Ebira language

Ebira (pronounced as /eh 'bi ra/; with the Central known as Okene It is spoken by around 2 million people in middle belt Nigeria. It is the most divergent language.

Ebira
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Kogi state, Nassarawa state, FCT, Kwara state, Niger State, Benue state, Edo state, Ondo State
Ethnicity	Ebira
Native speakers	2.2 million (2020)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger noi Nupoid Ebira–Gade Ebira
Language codes
ISO 639-3	igb
Glottolog	ebir1243

Geographic distribution

The majority of speakers are in Kogi State in the Central part of that state; constituting the second largest ethnic group according to national population commission census 2006 Nasarawa State in Toto Local Government Area, where the name is usually spelt Egbura; Edo State in the Town of Igarra, where the language is usually known as Etuno; and in the Federal Capital Territory in the Town of Abaji. It is also spoken in Lapai (Niger State), Makurdi (Benue State and Kwara State and some are also found in Ondo State (Akoko).

Dialects

Varieties of Ebira are:

• 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.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ɕ	k
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʑ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless		s	(ʃ)		h
	voiced	v	z	(ʒ)
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Tap			ɾ
Approximant		w	(l)	j

• Sounds /s, z/ are heard as [ʃ, ʒ] when before a front-close vowel in syllable-initial position.
• [l] is in free variation with /ɾ/.
• Voiceless sounds /p, t, k/ can also be heard as slightly aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a