Bayelsa is the only state in Nigeria where a single language family — Ijaw — is the universal mother tongue.
Major languages#
- Izon (Central Ijaw) — by far the largest Ijaw language; the Kolokuma dialect is the literary standard.
- Nembe — distinct Ijaw language; not mutually intelligible with Izon.
- Epie-Atissa — small Edoid language island around Yenagoa.
- Ogbia — Delta Cross language; Goodluck Jonathan's mother tongue.
Minor and endangered languages#
- Engenni — Edoid; Ahoada border with Rivers.
- Biseni / Okordia / Oruma — small Inland Ijaw varieties, all UNESCO-endangered.
Lingua francas#
Pidgin English is universal; Izon is the inter-village trade language; English in schools.
Notable literary and political moments#
- The Ijaw Bible (Izon, completed 1956 by the Niger Delta Pastorate) was one of the first complete vernacular Bibles in the Niger Delta.
- Gabriel Okara's *The Voice* (1964) — the first English-language novel deliberately written in Ijaw syntax.
Sources & further reading#
- Ethnologue: Languages of Nigeria (SIL).
- Roger Blench, *An Atlas of Nigerian Languages* (3rd ed., 2019).
- Ayo Bamgbose, *Language and the Nation* (1991).
- UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.