Ibibio is the native language of the

Ibibio people The Ibibio people (English: / ɪbɪˈbiːəʊ/) are a coastal people in southern Nigeria. They are mostly found in Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. They are related to the Efik people. During the colonial period in Nigeria, the Ibibio Union as ...

of 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 Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

times, it was written with Nsibidi ideograms, similar to Igbo,

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 ...

, Anaang, and Ejagham. Ibibio has also had influences on Afro-American diasporic languages such as

AAVE African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban ...

words like buckra, and buckaroo, which come from the Ibibio word mbakara, and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.

Geographic distribution

Ibibio is the language of the

. The Ibibio people are found in Southeastern Nigeria in Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State, and Eastern

Abia State Abia State ( ig, Ȯha Abia) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, it is bordered to the north and northeast by the states of Enugu, and Ebonyi, Imo State to the west, Cross River State to the east, Akwa Ibom State to the ...

( Arochukwu and Ukwa East LGA's). Ibibio communities in Opobo Nkoro and Oyigbo LGA's of Rivers State are largely unknown. Some Ibibio are found in other countries (Western Cameroon, Bioko and Ghana).

Phonology

Consonants

* are bilabial, whereas is labiodental. ** has two allophones, which occur in complementary distribution: voiceless and voiced . * are

alveolar Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * ...

, whereas is dental . * Stem-initial is realized as . Intervocalic plosives are lenited: * → * → * → or

Vowels

* are phonetically near-close . * are phonetically true-mid; is also strongly centralized: . * are phonetically near-open; is central rather than front: . Between consonants, have allophones that are transcribed , respectively. At least in case of , the realization is probably somewhat different (e.g. close-mid ), because the default IPA values of the symbols are very similar to the normal realizations of the Ibibio vowels . Similarly, may actually be near-close , rather than close . In some dialects (e.g. Ibiono), occur as phonemes distinct from .

Tones

Ibibio has five tones: high, mid, rising, falling and low. A word can be used to mean two or more different things based on the tone ascribed to it.

Orthography

References

Bibliography

External links

Ibibio kasahorow
– language resources, including dictionary, books and proverbs.
Bachmann's Master ThesisPaperPresentation

BOSS-IBB documentation v0.1-r4

ELAR Documentation of Dirge songs among the Urban people [Efik, Ibibio
/nowiki>">fik, Ibibio">ELAR Documentation of Dirge songs among the Urban people [Efik, Ibibio
/nowiki>
ELAR Documentation of documenting drums and drum language in Ibibio traditional ceremonies
{{Authority control Languages of Nigeria Ibibio Ibibio-Efik languages