Ivbiosakon language

(Redirected from Uokha language)

Ivbiosakon, or Aoma, is an Edoid language of Edo State, Nigeria. The dialect names Ora and Emai are also used for the language.

Ivbiosakon
Aoma
Native toNigeria
RegionEdo State
Native speakers
(100,000 cited 1987)[1]
Niger–Congo?
  • Atlantic–Congo
    • Volta–Niger
      • yeai
        • Edoid
          • North-Central
            • Edo
              • Ivbiosakon
Dialects
  • Emai
  • Ora
  • Iuleha
  • Ivhimion
  • ?Ihievbe (Isewe)
Language codes
ISO 639-3ema – inclusive code
Individual code:
ihi – Ihievbe
Glottologemai1241

Phonology

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Aoma has a rather reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of seven vowels; these form two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /i ɛ a ɔ u/.[2]

It has only one clearly phonemic nasal stop, /m/; [n] alternates with [l], depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. (The other approximants, j w h/, are also nasalized in this position: see Edo language for a similar situation.) The inventory is:[3]

  Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Nasal m l [n]      
Plosive p  b t  d k  ɡ k͡p  ɡ͡b  
Fricative f  v s  z x  ɣ  
Trill   r        
Approximant   ɹ j   w h

References

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  1. ^ Ivbiosakon at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Ihievbe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
  3. ^ Jeff Mielke, 2008. The emergence of distinctive features, p 136ff;
    also found in Variation and gradience in phonetics and phonology, p 26ff