Ehuẹun | |
States: | Nigeria |
Region: | Ondo State |
Date: | 2000 |
Ref: | e18 |
Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
Fam3: | Volta–Niger |
Fam5: | Edoid |
Fam6: | Northwestern |
Fam7: | Osse River |
Iso3: | ehu |
Glotto: | ehue1238 |
Glottorefname: | Ehueun |
Ehuẹun (Ekpimi) is an Edoid language of Ondo State, Nigeria. It is sometimes considered the same language as Ukue.
Ehuẹun has a rather reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of seven vowels; these form two harmonic sets, pronounced as //i e a o u// and pronounced as //i ɛ a ɔ u//.[1]
The language arguably has no phonemic nasal stops; pronounced as /[m, n]/ alternate with pronounced as /[β, l]/, depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. The inventory is:[2]
Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | align=center | pronounced as / b/ | align=center | pronounced as /t d/ | align=center | pronounced as /k ɡ/ | align=center | pronounced as /k͡p ɡ͡b/ | |||
Fricative | align=center | pronounced as /ɸ β [m]/ | align=center | pronounced as /f v/ | align=center | pronounced as /s z/ | align=center | pronounced as /h/ | |||
Rhotic | align=center | pronounced as /r̝ r/ | |||||||||
Approximant | pronounced as /ʋ/ | pronounced as /l [n]/ | pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /w/ |
The two rhotics have been described as voiced and voiceless trills. However, Ladefoged found both to be approximants, with the pair being raised (without being fricatives) but not trills.