| Urhobo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Delta State,Edo State |
| Ethnicity | Urhobo |
Native speakers | 7.1 million (2020)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | urh |
| Glottolog | urho1239 |
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Urhobo is a South-WesternEdoid language[2] spoken by theUrhobo people of southernNigeria.[3] It is from theDelta andBayelsa States.[4][failed verification]
Urhobo has a rather reduced system ofsound inventory compared to proto-Edoid. The inventory of Urhobo consists of seven vowels; which form two harmonic sets,[5]/ieɛaoɔu/ and/ĩẽɛ̃ãɔ̃õũ/.[6]
It has a conservativeconsonant inventory for anEdoid language. It maintains three nasals, and only five oral consonants,/ɾ,l,β̞,j,w/, have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.[5]
| Labial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | (n) | ɲ | ŋ͡m | |||
| Plosive | p b | t d | d͡ʒ | kʲ ɡʲ | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | |
| Fricative | ɸ | f v | s | ʃ | (ç ʝ) | x ɣ | |
| Trill | r̥ r | ||||||
| Flap | (ɾ̥ ɾ) | ||||||
| Lateral | l ~n | ||||||
| Approximant | β̞[β̞̃] | (ɹ̥ ɹ)[ɹ̃] | j[j̃] | (ɰ ɰ̥) | w[w̃] |
According to Anthony Ukere, Urhobo has two tones, a high tone and a low tone. These can also combine to form rising and falling tones.[7]
Urhobo has thesubject–verb–object word order (SVO) constituent order type as illustrated with the example below:
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
