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Kalabari dialect

Kalabari
Ibani–Kalabari–Kirike
Native to Nigeria
Region Rivers State
Ethnicity Kalabari, Ibani
Native speakers
(570,000 cited 1989–1995)
Niger–Congo
Dialects
  • Kalabari
  • Ibani (Bonny)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
 – Kalabari
 – Ibani
 – Kirike
Glottolog kaki1246

Kalabari is an Ijaw language of Nigeria spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State. Its three dialects are mutually intelligible. The Kalabari dialect (Kalabari proper) is one of the best-documented varieties of Ijaw, and as such is frequently used as the prime example of Ijaw in linguistic literature.

As of 2005, the language, "spoken by 258,000 people, [was] endangered largely because of the massive relocation that has taken place in the area due to the development of Nigeria's oil industry in the Port Harcourt region."

The Kalabari language became the basis of Berbice, a Dutch Creole spoken in Eastern Guyana.

Kalabari language words have been proposed for some modern technical terms.



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Wikipedia

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