OBOLO CURRENT ALPHABET

The Obolo current Alphabet 

            According to Emananjo (1996:36), alphabet refers to the letters used in writing any language. The letters of the alphabet vary from language to language. Obolo alphabet comprises single letters and digraphs. The language also makes use of diacritics to enable adequacy in their writing system. The Obolo letters of the alphabet are arranged as follows:

Aa       Bb       CH ch            Dd       Ee       Ff        Gg       GB gb GW gw           Hh Ii Jj Kk KP kp      KW kw            Ll         Mm      Nn       NW nw NYny            Ññ       Oo

Ọọ       Pp Ss              Tt        Uu      Ww     Yy      ( Zz)

1.1  The Obolo Vowel

            Obolo has six phonemic vowels which are written as follows:

·                     a [a] as in tap “put”

·                     e [e] as in ebek “neck”

·                     i [i] as in ifet “beard

·                     o [o] as in lom “bite”

·                     ọ [ọ] as in ọkpọlọk “throat”

·                     u [u] as in utọñ “ear”

1.2   The Obolo Vowel Length

            Along with the six vowels, there are also six corresponding contrastive long vowels. Some examples are illustrated below:

·                     aa [a:] as in ataat “saliva

·                     ee [e:] as in mbeek “request”

·                     ii [i:] as in niiñ “quench”

·                     oo [o:] as in sook “shoot”

·                     ọọ [ɔ:] as in sook “squat”

·                     uu [u:] as in fuuk “breathe
1.3  Digraphs

Digraphs refer to a sequence of two letters which manifest as one unit of phoneme. Examples of digraph in obolo include:

·                     ch /ts/  as in chien - eye

·                     gb as in gbang -listen

·                     gw as in gwen - call

·                     kp as in ikpa - book

·                     kw as in kwek - prevent

·                     nw as in nwa

·                     ny as in nya- my

1.4   Diacritics

            Refers to symbol that gives extra information about a particular sound. Diacritics in obolo include:

·                     (.)

·                     (~) -nasalization

       CONCLUSION
                Unlike other African languages which have vowel variants,  it  has been observed that Obolo does not have allophonic vowels except the lengthened form. Obolo alphabet has more letters which comprises consonant. Looking at the consonantal proccesses of the language, Obolo does not permit consonants germination(i.e,  a case where a consonant is doubbled  or lengthened in a segment)

REFERENCES

Aaron,E.(1983)  Interpropositional Relations in Obolo, An MA Thesis: University of Texas, at Arlington. 

Faraclas, N.  (1984) A Grammar of Obolo. Indiana University Linguistics,               Bloomington

Ejituwu, P. (1977). A history of the Obolo language. Lagos: Lagos University Press.

Emananjo, N. (2000)  Orthography of Nigerian Languages: Abuja. Educational Research and Development Council.

Ene-Awaji, E (2015). History of Obolo and Bible Translation Organization: Agwut  Obolo, Rivers State.  
                             written by Iniobong Okon


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