Central Ibibio is the major
dialect cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...
of the
Cross River branch of
Benue–Congo.
Efik proper has national status in
Nigeria and is the literary standard of the
Efik languages, though
Ibibio proper has more native speakers.
Varieties
Efik-Ibibio is a
dialect cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...
spoken by about 10 million people of
Akwa Ibom State and
Cross River States of
Nigeria, making it the sixth largest language cluster in Nigeria after
Hausa,
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...
,
Igbo,
Fulani and
Kanuri.
The major Efik-Ibibio languages are:
*
Anaang (5 million speakers, 2018 estimate)
*
Ibibio (10 million speakers, including L2 speakers, 2018 estimate)
*
Efik
Efik may refer to:
* Efik people, an ethnic group located primarily in southeastern Nigeria
* Efik language, the language of the Efik people
*Efik mythology, the mythological beliefs of the Efik people
*Efik religion, the traditional religion of t ...
(3 million speakers, 2018 estimate. Efik also has about 2 million second-language speakers.)
Minor varieties, according to Williamson and Blench, are:
*
Ekit (200,000 speakers), with dialect
Etebi
*
Efai (7,000 speakers)
*
Ibuoro (20,000 speakers), with dialects Ibuoro proper,
Ito,
Itu Mbon Uzo and
Nkari
*
Eki (5,000 speakers)
*
Idere (5,000 speakers)
*
Ukwa
Ukwa is a census town in Balaghat district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Geography
Ukwa is located at . It has an average elevation of 608 metres (1,994 feet).
Demographics
India census, Ukwa had a population of 7,108. Mal ...
(100 speakers)
These arguably constitute a single language, though ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
'' considers them to be separate.
See also
*
Eket
*
Nsibidi
*
Ekpe
*
Calabar
*
Southeastern Nigeria
Notes
References
{{Cross River languages
Languages of Nigeria
Ibibio
Lower Cross River languages