Rigwe language

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

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

Rigwe has highly complex phonology.[5] 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.[6]

Phonology

Rigwe phonology:[7]

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 ɱ n ɲ, ɲː ɲʷ ŋ ŋʷ, ŋʷʲ ŋ͡m
Stop voiceless p t c ˀc k ˀk k͡p ˀkp
voiced b, ˀb d ɟ ɟʲ ɟʷ ɡ ɡʷ ˀɡʷ ɡ͡b ˀɡb
Fricative voiceless f s, ˀs ʃ ʃʷ, ˀʃʷ h
voiced v ð ðʲ z ʒ ʒʷ
Affricate voiceless ps ts tsʲ t̠ʃ t̠ʃʷ tɕʷ
voiced d̠ʒ d̠ʒʷ
Approximant voiceless ɬ j̊ʷ w
voiced l j ˀj ʍ ʍʲ ˀʍ, ˀʍʲ
Tap ɾ ɾʲ ɾʷ
Trill ʙ r
Rigwe Vowels
Front Central Back
Oral Nasal Oral Nasal Oral Nasal
Close i ĩ u ũ
Close-mid e o õ
Open ɛ ɛ̃ a ã ɔ ɔ̃
Rigwe Tones
Toneme
High ˦
Mid ˧
Mid-low ˨
Low ˩

References

  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. "Irigwe (African people)". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  4. "Rigwe". Ethnologue. SIL International. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  5. 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
  6. Blench, Roger (2022). Contact between West Chadic and Plateau languages: new evidence languages: new evidence. 11-12 November 2022, presentation given at Universität Wien.
  7. "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2022-06-10.


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