View source for Defaka language

{{Short description|Endangered language of Nigeria}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Defaka
|altname=Afakani
|nativename={{lang|afn|Défàkà}}
|states=[[Nigeria]]
|region=[[Rivers State]], [[Opobo–Nkoro]]
|ethnicity=[[Defaka people|Defaka]]
|speakers=200 
|date=2001
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam2=[[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]]?
|iso3=afn
|notice=IPA
|glotto=defa1248
|glottorefname=Defaka
}}

'''Defaka''' is an [[endangered language|endangered]] and divergent [[Nigeria|Nigerian]] language of uncertain classification. It is spoken in the [[Opobo–Nkoro]] [[Local government area|LGA]] of [[Rivers State]], in the Defaka or Afakani ward of Nkọrọ town and Ịwọma Nkọrọ.<ref name="BlenchAtlas4">{{Cite book|title=An Atlas of Nigerian Languages|last=Blench|first=Roger|publisher=Kay Williamson Educational Foundation|year=2019|edition=4th|location=Cambridge}}</ref> The low number of Defaka speakers, coupled with the fact that other languages dominate the region where Defaka is spoken, edges the language near extinction on a year-to-year basis. It is generally classified in an [[Ijoid languages|Ijoid]] branch of the [[Niger–Congo]] family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/afn|title=Did you know Defaka is severely endangered?|website=Endangered Languages|language=en|access-date=2017-02-10}}</ref> However, the Ijoid proposal is problematic. Blench (2012) notes that "Defaka has numerous external cognates and might be an isolate or independent branch of Niger–Congo which has come under Ịjọ influence."<ref>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Blench |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/General/Niger-Congo%20an%20alternative%20view.pdf |title=Niger-Congo: an alternative view}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=October 2024}}

==People==
Ethnically, the [[Defaka people]] are distinct from the [[Nkoroo]], but they have assimilated to Nkoroo culture to such a degree that their language seems to be the only sign of a distinct Defaka identity. Use of the Defaka language however is quickly receding in favour of the language of the [[Nkoroo language|Nkoroo]], an [[Ijaw languages|Ijaw]] language. Nowadays, most Defaka speakers are elderly people, and even among these, Defaka is rarely spoken &mdash; the total number of Defaka speakers is at most 200 nowadays (SIL/Ethnologue 15th ed.).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://defaka.rutgers.edu/people.html|title=Documenting Defaka & Nkoroo|website=defaka.rutgers.edu|access-date=2017-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314075020/http://defaka.rutgers.edu/people.html|archive-date=2016-03-14|url-status=dead}}</ref> The decrease in use of Defaka is stronger in Nkoroo town than in the Iwoma area. Since the language communities between Defaka and Nkoroo are so intertwined, it is hard to determine which language influences the other.<ref name=":0" />

All children grow up speaking [[Nkoroo language|Nkoroo]] (an [[Ijo languages|Ijo language]]) as a first language. The next most used language among the Defaka is [[Igbo language|Igbo]], owing to the political influence of the [[Opobo]] since the days of the [[Oil Rivers Trade]]. Igbo has been a language of instruction in many schools in the region and still functions as a regional [[lingua franca|trade language]].

==Classification==
The Defaka language shows many lexical similarities with Ijọ, some shared regular sound correspondences and some typological similarities with proto-Ịjọ. For example, both languages have a [[subject–object–verb]] basic word order, which is otherwise extremely rare in the [[Niger–Congo language family]], being found only in the [[Mande languages|Mande]] and [[Dogon languages|Dogon]] branches.
{{interlinear|lang=afn|indent=3
|a ebere ko̘ a okuna ɓááma
|the dog SUBJ the fowl kill:PST
|The dog killed the fowl (Defaka){{sfn|Jenewari|1983|p=99}}}}

{{interlinear|lang=ijn|indent=3
|obiri ɓé o̘ɓó̘kō̘ ɓé ɓám̄ 
|dog the fowl the kill:PST
|The dog killed the fowl (Ịjọ, Kalaɓarị dialect){{sfn|Jenewari|1983|p=99}}}}

Also, Defaka has a [[grammatical gender|sex-gender]] system distinguishing between masculine, feminine, and neuter 3rd-person singular pronouns; this is once again a rarity among south-central Niger–Congo languages other than Ịjoid and Defaka.{{sfn|Jenewari|1983|p=105}}
* {{lang|afn|á tóɓo}} {{gloss|her head}}
* {{lang|afn|o toɓo}} {{gloss|his head}}
* {{lang|afn|yé tóɓo}} {{gloss|its head}}

While some of the lexical and maybe typological similarities can be attributed to borrowing (as Defaka has been in close contact with Ijọ for more than 300 years), the sound correspondences point to a (somewhat distant) genealogical relationship.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

==Phonology==
Nearly all Defaka are bilingual in Nkọrọọ, and the phonology appears to be the same as that language.

