Eleme

Eleme is member of the Cross River group of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. It is spoken by about 40,000 people in Eleme Local Government Area in the centre of Rivers State in the southeast of Nigeria. In particular, it is spoken in the communities of Agbonchia, Akpajo, Alesa, Aleto, Alode, Ogale, Ebubu, Ekporo, Eteo and Onne.

There are two dialects of Eleme: Nchia and Odido, which are mutually intelligible. Eleme is considered endangered as most Eleme people are shifting to English or Nigerian Pidgin. Efforts are being made to encourage more people to use Eleme, including books, films and videos.

Eleme was first written in the 1930s by choir leaders and primary school teachers. A numbers of ways to write the language with the Latin alphabet have been developed. Few Eleme speakers are literate in their language perhaps due to the lack of a standard orthography.

Eleme alphabet and pronunciation

Download an alphabet chart for Eleme (Excel)
Details of the Eleme alphabet provided by Wolfram Siegel (PDF)

Notes

Double vowels (aa) are long
Vowels are nasal after nasal consonants
V and Z are used in loanwords and foreign names
M and N are syllabic before other consonants
N is pronounced [ŋ] before G and K

Eleme proverbs

àbúrá kɔ́ɔ̀ àjĩ́ĩ́yɛ̃̀ ò’ṹ jĩ́ĩ́yɛ̃̀ ɔ̀gbã̀ mɛ̀ èpípɛ́ɛ́lɛ́ ɛ́bã̀rã̀ èyàà ɔ̀bɔ́.
The lizard said, 'although I have climbed th e cotton and iroko tree, I am unable to get out of a shallow pit'. (Inability)
àjìjà kɔ́ɔ̀ ɛ̀kā úɛ̀ èkpíkpíí ɔ́kɔ̃̀ dɔ̀ɛ́ ónū.
The fox says that even though it is dying it still has the bone of a fowl in its mouth. (Tenacity)
àjō. kɔ́ɔ̀ òkúkúlā bēè ɔ̀’áá ńnɔ́ɔ́.
The palm fruit says that they produce more palm oil when there are several of them. (Unity)

Source: https://www.academia.edu/14525467/The_Eleme_Orthography

Sample videos

Information about Eleme | Numbers

Links

Information about Eleme
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleme_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleme_people
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/elem1253
http://www.language-archives.org/language/elm
https://www.academia.edu/14525467/The_Eleme_Orthography
elemetoay.blogspot.com/2025/05/eleme-monarch-laments-erosion-of-native.html

Benue-Congo languages

Ahwai, Akum, Alumu, Anaang, Berom, Cara, Eleme, Eloyi, Firan, Gokana, Hasha, Jju

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 08.07.26. Last modified: 08.07.26

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