Edo language should not be confused with Ido.
| Edo | |
| Also Known As: | Bini |
| Nativename: | Igbo: Ẹ̀dó |
| States: | Nigeria |
| Region: | Edo State |
| Ethnicity: | Edo people |
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue-Congo |
| Fam5: | Akpes-Edoid |
| Fam6: | Edoid |
| Fam7: | North-Central |
| Fam8: | Edo–Esan–Ora |
| Script: | Latin |
| Iso2: | bin |
| Iso3: | bin |
| Glotto: | bini1246 |
| Glottorefname: | Bini |
| Map: | Edo language.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Location of Edo speakers in Nigeria. |
Edo (with diacritics, Igbo: Ẹ̀dó), colloquially and often referred to as Bini, is the language spoken by the Edo ethnic group in Edo State, Nigeria. Benin is not a language but, rather, the name of the capital city, and the name of the Kingdom. Edo language is the native tongue of the Edo people and was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo for thousands of years. Edo language is the majority language spoken in Edo State, particularly in Benin City, and the surrounding local governments and senatorial districts in the Southern parts of the State. While everyone from the state are referred to as Edolites, but the Edo speaking people are known as the Edos.
Most of the Edo language-speakers live in the Southern parts of Edo State, Nigeria.The current state: Edo State derives its name from the Edo speaking people of the state. A smaller number of Edo speakers are also found in Delta State and Ondo State and in other parts of Nigeria.
Edo is an Edoid language. This languages are also spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
There are seven vowels, pronounced as //i e ɛ a ɔ o u//, all of which may be long or nasal, and three tones.
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a | ||
Edo has a rather average consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains only a single phonemic nasal, pronounced as //m//, but has 13 oral consonants, pronounced as //r, l, ʋ, j, w// and the 8 stops, which have nasal allophones such as pronounced as /[n, ɲ, ŋʷ]/, and nasalized allophones pronounced as /[ʋ̃, j̃, w̃]/ before nasal vowels.
| Labial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | align=center | pronounced as /m/ | |||||||||
| Plosive | align=center | pronounced as /p b/ pronounced as /[pm bm]/ | align=center | pronounced as /t d/ pronounced as /[tn dn]/ | align=center | pronounced as /k ɡ/ pronounced as /[kŋ ɡŋ]/ | align=center | pronounced as /k͡p ɡ͡b/ pronounced as /[k͡pŋ͡m ɡ͡bŋ͡m]/ | |||
| Fricative | align=center | pronounced as /f v/ | align=center | pronounced as /s z/ | align=center | pronounced as /x ɣ/ | align=center | pronounced as /ɦ/ | |||
| Trill | align=center | pronounced as /r/ | |||||||||
| Close approximant | align=center | pronounced as /ɹ̝̊ ɹ̝/ | |||||||||
| Open approximant | pronounced as /ʋ/ pronounced as /[ʋ̃]/ | pronounced as /l/ pronounced as /[n]/ | pronounced as /j/ pronounced as /[ɲ]/ pronounced as /[j̃]/ | pronounced as /w/ pronounced as /[ŋʷ]/ pronounced as /[w̃]/ |
The three rhotics have been described as voiced and voiceless trills as well as a lax English-type approximant. However, Ladefoged found all three to be approximants, with the voiced–voiceless pair being raised (without being fricatives) and perhaps at a slightly different place of articulation compared to the third but not trills.
Syllable structure is simple, being maximally CVV, where VV is either a long vowel or pronounced as //i, u// plus a different oral or nasal vowel.
The Edo alphabet has separate letters for the nasalised allophones of pronounced as //ʋ// and pronounced as //l//, mw and n:
| A | B | D | E | Ẹ | F | G | Gb | Gh | H | I | K | Kh | Kp | L | M | Mw | N | O | Ọ | P | R | Rh | Rr | S | T | U | V | Vb | W | Y | Z | |
| pronounced as //a// | pronounced as //b// | pronounced as //d// | pronounced as //e// | pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as //f// | pronounced as //ɡ// | pronounced as //ɓˠ// | pronounced as //ɣ// | pronounced as //ɦ// | pronounced as //i// | pronounced as //k// | pronounced as //x// | pronounced as //kp// | pronounced as //l// | pronounced as //m// | pronounced as /[ʋ̃]/ | pronounced as /[n]/ | pronounced as //o// | pronounced as //ɔ// | pronounced as //p// | pronounced as //r// | pronounced as //ɹ̝̊// | pronounced as //ɹ̝// | pronounced as //s// | pronounced as //t// | pronounced as //u// | pronounced as //v// | pronounced as //ʋ// | pronounced as //w// | pronounced as //j// | pronounced as //z// |