Esan (Ẹ̀sán)

Esan is a member of the Edoid branch of Volta-Niger language family. It has about 3 million speakers in Edo State in southern Nigeria, particularly in the Esan West, Esan South-East, Esan Central, Esan North-East and Igueben Local Government Areas in the east of Edo State.

Esan is also known as Ishan. Dialects include Ekpoma Iruekpen, Ewatto, Igueben, Ilushi, Irrua, Ogwa Ujogba, Ohordua, Ubiaja, Udo, Ugbegun, Ugboha and Uromi. Esan is taught is schools and used on the radio and television.

Ways to write Esan with the Latin alphabet were first created in the 1930s by missionaries. Since then, a number of other spelling systems have emerged. The current orthography was adopted in 1987 by the National Language Centre of the Federal Ministy of Education as a way to standardize the written language.

Esan alphabet

Esan alphabet and pronunciation

Download an alphabet chart for Esan (Excel)

Sample videos in Esan

Information about Esan | Numbers

Links

Information about Esan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esan_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esan_(langue)
http://www.language-archives.org/language/ish
https://www.101lasttribes.com/tribes/esan.html
https://associationofesanprofessionals.com/documents/12TH EEEW PAPER - The Linguistic Characteristic of Esan Language.pdf

Esan lessons
https://www.learningesan.com/
https://www.esanland.org/2020/05/esan-language-app.html

Volta-Niger languages

Aja, Ayizo, Belanda Viri, Degema, Ebira, Edo, Egene, Ekpeye, Esan, Ewe, Fon, Gen, Gun, Igala, Igbo, Ikwerre, Isoko, Ivbiosakon, Nupe, Ogba, Ososo, Saxwe, Urhobo, Yorùbá

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 19.03.25. Last modified: 19.03.25

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