Epie language

Epie (or Epie-Atissa) is a language spoken in Nigeria by the Epie-Atissa people.

Epie
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Bayelsa state
Native speakers	90,000 (2016)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid Delta Epie
Language codes
ISO 639-3	epi
Glottolog	epie1238

Phonology

The language has a partially reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of eight vowels; these form two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /i ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.[2]

Epie 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, /j ɣ w/, are also nasalized in this position: see Edo language for a similar situation.) The inventory is:[3]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar
Nasal	m
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Plosive	p  b	t  d		k  ɡ	k͡p  ɡ͡b
Fricative	f  v	s  z
Trill		(r)
Approximant		l [n]	j	ɣ	w

References

1. Epie at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
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

Further reading

• Thomas, Elaine and Kay Williamson. 1967. "Wordlists of delta Edo: Epie, Engenni, Degema." In Occasional Papers 8, p. 105. Accra: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.