Language family | Niger–Congo? - Atlantic–Congo
- Volta–Niger
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Ukue (Epinmi) is an Edoid language of Ondo State, Nigeria. It is sometimes considered the same language as Ehuẹun. Phonology Ukue 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] The language arguably has no phonemic nasal stops; [m, n] alternate with [β, l], depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. Unusually, it has fricatives but no sibilants. The inventory is:[3] | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | | Plosive | b | t̪ d̪ | t d | | k ɡ | k͡p ɡ͡b | | | Fricative | f v | | | | | | h | | Rhotic* | | | r̝ | | | | | | | | r | | | | | | Approximant | β [m] | | l [n] | j | | w | | (*See Edo for a likely interpretation of the two rhotics.) References - ^ Ukue 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
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