Urhobo is a South-Western

Edoid language The Edoid languages are a few dozen languages spoken in Southern Nigeria, predominantly in the former Bendel State. The name ''Edoid'' derives from its most widely spoken member, Edo, the language of Benin City, which has 25 million native and se ...

spoken by the

Urhobo people The Urhobos are people located in southern Nigeria, near the northwestern Niger Delta. The Urhobos are the major ethnic group in Delta State, one of the 36 states in Nigeria, Ethnic Nationality in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Urhobo ...

of southern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. From the region of

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

and

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

State. They are also known as fishermen. Their neighbours are the Isoko to the South East, the

Itsekiri The Itsekiri (also called the Isekiri, ''i Jekri'', ''Itsekri'', ''Ishekiri'', or Itsekhiri) are one of the Yoruboid subgroup of Nigeria's Niger Delta area, Delta State. The Itsekiris presently number 2.7 million people and live mainly in the ...

to the West, Ijaw to the South and

Ukwuani The Ukwuani people (also called Ndokwa people are a subgroup of the Igbo people located in the southern part of Nigeria in the western part of the Niger Delta and other areas. Origin Their origin is debated, with the narrative being that they ...

people to the North East. Urhobo people are referred to as "Urhobians" or "Urhobeans"

Phonology

Urhobo has a rather reduced system of sound inventory compared to proto-Edoid. The inventory of Urhobo consists of seven vowels; which form two harmonic sets, and . It has a conservative

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

inventory for an

. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants, , have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.Rolle, N. 2013. “Phonetics and phonology of Urhobo.”UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report, 2013: 281-326. * is interchangeable with only before nasal vowels. * can be heard as before non-front vowels. * Nasal consonants can have allophones of nasalized approximants as , , , . * Approximants are heard as nasalized approximants before and after nasal vowels. * Velar fricatives can vary from being heard as to lowered fricatives and approximants . can also be heard as a palatal fricative before . * Rhotics may have different realizations as alveolar or retroflex, and can be articulated as approximants , or taps . A retroflex lateral flap can also be heard in syllable-final position. According to Ukere (1986), Urhobo has two tones, a high tone and a low tone. These can also combine to form rising and falling tones.

Dictionaries

Urhobo dictionaries have been compiled by Ukere, Osubele, Ebireri Okrokoto o
Urhobo Language Institute
and Julius Arerierian. A wordlist of

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

s and verbs of Okpe, Urhobo and Uvwie was compiled by Akpobọmẹ Diffrẹ-Odiete with funding from

Foundation for Endangered Languages The Foundation for Endangered Languages is a non-profit organization, registered as Charity 1070616 in England and Wales, founded in 1996. Its current chairman is Nicholas Ostler. It exists to support, enable, and assist the documentation, protect ...

Syntax

Urhobo has the SVO constituent order type as illustrated with the example below:

References

Sources

*Ukere, Anthony Obakpọnọvwẹ. 1986
Urhobo-English dictionary
Benin City: Ilupeju Press. (revised and edited version by

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 ...

) *Frank Kügler, Caroline Féry, Ruben Van De Vijver (2009) ''Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology''
Okrokoto Ebireri. Ukoko re Ephere R'Urhobo
{{Authority control Edoid languages