South-Western Edoid language of Nigeria
Urhobo is a South-Western Edoid language[2] spoken by the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria.[3][4] It is from the Delta and Bayelsa States.[5]
Phonology
Urhobo has a rather reduced system of sound inventory compared to proto-Edoid. The inventory of Urhobo consists of seven vowels; which form two harmonic sets,[6] /i e ɛ a o ɔ u/ and /ĩ ẽ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃ õ ũ/.[7]
It has a conservative consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants, /ɾ, l, β̞, j, w/, have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.[6]
- /l/ is interchangeable with [n] only before nasal vowels.
- /d͡ʒ/ can be heard as [ɟ͡ʝ ~ ʝ] before non-front vowels.
- Nasal consonants /m, [n], ɲ, ŋ͡m/ can have allophones of nasalized approximants as [β̞̃], [ɹ̃ ~ ɾ̃], [j̃], [w̃].
- Approximants /β̞, j, w/ are heard as nasalized approximants [β̞̃, j̃, w̃] before and after nasal vowels.
- Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ can vary from being heard as [x, ɣ] to lowered fricatives [x̞, ɣ̞] and approximants [ɰ̥, ɰ]. /x/ can also be heard as a palatal fricative [ç] before /i/.
- Rhotics /r̥, r/ may have different realizations as alveolar or retroflex, and can be articulated as approximants [ɹ̥, ɹ, ɻ̊, ɻ], or taps [ɾ̥, ɾ, ɽ̊, ɽ]. A retroflex lateral flap [ɭ̆] can also be heard in syllable-final position.
According to Anthony Ukere, Urhobo has two tones, a high tone and a low tone. These can also combine to form rising and falling tones.[8]
Syntax
Urhobo has the SVO constituent order type as illustrated with the example below:
Òtítí ò chó ọhọ ná
Otiti 3SG steal.PST hen DET
‘Otiti stole the hen.’
References
- ^ Urhobo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Elugbe, B. O. 1989. Edoid: Phonology and Lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
- ^ "Nigeria | History, Population, Flag, Map, Languages, Capital, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ^ "Supplemental Information 3: An excerpt from Data Downloads page, where users can download original datasets". doi:10.7717/peerj.9467/supp-3.
- ^ "Bayelsa State Government – The Glory of all Lands". Retrieved 2022-03-10.
- ^ a b Rolle, N. 2013. “Phonetics and phonology of Urhobo.”UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report, 2013: 281-326.
- ^ Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
- ^ Ukere, Anthony Obakpọnọvwẹ. 1986. Urhobo-English dictionary. Benin City: Ilupeju Press.
General references
- Frank Kügler, Caroline Féry, Ruben Van De Vijver (2009) Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology
- Okrokoto Ebireri. Ukoko re Ephere R'Urhobo
Urhobo language test of
Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
