Epie language

Epie (or Epie-Atissa) is a language spoken in Nigeria by the Epie-Atissa people.

Epie
Native toNigeria
RegionBayelsa state
Native speakers
140,000 (2021)[1]
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3epi
Glottologepie1238

Phonology

The language has a partially reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of eight vowels; these form two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /i ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.[2]

Epie 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 ɣ w/, are also nasalized in this position: see Edo language for a similar situation.) The inventory is:[3]

  Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar
Nasal m      
Implosive   ɓ   ɗ
Plosive p  b t  d k  ɡ k͡p  ɡ͡b
Fricative f  v s  z  
Trill   (r)      
Approximant   l [n] j ɣ w

References

  1. Epie at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  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

Further reading

  • Thomas, Elaine and Kay Williamson. 1967. "Wordlists of delta Edo: Epie, Engenni, Degema." In Occasional Papers 8, p. 105. Accra: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.


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