Ikwerre language
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Ikwerre (Iwhuruohna)[1] is a language spoken primarily by the Ikwerre people,[2] who inhabit certain areas of Rivers State, Nigeria.
Classification
The Ikwerre language is a member of the Volta-Niger branch of Niger-Congo family of languages. Based on lexicostatistical analysis, Kay Williamson first asserted that the Ikwerre, Ekpeye, and Ogba, languages belonged to the same language cluster, and were not dialects.[3] After subsequent studies and more research by both Williamson and Roger Blench, it was concluded that lexical similar languages like Ikwerre, Ogba, Igbo and Ekpeye form a "language cluster" and that they are somewhat mutually intelligible.[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.
There is also a vowel *Script error: No such module "IPA". 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 Script error: No such module "IPA". or a syllabic nasal which is homorganic to the following consonant.
Vowel harmony
Ikwerre exhibits two kinds of vowel harmony:
- 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.
- Vowels of the same height in adjacent syllables must all be either front or back, i.e. the pairs Script error: No such module "IPA". & Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA". & Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA". & Script error: No such module "IPA"., and Script error: No such module "IPA". & Script error: No such module "IPA". 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 Script error: No such module "IPA"., and doesn't apply to onomatopoeic words.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar or palatal |
Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unroundedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | roundedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | unroundedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | roundedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | |||||
| Plosive or Affricate |
voicelessScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||
| voicedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |||
| Fricative | voicelessScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |||||
| voicedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | ||||||
| Non-plosive stop | plainScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Script error: No such module "IPA".~Template:IPA link | ||||||
| glottalizedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | |||||||
| Tap | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | |||||||
| Approximant | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link | ||
The oral consonants Script error: No such module "IPA". occur before oral vowels, and their nasal allophones Script error: No such module "IPA". before nasal vowels. The "non-explosive stops" Script error: No such module "IPA". are not plosives (not pulmonic) and are equivalent to implosives in other varieties of Igbo.
The tap Script error: No such module "IPA". may sometimes be realized as an approximant Script error: No such module "IPA"..
Tone
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.
References
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Template:Languages of Nigeria Template:Volta-Niger languages Template:Authority control
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ https://www.omniglot.com/writing/ikwerre.htm
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".