Afenmai language
Afenmai (Afemai), Yekhee, or Iyekhe, is an Edoid language spoken in Edo State, Nigeria by Afenmai people. Not all speakers recognize the name Yekhee; some use the district name Etsako.
Yekhee | |
---|---|
Afenmai Kukuruku (outdated) | |
Etsako | |
Native to | Nigeria |
Region | Edo State |
Ethnicity | Afenmai |
Native speakers | 510,000 (2020) |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ets |
Glottolog | yekh1238 |
Previously the name used by British colonial administration was Kukuruku, supposedly after a battle cry "ku-ku-ruku", now considered derogatory.
Afenmai is unusual in reportedly having a voiceless tapped fricative as the "tense" equivalent of the "lax" voiced tap /ɾ/ (compare [aɾ̞̊u] 'hat' and [aɾu] 'louse'), though is other descriptions it is described simply as a fricative and analyzed as the "lax" equivalent of the "tense" voiceless stop /t/.
Etsako, a dialect of Edo itself, has its own dialects which are broadly divided into the Iyekhe and Agbelọ dialects, with the Iyekhe dialect being the more widely spoken.