Nupe language

Nupe
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Niger State, Kwara State, Kogi State, Nasarawa State, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Ethnicity	Nupe
Native speakers	L1: 1.8 million (2020) L2: 200,000 (1999)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger noi Nupoid Nupe Nupe languages Nupe
Dialects	Nupe Tako (Bassa Nge)
Writing system	Latin, Arabic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nup
Glottolog	nupe1254

Nupe (also known as Anufe, Nupenci, Nyinfe, and Tapa) is a Volta–Niger language of the Nupoid branch primarily spoken by the Nupe people of the North Central region of Nigeria. Its geographical distribution stretches and maintains preeminence in Niger State as well as Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory. Nupe is closely related to Kakanda in structure and vocabulary. There are at least two markedly different dialects of Nupe: Nupe central and Nupe Tako.

Demographics

Nupe is the language spoken by the Nupe people, who reside mainly in Niger State in Nigeria, occupying a lowland of about 18000 square kilometers in the Niger Basin, mostly north of the river between the Kontagora and Guara confluents from Kainji to below Baro, and also Kwara State, Kogi State and the Federal Capital Territory.

Nupe is spoken mainly in Bida, Niger State and surrounding areas. It is also spoken in villages on the Benue River near Ibi and east of Lafia. Nupe has assimilated earlier ethnolinguistic groups such as the Benu of Kutigi, who originally were Kanuri-speaking, and the Gbagyi at Lemu.

Nupe-Tako ("The Nupe Below", also called "Bassa Nge") is spoken by the Bassa Nge, who also speak the Bassa Nge or Bassa Nupe dialect of Basa-Benue and is lexically most closely related to central Nupe.

Classification

The Nupe language belongs to the Nupoid branch of the Benue-Congo group of languages. Other languages in the group are Igbira (Ebira), Gade, and Kakanda. Nupe is related most closely to Kakanda in structure and vocabulary. There are at least two markedly different dialects: Nupe central and Nupe Tako.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i ĩ	u ũ
Mid	e	o
Open	a ã

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t			k	k͡p ⟨kp⟩
	voiced	b	d			g	ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s ⟨ts⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩
	voiced		d͡z ⟨dz⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ ⟨sh⟩				h
	voiced	v	z	ʒ ⟨zh⟩
Nasal		m	n
Approximant			l		j ⟨y⟩		w
Trill			r ⟨r⟩

Indication of tones

High tone	(´) acute
Low tone	(`) grave
Mid tone	unmarked
Falling tone	(ˆ) circumflex or (ˇ) caron
Rising tone	(ˇ) caron or (ˆ) circumflex

Proverbs

Common sayings come in the forms of egankogi (parable), gangba (warning), egancin (idiom), ecingi (riddle/tales) and eganmagan (proverb).

Eganmagan (proverb, plural eganmaganzhi) are wise sayings spoken among the Nupes. They are didactic proverbs which educate, entertain, and teach morality. They form part of the oral culture on norms and ethics of Nupe societies, and are passed from one generation to another through songs, stories, fables, folk tales, myths, legends, incantations, communal discussions, and worship.

Similar to other African proverbs, Nupe proverbs associate or relate people's action to their immediate environment in order to explain or correct particular situations, norms, issues, or problems. They also enlighten, warn and advise, or teach language in order to change perception which is believed to become reality.

External links

• PanAfriL10n page on Nupe
• Takada nya Aduwa nya Eza Kama kendona zizi nya Anglican Church yi na Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Nupe (1955) digitized by Richard Mammana