Defaka language
| Defaka | |
|---|---|
| Afakani | |
| Défàkà | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Rivers State, Bonny District |
| Ethnicity | Defaka |
|
Native speakers
|
200 (2001) |
|
Niger–Congo
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | defa1248 |
The Defaka language is an endangered and divergent Nigerian language of uncertain classification. The low amount of Defaka speakers, coupled with the fact that other languages dominate the region where Defaka is spoken edges the language near extinction on a year-to-year basis. It is generally classified in an Ijoid branch of the Niger–Congo family. However, the Ijoid proposal is problematic. Blench (2012) notes that "Defaka has numerous external cognates and might be an isolate or independent branch of Niger-Congo which has come under Ịjọ influence."
Ethnically, the Defaka people are distinct from the Nkoroo, but they have assimilated to Nkoroo culture to such a degree that their language seems to be the only sign of a distinct Defaka identity. Use of the Defaka language however is quickly receding in favour of the language of the Nkoroo. Nowadays, most Defaka speakers are elderly people, and even among these, Defaka is rarely spoken — the total number of Defaka speakers is at most 200 nowadays (SIL/Ethnologue 15th ed.). The decrease in use of Defaka is stronger in Nkoroo town than in the Iwoma area. Since the language communities between Defaka and Nkoroo are so intertwined, it is hard to determine which language influences the other. All children grow up speaking Nkoroo (an Ijo language) as a first language. The next most used language among the Defaka is Igbo, owing to the political influence of the Opobo since the days of the Oil Rivers Trade. Igbo has been a language of instruction in many schools in the region and still functions as a regional trade language.
The Defaka language shows many lexical similarities with Ijọ, some shared regular sound correspondences and some typological similarities with proto-Ịjọ. For example, both languages have a subject–object–verb basic word order, which is otherwise extremely rare in the Niger–Congo language family, being found only in the Mande and Dogon branches.
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