The Classification of West African Tone Languages: Igbo and Efik

During the last twenty years a new chapter has been opened in the study of the Sudanic languages of West Africa by research into their tonal structure. The presence of semantic or lexical tone had long been recognized in these languages: it was known, that is to say, that words otherwise homonymous were distinguished by differences of tone pattern, and that these differences were significant for meaning. It was, however, the work of Dr. Ida Ward in Nigeria which first made clear the essential part played by tone in the grammar of some of these languages, and subsequent research has confirmed this fact.