesn't apply to onomatopoeic words.

Consonants

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar
or palatal 		Velar Glottal
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Plosive
or affricate 		Voiceless p t tʃ k kʷ
Voiced b d dʒ ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative Voiceless f s
Voiced v z
Non-plosive stop Voiced ḅ~m
Glottalized ʼḅ~ʼm
Tap ɾ~ɾ̃
Approximant l~n j~j̃ ɰ~ɰ̃ w~w̃ h~h̃ hʷ~h̃ʷ

The oral consonants [ḅ ʼḅ l ɾ j ɰ w h hʷ] occur before oral vowels, and their nasal allophones [m ʼm n ɾ̃ ȷ̃ ɰ̃ w̃ h̃ h̃ʷ] before nasal vowels. The "non-explosive stops" [ḅ ʼḅ] are not plosives (not pulmonic), and are equivalent to implosives in other varieties of Igbo.

The tap /ɾ/ may sometimes be realized as an approximant [ɹ].

Tone

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008)

Ikwerre is a tonal language with seven tones: high, mid, low, high-low falling, high-mid falling, mid-low falling and rising. Ikwerre also has a tonal downdrift. For example: rínya᷆ (high, mid-low falling) means "weight, heaviness", rìnyâ (low,high-low falling) means "female, wife", mụ̌ (rising) means "to learn", mụ̂ (high-low falling) means "to give birth", etc.

Agbirigba

Ikwerre has an in-group variant, or cant, Agbirigba, that is meant to prevent understanding by outsiders.

References

  1. ^ Alagoa, Ebiegberi Joe; Anozie, F. N.; Nzewunwa, Nwanna (1988). The early history of the Niger Delta. Buske Verlag. p. 81. ISBN 3-87118-848-4.
  2. ^ Williamson, Kay (1974). ODUMA: The Lower Niger Languages. Vol. 1. Rivers State Council of Arts & Culture, Port Harcourt.
  3. ^ Williamson, Kay; Roger M. Blench (2000). African languages: an introduction. Cambridge University Press.
  4. ^ Kelechukwu U. Ihemere (2007). A Tri-Generational Study of Language Choice & Shift in Port Harcourt. Universal-Publishers. pp. 28–35. ISBN 9781581129588.
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