Ijoid languages are common among the Ijo and Defak (Afakani) peoples in the Niger Delta, the total number of speakers is about 10 million. The largest language of this group is Izon (4 million speakers), followed by Calabari (0.25 million speakers).
| Ijoid languages | |
|---|---|
| Taxon | Group |
| Status | universally recognized |
| Area | Nigeria |
| Classification | |
| Category | African languages |
| |
| Composition | |
| Languages of Ijo , Defaka | |
| Language group codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | - |
| ISO 639-5 | ijo |
Usually this group is divided into two branches: the languages of Ijo and Defaka . The ijjo branch consists of 9 languages, and the defack branch consists of a single endangered language.
Ijoid languages belong to the Niger-Congolese family . Characteristic word order: SOV (unusual for other Nigerian-Congolese languages, with the exception of Manda and Dogon languages , remote from the Ijoid languages . Like the last two groups, Ijoid languages do not have the slightest trace of the noun class system characteristic of the Niger-Congolese languages, which may talk about the early separation of this group from the family.
The Creole Berbys in Guyana , based on the Dutch language, has many borrowings from the Ijo language (Kouwenberg 1994).
The following classification is based on the works of Jenewari (1989) and Williamson & Blench (2000).
- Defaka
- IJO languages
- Eastern
- Ncoroo
- Languages of ibani-shout-calabari
- Ibani
- Calabari
- Kirike (shouting)
- Ijo South-East (Nembe)
- Western (or central)
- Ison
- Inland ijo
- Biseni
- Akita (Okordia)
- Oruma
- Eastern
Researchers
- Williamson, Kay (1935-2005)
- Blench, Roger
Literature
- Freemann, RA, and Kay Williamson. 1967. Ịjọ proverbs. Research Notes (Ibadan) 1: 1-11.
- Jenewari, Charles EW (1983) 'Defaka, Ijo's Closest Linguistic Relative', in Dihoff, Ivan R. (ed.) Current Approaches to African Linguistics Vol 1 , 85-111.
- Jenewari, Charles EW (1989) 'Ijoid'. In Bendor-Samuel, John and Hartell, Rhonda L. (eds.), The Niger-Congo languages: A classification and description of Africa's largest language family , 105-118. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
- Kouwenberg, Silvia 1994. A grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole . (Mouton Grammar Library 12). Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Lee, JD, and Kay Williamson. 1990. A lexicostatistic classification of Ịjọ dialects. Research in African Languages and Linguistics 1: 1.1-10.
- Orupabo, GJ, and Kay Williamson. 1980. Okrika. In West African language data sheets, Volume II, edited by ME Kropp Dakubu. Leiden: West African Linguistic Society and African Studies Center.
- Williamson, Kay . 1962. (Republished by Bobbs-Merrill Reprints 1971.). Changes in the marriage system of the Okrika Ịjọ. Africa 32.53-60.
- Williamson, Kay. 1963. The syntax of verbs of motion in Ịjọ. J. African Languages 2.150-154.
- Williamson, Kay. 1965 (2nd ed. 1969). A grammar of the Kolokuma dialect of Ịjọ. (West African Language Monographs, 2.) London: CUP
- Williamson, Kay. 1966. Ịjọ dialects in the Polyglotta Africana. Sierra Leone Language Review 5. 122-133.
- Williamson, Kay. 1969. 'Igbo' and 'Ịjọ', chapters 7 and 8 in: Twelve Nigerian Languages, ed. by E. Dunstan. Longmans.
- Williamson, Kay. 1971. Animal names in Ịjọ. Afr. Notes 6, no. 2, 53-61.
- Williamson, Kay. 1971. The Benue-Congo languages and Ịjọ. In: Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7, series ed. by TA Sebeok, 245-306.
- Williamson, Kay. 1971. The Benue-Congo languages and Ịjọ. In: Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7, series ed. by TA Sebeok, 245-306.
- Williamson, Kay. 1973. Some reduced vowel harmony systems. Research Notes 6: 1-3. 145-169.
- Williamson, Kay. 1975. Meter in Ịzọn funeral dirges. Òdùmá 2: 2.21-33.
- Williamson, Kay. 1977. Multivalued features for consonants. Language 53.843-871.
- Williamson, Kay. 1978. From tone to pitch-accent: the case of Ịjọ. Kiabàrà 1: 2.116-125.
- Williamson, Kay. 1979. Consonant distribution in Ịjọ. In: Linguistic and literary studies presented to Archibald Hill, ed. EC Polome and W. Winter, 3.341-353. Lisse, Netherlands: Peter de Ridder Press.
- Williamson, Kay. 1979. Medial consonants in Proto-Ịjọ. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 1.73-94.
- Williamson, Kay. 1987. Nasality in Ịjọ. In: Current trends in African linguistics, 4, ed. by David Odden, 397-415.
- Williamson, Kay. 1988. Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta. In: The Prehistory of the Niger Delta, ed. by EJ Alagoa and others. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
- Williamson, Kay. 1989. Tone and accent in Ịjọ. In Pitch accent systems, ed. by Harry vd Hulst and Norval Smith, 253-278. Foris Publications.
- Williamson, Kay. 1991. The tense system of Ịzọn. In The tense systems of Nigerian languages and English, edited by Okon E. Essien. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere (AAP) 27.145-167.
- Williamson, Kay. 1998. Defaka revisited. The multi-disciplinary approach to African history, edited by Nkparom C. Ejituwu, Chapter 9, 151-183. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
- Williamson, Kay. 2004. The language situation in the Niger Delta. Chapter 2 in: The development of Ịzọn language, edited by Martha L. Akpana, 9-13.
- Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger-Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds) African Languages - An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 11-42.
- Williamson, Kay, and A.O. Timitimi (edd.). 1983. Short Ịzọn-English dictionary. (Delta Series No. 3.) Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
- Williamson, Kay, and AO Timitimi. 1970. A note on number symbolism in Ịjọ. African Notes (Ibadan) 5: 3. 9-16.
- Filatei, Akpodigha. 2006. The Ijaw Language Project. (Editor of www.ijawdictionary.com). www.ijawdictionary.com
- Williamson, Kay & Timitime, AO (197)) 'A note on Ijo number symbolism', African Notes , 5, 3, 9-16.
Links
- The Ijoid branch on the Ethnologue, 15th edition.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20081215183402/http://rogerblench.info/Language%20data/Niger-Congo/Ijoid/Ijoid%20page.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20180419101857/http://ijawdictionary.com/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20180419154911/http://www.ijawdictionaryonline.com/