אקפיה

Ekpeye (also Akpeya) is an Igboid Niger-Congo language of the Niger Delta region in Nigeria, classified as a separate language from Igbo (ig) by Ethnologue and Glottolog despite their close genetic relationship within the Igboid subgroup. The Ekpeye people inhabit the Ahoada area of Rivers State, in the riverine Niger Delta. Linguistically, Ekpeye shares core Igboid features (noun-class system, tonal with downstep, SVO constituent order) but with distinctive phonological and lexical features that distinguish it from mainstream Igbo. Ekpeye New Testament was translated by Bible Society of Nigeria 1980s. The Ekpeye community has been affected by ongoing Niger Delta oil-extraction disputes and environmental degradation.