Ikwere New Testament (IKWWBT)

Overview

The Ikwere New Testament is a translation of the New Testament into the Ikwere language (also spelled Ikwerre), an Igboid language of the Volta-Niger branch spoken by several hundred thousand up to two million people in Rivers State, southern Nigeria [1]. Ikwerre forms a language cluster with Ogba, Igbo, and Ekpeye, showing partial mutual intelligibility, and is characterized by seven tones with downdrift, complex vowel harmony, and 24 named dialects. The Ikwere people, natively known as Iwhuruọhna, are concentrated in the local government areas of Emohua, Ikwerre, Obio/Akpor, and parts of Port Harcourt [2]. The New Testament, titled "Tẹsitamenti Ikne n'Ọnu Ikwere," was published in 2010 through a collaboration between the Nigeria Bible Translation Trust (NBTT) and Wycliffe Bible Translators [3]. NBTT, which was born out of a partnership between the University of Nigeria and SIL International, assumed responsibility for Bible translation for minority language groups in Nigeria in 1976 and currently has over 107 translation projects running across the country [4]. The Ikwerre language uses a standardized Latin-script orthography formally approved in 1981 by the Ikwerre Language Committee [2].

Language and People

Ikwere (ISO 639-3: ikw) is spoken by approximately 619,000 people in Nigeria, Map 9. [Glottolog: ikwe1242]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Nigeria Bible Translation Trust. Translation type: New.

References