Annual Conference on African Linguistics 46 March 26-28, 2015 University of Oregon

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An overview of tone in Igala*

Samantha Dawson, Michael R. Marlo, Dane Myers & Christopher Adejo

University of Missouri 1 Introduction The Ankpa dialect of Igala [igl], a Yoruboid language of central Nigeria, has three primary tone levels and contours involving all three levels. The tonal minimal triplets in (1) show H, M, and L tones. (1) Tonal triplets showing H, M, and L

H M L kɔ ‘Build!’ kɔ ‘Write!’ kɔ ‘Refuse!’ hi ‘Knit!’ hi ‘Fuck!’ hi ‘Cook!’

Examples of HL fall and LH rise are shown in (2). (2) Examples of contour tones involving H and L

HL LH oko ‘pig’ okʷɔ ‘grandparent’ onɛ ‘person’ ititi ‘sp. of bird’ ɔlɔpu ‘tribe’ ɔna ‘door’

Our research has identified quite a few tonal minimal sets. (3) Tonal minimal sets

aɡba ‘chin’ aɡba ‘(greeting)’

aɡba ‘handcuffs, we swept’ aɡba ‘basket’

oɡʷu ‘twenty, corpse’ oɡʷu ‘medicine’

oɡʷu ‘war’ oɡʷu ‘twin’

ɔkɔ ‘money’ ɔkɔ ‘millipede’

ɔkɔ ‘vehicle’ ɔkɔ ‘husband’

* Thanks to members of the Spring 2014 Field Methods course at the University of Missouri for their assistance in developing the corpus that this paper is based on, and to Christopher Rodriguez and Sorsha Smith for their continued assistance with research on Igala. We are grateful to the Department of English, the College of Arts & Science, the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, the MU Arts & Humanities Small Grant, and the Mizzou Alumni Association Richard Wallace Faculty Incentive Grant for funding support.

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oko ‘farm’ oko ‘parrot’

oko ‘pig’

omi ‘water’ omi ‘I’

ubi ‘cobra’ ubi ‘back’

edudu ‘hair’ edudu ‘black’

Contours involving M are exemplified in (4). These contours occur only as the result of phrasal concatenations. MH and HM seem to be especially rare; they are actively avoided in some contexts, and, as discussed below, attested only in the ‘one N’ context. (4) Contours involving M ML MH HM amʼ ata ɔmʼ idu ije ‘ka ɔfa ‘ka oko ‘ka /ama ata/ /ɔma idu/ /ije oka/ /ɔfa oka/ /oko oka/ pl father child lion mother one throat one pig one ‘fathers’ ‘lion cub’ ‘one mother’ ‘one throat’ ‘one pig’ The complex contour MLH is attested in a few forms in (5). (5) Complex contours MLH amʼ ɔɔndɔ am’ ookʷɔ am’ ɔɔna /ama ɔndɔ/ /ama okʷɔ/ /ama ɔna/ pl bow pl grandparent pl door ‘bows’ ‘grandparents’ ‘doors’ Vowels realized with a contour tone are long, while vowels with a level tone are typically, though not always, short. Long vowels bearing the MLH contour, as in (5), and those with a level tone, as in (6), are represented by doubling the vowel; the length of other vowels bearing a contour tone is unmarked. Long level H (6) ɔfaa ‘ka oɡʷuu ‘ka /ɔfa oka/ /oɡʷu oka/ arrow one corpse one ‘one arrow’ ‘one corpse’ (7) Two common phonetic effects involving tone level

(i) clause-final L is phonetically very low and falling (ii) H is phonetically raised before L

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In (6), the level H vowels of ɔfaa are all raised above the usual position of H, suggesting that there is a single H linked to each vowel. 2 Tone patterns of nouns

Nouns in Igala generally have at least two syllables. Examples of nouns with two syllables are shown in (8). There are no Ns which begin with M, but otherwise all combinations of L, M, and H are found. As we saw in (1) above, Vs may begin with M. (8) Tone patterns of two-syllable Ns

LL LM LH ɛdɔ ‘heart’ ɔbɛ ‘knife’ ata ‘father’ ubi ‘back’ ikpa ‘path’ ubi ‘cobra’ idu ‘lion’ odu ‘night’ idɔ ‘bat’ afɛ ‘shirt’ ɔfa ‘throat’ iwɛ ‘feather’ HL HM HH eɡbe ‘gun’ omi ‘water’ odu ‘name’ ikʷu ‘rope’ ɔkɔ ‘husband’ eti ‘ear’ anɛ ‘ground’ ɛla ‘animal’ ika ‘wing’ eŋme ‘vegetable’ utʃu ‘yam’ ɔfa ‘arrow’

