Ukaan (also Ikan, Anyaran, Auga, or Kakumo) is a poorly described
Niger–Congo language or dialect cluster of uncertain affiliation.
Roger Blench
Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and works ...
suspects, based on wordlists, that it might be closest to the (East)
Benue–Congo languages
Benue–Congo (sometimes called East Benue–Congo) is a major branch of the Volta-Congo languages which covers most of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Subdivisions
Central Nigerian (or Platoid) contains the Plateau, Jukunoid and Kainji families, and Banto ...
(or, equivalently, the most divergent of the Benue–Congo languages). Blench (2012) states that "noun-classes and concord make it look Benue-Congo, but evidence is weak."
Speakers refer to their language as ''Ùkãã'' or ''Ìkã''.
Varieties
The name ''Anyaran'' is from the town of
Anyaran, where it is spoken. Ukaan has several divergent dialects: Ukaan proper, Igau, Ayegbe (Iisheu), Iinno (Iyinno), which only have one-way intelligibility in some cases.
Roger Blench (2005, 2019) considers Ukaan to consist of at least 3 different languages, and notes that Ukaan varieties spoken in Ìshè,̣ Ẹkakumọ, and Auga all have different lexemes.
Salffner (2009: 27) lists the following four dialects of Ukaan.
*Ikaan: spoken in Ikakumo and Ikakumo (
Edo State
Edo, commonly known as Edo State, is a state located in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. As of 2006 National population census, the state was ranked as the 24th populated state (3,233,366) in Nigeria, However there was controversy ...
)
*Ayegbe: spoken in Ise
*Iigau or Iigao: spoken in Auga
*Iino: spoken in Ayanran
Distribution
''Ethnologue'' lists the following locations where Ukaan is spoken.
*
Ondo State
Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...
:
Akoko North-East LGA
LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...
*
Edo State
Edo, commonly known as Edo State, is a state located in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. As of 2006 National population census, the state was ranked as the 24th populated state (3,233,366) in Nigeria, However there was controversy ...
:
Akoko Edo
Akoko Edo is a Local Government Area in Edo State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Igarra. It has an area of 1,371 km and a population of 262,110 at the 2006 census.
The postal code of the area is 312.
As of 2016, its populatio ...
LGA
*
Kogi State:
Ijumu LGA (Anyaran, Auga, and Ishe towns)
Blench (2019) lists
Ondo State
Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...
, Akoko North LGA, towns of Kakumo–Aworo (Kakumo–Kejĩ, Auga and Iṣe);
Edo State
Edo, commonly known as Edo State, is a state located in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. As of 2006 National population census, the state was ranked as the 24th populated state (3,233,366) in Nigeria, However there was controversy ...
, Akoko Edo LGA, towns of Kakumo–Akoko and Anyaran.
Reconstruction
Proto-Ukaan has been reconstructed by Abiodun (1999).
[Abiodun, Michael Ajibola. 1999. ''A comparative phonology and morphology of Ukaan dialects of Old Akoko division''. Doctoral dissertation. University of Ilorin.]
See also
*
List of Proto-Ukaan reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
External links
* ELAR archive o
Farming, food and yam: language and cultural practices among Ikaan speakers
{{Niger-Congo branches
Niger–Congo languages
Languages of Nigeria
Ondo State
Benue–Congo languages