Esan is a language in Nigeria. Dictionaries and grammar texts of the Esan language are being produced. There are many dialect, including Ogwa, Ẹkpoma (Ekuma), Ebhossa (okhuesan)
(Ewossa), Ewohimi, Ewu, Ewatto, Ebelle, Igueben, Irrua, Ohordua, Uromi, Uzea, Ubiaja and Ugboha.
List of Esan dialects as classified by Osiruemu (2010):
People from Uromi, Irrua and Ewu speak slightly different Esan dialect compared to people from Uzea, even though there is documentation that Uromi people and the Uzea people have common ancestry. Such variations in tongue and spelling of words are common in the Esan language. Most annual Esan Kings' Council meetings are largely conducted in English for this reason. However, the Esan language has been described as regionally important. It is taught in schools throughout Esanland, and Esan language radio and television is prevalent.
Linguistic finding has shown the word âÂÂgbeâ to have the highest number of usages in Esan, with up to 76 different meanings in a normal dictionary. Names starting with the prefixes á»Âsẹ; Ẹhi, Ẹhiz or Ẹhis; and Okoh (for male), Okhuo (for female) are the commonest in Esan: Ehizefe, Ẹhizá»Âkhae, Ẹhizojie, Ẹhiná»Âmẹn, Ẹhimanre, Ẹhizẹle, Ẹhimẹn, Ẹhikhayimẹntor, Ẹhikhayimẹnle, Ẹhijantor, Ehicheoya, Emiator etc.; á»Âsẹmundiamẹn, á»Âsẹmhẹngbe, etc.; Okosun, Okojie, Okodugha, Okoemu, Okouromi, Okoukoni, Okougbo, Okoepkẹn, Okoror, Okouruwa, Oriaifo etc. To any Oko-, 'á»Âm-' the suffix of the name can be added to arrive of the female version e.g. á»Âmosun, á»Âmuromi, etc.
Esan uses several alphabets, Romanized Esan being the most commonly used with a total number of 25 letters:
a, b, d, e, ẹ, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, á»Â, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, y, z.
The digraph consists of 10 sets of double letters:
bh, gb, gh, kh, kp, kw (rarely used), mh, nw, ny, sh.
All Esan nouns begin with vowel letters (i.e. a, e, ẹ, i, o, á»Â, u): aru, eko, ẹbho, itohan, ozẹ, á»Ârhia, uze, etc. Due to the influence of neighboring tongues and Western languages, especially English, there is the tendency among Esan to pronounce many non-Esan nouns beginning with a consonant letter. In the event of such within the boundary of Esan write-up, an apostrophe may be employed before the first consonant letter both to Esanize and ease the pronunciation. In speech however such apostrophe is often pronounced as âÂÂiâ /i:/: âÂÂbazaar, âÂÂJonah, âÂÂlabour, âÂÂzoo, etc.
Each Esan noun ends in either a vowel letter (e.g. ato, Ẹkpoma, uri, oya) or the vowel-associated letter âÂÂnâÂÂ: agbá»Ân, eran, ẹnyẹn, itá»Ân, isẹn, etc. Exception to this rule is the writing of proper nouns where a name can end in letter âÂÂrâ always after a letter âÂÂá»Ââ to make it sound like âÂÂorâ in English as well as the use of letter âÂÂhâ after a letter âÂÂoâ to make it sound as âÂÂohâ in English: Isibor, Oko'ror, Okoh, Okoá»Âboh, etc.
In nouns, following the first vowel letter is always a second consonant letter: ahoho, avan, ilo, udia. For the expression of a feminine gender, the second consonant letter following a vowel letter is doubled: ahhihi (=female ant), á»Âsshá» (=female friend), á»Ârrhia (=female person), etc. This gender-sensitive style is better understood by French speakers, who usually differentiate genders â masculine, feminine, neuter. Exception to this rule has to do with certain nouns that consist of vowel letters only e.g. 'oẹ' (leg, plural 'ae'), 'oo' (mother), 'uu' (death), etc.
Pluralization in Esan is of two forms, the first of which has to do with nouns that have original plural forms, in which case the first letter is replaced/displaced by another letter:
á»Âmá»Ân (baby), imá»Ân (babies); á»Âmá»Âle (man, male), imá»Âle (men, males); okpea (man), ikpea (men); okhuo (woman, female), ikhuo (women, females); á»Âshá»Â, á»Âmuá»Âe (friend), ishá»Â, imuá»Âe (friends); obhio (relation), ibhio (relations); obhokhan (child), ibhokhan (children); oghian (enemy), ighian (enemies); usẹnbhokhan (boy), isẹnbhokhan (boys); á»Âmamhẹn, á»Âmá»Âhin (girl), imamhẹn, imá»Âhin (girls); á»Âwanlẹn (elder, adult), iwanlẹn (elders, adults); á»Ârhia (person), erhia (persons); á»Âbo (doctor), ebo (doctors); Ebo (English citizen), Ibo (English citizens); obá» (arm), abá» (arms); oẹ (leg), ae (legs); use (nail), ise (nails); udo (stone), ido (stones)
The second has to do, not with the above which have original plural form, but with many other nouns which do not. In this case, a suffix (as the use of 's' in English) is used by adding it to the noun in question, but without a change in pronunciation. For example:
uwaebe (school), uwaebeh (schools); eran (stick), eranh (sticks); emhin (something), emhinh (some things)
All Esan pronouns have plural forms different from singular, but both subject and object cases do not differ (both subject and object cases are the same):
âÂÂAahâ can only be used as subject. (âÂÂotuanâ and âÂÂukpá»Âleâ can be used in both ways: Otuan á»Âkpa ni ele dia; Dati ituan eva re. Ukpá»Âle á»Âkpa ribhá»Â. Jia ikpá»Âle ea re.)
Such as ancestors
âÂÂotuanâ (pl. ituan) is used for humans, âÂÂukpá»Âleâ (pl. ikpá»Âle) is used for non-humans and âÂÂAahâ depends on the context in which it is used.
The use of Esan is open to three orders or arrangements: (subjectâÂÂverbâÂÂobject (SVO), objectâÂÂsubjectâÂÂverb (OSV), and objectâÂÂverbâÂÂsubject (OVS)) to express themselves Okoh âÂÂh gbi ele (SVO). Okoh imẹn ddaghe (OSV). Ena yẹ imẹn (OVS). SVO is commonest and most employed. The use of OVS is restricted to a limited number of grammatical constructions.
All Esan verbs start with consonant letters and end in either vowel letter or the vowel associated letter âÂÂnâÂÂ: bi, dẹ, fan, hẹn, lolo, etc. In expressing the past, doubling of initial letter of a verb takes place such that âÂÂbiâ changes to âÂÂbbiâ and âÂÂhẹnâ becomes âÂÂhhẹnâÂÂ. A verb can also begin with a diphthong: khian, gbe, bhanbhan. The formation of past tense in this case is not different: kkhian, ggbe, etc. Some Esan dialect such as Uzea makes use of âÂÂahâ (or âÂÂh) to show present participle (as in âÂÂHe is going home.âÂÂ). Although this is absent in majority of Esan dialects, it is used and placed before the main verb when writing: Ele âÂÂh khá»Âa = TheyâÂÂre having bath.
An Esan adjective, as does an English adjective, modifies a noun or pronoun. That is, it gives more information about a noun or pronoun and makes its meaning more specific. It can appear before or after a noun. The only difference between Esan and English adjectives is that like Japanese, some Esan adjectives are verb-like in that they inflect to show tenses: Ele mhẹnmhin. = They are good. // Ele mmhẹnmhin. = They were good. The doubling of the initial letter of the adjective 'mhẹnmhin (good)' like verbs, clearly demonstrates this point. Esan adjectives are of two distinct types: âÂÂword adjectiveâ and âÂÂphrasal adjectiveâÂÂ.
A word adjective is an adjective consisting of a single word: esi, khá»Âlá»Â, hu, jian, etc. This form of adjective is subdivided into five types: pre-noun adjective, post-noun adjective, numeral adjective, nounal adjective, and restricted adjective. A pre-noun adjective appears only before the noun it modifies, provides information about the nounâÂÂs size and/or quantity, and they start with a vowel letter: ukpomin, ekitui, udede, ikwẹkwi, etc. These adjectives are not subject to the law of tenses and do not take the suffix âÂÂmhinâÂÂ. A post-noun adjective comes immediately after the noun it modifies: khá»Âlá»Â, khá»Âriá»Ân, fuá»Â, ba, to, han, lẹnlẹn, bhihi, hu, khisin, khere, re(le) (far), re (deep), re (grown up), re (well attended), bue, tan, etc. These adjectives are subject to the law of tenses such that they are used to reflect time (e.g. âÂÂOkoh rẹ kkhá»Âriá»Ân.â = "Okoh is ugly.").
Except the adjective âÂÂkhá»Âriá»ÂnâÂÂ, all others can be used with the suffix âÂÂmhinâÂÂ, and (âÂÂebeâ and âÂÂesiâ which are also called noun adjectives) they all start with consonant letters. A numeral adjective is one that can be used to answer such question as âÂÂhow many?âÂÂ: á»Âkpa, eva, ea, igbe, etc. Because they are also nouns, they all start with vowel letters. They are neither subject to the law of tenses nor can they be used with the suffix âÂÂmhinâÂÂ. A nounal or noun adjective is one that comes before a noun and can easily be manipulated to become a noun in usage: esi, ebe. It can neither be used with âÂÂmhinâ nor are they subject to tense law. A restricted adjective is one that can only be used with a particular noun e.g. âÂÂbhibhiâ in 'ewewẹ bhibhi' (early morning).
Some adjectives that can be placed under the word adjective are adjectives that are formed from the doubling of a word adjective: faná»Ân-faná»Ân (unkempt; untidy), rughu-rughu or ragha-ragha (disorderly), sankan-sankan (muddy and rough), yagha-yagha (untidy), kpadi-kpadi (rough or even), ose-ose (beautiful). This system can also be used thus: faná»Ân/2, yagha/2, kpadi/2, sankan/2, ose/2, etc.
A phrasal adjective is one that consists of more than one word; it is made up of a phrase. More often than not, an adjectival phrase usually contains either a noun + verb or an adjective+preposition+noun which combine to perform the work of an adjective. Some common examples are: rui ẹlo (blind), yi ehá» (deaf, rebellious), di á»Âmalẹn (old, senile), di itá»Ân a (wretched), bhá»Ân ose (beautiful), fi ahiẹ a (serene), fua amẹn (light-complexioned), ba bhi egbe (painful), mhẹn bhi egbe (body-friendly), mhẹn bhi unu (sweet), mhẹn bhi ẹlo (beautiful or not offensive to sight), mhẹn bhi ihue (not offensive to the nose), mhẹn bhi ehá» (not offensive to the ear), khá» bhi unu (unpalatable; offensive), khá» bhi egbe (unbearable), etc.
Below are some Esan adjectives and their meanings (and those that can be used with the suffix âÂÂmhinâ are shown. The addition of the suffix 'mhin' to a word turns it from adjective to noun just as the suffix 'ness' in English does.) Ukpomin (little), ekitui (many; much), udede (big), ikwẹkwi (tiny; trivial), khisin-mhin (small; diminutive), khere-mhin (small; little), hu-mhin (big; foamy), khuẹlẹ-mhin (slim), re-mhin (far; deep; well attended; grown up), dia-mhin (straight; appropriate), bhala-mhin (light-complexioned), bhia-mhin (large, spacious), riẹriẹ-mhin (smooth), rẹrẹ-mhin (restless), kpoloa (smooth), gá»Â-mhin (crooked) kpono-mhin (slippery), kwá»Ân (slippery; slimy), to-mhin (irritating), kpá»Â-mhin (widespread), khia-mhin (holy, righteous), fu-mhin (peaceful), bhiẹlẹ-mhin (lazy), fa-mhin (dirt-free, clean), lẹ-mhin (scarce), tua-mhin (quick), zaza-mhin (skilful), sun-mhin (slimy), kholo (spherical), hian-mhin (efficacious; alcoholic), nwun-mhin or mun-mhin (sharp; alcoholic), khá»Âlá»Â-mhin (bad; painful), sẹ-ẹ (ordinary), ná»Âghá»Â-mhin (difficult), kpataki (real), lo-mhin (inexpensive; deep), khua-mhin (heavy; hot), tá»Âná»Â-mhin (itchy), luẹn (ripe), khekhea (sour), riala-mhin (bitter), fua-mhin (white), bhihi-mhin (black; dark-complexioned), kẹnkẹn-mhin (multicoloured), ká»Ânká»Ân (fat), kaka-mhin (hard; serious), toto-mhin (serious; taut), ghan-mhin (costly), ghantoa (costly), wualan-mhin (wise), sá»Âná»Â-mhin (offensive), lẹkhẹ-mhin (soft), khẹrẹ-khẹrẹ (muddy), gban-a (expansive), tan-mhin (tall; elegant), guẹguẹ (ingratiating), mhẹn-mhin (good), lẹnlẹn-mhin (sweet), zeze-mhin (strong), wo-mhin (powerful; mature), bie (cooked or done), fe-mhin (wealthy); faná»Ân-faná»Ân (unkempt; untidy), rughu-rughu or ragha-ragha (disorderly), sankan-sankan (muddy and rough), yagha-yagha (untidy); rui ẹlo (blind), yi ehá» (deaf, rebellious), di á»Âmalẹn (old, senile), di itá»Ân a (wretched), bhá»Ân ose (beautiful), fi ahiẹ a (serene), fua amẹn (light-complexioned), ba bhi egbe (painful), mhẹn bhi egbe (body-friendly), mhẹn bhi unu (sweet), mhẹn bhi ẹlo (beautiful or not offensive to sight), mhẹn bhi ihue (not offensive to the nose), mhẹn bhi ehá» (not offensive to the ear), khá» bhi unu (unpalatable; offensive), khá» bhi egbe (unbearable), etc.