Another striking difference between the two languages is the presence of nasal vowels in yoruba, i a u, which do not exist in igbo. Therefore, according to the yoruba, humans are eventually expected to. Since its independence, the main languages in nigeria have been hausa, igbo and yoruba, also known by the word wazobia, i. Yoruba language has many dialects among which are ekiti. We refer to the yoruba spoken in the contiguous belt stretching from southwestern nigeria to togo as the continental yoruba. Some years ago i came across 300 short mp3 files and a pdf. Igbo language is one of the many languages spoken in nigeria. Ede yoruba is a language spoken in west africa and most prominently south western nigeria. The language is thought to have originated around the 9th century ad in the area near the confluence of the niger and benue rivers, and then spread over. This is one of the craziest language course that exist. The book itself has been printed in 3 soldout editions and has become the essential guide for development. With yearround festivals on the nigerian calendar, theres never a dull moment. This short, simple compilation of shared vocabulary is invaluable for both casual readers and academic researchers. This is an indigenous igbo language bible app with amazing features like.
Preventing the extinction of igbo language citeseerx. Hike the udi hills that overlook the city of enugu, catch an atilogwu dance performance, or explore the ngodo rock cave in abia state. English language is however the main medium of communication especially in schools and institutions of learning. On the other hand, some versions of the yoruba language have. Igbo language endangerment and the quest for economic empowerment. Probably the main reasons for this neglect have been the considerable variation between the dialects of igbo, noted from the beginning of igbo studies, and the lack of a single early authoritative figure to impose a standard written language, as crowther did for yoruba. Nigerian languages, literatures, culture and reforms. Bible versetoimage, share on social media, bookmark, search, recent book and so more. Using existing works on the phonology of igbo and yoruba, the researchers compared the consonants, vowels and tonal systems of both languages.
And even in the face of the growing insecurity, poverty and unemployment, the country\s citizens have been ranked. Share a beautiful image of a verse in yoruba language with a friend now. All the lessons contain audio and are all offered for free. The number of speakers of yoruba is estimated between 30 and 40 million, primarily by the ethnic yoruba people. Im here to help you learn igbo, by going step by step. Firstly, earlier modern african historians during and after the era. The yoruba traditional religion believes that all human beings pass through what is known as ayanmo which translate to destiny or fate. The native tongue of the yoruba people is spoken, among other languages, in nigeria, benin, and togo and in communities in other parts of africa, europe and the americas. The taxonomy of nigerian varieties of spoken english academic.
Igboland consists of the states of enugu, ebonyi, imo, abia, anambra, rivers, and delta. I was happy finding so many files for free and started listening to the files. Yoruba language is spoken mainly in oyo, ogun, ondo, osun, and ekiti states of western nigeria. The linguistic situation in the presentday nigeria appears to be precipitously. Igbo land doesnt have the giants that yoruba land does, and the rich and poor are closer to each other in wealth and live style than anywhere else in nigeria. It is believed that there could be up to 450 languages spoken by the million or so people that make up the population of nigeria. Pdf june 12 saga and the revisitation of igboyoruba. Pdf a contrastive study of the phonology of igbo and yoruba.
The number of speakers of yoruba was estimated at around 20 million in the 1990s. Learn igbo and embark on a journey through nigerias igboland. The relationship between the two languages is clear and has been recognized for a long time, but dr. Yoruba language is also the mother tongue of thousands of people in benin and togo republics. The hausafulani, the igbo and yoruba established distinct and functioning governments which were peculiar to their environment. It is in view of the above that a synchronic study of english and yoruba morphological systems is undertaken here. Speakers are also department of english language and literature, nigerian turkish nile university, abuja. The major languages spoken in nigeria are hausa, igbo. An igbo man going to worship his personal idol or chief priest going to worship the oracle must, first of all, give the god kola nut, wine, blood, or any other gift. Jun 20, 2019 the yoruba religion system comprises of traditional practices and spiritual concepts which has evolved into a robust religious system. Bible nso igbob download the free bible app download. Topics yoruba language collection opensource language english. Yoruba is one of the three major nigerian languages the other two being hausa and igbo spoken majorly in south western nigeria. Equally authors are creating an imaginary gulf between the yoruba and the yoruba of il.
Linguistic diversity, codeswitching and language shift in nigeria. In some cases a third, downstepped high tone is recognized. Not only does that book describe the wide variety of the traditions in this part of nigeria, attention is. Oct 22, 2019 defense language institute, foreign language center. Aremo does an exceptional job of presenting the evidence and examples of a common origin for many yoruba and igbo words. Components of the overall database together with fields and markers. Learn igbo online igbo language course mango languages. The yoruba language is chosen for this paper as an illustration of a socially engendered. Fsi yoruba basic course student text skype language school. X research source the rhythm of music and the repetitiveness of lyrics makes music an easy way to learn any language. It is the main lingua franca a medium of communication between peoples of different languages throughout niger and the northern twothirds of nigeria the present day hausa people came from the hausa bakwai, the seven historical states of biram, daura, gobir, kano, katsina, rano and zazzau zaria, which form the nucleus of kano, north. Igbo language class 101 learn common sentence in igbo language.
