Urhobo language

Urhobo
Urhobo
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Delta State, Edo State
Ethnicity	Urhobo people
Native speakers	1.1 million (2020)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid Southwestern Urhobo; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	urh
Glottolog	urho1239
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Urhobo is a South-Western Edoid language^[2] spoken by the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria.^[3]^[4] It is from the Delta and Bayelsa States.^[5]

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,^[6] /i e ɛ a o ɔ u/ and /ĩ ẽ ɛ̃ ã ɔ̃ õ ũ/.^[7]

It has a conservative consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants, /ɾ, l, β̞, j, w/, have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.^[6]

	Labial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar
Nasal	m		(n)		ɲ		ŋ͡m
Plosive	p b		t d	d͡ʒ	kʲ ɡʲ	k ɡ	k͡p ɡ͡b
Fricative	ɸ	f v	s	ʃ	(ç ʝ)	x ɣ
Trill			r̥ r
Flap			(ɾ̥ ɾ)
Lateral			l ~ n
Approximant	β̞ [β̞̃ ]		(ɹ̥ ɹ) [ɹ̃]		j [j̃]	(ɰ ɰ̥)	w [w̃]

/l/ is interchangeable with [n] only before nasal vowels.
/d͡ʒ/ can be heard as [ɟ͡ʝ ~ ʝ] before non-front vowels.
Nasal consonants /m, [n], ɲ, ŋ͡m/ can have allophones of nasalized approximants as [β̞̃], [ɹ̃ ~ ɾ̃], [j̃], [w̃].
Approximants /β̞, j, w/ are heard as nasalized approximants [β̞̃, j̃, w̃] before and after nasal vowels.
Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ can vary from being heard as [x, ɣ] to lowered fricatives [x̞, ɣ̞] and approximants [ɰ̥, ɰ]. /x/ can also be heard as a palatal fricative [ç] before /i/.
Rhotics /r̥, r/ may have different realizations as alveolar or retroflex, and can be articulated as approximants [ɹ̥, ɹ, ɻ̊, ɻ], or taps [ɾ̥, ɾ, ɽ̊, ɽ]. A retroflex lateral flap [ɭ̆] can also be heard in syllable-final position.

According to Anthony Ukere, Urhobo has two tones, a high tone and a low tone. These can also combine to form rising and falling tones.^[8]

Syntax

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

Òtítí

Otiti

ò

3SG

chó

steal.PST

ọhọ

hen

ná

DET

‘Otiti stole the hen.’

References

^ Urhobo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Elugbe, B. O. 1989. Edoid: Phonology and Lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
^ "Nigeria | History, Population, Flag, Map, Languages, Capital, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
^ "Supplemental Information 3: An excerpt from Data Downloads page, where users can download original datasets". doi:10.7717/peerj.9467/supp-3. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ "Bayelsa State Government – The Glory of all Lands". Retrieved 2022-03-10.
^ ^a ^b Rolle, N. 2013. “Phonetics and phonology of Urhobo.”UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report, 2013: 281-326.
^ Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
^ Ukere, Anthony Obakpọnọvwẹ. 1986. Urhobo-English dictionary. Benin City: Ilupeju Press.

General references

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