ABSTRACT
The tribes of the Niger-Benue confluence speak Kwa languages, while to the east the region borders directly on a solid block of tribes speaking so-called “ SemiBantu ” languages.8 But there has been great terminological confusion, with reference to both languages and ethnic groups, especially concerning the large body of Idoma-speaking peoples lying between Igala and Tiv country, where the name Akpoto or QJcpoto >Vas used in various 19th-century accounts to include all the region from the confluence to the Tiv border. Whatever the original situation may have been, however, the only group in the area which today calls itself and its language Akpoto is the peoples of the central and western Idoma-speaking districts. The situation is further confused by the fact that there is a district of Igala called Akpoto, south of Ankpa. This district borders on Idoma, and the people on both sides of the border are largely bilingual. As will be seen from the section on the Idoma, many of the “ languages ” of this region which have hitherto received separate treatment in the literature can now be shown to be closely related dialects of Idoma. Although north of the Benue the situation appears simpler, this may well be due to continuing ignorance of the ethnography and linguistics of the area.
