Ijoid is a proposed but undemonstrated group of languages linking theIjaw languages (Ịjọ) with the endangeredDefaka language. The similarities, however, may be due to Ijaw influence on Defaka.^[1]

The Ijoid languages, or perhaps just Ijaw, are proposed to form a divergent branch of the hypotheticalNiger–Congo family and are noted for theirsubject–object–verb basic word order, which is otherwise an unusual feature in Niger–Congo, shared only by such distant branches asMande andDogon. Like Mande and Dogon, Ijoid lacks even traces of thenoun class system considered characteristic of Niger–Congo, and so might have split early from that family. LinguistsGerrit Dimmendaal andTom Güldemann doubt its inclusion in Niger–Congo altogether and consider the Ijaw/Ijoid languages to be an independent family.^[2][3]

Sample basic vocabulary for Proto-Ijaw,Kalabari, andDefaka:

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:^[6]

• Jenewari, Charles E. W. (1989) 'Ijoid'. In Bendor-Samuel, John and Hartell, Rhonda L. (eds.),The Niger–Congo languages: A classification and description of Africa's largest language family, 105-118. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
• Williamson, Kay. 1969. 'Igbo' and 'Ịjọ', chapters 7 and 8 in: Twelve Nigerian Languages, ed. by E. Dunstan. Longmans.
• Williamson, Kay. 1971. The Benue–Congo languages and Ịjọ. In: Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7, series ed. by T. A. Sebeok, 245-306.
• Williamson, Kay. 1988. Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta. In: The Prehistory of the Niger Delta, ed. by E.J. Alagoa and others. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
• Williamson, Kay. 1998. Defaka revisited. The multi-disciplinary approach to African history, edited by Nkparom C. Ejituwu, Chapter 9, 151-183. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
• Williamson, Kay. 2004. The language situation in the Niger Delta. Chapter 2 in: The development of Ịzọn language, edited by Martha L. Akpana, 9-13.
• Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger–Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds)African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 11–42.

• Ijoid materials (Roger Blench)

• Ijoid languages
• Niger–Congo languages
• Language families

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata