Ukue language

Ukue (Epinmi) is an Edoid language of Ondo State, Nigeria. It is sometimes considered the same language as Ehuẹun.

Ukue
Native toNigeria
RegionOndo State
Native speakers
14,000 (2000)[1]
Niger–Congo?
  • Atlantic–Congo
    • Volta–Niger
      • yeai
        • Edoid
          • Northwestern
            • Osse River
              • Ukue
Language codes
ISO 639-3uku
Glottologukue1238

Phonology

Ukue has a rather reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of seven vowels; these form two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /i ɛ a ɔ u/.[2]

The language arguably has no phonemic nasal stops; [m, n] alternate with [β, l], depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. Unusually, it has fricatives but no sibilants. The inventory is:[3]

  Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Plosive   b t̪  d̪ t  d k  ɡ k͡p  ɡ͡b  
Fricative f  v   h
Rhotic*   r̝        
  r        
Approximant β [m] l [n] j   w  

(*See Edo for a likely interpretation of the two rhotics.)

References
  1. Ukue at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  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


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