Urhobo language


Urhobo is a South-Western Edoid language spoken by the Urhobo people of southern Nigeria. It is from the Delta and Bayelsa States.

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, and.
It has a conservative consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants,, have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.
LabialLabiodentalAlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarLabio-velar
Nasal
Plosive
Fricative
Trill
Flap
Lateral ~
Approximant

  • is interchangeable with only before nasal vowels.
  • can be heard as before non-front vowels.
  • Nasal consonants can have allophones of nasalized approximants as,,,.
  • Approximants are heard as nasalized approximants before and after nasal vowels.
  • Velar fricatives can vary from being heard as to lowered fricatives and approximants. can also be heard as a palatal fricative before.
  • Rhotics may have different realizations as alveolar or retroflex, and can be articulated as approximants, or taps. A retroflex lateral flap 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.

Syntax

Urhobo has the subject–verb–object word order constituent order type as illustrated with the example below:

General references

  • Frank Kügler, Caroline Féry, Ruben Van De Vijver Variation and Gradience in Phonetics and Phonology
Category:Edoid languages