Rigwe language

The Rigwe language, Nkarigwe, is a Plateau language of Nigeria spoken by the Irigwe people mainly found in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.^[3][4]

Rigwe
Nkarigwe
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Plateau State, Kaduna State
Native speakers	(40,000 cited 1985)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Plateau Central ? Rigwe
Language codes
ISO 639-3	iri
Glottolog	irig1241

Rigwe
People	Nneirigwe
Language	Nkarigwe

ɾȉgʷȅ[2]
Person	ƴîɾìgʷȅ
People	yíɾìgʷȅ
Language	ɾȉgʷȅ

Rigwe has highly complex phonology.^[5] The presence of the lateral fricative /ɬ/ in Rigwe, unusual among Plateau languages, suggests that there used to be West Chadic languages in the area with this phoneme.^[6]

Phonology

Rigwe phonology:^[7]

Rigwe Consonants

		Bilabial			Labiodental		Dental		Alveolar			Palato-alveolar		(Alveolo-)Palatal				Velar			Labial–velar/ Glottal
		plain	pl.	lb.	plain	pal.	plain	pl.	plain	pl.	lb.	plain	lb.	plain	pl.	lb.	glo.	plain	lb.	glo.	plain	pal	glo.
Nasal	voiced	m	mʲ	mʷ	ɱ				n					ɲ, ɲː		ɲʷ		ŋ	ŋʷ, ŋʷʲ		ŋ͡m
Stop	voiceless	p	pʲ						t					c	cʲ	cʷ	ˀc	k	kʷ	ˀk	k͡p		ˀkp
	voiced	b, ˀb	bʲ						d					ɟ	ɟʲ	ɟʷ		ɡ	ɡʷ	ˀɡʷ	ɡ͡b		ˀɡb
Fricative	voiceless				f	fʲ			s, ˀs			ʃ	ʃʷ, ˀʃʷ								h	hʲ
	voiced				v	vʲ	ð	ðʲ	z			ʒ	ʒʷ
Affricate	voiceless	ps							ts	tsʲ		t̠ʃ	t̠ʃʷ	tɕ	tɕʷ
	voiced											d̠ʒ	d̠ʒʷ
Approximant	voiceless								ɬ							j̊ʷ					w
	voiced								l					j		jʷ	ˀj				ʍ	ʍʲ	ˀʍ, ˀʍʲ
Tap									ɾ	ɾʲ	ɾʷ
Trill		ʙ							r	rʲ	rʷ

Rigwe Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	Oral	Nasal	Oral	Nasal	Oral	Nasal
Close	i	ĩ			u	ũ
Close-mid	e	ẽ			o	õ
Open	ɛ	ɛ̃	a	ã	ɔ	ɔ̃

Rigwe Tones

	Toneme
High	˦
Mid	˧
Mid-low	˨
Low	˩