The Ijoid languages are spoken by the Ịjọ [Ijaw] and the Defaka (Afakani) of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, totalling about 10 million. They form a separate branch of the Niger-Congo languages and are noted for their Subject Object Verb basic word order, which is an unusual feature in the Niger-Congo family shared only by such distant branches as Mande and Dogon. The largest Ijoid language by number of speakers is Izon (4 million), followed at a distance by Kalabari with about 250,000 speakers. Ijoid is generally divided in two branches, Ịjọ and Defaka. The Ijo branch consists of the about nine Ịjọ languages. Defaka, a tiny endangered language of the Bonny area, forms a branch on its own. The following classification is based on Jenewari (1989) and Williamson & Blench (2000). Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ... In the classification of African languages, Atlantic-Congo is an early branch of the Niger-Congo phylum. ... Ijo is a group of languages spoken in southern Nigeria, by the Ijo people. ... The Defaka (sometimes called Afakani) are a small ethnic group of south-western Nigeria, numbering less than a thousand people. ... The Niger Delta, the delta of the Niger River in Nigeria, is a densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a major producer of palm oil. ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ... In linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV) is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence appear (usually) in that order. ... Mandé is the name of an ethnic group or nation, as well as a group of languages which are spoken in several countries in West Africa, including Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mendé, Yacouba, and Vai. ... The Dogon languages are spoken by the Dogon in Mali. ... Ijo is a group of languages spoken in southern Nigeria, by the Ijo people. ... The Defaka (sometimes called Afakani) are a small ethnic group of south-western Nigeria, numbering less than a thousand people. ... The Defaka (sometimes called Afakani) are a small ethnic group of south-western Nigeria, numbering less than a thousand people. ...

Surprisingly, it was discovered in the 1980s that a creole spoken in Surinam, Berbice Dutch had its lexicon based on an Ịjọ language (Kouwenberg 1994). It seems that Kalabari is its nearest relative although perhaps the languages of this group were not so differentiated when it split off.

• Defaka
• Ijo languages
  • East
    • Nkoroo
    • Ibani-Okrika-Kalabari
      • Ibani (Bonny)
      • Kalabari
      • Kirike (Okrika)
  • West
    • Izon (includes Gbanran, Ekpetiama and Kolokuma dialects)
    • Inland Ijo
      • Biseni
      • Akita (Okordia)
      • Oruma

The Defaka (sometimes called Afakani) are a small ethnic group of south-western Nigeria, numbering less than a thousand people. ... Ijo is a group of languages spoken in southern Nigeria, by the Ijo people. ...

Bibliography

• Freemann, R. A., and Kay Williamson. 1967. Ịjọ proverbs. Research Notes (Ibadan) 1:1-11.
• Jenewari, Charles E.W. (1983) 'Defaka, Ijo's Closest Linguistic Relative', in Dihoff, Ivan R. (ed.) Current Approaches to African Linguistics Vol 1, 85–111.
• Jenewari, Charles E. W. (1989) 'Ijoid'. In Bendor-Samuel, John and Hartell, Rhonda L. (eds.), The Niger-Congo languages: A classification and description of Africa’s largest language family, 105-118. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
• Kouwenberg, Silvia 1994. A grammar of Berbice Dutch Creole. (Mouton Grammar Library 12). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Lee, J. D., and Kay Williamson. 1990. A lexicostatistic classification of Ịjọ dialects. Research in African Languages and Linguistics 1:1.1-10.
• Orupabo, G. J., and Kay Williamson. 1980. Okrika. In West African language data sheets, Volume II, edited by M.E. Kropp Dakubu. Leiden: West African Linguistic Society and African Studies Centre.
• Williamson, Kay. 1962. (Republished by Bobbs-Merrill Reprints 1971.). Changes in the marriage system of the Okrika Ịjọ. Africa 32.53-60.
• Williamson, Kay. 1963. The syntax of verbs of motion in Ịjọ. J. African Languages 2.150-154.
• Williamson, Kay. 1965 (2nd ed. 1969). A grammar of the Kolokuma dialect of Ịjọ. (West African Language Monographs, 2.) London: C.U.P.
• Williamson, Kay. 1966. Ịjọ dialects in the Polyglotta Africana. Sierra Leone Language Review 5. 122-133.
• Williamson, Kay. 1969. 'Igbo' and 'Ịjọ', chapters 7 and 8 in: Twelve Nigerian Languages, ed. by E. Dunstan. Longmans.
• Williamson, Kay. 1971. Animal names in Ịjọ. Afr. Notes 6, no. 2, 53-61.
• Williamson, Kay. 1971. The Benue-Congo languages and Ịjọ. In: Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7, series ed. by T. A. Sebeok, 245-306.
• Williamson, Kay. 1971. The Benue-Congo languages and Ịjọ. In: Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7, series ed. by T. A. Sebeok, 245-306.
• Williamson, Kay. 1973. Some reduced vowel harmony systems. Research Notes 6:1-3. 145-169.
• Williamson, Kay. 1975. Metre in Ịzọn funeral dirges. Òdùmá 2:2.21-33.
• Williamson, Kay. 1977. Multivalued features for consonants. Language 53.843-871.
• Williamson, Kay. 1978. From tone to pitch-accent: the case of Ịjọ. Kiabàrà 1:2.116-125.
• Williamson, Kay. 1979. Consonant distribution in Ịjọ. In: Linguistic and literary studies presented to Archibald Hill, ed. E.C. Polome and W. Winter, 3.341-353. Lisse, Netherlands: Peter de Ridder Press.
• Williamson, Kay. 1979. Medial consonants in Proto-Ịjọ. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 1.73-94.
• Williamson, Kay. 1987. Nasality in Ịjọ. In: Current trends in African linguistics, 4, ed. by David Odden, 397-415.
• Williamson, Kay. 1988. Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta. In: The Prehistory of the Niger Delta, ed. by E.J. Alagoa and others. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
• Williamson, Kay. 1989. Tone and accent in Ịjọ. In Pitch accent systems, ed. by Harry v.d. Hulst and Norval Smith, 253-278. Foris Publications.
• Williamson, Kay. 1991. The tense system of Ịzọn. In The tense systems of Nigerian languages and English, edited by Okon E. Essien. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere (AAP) 27.145-167.
• Williamson, Kay. 1998. Defaka revisited. The multi-disciplinary approach to African history, edited by Nkparom C. Ejituwu, Chapter 9, 151-183. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
• Williamson, Kay. 2004. The language situation in the Niger Delta. Chapter 2 in: The development of Ịzọn language, edited by Martha L. Akpana, 9-13.
• Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger-Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds) African Languages - An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 11—42.
• Williamson, Kay, and A. O. Timitimi (edd.). 1983. Short Ịzọn-English dictionary. (Delta Series No. 3.) Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
• Williamson, Kay, and A. O. Timitimi. 1970. A note on number symbolism in Ịjọ. African Notes (Ibadan) 5:3. 9-16.

External links

• The Ijoid branch on the Ethnologue, 15th edition.

• http://www.rogerblench.info/Language%20data/Niger-Congo/Ijoid/Ijoid%20page.htm