Tag: Ibibio

Ibibio (proper) is the native language of the Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State, 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 comes from the Ibibio word mbakara, and in the Afro-Cuban tradition of abakua.

Native speakers: 1.5 to 2 million (1998)
Native to: Southern Nigeria
Region: Akwa Ibom State
Language family: Niger–Congo languages, Benue–Congo languages, Lower Cross River languages