Ogoni languages

The Ogoni languages, or Kegboid languages, are the five languages of the Ogoni people of Rivers State, Nigeria.

Ogoni
Kegboid
EthnicityOgoni people
Geographic
distribution		SE Nigeria
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Subdivisions
  • East
  • West
Glottologogon1240

They fall into two clusters, East and West, with a limited degree of mutual intelligibility between members of each cluster. The Ogoni think of the cluster members as separate languages, however.

The classification of the Ogoni languages is as follows:

  • East: Khana and Tẹẹ, with around 1,800,000 speakers between them, and Gokana, with about 250,000.
  • West: Eleme, with about 90,000 speakers, and Baan, with around 50,500.

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[1]


LanguageBranchDialectsAlternate spellingsOwn name for languageEndonym(s)Other names (location-based)Other names for languageExonym(s)SpeakersLocation(s)
GokanaKegboid54,000 (1973 SIL)Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA
KhanaKegboidYeghe, Nyokhana, Ken–Khana, Boúe, KaaKhanaOgoni (ethnic and political term includes Gokana)76,713 (1926 Talbot);[2] 90,000 (SIL)Rivers State, Khana/Oyigbo and Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGAs
ElemeWest55,000 (1987 UBS)Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA
TẹẹWestTaiTèẹ̀ ̣Tèẹ̀ ̣313,000 (2006)Rivers State, Tèẹ̀ ̣Local Government Area (TALGA)
BaanKa-Ban, KesariBan–OgoiGoi, OgoiFewer than 5,000 (1990)Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA, Ban–Ogoi plus villages

See also

References
  1. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  2. Talbot, P. Amaury 1926. The peoples of Southern Nigeria. A sketch of the history, ethnology and languages with an abstract of the 1923 census. 4 vols. London.

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