Uvbie language

Uvwie
Uvwie
Uvwie
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Delta State
Ethnicity	Urhobo
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid Southwestern Uvwie; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	evh
Glottolog	uvbi1238

Uvwiẹ or Ẹphrọn (Effurun) is a Niger Delta language spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria. It is classified alongside Urhobo, Okpe, Isoko and Eruwa as co-ordinate members of South-western Edoid branch of Proto Edoid language² spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria.

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Uvwie, amongst other things, consists of seven vowels.³ Although earlier studies identified nine vowels in two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.⁴⁵

The consonant system is somewhat conservative, and nearly the same as that of Urhobo. The only significant differences are the loss of ɸ, ɣ, and of the distinction between l and n: these alternate, depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. /ɾ, ʋ, j, w/ also have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		ɲ
Plosive	p b	t d	c ɟ	k ɡ	k͡p ɡ͡b
Fricative	f v	s z	ʃ dʒ			h
Trill		r
Flap		ɾ
Approximant	ʋ	l [n]	j		w

References

Uvwie at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Elugbe, B. O. 1989. A comparative Edoid: Phonology and lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.Pp 26
Ekiugbo, P. O. 2016. The sound system of Uvwie. M. A. Thesis, University of Benin
Omamor, A. P. 1973.
Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff

[e18-1] Uvwie at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Elugbe, B. O. 1989. A comparative Edoid: Phonology and lexicon. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.Pp 26

[3] Ekiugbo, P. O. 2016. The sound system of Uvwie. M. A. Thesis, University of Benin

[4] Omamor, A. P. 1973.

[5] Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff

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