Lower Cross River languages
Introduction The '''Lower Cross River languages''' form a branch of the Cross River languages of Cross River State, Nigeria. They consist of the divergent Obolo language (or Andoni, 200,000 speakers), and the core of the branch, which includes the 4 million speakers of the Efik-Ibibio cluster. *Obolo*Lower Cross proper: Efik-Ibibio, Ibino (Ibeno), Oro (Oron), Okobo, Iko, Ebughu, Ilue, Enwang-Uda, UsaghadeAdditionally, ''Ethnologue'' lists several more languages within the Efik-Ibibio cluster. (See Ibibio-Efik languages. )Forde and Jones (1950) considered Ibino and Oro to be Efik-Ibibio.
Names and locations Below is a list of language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019). Language  Branch  Dialects  Alternate spellings  Own name for language  Endonym(s)  Other names (location-based)  Other names for language  Exonym(s)  Speakers  Location(s)  Notes Ebughu     Ebughu  Ebughu  Oron    more than 5,000 (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Mbo and Oron LGAs   Enwang     Enwang  Enwang  Oron (incorrectly)    estimated 50,000 plus (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Mbo LGA   Iko     Iko   Obolo (incorrectly included within Obolo)    Three villages: 5,000+ (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Eastern Obolo LGA   Ilue    Idua  Ilue      5,000 (1988); diminishing  Akwa Ibom State, Oron LGA   Ọkọbọ          11,200 (1945 F&J); 50,000  Akwa Ibom State, Okobo LGA   Uda     Uda      10,000 plus (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Mbo LGA   Ukwa           Cross River State, Akampka LGA   Usaghade    Usakade(t)  Usaghade   Isangele    estimate 10,000 (1990) although mostly in Cameroon  Cross River State, Odukpani LGA; mainly in Cameroon, Isangele sub–division   Idere     Idere      more than 5,000 (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Itu LGA  no data Efai     Efai    Effiat (from Efik)   >5,000 (1988 est.) Akwa Ibom State, Mbo LGA; Cameroon, Isangele sub–division   Ọrọ    Oron  Ọrọ (Oro)  Ọrọ (Oro)     319,000 (1963 per Kuperus)  Akwa Ibom State, Oron LGA   Ito     Ito      5,000 plus (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Akamkpa LGA  no data Eki     Eki      5000 plus (1988)  Cross River State  no data Etebi  Central    Etebi   Oron (incorrectly); Ekit (incorrectly)    estimate 15,000 (1989)  Akwa Ibom State, Uquo Ibeno LGA   Itu Mbon Uzo  Central   Itu Mbuzo  Itu Mbon Uzo      5,000 plus (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Ikono LGA   Anaang  Central  Abak, Ikot Ekpene, Ukanafun  Annang, Anang, Anaŋ       246,000 (F&J 1944-5): estimated 1,000,000 (1990)  Akwa Ibom State, Ikot Ekpene, Essien Udim, Abak, Ukanafun and Oruk–Anam LGAs   Efik  Central      Calabar    26,300 (1950 F&J), 10,000 in Cameroon; 360,000 first language speakers; spoken as a second language by 1.3 million (UN 1960), 3.5 million (1986 UBS) diminishing  Cross River State, Calabar municipality, Odukpani and Akamkpa LGAs; and in Cameroon   Ekit  Central   Ekid, Eket       22,000 (1952 W&B); estimated 200,000 (1989)  Akwa Ibom State, Eket and Uquo Ibeno LGAs   Ibibio  Central  Nkari, Enyong, Central, Itak, Nsit etc. roughly according to clans  Ibibyo       800,000 (1952) (may include Efik); 283,000 (1945 F&J); 2 million (1973 census); estimated 2.5 million (Ibibio proper 1990)  Akwa Ibom State, Ikono, Itu, Uyo, Etinan, Ekpe–Atai, Uruan, Nsit–Ubium, Onna, Mkpat Enin and Abasi LGAs   Ibuoro  Central    Ibuoro      5,000 plus (1988)  Akwa Ibom State, Itu and Ikono LGAs   Obolo  West  From West to East: Ataba, Unyeada, Ngo, Okoroete, Ibot Obolo    Òbólò  Andoni    22,400 (1944 F&J); 90,000 (1983 Aaron); 100,000 (Faraclas 1989)  Rivers State, Andoni LGA: western dialects; Akwa Ibom State, Eastern Obolo LGA: eastern dialects   Ibinọ  West   Ibuno, Ibeno       10,000 (Faraclas (1989)  Akwa Ibom State, Ibeno LGA
Reconstructions Proto-Lower Cross River has been reconstructed by Connell (n.d.)
See also *List of Proto-Lower Cross River reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
Further reading *Connell, Bruce. n.d. Comparative Lower Cross wordlist. Unpublished manuscript.