Ekoid languages
Encyclopedia
The Ekoid languages are a dialect cluster, such as Ekajuk
and Ejagham (Ekoi), spoken principally in southeastern Nigeria
and in adjacent regions of Cameroon
. They have long been associated with the Bantu languages
, without their status being precisely defined. Crabb (1969) remains the major monograph on these languages, although regrettably, Part II, which was to contain grammatical analyses, was never published. Crabb also reviews the literature on Ekoid up to the date of publication.
[ɲ] occurs at the beginning of a word, [ŋ] in the middle or at the end.
Guthrie (1967–1971) could not accept that Ekoid formed part of Bantu. His first improbable explanation was that its ‘Bantuisms’ resulted from speakers of a Bantu language being ‘absorbed’ by those who spoke a ‘Western Sudanic’ language, in other words, the apparent parallels, were simply a massive block of loanwords. This was later modified into ‘Ekoid languages may to some extent share an origin with some of the A zone languages, but the they seem to have undergone considerable perturbations’ (Guthrie 1971, II:15). Williamson (1971) in an influential classification of Benue–Congo assigned Ekoid to ‘Wide Bantu’ or what would now be called Bantoid, a rather untidy mass of languages lying somehow between Bantu and the remainder of Benue–Congo.
All modern classifications of Ekoid are based on Crabb (1969) and when Watters (1981) came to explore the proto-phonology of Ekoid, he used this source, rather than his own field material from the Ejagham dialects in Cameroon. A problematic aspect of Crabb is his of Ekoid which does not clearly distinguish phonetic from phonemic transcription. Fresh work on Ejagham by Watters (1980, 1981) has extended our knowledge of the Cameroonian dialects of Ekoid. However, an important unpublished dissertation by Asinya (1987) based in fresh fieldwork in Nigeria made an important claim about Ekoid phonology, namely that most Ekoid languages have long/short distinctions in the vowels. Ekoid has raised particular interest among Bantuists because it has noun-class system that seems close to Bantu and yet it cannot be said to correspond exactly (Watters 1980).
Ekajuk language
Ekajuk, also known as Akajo and Akajuk, is an Ekoid language spoken by thousands of people in the Cross River State and some surrounding regions of Nigeria....
and Ejagham (Ekoi), spoken principally in southeastern Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and in adjacent regions of Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
. They have long been associated with the Bantu languages
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
, without their status being precisely defined. Crabb (1969) remains the major monograph on these languages, although regrettably, Part II, which was to contain grammatical analyses, was never published. Crabb also reviews the literature on Ekoid up to the date of publication.
Languages
Ethnologue lists the following Ekoid varieties with the status of independent languages. Branching is from Watters (1978) and Yoder et al. (2009).- NdoeNdoe languageNdoe is the most divergent of the Ekoid languages of Nigeria and Cameroon....
- (core)
- Ejagham (Ekoi)
- Efutop–Ekajuk: Efutop, NdeNde languageNde is an Ekoid language of Nigeria. There are three somewhat distinct dialects, Nde , Nsele, and Nta....
, AbanyomAbanyom languageAbanyom is a language of the Ekoid subfamily of Niger–Congo. It is spoken by the Abanyom people in the Cross River State region of Nigeria, numbering about 12,500 people in 1986. A member of the Southern Bantoid group, Abanyom is fairly closely related to the Bantu languages. It is tonal and has...
, Nkem-NkumNkem-Nkum languageIsibiri is an Ekoid language of Nigeria. There are two somewhat distinct dialects, Nkem and Nkum....
, EkajukEkajuk languageEkajuk, also known as Akajo and Akajuk, is an Ekoid language spoken by thousands of people in the Cross River State and some surrounding regions of Nigeria....
–NnamNnam languageEkajuk is an Ekoid language of Nigeria....
Phonology
Proto-Ekoid is reconstructed with vowels *i e ɛ a ɔ o u/ and tones high, low, rising, falling, and downstep, though rising and falling might be composite. There are thought to have been the following consonants:| m | n | ɲ ~ ŋ | ŋm | |
| p b | t d | tʃ dʒ | k ɡ | kp ɡb |
| f v | s z | ʃ | ||
| β | l r | j | ɣ | w |
[ɲ] occurs at the beginning of a word, [ŋ] in the middle or at the end.
Study
The first publication of Ekoid material is in Clarke (1848) where five ‘dialects’ are listed and a short wordlist of each is given. Other major early publications are Koelle (1854), Thomas (1914) and Johnston (1919–1922). Although Koelle lumped his specimens in the same area, it seems that Cust (1883) was the first to link them together and place them in a group co-ordinate with Bantu but not within it. Thomas (1927) is the first author to make a correct classification of Ekoid Bantu, but oddly the much later Westermann & Bryan (1952) repeats an older, inaccurate classification. This also propagated another old error and included the Nyang languages with Ekoid. Nyang languages have their own quite distinct characteristics and are probably further from Bantu than Ekoid.Guthrie (1967–1971) could not accept that Ekoid formed part of Bantu. His first improbable explanation was that its ‘Bantuisms’ resulted from speakers of a Bantu language being ‘absorbed’ by those who spoke a ‘Western Sudanic’ language, in other words, the apparent parallels, were simply a massive block of loanwords. This was later modified into ‘Ekoid languages may to some extent share an origin with some of the A zone languages, but the they seem to have undergone considerable perturbations’ (Guthrie 1971, II:15). Williamson (1971) in an influential classification of Benue–Congo assigned Ekoid to ‘Wide Bantu’ or what would now be called Bantoid, a rather untidy mass of languages lying somehow between Bantu and the remainder of Benue–Congo.
All modern classifications of Ekoid are based on Crabb (1969) and when Watters (1981) came to explore the proto-phonology of Ekoid, he used this source, rather than his own field material from the Ejagham dialects in Cameroon. A problematic aspect of Crabb is his of Ekoid which does not clearly distinguish phonetic from phonemic transcription. Fresh work on Ejagham by Watters (1980, 1981) has extended our knowledge of the Cameroonian dialects of Ekoid. However, an important unpublished dissertation by Asinya (1987) based in fresh fieldwork in Nigeria made an important claim about Ekoid phonology, namely that most Ekoid languages have long/short distinctions in the vowels. Ekoid has raised particular interest among Bantuists because it has noun-class system that seems close to Bantu and yet it cannot be said to correspond exactly (Watters 1980).
External links
- Roger Blench, 'Ekoid'
- Ethnologue language family tree for Ekoid.