Ebira language

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Ebira /eh 'be ra/
Native toNigeria
RegionKogi state, Nassarawa state, Federal Capital Territory, Kwara state, , Benue state, Edo state
EthnicityEbira
Native speakers
(3 million cited 1989)[1]
Niger–Congo?
  • Atlantic–Congo
    • Volta–Niger
      • noi
        • Nupoid
          • Ebira–Gade
            • Ebira /eh 'be ra/
Language codes
ISO 639-3igb
Glottologebir1243

Ebira (pronounced as /eh 'be ra/; also known as Igbira, Okpoto, or Okene[2]) is a Niger-Congo language. It is spoken by around 3 million people in North central Nigeria. It is the most divergent Nupoid language.[2]

Dialects[]

Varieties of Ebira are:[2]

  • Tao dialect, the more prominent dialect used in media and publishing. It is spoken to the west of the Niger-Benue confluence
  • Koto (Okpoto) dialect, spoken to the northeast of the Niger-Benue confluence. It is known only from a wordlist in Sterk (1978a).

Blench (2019) lists Okene, Etuno (Tụnọ), and Koto.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Ebira /eh 'be ra/ at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c Blench, Roger. 2013. The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list.
  3. ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.


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