| Uvwie | |
|---|---|
| Uvwie | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Delta State |
| Ethnicity | Urhobo |
| Native speakers | (20,000 cited 2000) |
| Language family | Niger–Congo?
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | evh |
| Glottolog | uvbi1238 |
Uvwiẹ or Ẹphrọn (Effurun) is a Niger Delta language spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria. It is classified alongside Urhobo, Okpe, Isoko and Eruwa as co-ordinate members of South-western Edoid branch of Proto Edoid language spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria.
Phonology
The phonemic inventory of Uvwie, amongst other things, consists of seven vowels. Although earlier studies identified nine vowels in two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.
The consonant system is somewhat conservative, and nearly the same as that of Urhobo. The only significant differences are the loss of ɸ, ɣ, and of the distinction between l and n: these alternate, depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. /ɾ, ʋ, j, w/ also have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | ɲ | ||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | c ɟ | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | |
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ dʒ | h | ||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
| Approximant | ʋ | l | j | w |
References
- Uvwie at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Elugbe, B. O. 1989. A comparative Edoid: Phonology and lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.Pp 26
- Ekiugbo, P. O. 2016. The sound system of Uvwie. M. A. Thesis, University of Benin
- Omamor, A. P. 1973.
- Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
| Volta–Niger languages | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayere-Ahan | |||||||||
| Gbe | |||||||||
| Igboid | |||||||||
| Yoruboid | |||||||||
| Edoid |
| ||||||||
| Nupoid | |||||||||
| Idomoid | |||||||||
| Others | |||||||||
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