| Epie | |
| Region: | Bayelsa state |
| States: | Nigeria |
| Speakers: | 140,000 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta–Congo |
| Fam4: | Volta–Niger |
| Fam6: | Akpes–Edoid |
| Fam7: | Edoid |
| Fam8: | Delta Edoid |
| Iso3: | epi |
| Glotto: | epie1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Epie |
Epie (or Epie–Atịsa) is a language spoken in Nigeria by the Epie–Atissa people.
The language has a partially reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of eight vowels; these form two harmonic sets, pronounced as //i e a o u// and pronounced as //i ɛ a ɔ ʊ//.[1]
Epie has only one clearly phonemic nasal stop, pronounced as //m//; pronounced as /[n]/ alternates with pronounced as /[l]/, depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. (The other approximants, pronounced as //j ɣ w//, are also nasalized in this position: see Edo language for a similar situation.) The inventory is:[2]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | align=center | pronounced as /m/ | |||||||
| Implosive | align=center | pronounced as / ɓ/ | align=center | pronounced as / ɗ/ | |||||
| Plosive | align=center | pronounced as /p b/ | align=center | pronounced as /t d/ | align=center | pronounced as /k ɡ/ | align=center | pronounced as /k͡p ɡ͡b/ | |
| Fricative | align=center | pronounced as /f v/ | align=center | pronounced as /s z/ | |||||
| Trill | align=center | (pronounced as /r/) | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /l [n]/ | pronounced as /j/ | pronounced as /ɣ/ | pronounced as /w/ |