| Ibibio | |
| Nativename: | Usem Ibibio |
| States: | Nigeria |
| Region: | Abia State, Akwa Ibom State, Rivers State, Cross River State |
| Ethnicity: | Ibibio |
| Speakers: | L1 million |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Ref: | e27 |
| Speakers2: | L2 million (2013) |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta–Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Cross River |
| Fam6: | Lower Cross |
| Fam7: | Ibibio-Efik |
| Iso3: | ibb |
| Glotto: | ibib1240 |
| Glottorefname: | Ibibio |
| Script: | Latin Nsibidi |
Ibibio is the native language of the Ibibio people of Nigeria, belonging to the Ibibio-Efik dialect cluster of the Cross River languages. The name Ibibio is sometimes used for the entire dialect cluster. In pre-colonial times, it was written with Nsibidi ideograms, similar to Igbo, Efik, Anaang, and Ejagham. Ibibio has also had influences on Afro-American diasporic languages such as AAVE words like buckra which come from the Ibibio word mbakara and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.
The Ibibio people are found in the South-South region of Nigeria in Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State, and Eastern Abia State (Arochukwu and Ukwa East LGAs). Ibibio communities in Opobo Nkoro and Oyigbo LGA's of Rivers State are largely unknown.
Some Ibibios are also found in other neighboring countries (western Cameroon, Bioko — central Guinea, and Ghana).
| + Ibibio consonant phonemes | Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Plosive | pronounced as /b/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
Intervocalic plosives are lenited:
| + Ibibio vowel phonemes | Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
Between consonants, pronounced as //i, u, o// have allophones that are transcribed pronounced as /[ɪ, ʉ, ə]/, respectively. At least in case of pronounced as /[ɪ, ə]/, the realization is probably somewhat different (e.g. close-mid pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|e}}, {{IPAplink|ɘ}}]/), because the default IPA values of the symbols pronounced as /[ɪ, ə]/ are very similar to the normal realizations of the Ibibio vowels pronounced as //i, ʌ//. Similarly, pronounced as /[ʉ]/ may actually be near-close pronounced as /link/, rather than close pronounced as /link/.
In some dialects (e.g. Ibiono), pronounced as //ɪ, ʉ, ə// occur as phonemes distinct from pronounced as //i, u, o//.
Ibibio has five tones: high, mid, rising, falling and low. A word can mean two or more different things based on the tone ascribed to it.
| a | a | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| b | b | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| d | d | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| e | e | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ǝ | ǝ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| f | f | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| gh | gh | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| h | h | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| i | i | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ị | ị | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| k | k | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| kp | kp | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| m | m | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| n | n | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ñ | n̄ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ñw | n̄w | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ny | ny | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| o | o | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ọ | ọ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ʌ | ʌ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| p | p | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| s | s | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| t | t | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| u | u | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ụ | ụ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| w | w | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| y | y | pronounced as /ink/ |
The following Ibibio proverbs with English translations come from The Sayings of the Wise: Ibibio Proverbs and Idioms by Anietie Akpabio, published in 1899.[3]