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*    INTRODUCTORY REMARKS



*    CLASSIFICATION, AREA, DIALECTS, NUMBER OF SPEAKERS



*The Bini or Edo (Ɛdo [ ˩ ˥ ] ) language, together with the Ishan (Esã [ ˥ ˩ ])



*dialect, which is not dealt with in this dictionary, forms the central



*group of the cluster of languages generally known under the same name



*and belonging to the Kwa group of Western Sudan languages. In the



*north of Bini-Ishan, the Kukuruku languages of the same family are



*spoken; in the south, the Sobo and Isoko languages, also belonging to



*the same group.



*    The area of the Bini or Edo language (which will in what follows



*always be understood as excluding Ishan) is almost identical with the



*Benin Division of the Benin Province in Southern Nigeria. Actually,



*not the whole of that division is inhabited by Bini people; some parts



*near the southern boundary (e.g. Jesse) having a Sobo, and some near



*the eastern boundary (Igbãkɛ), an Ika-Ibo population. Besides these,



*there are interspersed Sobo, Jekri and Ijaw settlements, and a number



*of members of other tribes, such as Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa in Benin



*City, near the boundaries and at trading settlements. Whether there



*are Bini-speaking settlements worth mentioning outside the Division



*is not certain. There seem to be many Bini people at Akure (Ondo



*Province), and possibly there are Bini-speaking villages in the south



*of Ondo Province (Okitipupa Division).



*    The language is on the whole homogeneous, a fact which is due to



*the strong political centralisation of the people round the Ɔba at Benin



*City. The inhabitants of the village of Ɔza near the eastern boundary



*of the Division, not far from Igbãkɛ, speak a different dialect which



*is easily understood by other Bini speakers and is considered as Bini.



*These people are said to have come from Ɔzara^1 on the other side of



*the present boundary (i.e. in the Agbor Division) within recent times,



*and to have adopted the Bini language. At Ehɔ on the Bini-Ishan



*boundary, and in the regions behind the Ossiomo (called Iyek-orhiɔʋ̃ɔ),



*the speech is said to have dialectal peculiarities.



*    The number of Bini speakers may amount to about 90-100,000, the



*population of the Division being 110,738 according to the Census of



*1931, including the non-Bini population.



*^1 The Ɔzara people have a language of their own which the author has not been



*able to study. It is perhaps not identical with the above-mentioned Ika-Ibo.



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