Edo language

Edo (; English: Template:IPAc-en, West African English: /ˈedo/), also known as Bini, is the language spoken by the Edo people in Edo State, Nigeria. It was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo for thousands of years. It is the majority language spoken in Edo State, particularly in Benin City, and the surrounding local governments and senatorial districts in the Southern parts of the State.

Distribution

Most of the Edo language-speakers live in the Southern parts of Edo State, Nigeria. The current state: Edo State derives its name from the Edo speaking people of the state. A smaller number of Edo speakers are also found in Delta State and Ondo State and in other parts of Nigeria.

Edo is an Edoid language. These languages are also spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Phonology

Vowels

There are seven vowels, , all of which may be long or nasal, and three tones.

	Front	Back
Close	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Close-mid	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Open-mid	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Open	Template:IPA link

Consonants

Edo has a rather average consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains only a single phonemic nasal, , but has 13 oral consonants, and the 8 stops, which have nasal allophones such as , and nasalized allophones before nasal vowels.

	Labial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	Template:IPA link
Plosive	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link
Fricative		Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Trill			Template:IPA link
Close approximant			Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link
Open approximant		Template:IPA link Template:IPAblink	Template:IPA link Template:IPAblink	Template:IPA link Template:IPAblink Template:IPAblink		Template:IPA link Template:IPAblink Template:IPAblink

The three rhotics have been described as voiced and voiceless trills as well as a lax English-type approximant. However, LadefogedTemplate:Rp found all three to be approximants, with the voiced–voiceless pair being raised (without being fricatives) and perhaps at a slightly different place of articulation compared to the third but not trills.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is simple, being maximally CVV, where VV is either a long vowel or plus a different oral or nasal vowel.

Orthography

The Edo alphabet has separate letters for the nasalised allophones of and , mw and n:

A

B

D

E

Ẹ

F

G

Gb

Gh

H

I

K

Kh

Kp

L

M

Mw

N

O

Ọ

P

R

Rh

Rr

S

T

U

V

Vb

W

Y

Z

Long vowels are written by doubling the letter. Nasal vowels may be written with a final -n or with an initial nasal consonant. Tone may be written with acute accent, grave accent, and unmarked, or with a final -h (-nh with a nasal vowel).

See also

• Edo people
• Edo literature
• Benin Empire

Further reading

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• Edo Language Dictionary Online Template:Webarchive
• Hans Melzian's Edo-English Dictionary
• Rebecca Agheyisi's Edo-English Dictionary
• Centre for Edo Studies
• PanAfrican L10n page on Edo (Bini)
• Edo/Africa names dictionary{source Edoworld}
• Bini (Edo) wordlists and recordings at the UCLA Phonetics Archive
• Bini (Edo) Market Days Calender [sic] on Naija local