Benue is dominated by Tiv (one of the largest single languages of the Nigerian Middle Belt) and Idoma. Both belong to different branches of Niger-Congo.
Major languages#
- Tiv — ~5 million speakers; Bantoid branch; spoken across 14 of Benue's 23 LGAs.
- Idoma — Idomoid branch (related to Yoruba); Otukpo, Apa, Ohimini.
- Igede — Idomoid; Oju, Obi.
- Etulo — Idomoid; Buruku.
- Jukun — Wukari-area villages on the Taraba border.
Minor and endangered languages#
- Abakwa, Tiv-Shitire dialects; small Hausa-speaking communities in Makurdi and Otukpo.
Lingua francas#
Tiv across the north; Idoma across the south; Hausa in markets and on the Plateau border; English in schools.
Notable literary and political moments#
- The Tiv Bible (1964, by Tiv Bible Translation Committee with the Dutch Reformed Mission) standardised written Tiv.
- Akiga Sai's *Akiga's Story* (1939) — the first ethnographic history of a Nigerian people written by one of their own.
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.