Cross River languages
Encyclopedia
The Cross River or Delta–Cross languages are a branch of the Benue–Congo language family in south-easternmost Nigeria posited by Joseph Greenberg
. It is one of the few of his branches of Niger–Congo that has withstood the test of time.
The original name was Cross River. The Bendi languages
were soon seen to be aberrant, and the other branches united under the term Delta–Cross. However, the inclusion of Bendi is doubtful, and it has been tentatively reassigned to the Bantoid
family, making the two terms Cross River and Delta–Cross synonymous.
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...
. It is one of the few of his branches of Niger–Congo that has withstood the test of time.
The original name was Cross River. The Bendi languages
Bendi languages
The Bendi languages are a small group of Nigerian Benue–Congo languages of uncertain affiliation. Once counted among the Cross River languages, they may actually be a branch of Bantoid....
were soon seen to be aberrant, and the other branches united under the term Delta–Cross. However, the inclusion of Bendi is doubtful, and it has been tentatively reassigned to the Bantoid
Bantoid languages
In the classification of African languages, Bantoid is a branch of the Benue–Congo subfamily of the Niger–Congo phylum. The term 'Bantoid' was first used by Krause in 1895 for languages that showed resemblances in vocabulary to Bantu...
family, making the two terms Cross River and Delta–Cross synonymous.
Languages
There are four sections of Cross River:- Central DeltaCentral Delta languagesThe Central Delta languages are spoken in Rivers State, Nigeria. Ogbia is the most populous, with over 200,000 speakers.The languages are Abua–Odual, Ogbia, Kugbo, Abureni, Obulom, O’chi’chi’, Ogbogolo, Ogbronuagum....
, 8 languages, the most populous being OgbiaOgbia languageOgbia is the most populous of the Central Delta languages of Nigeria, with over a quarter million speakers....
with 100 000 speakers - the 5 Ogoni languagesOgoni languagesThe Ogoni languages, or Kegboid languages, are the five languages of the Ogoni people of Rivers State, Nigeria.They fall into two clusters, with a limited degree of mutual intelligibility between members of each cluster...
, with Ogoni proper (KhanaKhana languageKhana , or Ogoni proper, is the prestige variety of the Ogoni languages. It is the lingua franca of speakers of the East Ogoni languages....
) having 200 000 speakers - Upper Cross River, 22 languages, the most populous being Lokaa with 120 000 speakers)
- Lower Cross RiverLower Cross River languagesThe Lower Cross River languages, or Ibibioid, form a branch of the Cross River languages of Rivers State, Nigeria. They consist of the divergent Obolo language , and the core of the branch, which includes the 4 million speakers of the Ibibio-Efik cluster.*Obolo*Lower Cross proper: Ibibio-Efik,...
, 23 languages, including Ibibio-Efik (3½ million)