Kalabari language

{{Short description|Ijo language spoken in Nigeria}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Kalabari

|nativename=Ibani–Kalabari–Kirike

|states=Nigeria

|region=Rivers State

|ethnicity=Kalabari, Ibani

|speakers={{sigfig|566,000|2}}

|date = 1989–1995

|ref = e18

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Ijoid

|fam3=Ijaw

|fam4=East

|dia1=Kalabari

|dia3=Ibani (Bonny)

|lc1=ijn

|ld1=Kalabari

|lc2=iby

|ld2=Ibani

|lc3=okr

|ld3=Kirike

|glotto=kaki1246

|glottorefname=KaKiBa

|ELP2=7931

|ELPname2=Kirike

}}

Kalabari is an Ijo language of Nigeria spoken in Rivers State and Bayelsa State by the Awome people.{{Cite web| title = Kalahari Bibi: Introducing The Kalabari Language| access-date = 2013-06-15| url = http://kengema.tripod.com/id60.html}} Its three dialects are mutually intelligible.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} The Kalabari dialect (Kalabari proper) is one of the best-documented varieties of Ijo, and as such is frequently used as the prime example of Ijo in linguistic literature.

As of 2005, the language, "spoken by 258,000 people, [was] endangered largely because of the massive relocation that has taken place in the area due to the development of Nigeria's oil industry in the Port Harcourt region."{{Cite web

| title = 2006 Funded Projects

| work = Endangered Language Fund

| access-date = 2013-06-15

| url = http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/ll_projects_2006.php

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130815055155/http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/ll_projects_2006.php

| archive-date = 2013-08-15

| url-status = dead

}}

Berbice Creole Dutch, a recently extinct Dutch Creole formerly spoken in Eastern Guyana, was spoken by descendants of Kalabari speakers. The African element in Berbice Dutch is predominantly Kalabari in origin.{{Cite encyclopedia| title = Ijoid languages| encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica| access-date = 2013-06-15| url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/708109/Kalabari-language}}

Kalabari-language words have been proposed for some modern technical terms.{{Cite journal| volume = 5| issue = 1| pages = 154–163| last = Iyalla-Amadi| first = Priye E.| title = Lexicological Development of Kalabari Language in the Age of Technology: A Comparative Study of French and Kalabari| journal = The Journal of Pan African Studies| access-date = 2013-06-15| date = March 2012| url = http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol5no1/5.1Lexicological.pdf}}