Urhobo language

Urhobo
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Delta State, Edo State
Ethnicity	Urhobo
Native speakers	1.1 million (2020)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid Southwestern Urhobo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	urh
Glottolog	urho1239

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

Òtítí ò chó ọhọ ná

Otiti 3SG steal.PST hen DET

‘Otiti stole the hen.’

References

1. Urhobo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Elugbe, B. O. 1989. Edoid: Phonology and Lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
3. "Nigeria | History, Population, Flag, Map, Languages, Capital, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
4. "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)
5. "Bayelsa State Government – The Glory of all Lands". Retrieved 2022-03-10.
6. Rolle, N. 2013. “Phonetics and phonology of Urhobo.”UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report, 2013: 281-326.
7. Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
8. 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