Three-syllable nouns provided in (9) also show virtually all logically possible combinations of L, M, and H—with the exception that Ns do not begin with M. (9) Tone patterns of three-syllable Ns

LLL LLM LLH ɔbala ‘cat’ edudu ‘hair (general)’ ododo ‘flower’ ɔɡɛdɛ ‘banana’ ɛdaba ‘shoe’ abuta ‘lizard’ oɡʷuɡʷu ‘owl’ akele ‘frog’ idaɡbo ‘duck’ uɡʷuɡʷu ‘seat’ LML LMM LMH oliwo ‘cooking stick’ ukɔdɛ ‘spoon’ alutʃɛ ‘farmer’ ɔlɔdʒi ‘rainy season’ adaɡba ‘elephant’ olele ‘type of music’ udʒedʒu ‘meeting’ LHL LHM LHH otili ‘tail’ ukpalu ‘tongue’ ahima ‘louse’ abatʃa ‘cassava’ ɔtatʃɔ ‘bamboo’ ɔkaɲi ‘axe’ ukputʃɔ ‘breakfast’ okʷuta ‘stone’ ikeke ‘thorn’ obuka ‘kitchen’ ɛbʲɛnɛ ‘sin’ obotʃi ‘doctor’

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HLL HLM HLH ɛkɛtɛ ‘sand’ adʒuwɛ ‘hen’ aŋɛdʒɛ ‘tortoise’ HML HMM HMH ɔmidu ‘lion cub’ okʷunɔ ‘cow’ ilodʒi ‘hair (of head)’ omʲɛɲa ‘milk’ afolo ‘rabbit’ omiŋɔ ‘honey’ ɛnɔla ‘enemy’ atʃitʃi ‘fly’ ɔnɛɲi ‘master of house’ ɔmɔdɔ ‘sp. of fish’ HHL HHM HHH atʃikʷu ‘bone’ adɛdʒɔ ‘Adejo’ (name) iɡbili ‘wilderness’ ikɛli ‘rib’ ilaji ‘street’ elulu ‘ash’ ukabu ‘gorilla, baboon’

No instances of HHM have been identified, but it is not clear that this gap reflects any deeper generalization about the language. Surface HH#M sequences are attested in forms such as odʒi mi ‘my head’.

Nouns with four or more syllables are quite rare, but some are attested. Some of these appear to involve reduplication; some may be compounds. (10) Tone patterns of four+-syllable Ns

LLLL LLLH ohimini ‘ocean’ ɔkakatʃi ‘trumpet’ okokolo ‘circle’ ukokolo ‘hawk’ LLMM LHHM ɔtadʒija ‘hat’ ohidaka ‘sacrifice’ LHHH HLMM oɡoɡoro ‘strong spirit’ ikʷudʒiŋmi ‘belt’ oɡeɡene ‘pinnacle’ HHLH LLLMM odʒokʷunu ‘roof’ ɔtʃatʃakolo ‘race horse’ LLLLL HHMMM ɔbaɡabaɡa ‘cockroach’ atʃibebene ‘butterfly’ oburukutu ‘sorghum spirit’

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LMLLH HHHMMH odobɔɡaɡʷu ‘deity’ atʃuwobɛtɛma ‘grape wine’

3 Downstep

Igala has downstep of H tones in certain restricted contexts. ꜜH is phonetically distinct from M in forms like (11a) vs. (11b): ꜜH is higher in pitch than M. … H M … H ꜜH (11) a. obotʃi mi ‘my doctor’ b. obotʃi ꜜlɛ ‘the/that doctor’ obotʃi wɛ ‘your doctor’ obotʃi ꜜi ‘this doctor’ ꜜH is also distinct from M in phrase-medial position. In the H-ꜜH-H sequence in (12b), ꜜH and the following H are realized at the same pitch level, but in the H-M-H sequence of (12a), the pitch rises from M to the following H. … H M H … H ꜜH H (12) a. obotʃi wɛ kɔ b. obotʃi ꜜlɛ kɔ doctor your build.it doctor dem build.it ‘your doctor built it’ ‘the/that doctor built it’ In the examples in (11b) and (12b) downstep occurs at a syntactic boundary, between a noun and a demonstrative. The distal demonstrative lɛ and the proximal demonstrative i are realized as H after nouns ending in L or M, and as ꜜH after nouns ending in H. (13) Distal demonstrative lɛ

