Ibibio | |
---|---|
Usem Ibibio | |
Native to | Nigeria |
Region | Abia State, Akwa Ibom State, Rivers State, Cross River State |
Ethnicity | Ibibio |
Native speakers | L1: 6.3 million (2020)[1] L2: 4.5 million (2013)[1] |
Latin Nsibidi | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ibb |
Glottolog | ibib1240 |
Ibibio is the native language of the Ibibio people of Nigeria, belonging to the Ibibio-Efik dialect cluster of the Cross River languages. The name Ibibio is sometimes used for the entire dialect cluster. In pre-colonial times, it was written with Nsibidi ideograms, similar to Igbo, Efik, Anaang, and Ejagham. Ibibio has also had influences on Afro-American diasporic languages such as AAVE words like buckra which come from the Ibibio word mbakara and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.