Isoko language

Isoko is an Edoid language, spoken by the Isoko people in the Isoko region of Delta State and Bayelsa. The Isoko language has about 20 to 21 dialects, but the Aviara/Uzere dialect is the standard dialect of the language.

Isoko
Region	Nigeria
Ethnicity	Isoko
Native speakers	680,000 (2020)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid Southwestern Isoko
Language codes
ISO 639-3	iso
Glottolog	isok1239

Michael A. Marioghae, working with Peter Ladefoged in 1962, made one of a few audio recordings of sample Isoko words that are made available at the UCLA phonetics archive.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Dental-Palatal	Alveolar	Palatal/Palato-alveolar	Velar	Labial–velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Nasal		m		(n̪)	n̪ɲ	n	(ɲ)			ŋʷ
Plosive	voiceless	p		t̪	(t̪c)	t	(c)	k	(kp)
	voiced	b		d̪	(d̪ɟ)	d	(ɟ)	ɡ	ɡb	(ɡʷ)
Implosive	voiceless	ƥ
	voiced	ɓ
Affricate	voiceless						(tʃ)
	voiced						dʒ
Fricative	voiceless	(ɸ)	f			s	ʃ	(x)		ʍ ~ hʷ	h
	voiced		v			z		ɣ		ɣʷ
	breathy		v̤			(z̤)					ɦ
Approximant	central					ɹ	j			w
	lateral					l
Tap						ɾ
Trill						r

Consonants in parentheses occur in dialects other than Uzere.

According to Donwa-Ifode (1986), the following phonetic variations exist between dialects:

• [n̪] ~ [n̪ɲ] ~ [ɲ] ~ [hʲ] ~ [j]
• [ŋʷ] ~ [hʷ] ~ [ʍ]
• [t̪] ~ [t̪c] ~ [c]
• [d̪] ~ [d̪ɟ] ~ [ɟ] ~ [dʒ] ~ [ɡʲ] ~ [d]
• [ƥ] ~ [kp]
• [ɓ] ~ [ɡb]
• [tʃ] ~ [kʲ]
• [dʒ] ~ [ɡʲ] ~ [d]
• [ɾ] ~ [r] ~ [ɹ]
• [v] ~ [v̤] ~ [ɸ]
• [z] ~ [z̤] ~ [ɹ̝]
• [x] ~ [ɣ] ~ [ɡ]
• [xʷ] ~ [ɣʷ] ~ [ɡʷ]
• [ɦɾ] ~ [ɹ] ~ [l]
• [hʷ] ~ [ʍ]

Vowels

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨ẹ⟩	ɔ ⟨ọ⟩
Open	a

Orthography

Isoko alphabet

A

B

D

E

Ẹ

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

Ọ

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

Digraphs

CH

GB

GH

HW

KP

NW

NY

SH

TH

WH

External links

• Audio recordings available in ISOKO
• Voiced labiodental fricatives or glides - all the same to Germans?