L ___ atɛ lɛ ‘that bed’ atɛ ‘bed’ eŋme lɛ ‘that vegetable’ eŋme ‘vegetable’ M ___ ɛwɛ lɛ ‘that bird’ ɛwɛ ‘bird’ ikpa lɛ ‘that path’ ikpa ‘path’ H ___ uwo ꜜlɛ ‘that mountain’ uwo ‘mountain’ iwɛ ꜜlɛ ‘that feather’ iwɛ ‘feather’

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(14) Proximal demonstrative i L ___ ikʷu i ʽthis ropeʼ ikʷu ‘rope’ idu i ‘this lion’ idu ‘lion’ M ___ ɔbɛ i ‘this knife’ ɔbɛ ‘knife’ ijɛ i ‘this mother’ ijɛ ‘mother’ H ___ ubi ꜜi ʽthis cobraʼ ubi ‘cobra’ ika ꜜi ‘this wing’ ika ‘wing’

Another case where downstep is found at a syntactic boundary is between a H-toned subject and a following H-toned verb under negation. The tone of subject markers is a function of tense-aspect-mood-polarity. In the forms in (15), which represent subject markers in a wide variety of TAM forms, the 3sg subject marker i is L. (15) L subject markers in the past

i kɔ ‘he built’

i kɔ ‘he refused’

i kɔ ‘he wrote’

Under negation, subject NPs acquire a final H. (16) H subjects under negation a. abatʃa fu n /abatʃa+H fu n/ cassava grow neg ‘Cassava didn’t grow.’ b. abatʃa mi fu n /abatʃa mi+H fu n/ cassava my grow neg ‘My cassava didn’t grow.’ Subject pronouns are H. (17) H subject markers under negation a. i ꜜkɔ n 3sg.neg build neg ‘He did/will not build.’

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M-toned and L-toned verbs are not lowered in this context and remain distinct from ꜜH verbs. b. i kɔ n 3sg.neg write neg ‘He did/will not write.’ c. i kɔ n 3sg.neg refuse neg ‘He did/will not refuse.’ The “superhigh” tone of the clause-final negation marker n in (17) is puzzling: it is realized at a higher pitch level than a preceding H. Except for the predictable raising of H before L, SH has been found only in clause-final position and only in negation. We treat it as a feature of ‘negative intonation’. Clause-final position is also the site of L-lowering and also patterns of lengthening which mark yes/no questions. The downstep of a H verb after H does not take place in present/future forms which have a tense-aspect marker a which immediately follows the verb. (18) yaa li /i a li/ 3sg pres see ‘he will seeʼ Another case involving negation in which a H verb is downstepped after H is following the negative marker ma found in negated relative clauses. (19) ɔma kʼ i ma ꜜɡbʼ edʒu n /ɔma ku i ma ɡbɔ edʒu n/ child that 3sg neg hear eye neg ‘the child that is not wiseʼ When a would-be HL falling tone, created through the concatenation of vowels, precedes H, a HꜜH fall results. (20) ubi mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla /ubi mV ɛla/ cobra num nine ‘nine cobras’

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Consecutive downsteps are possible. In (21), HL+H is realized as HꜜH through vowel

concatenation. The downstepped H of ɛ ꜜ ɛla ‘nine’ is immediately followed by the demonstrative

lɛ, which is always downstepped after H. Each downstep lowers the pitch ceiling of H.

(21) abo mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla ꜜlɛ

/abo mV ɛla lɛ/ people num nine dem

‘those nine people’

A following H, as in the verb kɔ ‘build’, is at the same level as the preceding H. A tonal

alternation in this sentence is that the aspect marker mɛ becomes L after the H verb kɔ ‘build’.

