Native to Southern Nigeria Ethnicity Efik | Region Cross River State ISO 639-2 efi | |
Native speakers 400,000 (1998)
Second language: 2 million (1998) Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Benue–Congo
Cross River
Lower Cross
Ibibio-Efik
Efik | ||
Efik /ˈɛfɪk/ proper, wrongly referred to as Riverain Ibibio, is the native language of the Efik people of Nigeria, where it is a national language. It is the official language of Cross River State in Nigeria.
The language can be understood by the Ibibio speaking people of Akwa Ibom state (a neighboring state to Cross River State) and both are often thought of as the same language by non-speakers. Together with the Anaang and Ukwa languages, they form the Ibibio-Efik languages, a major dialect cluster.
It may survive in the diaspora in Cuba, in a creolized form used in the Abakuá secret society, which has its roots in the Efik Ekpe secret society in Nigeria.
It is one of the 3 languages to lack both /p/ and /g/, along with Ket and Goliath.
References
Efik language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA