Uvbie language

Uvwiẹ or Ẹphrọn (Effurun) is a Niger Delta language spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria. It is classified alongside Urhobo, Okpe, Isoko and Eruwa as co-ordinate members of South-western Edoid branch of Proto Edoid language^[2] spoken by the Uvwie people of southern Nigeria.

Uvwie
Uvwie
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Delta State
Ethnicity	Urhobo
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta–Niger yeai Edoid Southwestern Uvwie
Language codes
ISO 639-3	evh
Glottolog	uvbi1238

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Uvwie, amongst other things, consists of seven vowels.^[3] Although earlier studies identified nine vowels in two harmonic sets, /i e a o u/ and /ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ/.^[4][5]

The consonant system is somewhat conservative, and nearly the same as that of Urhobo. The only significant differences are the loss of ɸ, ɣ, and of the distinction between l and n: these alternate, depending on whether the following vowel is oral or nasal. /ɾ, ʋ, j, w/ also have nasal allophones before nasal vowels.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		ɲ
Plosive	p  b	t  d	c  ɟ	k  ɡ	k͡p  ɡ͡b
Fricative	f  v	s  z	ʃ  dʒ			h
Trill		r
Flap		ɾ
Approximant	ʋ	l [n]	j		w