(22) abo mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla ꜜlɛ ... ‘Those nine people …’ a. kɔ ‘…built.’ A following M kɔ ‘write’ is lower in pitch. The aspect marker mɛ is realized H. b. kɔ ‘… wrote.’ A following L kɔ ‘refuse’ is even lower. The aspect marker mɛ is realized H. c. kɔ ‘…refused.’ 4 Phrasal concatenations

A pervasive issue in Igala tonology concerns the tonal consequences of vowel hiatus resolution. As nouns begin and end with vowels, and verbs end with vowels, V+N verb phrases, N+N compounds, the plural forms of Ns, and N+Numeral combinations regularly generate underlying vowels in hiatus. (23) Morphosyntactic contexts with vowel hiatus a. V+N b. N+N c. pl+N d. N+Num Hiatus is almost always resolved. High vowels undergo glide formation. In most other combinations (e.g. V+N, N+N, pl+N), the first vowel is deleted, though in N+‘one’ contexts, it is the second vowel which is deleted.

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4.1 No alternation: combination of identical level tones

As shown in (24) and (25), no tonal alternations are observed when identical tones (L+L, H+H) are concatenated. (24) HL+LL [LL → L] e dʒ’ udʒa /e dʒa udʒa/ inf fight fight ‘fiɡht a fiɡht’ (25) HH+HH [HH → H] e k’ uɲi e ɡbʼ edʒu /e kɔ uɲi/ /e ɡbɔ edʒu/ inf build house inf hear eye ‘to build a house’ ‘to be wise’ 4.2 No alternation: preservation of L+H as LH

There are also no tonal alternations when L+H are combined after L. As shown in (26), the input tones are preserved as a rise. (26) LL+HH [LH → LH] aɲʼ ebidʒɛ /aɲa ebidʒɛ/ horse iron ‘bicycle’ As we see below, there are alternations of L+H when the flanking tones are different. 4.3 No alternation: preservation of H+L as HL

As shown in (27) and (28), H and L are both preserved as a fall when the preceding tone is H and the following tone is L or M. (27) HH+LL [HL → HL] olʲ’ uɡʷuɡʷu ubi mʼ ɛfa ɔfa mʼ ɛfa /oli uɡʷuɡʷu/ /ubi mV ɛfa/ /ɔfa mV ɛfa/ wood seat cobra num six arrow num six ‘chair’ ‘six cobras’ ‘six arrows’

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(28) HH+LM [HL → HL] e dʼ ɔbɛ e ɡʷʼ ɔbɛ ubi mʼ ɛta ɔfa mʼ ɛta /e da ɔbɛ/ /e ɡʷo ɔbɛ/ /ubi mV ɛta/ /ɔfa mV ɛta/ inf cut knife inf stab knife cobra num three arrow num three ‘to cut with a knife’ ‘to cut with a knife’ ‘three cobras’ ‘three arrows’ H and L are also preserved as a fall when the flanking tones are L, as in (29), and when the preceding tone is L and the following tone is M, as in (30). (29) LH+LL [HL → HL] idu mʼ ɛfa ikʷu mʼ ɛfa /idu mV ɛfa/ /ikʷu mV ɛfa/ lion num six rope num six ‘six lions’ ‘six ropes’ (30) LH+LM [HL → HL] idu mʼ ɛta ikʷu mʼ ɛta /idu mV ɛta/ /ikʷu mV ɛta/ lion num three rope num three ‘three lions’ ‘three ropes’ In the examples in (31) and (32), HL is preserved after a M and before L or M. (31) MH+LL [HL → HL] odu mʼ ɛfa ɛla mʼ ɛfa /odu mV ɛfa/ /ɛla mʼ ɛfa/ night num six animal num six ‘six nights’ ‘six animals’ (32) MH+LM [HL → HL] odu mʼ ɛta ɛla mʼ ɛta /odu mV ɛta/ /ɛla mV ɛta/ night num three animal num three ‘three nights’ ‘three animals’ 4.4 No alternation: preservation of M+L as ML

The examples in (33) – (35) show that input M+L is also preserved as a ML fall when the preceding tone is L.

