Esther speaking Ibibio

This video was recorded by Alex Edun in Bedford, UK and features native Ibibo speaker Esther Edun. Ibibo was spoken by 1,500,000 people as of 1998 and is the native language of the Ibibo people of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Ibibo is an Efik language of the Delta Cross, part of the Benue-Congo group within the Niger-Congo language family. Even though Efik proper has national status in Nigeria and is considered the literary standard of the Efik languages, Ibibo has more native speakers. Together, Ibibo and the other Efik-Ibibo languages comprise the sixth largest language cluster in Nigeria, after Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, and Kanuri. Ibibo is a two-tonal system, containing a high and low tone. Ibibo's influence has spread to African diaspora, with words like "abakua" making their way into Afro-Cuban vernacular.