Edo language

Edo
Edo
Bini
Ẹ̀dó
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Edo State
Ethnicity	Edo
Native speakers	2 million (2020)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Volta–Niger Akpes-Edoid Edoid North-Central Edo–Esan–Ora Edo; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-2	bin
ISO 639-3	bin
Glottolog	bini1246
	Location of Edo speakers in Nigeria.

Edo (Ẹ̀dó [ɛ̀.dó]; English: /ˈɛdoʊ/,^[2] locally: /ˈedo/),^[3] also known as Bini, is the language spoken by the Edo people in Edo State, Nigeria. It was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo. It 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.

Distribution

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. These languages are also spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Phonology

Vowels

There are seven vowels, /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/, all of which but /e o/ can also occur nasalised.^[4]^[5] Additionally, all vowels are phonetically nasalised in the immediate vicinity of a nasal consonant or vowel.^[6]

	Front		Central		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i	ĩ			u	ũ
Close-mid	e				o
Open-mid	ɛ	ɛ̃			ɔ	ɔ̃
Open			a	ã

Consonants

Edo has a rather average consonant inventory for an Edoid language. It maintains only a single phonemic nasal, /m/, but has 13 oral consonants, /r, l, ʋ, j, w/ and the 8 stops, which have nasal allophones such as [n, ɲ, ŋʷ], and nasalized allophones [ʋ̃, j̃, w̃] before nasal vowels.^[7]^[8]

	Labial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m
Plosive	p b [pm bm]		t d [tn dn]		k ɡ [kŋ ɡŋ]	k͡p ɡ͡b [k͡pŋ͡m ɡ͡bŋ͡m]
Fricative		f v	s z		x ɣ		ɦ
Trill			r
Close approximant			ɹ̝̊ ɹ̝
Open approximant		ʋ [ʋ̃]	l [n]	j [ɲ] [j̃]		w [ŋʷ] [w̃]

The three rhotics have been described as voiced and voiceless trills as well as a lax English-type approximant. However, Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) found all three to be approximants – with the voiced–voiceless pair being raised (albeit with very little frication) and perhaps at a slightly different place of articulation compared to the third – and none as trills.^[9]

Tone

There are three tones.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is simple, being maximally CVV, where VV is either a long vowel or /i, u/ plus a different oral or nasal vowel.

Orthography

The Edo alphabet has separate letters for the nasalised allophones of /ʋ/ and /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

/a/

/b/

/d/

/e/

/ɛ/

/f/

/ɡ/

/⁠ɓˠ⁠/

/ɣ/

/ɦ/

/i/

/k/

/x/

/kp/

/l/

/m/

[ʋ̃]

[n]

/o/

/ɔ/

/p/

/r/

/ɹ̝̊/

/ɹ̝/

/s/

/t/

/u/

/v/

/ʋ/

/w/

/j/

/z/

Long vowels are written by doubling the letter. Nasal vowels may be written with a final -n or with an initial nasal consonant. Tone may be written with acute accent, grave accent, and unmarked, or with a final -h (-nh with a nasal vowel).

References

^ Edo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
^ "Edo". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 September 2024. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ Emovon 1979, pp. 46–47.
^ Adénéyì 2007, p. 6.
^ Emovon 1979, p. 46.
^ Emovon 1979, pp. 87–95.
^ Evbuomwan 2025, p. 2.
^ Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 241. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.

Sources

Adénéyì, Harrison 'Rótìmí (2007). A morphology of Edo (MA thesis). University of Ibadan. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3625750.
Emovon, Joshua A. (1979). A phonological study of Edo (Bini), with special reference to the verbal phrase (MPhil thesis). SOAS, University of London. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00029261.
Evbuomwan, Osaigbovo O. (2025), An Overview of Ẹdo Sounds and Some Phonological Conditions, University of Benin

External links

Edo Language Dictionary Online Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
Hans Melzian's Edo-English Dictionary
Rebecca Agheyisi's Edo-English Dictionary
Centre for Edo Studies
PanAfrican L10n page on Edo (Bini)
Edo/Africa names dictionary{source Edoworld}
Bini (Edo) wordlists and recordings at the UCLA Phonetics Archive
Bini (Edo) Market Days Calender [sic] on Naija local

[e25-1] Edo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[2] Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh

[3] "Edo". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 September 2024. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

[FOOTNOTEEmovon197946–47-4] Emovon 1979, pp. 46–47.

[FOOTNOTEAdénéyì20076-5] Adénéyì 2007, p. 6.

[FOOTNOTEEmovon197946-6] Emovon 1979, p. 46.

[FOOTNOTEEmovon197987–95-7] Emovon 1979, pp. 87–95.

[FOOTNOTEEvbuomwan20252-8] Evbuomwan 2025, p. 2.

[9] Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 241. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.

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