Edo (; English: , West African English: /ˈedo/), also known as Bini, is the language spoken by the

Edo people The Edo people, also referred to as the Benin City, Benin people, are an Edoid languages, Edoid-speaking Ethnicity, ethnic group. They are prominently native to seven Edo South Senatorial District, southern Local government areas of Nigeria, loc ...

Edo State Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It was the primary language of the

Benin Empire The Kingdom of Benin, also known as Great Benin, is a traditional kingdom in southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's c ...

and its predecessor,

Igodomigodo Igodomigodo was an ancient Edo kingdom in modern-day southern Nigeria ruled by the Ogiso monarchy. History Legendary origins The Edo tradition of origin holds that initially there was no land on earth. Accordingly, Osanobua requested three ...

for thousands of years. It is the majority language spoken in Edo State, particularly in

Benin City Benin City serves as the Capital city, capital and largest Metropolitan area, metropolitan centre of Edo State, situated in Nigeria, southern Nigeria. It ranks as the List of Nigerian cities by population, fourth-most populous city in Niger ...

, and the surrounding local governments and senatorial districts in the Southern parts of the State.

Distribution

Most of the Edo language-speakers live in the Southern parts of

. The current state:

derives its name from the Edo speaking people of the state. A smaller number of Edo speakers are also found in

Delta State Delta is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South (Nigeria), South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1 ...

and

Ondo State Ondo () is a States of Nigeria, state in Points of the compass, southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State (Nigeria), Western State. Ondo borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast fo ...

and in other parts of Nigeria. Edo is an Edoid language. These languages are also spoken in

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

and

Bayelsa State Bayelsa is a state in the South South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. The capital, Yenag ...

, Nigeria.

Phonology

Vowels

There are seven vowels, , all of which may be long or nasal, and three tones.

Consonants

Edo has a rather average consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains only a single phonemic nasal, , but has 13 oral consonants, and the 8 stops, which have nasal allophones such as , and nasalized allophones before nasal vowels. The three rhotics have been described as voiced and voiceless trills as well as a lax English-type approximant. However, Ladefoged found all three to be approximants, with the voiced–voiceless pair being raised (without being fricatives) and perhaps at a slightly different

place of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is an approximate location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a pa ...

compared to the third but not trills.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is simple, being maximally CVV, where VV is either a long vowel or plus a different oral or nasal vowel.

Orthography

The Edo alphabet has separate letters for the nasalised allophones of and , ''mw'' and ''n'': Long vowels are written by doubling the letter. Nasal vowels may be written with a final -n or with an initial nasal consonant. Tone may be written with acute accent, grave accent, and unmarked, or with a final -h (-nh with a nasal vowel).

References

External links

Edo Language Dictionary Online

Hans Melzian's Edo-English Dictionary

Rebecca Agheyisi's Edo-English Dictionary

Centre for Edo Studies

PanAfrican L10n page on Edo (Bini)

at the UCLA Phonetics Archive
Bini (Edo) Market Days
on Naija local {{Authority control Edoid languages Languages of Nigeria