Ogoni languages
The Ogoni languages, or Kegboid languages, are the five languages of the Ogoni people of Rivers State, Nigeria.
They fall into two clusters, East and West, with a limited degree of mutual intelligibility between members of each cluster. The Ogoni think of the cluster members as separate languages, however.
The classification of the Ogoni languages is as follows:
- East: Khana and Tẹẹ, with around 500,000 speakers between them, and Gokana, with about 130,000.
- West: Eleme, with about 70,000 speakers, and Baan, with around 17,500.
Names and locations
| Language | Branch | Dialects | Alternate spellings | Own name for language | Endonym | Other names | Other names for language | Exonym | Speakers | Location |
| Gokana | Kegboid | 54,000 | Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA | |||||||
| Khana | Kegboid | Yeghe, Norkhana, Ken–Khana, Boúe | Khana | Ogoni | 76,713 ; 90,000 | Rivers State, Khana/Oyigbo and Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGAs | ||||
| Eleme | West | 55,000 | Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA | |||||||
| Tẹẹ | West | Tai | Tèẹ̀ ̣ | Tèẹ̀ ̣ | 313,000 | Rivers State, Tèẹ̀ ̣Local Government Area | ||||
| Baan | Ka-Ban, Kesari | Ban–Ogoi | Goi, Ogoi | Fewer than 5,000 | Rivers State, Gokana–Tai–Eleme LGA, Ban–Ogoi plus villages |