===Tone===
Defaka has two [[tone (linguistics)|tones]], {{sm|high}} and {{sm|low}}. On long vowels and diphthongs, as well as disyllabic words, {{sm|high–low}} and {{sm|low–high}} [[contour tone|contours]] occur. In addition, there is a [[downstep]] that may appear between high tones, and which is the remnant of an elided low tone. However, Shryock et al. were not able to measure significant differences in the pitch traces of {{sm|high–low}}, {{sm|low–low}}, and {{sm|high}}–downstep–{{sm|high}}, all of which have a falling pitch, suggesting that there may be fewer distinctive [[word tone]]s than the combinations of syllable tones would suggest. However, these all clearly contrast with level-pitched {{sm|high–high}} and rising-pitched {{sm|low–high}}.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|pp=15-16}}

===Vowels===
The Ijoid [[vowel harmony]] has collapsed in Defaka, as it has in Nkọrọọ. There are seven oral vowels, {{IPA|/i ɪ e a ɔ o u/}},{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=4}} though {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} are uncommon.{{cn|date=October 2024}} There are five nasal vowels, {{IPA|/ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ/}}.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=4}} All may occur long, and the nasal vowels are inherently long.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=4}} Long vowels are at least twice as long as short vowels, except {{grapheme|u}} and {{grapheme|uu}}.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|pp=8-9}}

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Consonants{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=9}}
|-
! colspan=2| !! [[Labial consonant|Labial]] !! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] !! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] !! [[Velar consonant|Velar]] !! [[Labial-velar consonant|Labial-<br/>velar]]
|-
! colspan=2|[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}} || ({{IPAlink|n}}){{efn|Allophone of {{IPAslink|l}}{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=13}}}} || || ({{IPAlink|ŋ}}){{efn|Allophone of {{IPAslink|m}} next to velar and labial-velar stops{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=13}}}} ||
|-
! colspan=2|Implosive
| {{IPAlink|ɓ}} || || || ||
|-
! rowspan=2|Plosive !! <small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPAlink|p}} || {{IPAlink|t}} || || {{IPAlink|k}} || {{IPAlink|kp}}
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAlink|b}} || {{IPAlink|d}} || || {{IPAlink|g}} || {{IPAlink|gb}}
|-
! colspan=2|[[Affricate]]
| || || {{IPAlink|dʒ}} || ||
|-
! rowspan=2|[[Fricative]] !! <small>voiceless</small>
| {{IPAlink|f}} || {{IPAlink|s}} ||  || || 
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAlink|v}} || ({{IPAlink|z}}){{efn|Allophone of {{IPAslink|dʒ}}{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=12}}}} || || ||
|-
! colspan=2|[[Tap consonant|Tap]]
| || {{IPAlink|ɾ}} || || ||
|-
! colspan=2|[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|  || {{IPAlink|l}} || || || 
|-
! colspan=2|[[Approximant]]
|  || ({{IPAlink|ɹ}}){{efn|Allophone of {{IPAslink|ɾ}}{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=17}}}} || {{IPAlink|j}} || || {{IPAlink|w}}
|}
{{noteslist}}

Most voiceless [[obstruent]]s are [[tenuis consonant|tenuis]]. However, {{IPAslink|kp}} has a slightly negative [[voice onset time]]. That is, voicing commences somewhat before the consonant is released, as in English "voiced" stops such as {{grapheme|b}}. This is typical of labial-velar stops.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=10}} {{IPAslink|ɡb}}, on the other hand, is fully voiced, as are the other voiced obstruents.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=12}} Shryock et al. analyse the prenasalised stops {{IPA|[mb nd ŋɡ ŋɡ͡b]}} as [[consonant cluster]]s with {{IPA|/m/}}.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=13}} {{IPAblink|dʒ}} varies with {{IPAblink|z}}, with some speakers using one, some the other, and some either, depending on the word.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=12}}

{{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}} may be nasalised before nasal vowels.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=14}}

The velar plosives {{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} may be [[Lenition|lenited]] to {{IPAblink|x}} or {{IPAblink|ɣ}} between vowels.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

The tap {{IPA|/ɾ/}} is pronounced as an approximant, {{IPA|[ɹ]}}, by some speakers.{{sfn|Shryock|Ladefoged|Williamson|1996–1997|p=17}} It only occurs between vowels and at the ends of words.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

==See also==
*[[Wiktionary:Appendix:Defaka word list|Defaka word list]] (Wiktionary)

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite conference |last=Blench |first=Roger |date=2003 |orig-date=2000 |title=Language Death in West Africa |conference=Round Table on Language Endangerment |location=Bad Godesborg}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jenewari |first=Charles E. W. |title=Current Approaches to African Linguistics |year=1983 |isbn=9783112420065 |editor-last=Dihoff |editor-first=Ivan R. |volume=1 |pages=85–111 |chapter=Defaka, Ijo's Closest Linguistic Relative |doi=10.1515/9783112420065-006}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Shryock |first=Aaron |last2=Ladefoged |first2=Peter |last3=Williamson |first3=Kay |date=1996–1997 |title=The phonetic structures of Defaka |url=https://journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/downloads/download/76-volume2602/362-the-phonetic-structures-of-defaka |journal=Journal of West African Languages |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=3–27}}
* {{Cite book |last=Williamson |first=Kay |title=The multi-disciplinary approach to African history: Essays in honour of Ebiegberi Joe Algoa |publisher=University of Port Harcourt Press |year=1998 |isbn=9789782321909 |editor-last=Ejituwu |editor-first=Nkparom C. |location=Port Harcourt |pages=151–183 |chapter=Defaka revisited}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060512214641/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D9869%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html Defaka at UNESCO]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080724075212/http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/Language/AFN/AFN.html Defaka word lists and recordings] at The UCLA Phonetics Lab.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051223100807/http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/langdoc/EGA/Proposals/Ega-proposal2/ Defaka] targeted by a proposal to document endangered languages.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100813080008/http://defaka.rutgers.edu/ Defaka and Nkoroo] a project to document Defaka and Nkoroo

{{Languages of Nigeria}}
{{Ijoid languages}}
[[Category:Indigenous languages of Rivers State]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of Africa]]
[[Category:Ijoid languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Nigeria]]