// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Yakö language say to its friend? Yak about something else.

Not to be confused with Loko language (Sierra Leone).

Yakö
Lokaa
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Cross River State
Ethnicity	Yakö people
Native speakers	(120,000 cited 1989)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Cross River Upper Cross Central East–West Loko languages Yakö
Language codes
ISO 639-3	yaz
Glottolog	loka1252

The Yakö language (also Lokö or Lokạạ) is an Upper Cross River language of the Yakö people (Yakurr) of Nigeria.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio- velar
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t		k	k͡p
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ	ɡ͡b
Fricative		f	s
Tap			(ɾ)
Lateral			l
Approximant				j		w

• [ɾ] may occur as an allophone of /d/, a variant of /l/, or as a result of contact with other languages such as Efik or Yoruba.
• Sounds /b, t, d/ are heard as unreleased [b̚, t̚, d̚] when in word-final position.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
High-mid	e eː	ə əː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː
Low		a aː