Ivbiosakon language

Ivbiosakon
Ivbiosakon
Aoma
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Edo State
Native speakers	(100,000 cited 1987)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid North-Central Edo Ivbiosakon; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Emai; Ora; Iuleha; Ivhimion; ?Ihievbe (Isewe);
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ema – inclusive code; Individual code:; ihi – Ihievbe
Glottolog	emai1241

Ivbiosakon, or Aoma, is an Edoid language of Edo State, Nigeria. The dialect names Ora and Emai are also used for the language.

Phonology

Aoma has a rather reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of seven vowels; these form two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /i ɛ a ɔ u/.^[2]

It has only one clearly phonemic nasal stop, /m/; [n] alternates with [l], depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. (The other approximants, /ɹ j w h/, are also nasalized in this position: see Edo language for a similar situation.) The inventory is:^[3]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	l [n]
Plosive	p b	t d		k ɡ	k͡p ɡ͡b
Fricative	f v	s z		x ɣ
Trill		r
Approximant		ɹ	j		w	h

References

^ Ivbiosakon at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Ihievbe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff
^ Jeff Mielke, 2008. The emergence of distinctive features, p 136ff;
also found in Variation and gradience in phonetics and phonology, p 26ff

This Volta–Niger language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[e18-1] Ivbiosakon at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Ihievbe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Archangeli & Pulleyblank, 1994. Grounded phonology, p 181ff

[3] Jeff Mielke, 2008. The emergence of distinctive features, p 136ff;
also found in Variation and gradience in phonetics and phonology, p 26ff

[1]