Anwed Daŋaraŋ A-Uwase — Doko-Uyanga (Iko) Scripture Portions (Nigeria)
Overview
Anwed Daŋaraŋ A-Uwase ("The Holy Word of God" in Doko-Uyanga) is the Gospel of Luke in the Doko-Uyanga language of Cross River State, Nigeria, published by Beyond Translation under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4308). The community's autonym Iko differs from the compound scholarly/ISO designation "Doko-Uyanga," which combines the names of two related settlement clusters (Doko and Uyanga) in Abi Local Government Area. "Dusanga" in the English title appears to be a further variant designation or alternate settlement name for the Uyanga/Iko community. This translation provides the first scripture in Doko-Uyanga/Iko through Beyond Translation's Church-Centric Bible Translation (CCBT) model.
Language and People
Doko-Uyanga (ISO 639-3: uya; autonym: Iko; also called Dusanga, Doko, or Uyanga) is a Niger-Congo language of Cross River State, Nigeria, belonging to the Cross River branch of Niger-Congo: Niger-Congo → Atlantic-Congo → Volta-Congo → Benue-Congo → Cross River family. The Cross River family is one of Nigeria's most linguistically diverse areas, containing dozens of distinct language varieties in the forest zone of southeastern Nigeria. Doko-Uyanga is classified within the Upper Cross River sub-branch, distinct from the Ibibio-Efik (Lower Cross River) languages of coastal Akwa Ibom State.
The Doko-Uyanga/Iko community inhabits:
- Abi Local Government Area, Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria — the forested interior zone of Cross River State
- Communities along the forested river valleys and hill terrain of Abi LGA, which borders Ebonyi and Abia States to the north and west
Estimated speakers: the Iko/Doko-Uyanga community is a small to medium Cross River community; precise recent speaker data is limited in widely available sources.
Cultural Context
Cross River State's interior forest zone is one of Nigeria's most linguistically complex areas — dozens of distinct language varieties exist within a relatively small geographic area, each with its own cultural identity and community-specific needs for scripture. Beyond Translation's CCBT model works through local Christian communities in Cross River State and neighboring areas to produce heart-language Luke translations for each distinct variety, recognizing that even closely related neighboring languages require separate translations for effective communication. The title elements Anwed (Word), Daŋaraŋ (Holy/Sacred), and A-Uwase (of God) reflect the distinctive Cross River vocabulary of the Iko community.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by Beyond Translation (beyondtranslation.org, Arlington, Texas) under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.