Oko language

Oko (ɔ̀kɔ́), also known as Ogori-Magongo and Oko-Eni-Osayin, is a dialect cluster spoken in Nigeria. It appears to form a branch of the "Nupe–Oko–Idoma" (noi) group of Niger–Congo languages. Most Oko speakers also speak Yoruba as a second language. The language is spoken in and around the towns of Ogori and Magongo in southwestern Kogi State, close to the Ondo and Edo state borders.

Oko
Ogori-Magongo
Native toNigeria
RegionKogi State
Native speakers
40,000 (2006)[1]
Niger–Congo
  • Atlantic–Congo
    • Volta–Niger
      • noi
        • Oko
Dialects
  • Oko
  • Eni
  • Osayen
Language codes
ISO 639-3oks
Glottologokoe1238

Classification

Oko is one of the Volta–Niger languages.

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013) grouped Oko within the Idomoid languages.[2]

Distribution

According to Ethnologue, Oko is spoken in:

Varieties

Oko is a dialect cluster consisting of (Ethnologue):

  • Oko (Ogori, Uku)
  • Osayin(Magongo, Osanyin)
  • Eni

Below is a list of Ọkọ–Eni–Ọsayin language cluster names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[3]

LanguageAlternate spellingsOther names (location-based)Speakers
ỌkọUku, OkoOgori (town name), Gori4,000 (1970??)
ỌsayinOsayin, ỌsayinMagongo (town name)3,000 (1970??)
Eni3,000 (1970??)

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Palato-alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Voiceless plosive p t k k͡p
Voiced plosive b d g ɡ͡b
Voiceless fricative f s h
Voiced fricative z
Voiceless affricate t͡ʃ
Voiced affricate d͡ʒ
Trill r
Approximant l j w

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Low a

Each vowel also has a nasal equivalent.[4]

See also

References
  1. Oko at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013. ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013).
  3. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  4. Atoyebi, Joseph Dele. 2009. A Reference Grammar of Oko. Umuneke-Okpala, Nigeria: Leipzig University Press.
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