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(33) LM+LL → LMLL [ML → ML] amʼ idu amʼ afɛ amʼ ododo /ama idu/ /ama afɛ/ /ama ododo/ pl lion pl shirt pl flower ‘lions’ ‘shirts’ ‘flowers’ (34) LM+LM → LMLM [ML → ML] amʼ odu amʼ ɔbɛ /ama odu/ /ama ɔbɛ/ pl night pl knife ‘nights’ ‘knives’ (35) LM+LH → LMLH [ML → ML] amʼ ubi amʼ iwɛ am’ ɔɔndɔ /ama ubi/ /ama iwɛ/ /ama ɔndɔ/ pl cobra pl feather pl bow ‘cobras’ ‘feathers’ ‘bows’ And the forms in (36) and (37) show that M+L is also preserved when the preceding tone is H. (36) HM+LL [ML → ML] ɛnʼ ujɔ omʼ idu ɔmʼ ikpa /ɛnɛ ujɔ/ /oma idu/ /ɔma ikpa/ person joy child lion child bag ‘joyful person’ ‘lion cub’ ‘small bag’ (37) HM+LH [ML → ML] ɛɡʼ ahima

/ɛɡɛ ahima/ egg louse ‘louse egg’ 4.5 M-rise simplification: M+H → M

Tone alternations are found with several combinations. Although ML falls are allowed, potential MH rises are generally avoided. This is shown in (38) and (39) for forms in which the preceding tone is L and the following tone is M or H. (38) LM+HM [MH → M] amʼ ɛla amʼ ɔma amʼ ije /ama ɛla/ /ama ɔma/ /ama ije/ pl animal pl child pl mother ‘animals’ ‘children’ ‘mothers’

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(39) LM+HH [MH → M] amʼ ɔfa amʼ odu ɛrʼ oli /ama ɔfa/ /ama odu/ /ɛrɔ oli/ pl arrow pl name fruit tree ‘arrows’ ‘names’ ‘fruit (from the tree)’ In (40) and (41), potential MH rises simplify to M after H and before M or H. (40) HM+HM [MH → M] aŋ’ ɔla e k’ eli ɔmʼ adʒi /aŋɔ ɔla/ /e kɔ eli/ /ɔma adʒi/ skin body inf sing song child river ‘skin, hide’ ‘to sing a song’ ‘magical river snake’ (41) HM+HH [MH → M] ɔm’ ɔwɔ /ɔma ɔwɔ/ child hand ‘finger’ In the examples in (42), there are Ls flanking the underlying M+H sequence, and M+H simplifies to M. (42) LM+HL → LML [MH → M] amʼ ikʷu amʼ eɡbe amʼ eŋme amʼ anɛ /ama ikʷu/ /ama eɡbe/ /ama eŋme/ /ama anɛ/ pl rope pl gun pl vegetable pl ground ‘ropes’ ‘guns’ ‘vegetables’ ‘properties’ In (43), we find additional examples of M+H simplifying to M. Here the preceding tone is M and the following tone is L. (43) HM+HL [MH → M] ɔmʼ ɔwɔ ɔmʼ akpe /ɔma ɔwɔ/ /ɔma akpe/ child broom child scorpion ‘small broom’ ‘baby scorpion, s.o. who is small but dangerous’

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4.6 M-fall simplification: M+L → M

Although there are many instances where M+L is preserved as a ML fall (see §4.4), we have recorded a simplification of M+L to M when the preceding tone is H and the following tone is M, though we also have some notes indicating variant HLM outputs. (44) HM+LM [ML → M] e dʼ ɔbɛ ɔmʼ ɔwɔ /e du ɔbɛ/ /ɔma ɔbɛ/ inf give knife child knife ‘to give a knife’ ‘small knife’ 4.7 Rise-averaging: L+H → M

There are instances where input L+H are “averaged out” as M. This seems to be the case when the following tone is M. In the example in (45), the tone preceding input L+H is H. (45) LL+HM [LH → M] aɲʼ ɛla /aɲa ɛla/ horse animal ‘horse’ The form in (45) can be clearly shown to be M and not ꜜH by adding a M-toned possessive

pronoun after the noun, as in aɲʼ ɛla mi ‘my horse’ and confirming that the vowels are realized at

the same pitch level.

The examples in (46) also show input L+H realized as M before M. In these cases, the tone preceding L+H is H. (46) HL+HM [LH → M] anʼ oːmi e gʷ’ omi e lʼ utʃu mi /anɛ omi/ /e gʷa omi/ /e la utʃu mi/ ground water inf dig water inf buy yam my ‘wetland’ ‘to swim (in water)’ ‘to buy my yams’ An additional case which appears to generate M from LH is found in (47). Here a H precedes L+H and a L follows.

