Lower Cross River languages

Group of Nigerian languages

The Lower Cross River languages form a branch of the Cross River languages of Cross River State, Nigeria. They consist of the divergent Obolo language (or Andoni, 200,000 speakers), and the core of the branch, which includes the 4 million speakers of the Efik-Ibibio cluster.^[1]

• Obolo
• Lower Cross proper: Efik-Ibibio, Ibino (Ibeno), Oro (Oron), Okobo, Iko, Ebughu, Ilue, Enwang-Uda, Usaghade

Additionally, Ethnologue lists several more languages within the Efik-Ibibio cluster. (See Ibibio-Efik languages.)

Forde and Jones (1950) considered Ibino and Oro to be Efik-Ibibio.

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).^[2]

Reconstructions

Proto-Lower Cross River has been reconstructed by Connell (n.d.)^[7]

See also

• List of Proto-Lower Cross River reconstructions (Wiktionary)

References

1. Essien, Okon (1990). A grammar of the Ibibio language. Ibadan, Nigeria: University Press Limited.
2. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
3. "Iko".
4. Forde, C.D. and G.I. Jones 1950. The Ibo and Ibibio speaking peoples of Southern Nigeria. Ethnographic Survey of Africa. Western Africa part III. International African Institute, London.
5. "Obolo".
6. "Ibino".
7. Connell, Bruce. n.d. Comparative Lower Cross wordlist.

 This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3.0 license.

Further reading

• Connell, Bruce. n.d. Comparative Lower Cross wordlist. Unpublished manuscript.