The Rigwe language, Nkarigwe, is a Plateau language of Nigeria spoken by the Irigwe people mainly found in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.[3][4]
| Rigwe | |
|---|---|
| Nkarigwe | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Plateau State, Kaduna State |
Native speakers | (40,000 cited 1985)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | iri |
| Glottolog | irig1241 |
| Rigwe | |
|---|---|
| People | Nneirigwe |
| Language | Nkarigwe |
| ɾȉgʷȅ[2] | |
|---|---|
| Person | ƴîɾìgʷȅ |
| People | yíɾìgʷȅ |
| Language | ɾȉgʷȅ |
Rigwe has highly complex phonology.[5] The presence of the lateral fricative /ɬ/ in Rigwe, unusual among Plateau languages, suggests that there used to be West Chadic languages in the area with this phoneme.[6]
Phonology
editRigwe phonology:[7]
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | (Alveolo-)Palatal | Velar | Labial–velar/ | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pl. | lb. | plain | pal. | plain | pl. | plain | pl. | lb. | plain | lb. | plain | pl. | lb. | glo. | plain | lb. | glo. | plain | pal | glo. | ||
| Nasal | voiced | m | mʲ | mʷ | ɱ | n | ɲ, ɲː | ɲʷ | ŋ | ŋʷ, ŋʷʲ | ŋ͡m | ||||||||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | pʲ | t | c | cʲ | cʷ | ˀc | k | kʷ | ˀk | k͡p | ˀkp | ||||||||||
| voiced | b, ˀb | bʲ | d | ɟ | ɟʲ | ɟʷ | ɡ | ɡʷ | ˀɡʷ | ɡ͡b | ˀɡb | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | fʲ | s, ˀs | ʃ | ʃʷ, ˀʃʷ | h | hʲ | |||||||||||||||
| voiced | v | vʲ | ð | ðʲ | z | ʒ | ʒʷ | ||||||||||||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ps | ts | tsʲ | t̠ʃ | t̠ʃʷ | tɕ | tɕʷ | |||||||||||||||
| voiced | d̠ʒ | d̠ʒʷ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | voiceless | ɬ | j̊ʷ | w | |||||||||||||||||||
| voiced | l | j | jʷ | ˀj | ʍ | ʍʲ | ˀʍ, ˀʍʲ | ||||||||||||||||
| Tap | ɾ | ɾʲ | ɾʷ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Trill | ʙ | r | rʲ | rʷ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | Nasal | Oral | Nasal | Oral | Nasal | |
| Close | i | ĩ | u | ũ | ||
| Close-mid | e | ẽ | o | õ | ||
| Open | ɛ | ɛ̃ | a | ã | ɔ | ɔ̃ |
| Toneme | |
|---|---|
| High | ˦ |
| Mid | ˧ |
| Mid-low | ˨ |
| Low | ˩ |
References
edit- ^ Rigwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
- ^ "Irigwe (African people)". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
- ^ "Rigwe". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
- ^ Blench, Roger M. 2018. Nominal affixes and number marking in the Plateau languages of Central Nigeria. In John R. Watters (ed.), East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs, 107–172. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1314325
- ^ Blench, Roger (2022). Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien.
- ^ "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
External links
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