Ebira (pronounced as /eh 'bi ra/; with the Central known as
Okene It is spoken by around 2 million people in middle belt
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 is the most divergent language.
Geographic distribution
The majority of speakers are in
Kogi State
Kogi State is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti State, Ekiti and Kwara State, Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Fe ...
in the
Central part of that state; constituting the second largest ethnic group according to national population commission census 2006
Nasarawa State
Nasarawa is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by the states of Taraba State, Taraba and Plateau State, Plateau, to the north by Kaduna State, to the south by the states ...
in
Toto Local Government Area, where the name is usually spelt Egbura;
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 ...
in the Town of
Igarra
Igarra (also known as Etuno) is the Local Government Headquarters of the Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. The town is made up of the Ugbogbo, Utua, and Uffa quarters. It is beautified with rocky terrains, and is surrounded ...
, where a similar language is known as Etuno; and in the Federal Capital Territory in the Town of
Abaji
Abaji is a Local government areas of Nigeria, local government area in the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, Abuja. The Abaji Area Council is the area council farthest from the city center and occupies app ...
. It is also spoken in
Lapai (
Niger State
Niger State is a state in the North Central (Nigeria), North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kaduna State and the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory, to the north by Kebbi State and Zamfara State, ...
),
Makurdi
Makurdi is the capital of Benue State, located in central Nigeria, and part of the Middle Belt region of central Nigeria. The city is situated along the Benue River. In 2017, Makurdi's urban population was 517,342.
The town is divided by the Ri ...
(
Benue State
Benue is a State in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria. It is popularly referred to as part of the Middle belt. It has an estimated population of about 4,253,641 in List of Nigerian states by population, the 2006 census. ...
and
Kwara State
Kwara () is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger State, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the international border with Benin. Its ca ...
and some are also found in
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 ...
(
Akoko).
Dialects
Varieties of Ebira are:
[Blench, Roger. 2013. ]
The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list
'.
*Tao dialect, the more prominent dialect used in media and publishing. It is spoken to the west of the Niger-Benue confluence
*Koto (Okpoto) dialect, spoken to the northeast of the Niger-Benue confluence. It is known only from a wordlist in Sterk (1978a).
Blench (2019) lists Okene, Etuno (Tụnọ), and Koto.
Phonology
Consonants
* Sounds /s, z/ are heard as
�, ʒwhen before a front-close vowel in syllable-initial position.
*
is in free variation with /ɾ/.
* Voiceless sounds /p, t, k/ can also be heard as slightly aspirated
ʰ, tʰ, kʰ
Vowels
References
Nupoid languages
{{VoltaNiger-lang-stub