Ogoni languages explained

Ogoni
Ethnicity:Ogoni people
Also Known As:Kegboid
Region:SE Nigeria
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:Benue–Congo
Fam4:Cross River
Child1:East
Child2:West
Glotto:ogon1240
Glottorefname:Ogonoid

The Ogoni languages, or Kegboid languages, are the five languages of the Ogoni people of Rivers State, Nigeria.

They fall into two clusters, East and West, with a limited degree of mutual intelligibility between members of each cluster. The Ogoni think of the cluster members as separate languages, however.

The classification of the Ogoni languages is as follows:

Names and locations

Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[1]

Language Branch Dialects Alternate spellings Own name for language Endonym(s) Other names (location-based) Other names for language Exonym(s) Speakers Location(s)
Kegboid 54,000 (1973 SIL) Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA
Kegboid Khana Ogoni (ethnic and political term includes Gokana) 76,713 (1926 Talbot);[2] 90,000 (SIL) Rivers State, Khana/Oyigbo and Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGAs
West 55,000 (1987 UBS) Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA
West Tai Tèẹ̀ ̣ Tèẹ̀ ̣ 313,000 (2006) Rivers State, Tèẹ̀ ̣Local Government Area (TALGA)
Ka-Ban, Kesari Ban–Ogoi Goi, Ogoi Fewer than 5,000 (1990) Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA, Ban–Ogoi plus villages

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Blench, Roger. An Atlas of Nigerian Languages. Kay Williamson Educational Foundation. 2019. 4th. Cambridge.
  2. Talbot, P. Amaury 1926. The peoples of Southern Nigeria. A sketch of the history, ethnology and languages with an abstract of the 1923 census. 4 vols. London.