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(47) HL+HM [LH → M] ok’ oka /oka oka/ one one ‘one by one’ 4.8 Downstep: HL+H → HꜜH

The HꜜH contour tone may also be derived from phrasal concatenations. In the examples in (48) – (50), nouns with various tone patterns are modified by the LH numeral ɛla ‘nine’. When nouns combine with numerals greater than 1, a marker mV intervenes between the noun and the numeral. This morpheme has an underlying H, and its V deletes before the V of the numeral. In combination with LH numerals like ɛla ‘nine’, the would-be HL fall becomes a HꜜH fall before H.

(48) HH+LH [HL → Hꜜ]

ubi mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla ɔfa mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla /ubi mV ɛla/ /ɔfa mV ɛla/ cobra num nine arrow num nine ‘nine cobras’ ‘nine arrows’ (49) LH+LH [HL → Hꜜ] idu mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla ikʷu mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla /idu mV ɛla/ /ikʷu mV ɛla/ lion num nine rope num nine ‘nine lions’ ‘nine ropes’ (50) MH+LH [HL → Hꜜ]

odu mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla ɛla mʼ ɛ ꜜ ɛla /odu mV ɛla/ /ɛla mV ɛla/ night num nine animal num nine ‘nine nights’ ‘nine animals’ 5 N + oka ‘one’

When the numeral oka ‘one’ follows a noun, the resulting vocalic and tonal concatenations show somewhat different patterns from N+N and V+N combinations. When ‘one’ is added to the N, a H tone is added to the final V of the noun. This is seen most transparently in (51), in which the LL nouns are realized with a final rise before the numeral. (51) LL N + oka ‘one’

ɛdɔ ‘ka ‘one heart’ ɛdɔ ‘heart’ idu ‘ka ‘one lion’ idu ‘lion’

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Although MH sequences are normally avoided, when ‘one’ follows a M-final noun (whether LM or HM), the H is preserved as a MH contour. (52) M-final Ns + oka ‘one’

LM ɔbɛ ‘ka ‘one knife’ ɔbɛ ‘knife’ ɔfa ‘ka ‘one throat’ ɔfa ‘throat’ HM ɔma ‘ka ‘one child’ ɔma ‘child’ okʷunɔ ka ‘one cow’ okʷunɔ ‘cow’

When ‘one’ follows a H-final noun (whether LH or HH), the noun ends in H. In addition, the final vowel of the noun surfaces long. (53) H-final Ns + oka ‘one’

LH idɔɔ ‘ka ‘one bat’ idɔ ‘bat’ iwɛɛ ‘ka ‘one feather’ iwɛ ‘feather’ HH ɔfaa ‘ka ‘one arrow’ ɔfa ‘arrow’ oɡʷuu ‘ka ‘one corpse’ oɡʷu ‘corpse’

Given the generalization that vowels linked to multiple tones are long in Igala, while vowels linked to a single tone are short, these examples might be interpreted as having two H tones linked to the same vowel, contrary to the predictions of the Twin Sister Convention. When the H added by ‘one’ combines with a L that is preceded by H, it seems that the LH sequence is generally preserved as a rise. (54) HL N + oka ‘one’

oko ‘ka ‘one parrot’ HL oko ‘parrot’ ikʷu ‘ka ‘one rope’ ikʷu ‘rope’ ɔna ‘ka ‘one door’ LH.L ɔna ‘door’

When the noun oko ‘pig’, which ends in a HL fall, is followed by ‘one’, the HL-H sequence becomes a HꜜH fall. (55) HL-final N + oka ‘one’

okoꜜo ‘ka ‘one pig’ L.HL oko ‘pig’

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The noun onɛ ‘person’ has a rare tone pattern with fall on the initial syllable. When followed by ‘one’, the final L and the added H are realized as a LH rise, though it appears that the initial fall simplifies to a level H. (56) onɛ ‘person’ + oka ‘one’

onɛ ‘ka ‘someone’ onɛ ‘person’ There is an alternative form of examples with ‘one’ in which ‘one’ is realized as ŋka. Our consultant (the fourth author) indicates that this pronunciation reflects an influence of the Idoma language on the Ankpa dialect of Igala. (57) Alternate forms with ŋka

ɔma ka ~ ɔma ŋka ‘one child’ oma ‘child’ ɔfaa ka ~ ɔfa ŋka ‘one arrow’ ɔfa ‘arrow’

NC clusters are quite rare in Igala. We have collected the four forms in (58). (58) NC clusters

aŋkpa ‘(name of city)’ aŋɡbamu ‘iron sheet roof’ aɲɛmba ‘spicy edible leaf’ ɔndɔ ‘bow’