Ijoid languages
Encyclopedia
The Ijoid languages are spoken by the Ịjọ (Ijaw) and Defaka
peoples of the Niger Delta
, who number about ten million. The most populous language by far is Izon, with about a million speakers, followed by Okrike-Kalabari with over a half million. The family is generally divided in two branches, Ịjọ
and Defaka
. The Ijo branch consists of the about nine Ịjọ languages. Defaka
, a tiny endangered language of the Bonny area, forms a branch on its own.
The Ijoid languages form a branch of the Niger–Congo family
and are noted for their subject–object–verb basic word order, which is otherwise an unusual feature in Niger–Congo, shared only by such distant branches as Mande
and Dogon
. Like Mande and Dogon, Ijoid lacks even traces of the noun class
system considered characteristic of Niger–Congo, and so may have split early from that family.
Defaka
The Defaka are a small ethnic group of south-eastern Nigeria, numbering fewer than a thousand people...
peoples of the Niger Delta
Niger Delta
The Niger Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a major producer of palm oil...
, who number about ten million. The most populous language by far is Izon, with about a million speakers, followed by Okrike-Kalabari with over a half million. The family is generally divided in two branches, Ịjọ
Ijo languages
Ijaw, also spelled Ịjọ, is the main subgroup of the Ijoid group of Niger–Congo languages. Ijaw languages are spoken in southern Nigeria by the Ijaw people....
and Defaka
Defaka
The Defaka are a small ethnic group of south-eastern Nigeria, numbering fewer than a thousand people...
. The Ijo branch consists of the about nine Ịjọ languages. Defaka
Defaka language
The Defaka language is an Ijoid branch of the Niger–Congo languages, spoken in Nigeria. It is an endangered language.Ethnically, the Defaka are distinct from the Nkoroo, but they have assimilated to Nkoroo culture to such a degree that their language seems to be the only sign of a distinct Defaka...
, a tiny endangered language of the Bonny area, forms a branch on its own.
The Ijoid languages form a branch of the Niger–Congo family
Niger–Congo languages
The Niger–Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. They may constitute the world's largest language family in terms of distinct languages, although this question...
and are noted for their subject–object–verb basic word order, which is otherwise an unusual feature in Niger–Congo, shared only by such distant branches as Mande
Mande languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
and Dogon
Dogon languages
The Dogon languages are spoken by the Dogon of Mali. There are about 600,000 speakers of a dozen languages. They are tonal languages, most like Dogul having two tones, some like Donno So having three....
. Like Mande and Dogon, Ijoid lacks even traces of the noun class
Noun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
system considered characteristic of Niger–Congo, and so may have split early from that family.
External links
- The Ijoid branch on the Ethnologue, 16th edition
- http://www.rogerblench.info/Language%20data/Niger–Congo/Ijoid/Ijoid%20page.htm