Rigwe language

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Rigwe
Nkarigwe
Native toNigeria
RegionPlateau State, Kaduna State
Native speakers
(40,000 cited 1985)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3iri
Glottologirig1241
Rigwe
PeopleNneirigwe
LanguageNkarigwe
ɾȉgʷȅ[2]
Personƴîɾìgʷȅ
Peopleyíɾìgʷȅ
Languageɾȉgʷȅ

The Rigwe language, Nkarigwe, is a Plateau language of Nigeria[3] spoken by the Irigwe people mainly found in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.[4][5]

Rigwe has highly complex phonology.[6] 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.[7]

Phonology

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Rigwe phonology:[8]

Rigwe Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palato-alveolar (Alveolo-)Palatal Velar Labial–velar/

Glottal

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
Rigwe Vowels
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
Rigwe Tones
Toneme
High ˦
Mid ˧
Mid-low ˨
Low ˩

References

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  1. ^ Rigwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  3. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Irigwe". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ^ "Irigwe (African people)". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "Rigwe". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Blench, Roger (2022). Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien.
  8. ^ "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
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