Ibibio language

Ibibio (proper) is the native language of the Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, belonging to the Ibibio-Efik dialect cluster of the Cross River languages. The name Ibibio is sometimes used for the entire dialect cluster. In pre-colonial times, it was written with Nsibidi ideograms, similar to Igbo, Efik, Anaang, and Ejagham. Ibibio has also had influences on Afro-American diasporic languages such as AAVE words like buckra, and buckaroo, which come from the Ibibio word mbakara, and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.

Ibibio
(Ibibio proper)
Native toSouthern Nigeria
RegionAkwa Ibom State
EthnicityIbibio
Native speakers
1.5 to 2 million (1998)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ibb
Glottologibib1240[2]

Phonology

Consonants
Ibibio consonant phonemes[3]
Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Labial-velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless b t k k͡p
voiced d
Fricative voiceless f s
Approximant j w
  • /m, b/ are bilabial, whereas /f/ is labiodental.[3]
    • /b/ has two allophones, which occur in complementary distribution: voiceless [p] and voiced [b].[4]
  • /n, d, s/ are alveolar [n, d, s], whereas /t/ is dental [t̪].[3]
  • Stem-initial /ŋ/ is realized as [ŋ͡w].[3]

Intervocalic plosives are lenited:[3]

  • /b/ → [β]
  • /t, d/ → [ɾ]
  • /k/ → [ɢ̆] or [ɰ]

Vowels
Ranges for Ibibio monophthongs, from Urua (2004:106)
Ibibio vowel phonemes[3]
Front Back
unrounded unrounded rounded
Close i u
Mid e ʌ o
Open a ɔ
  • /i, u/ are phonetically near-close [ɪ, ʊ].[3]
  • /e, ʌ, o/ are phonetically true-mid; /ʌ/ is also strongly centralized: [e̞, ʌ̝̈, o̞].[3]
  • /a, ɔ/ are phonetically near-open; /a/ is central rather than front: [ɐ, ɔ̞].[3]

Between consonants, /i, u, o/ have allophones that are transcribed [ɪ, ʉ, ə], respectively.[3] At least in case of [ɪ, ə], the realization is probably somewhat different (e.g. close-mid [e, ɘ]), because the default IPA values of the symbols [ɪ, ə] are very similar to the normal realizations of the Ibibio vowels /i, ʌ/. Similarly, [ʉ] may actually be near-close [ʉ̞], rather than close [ʉ].

In some dialects (e.g. Ibiono), /ɪ, ʉ, ə/ occur as phonemes distinct from /i, u, o/.[3]

Tones

Ibibio has two tones: high and low. A word can be used to mean two or more different things based on the tone ascribed to it.[5]

gollark: I will happily trade many rares I get for reds in large quantities.
gollark: Yes, I like balloons.
gollark: I should be getting a few reds in december because I traded that ND from ages ago for an IOU for 4 new releases, 30 reds and 30 balloons.
gollark: I have an excess of aeons and a shortage of reds.
gollark: I got 18 AP hatchlings and it took me *ages* to name them all...

References
  1. Ibibio at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Ibibio". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Urua (2004), p. 106.
  4. Urua (2004), pp. 105–106.
  5. Urua (2004), p. 107.

Bibliography
  • Urua, Eno-Abasi E. (2004), "Ibibio", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 105–109, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001550

Further reading
  • Bachmann, Arne (2006): "Ein quantitatives Tonmodell für Ibibio. Entwicklung eines Prädiktionsmoduls für das BOSS-Sprachsynthesesystem." Magisterarbeit, University of Bonn.
  • Kaufman, Elaine Marlowe (1972) Ibibio dictionary. Leiden: African Studies Centre / Cross River State University / Ibibio Language Board. ISBN 90-70110-46-6


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