Akpes is generally attributed to the Volta-Congo Branch of the Niger-Congo phylum.
As this term is in fact the name of one of the four dialects, it is not supported by the whole speaker community.
A meeting of representatives of all nine settlements has coined the term 'Abesabesi' to denote the language.
[3] The quarter Efifa of Ajowa used to speak Akpes in the past but switched to the local Yoruba variety Owe.
[4] Agoyi (2009) classifies the varieties of these nine settlements into four dialects: Akpes, Èkiròmì, Èṣùkù, Ìluẹnì.
[6] [7] The ASJP 4.0 classifies Abesabesi as most closely related to the Ukaan language.
[8] Abesabesi has a rich phoneme inventory comprising labial-velar and labialized consonants and an advanced tongue root (ATR) distinction for the oral mid vowels.