Igbo introduction, location, language, folklore, religion. Mar 29, 2019 while a lot of the popular nigerian music has lyrics in yoruba, one of the 4 official languages of the country, igbo language music has also broken into the mainstream. Global yoruba lexical database university of pennsylvania. Igbo language is characterized by its tonality, the monosyllabic rootwords and an absence of inflexional endings. Fsi igbo basic course live lingua skype language school. In a story from the yoruba oral tradition, a boy moves farther and farther away from home. This website contains a complete guide on igbo language, highlighted in sample conversations including native audio clips, and explains the basic igbo grammar structure. See more ideas about language, learning and yoruba language. Traces of arabic words in yoruba language apart from the borrowed words from hausa to yoruba language like means leave the placekai, gani means to see properly, magaji means heirleader of a family and host of others, there are still many words in yoruba language which emanate from arabic. A study of relationship between arabic and yoruba languages. Hausa, igbo and yoruba subjects have been inter viewed in the several studies on nigerian english cf. Language preference as a precursor to displacement and. Igbo proverbs as embodiments of igboafrican philosophy.
Igbo is a tonal language with two distinctive tones, the high and low. Due to economic, social and political unrest, a significant number of igbo people are also found in cameroon, equatorial guinea, the caribbean and many parts of the united states and europe. A contrastive study of the phonology of igbo and yoruba ujah. The igbo belong to the sudanic linguistic group of the kwa division uchendu, 1965. There is a clan among the yoruba people called the ijeeu, which is believed to be a corruption of the word hebrew or jew. It is spoken as a first language in oyo, ogun, ondo, osun, ekiti, lagos and parts of kwara, kogi and edo states arokoyo, 2010. This chapter explores the viability of the igbo language in nigeria and its tendency to be. Uwuis one of the endangered languages spoken in nigeria abiodun, 2004. Igbo is the native language to the igbo people living in igboland in southeastern nigeria. A study of the language of kola nut in traditional igbo setting geraldine i.
Igbo, also called ibo, people living chiefly in southeastern nigeria who speak igbo, a language of the benuecongo branch of the nigercongo language family. Some of these languages, specifically hausa, igbo and yoruba are each spoken by no less that 10 million people, while some at the other end of the spectrum are spoken by a few hundred or thousand people. Highlight or bookmark your favorite verses, make verse images that you can share, and attach public or private notes to bible passages. Igbo, proverbs, african, philosophy, cultural, historical, embodiments, dimension. They are socially and culturally diverse, consisting of many subgroups. Abstract the ethnography of communication, particularly of greetings, among speakers of some yoruba dialects is the major concern of this paper. The other yoruboid languages include igala and itsekiri. The igbo people generally reside in southeastern nigeria, which is commonly referred to as igboland.
It is spoken by about twenty million people mosadomi, 2009. Imo state ministry of information and culture, 1979igbo language center lessons 14. Igboenglish and englishigbo dictionary this vocabulary is part of a published book that provides simple and easytoread insights into igbo language and culture. Although it is precise and correct, it starts with the first 6 chapters only dealing with the different tones. Igbomina, ijebu, ijesa, oyo, ondo, owo, ikale, ilaje, ikare. This text used here additionally includes a b with a underneath, but, since that is not a part of unicode and so cant be rendered on the web and isnt part of igbo as it is currently written, it has been ignored. Despite being home to somewhere between 250 and 400 ethnic groups, nigeria is primarily made up of four main ethnic groups hausa, fulani, igbo and yoruba. While the hausafulani empire established a centralized system of government deeply rooted in the islamic religion, the yoruba kingdom had a government that provided for checks and balances on the organs of government. It is believed that a comparative study of this type will reveal the differences which are assumed to be responsible for linguistic interference and are thus sources of difficulties for a yoruba learner of english. Yoruba is a popular indigenous language in nigeria alongside hausa and igbo. Introduction igbo proverbs originated from the igbo people and as such could be called the voice of the igbo people vox igbo populi.
Definition of a language the preparation of a listing of nigerian languages inevitably begs the question of the definition of a language. Yoruba is spoken by more than 20 million people in southwestern. The main cultural festival of aro people known for its fierce masquerades asusu anya. It belongs to the benuecong o group of the nigercongo language family. English adjectives, yoruba speakers, yoruba adjectives, mother tongue l1, second language l2, contrastive analysis, literal translations. The fox becomes the storytellers means of revealing the developing. Whenever these feuds take centrestage, the impetus is invariably traceable. Yoruba language, one of a small group of languages that comprise the yoruboid cluster of the defoid subbranch of the benuecongo branch of the nigercongo language family. See more ideas about language, learning and nigerian culture.
A portal website under construction for igbo language and culture in the diaspora. Standard yoruba has its origin in the 1850s, when samuel ajayi crowther, the first african bishop, published a yoruba grammar and started his translation of the bible to yoruba more languages. Yoruba basic language survival guide, california, 2008. Igbo is also considered a minority language in other surrounding states in nigeria and also in the country of equatorial guinea in west. The terms language and dialect have rather different meanings in informal speech from the more rigorous definitions that must be attempted by linguists. There are approximately 20 million speakers that are mostly in nigeria and are primarily of igbo descent. The languages tone system was given by john goldsmith as an example of autosegmental phenomena that go beyond the linear model of phonology laid out in the sound pattern of english. The igbo may be grouped into the following main cultural divisions. Igbo or igbo proper, is a native language of the igbo people, an ethnic group primarily located in southeastern nigeria. Using 2 major nigerian languages, namely yoruba and igbo, the paper examines the unesco 2003 overview of language endangerment, among others. Sociopoliticoeconomic developments in nigeria favour language shift from local languages to. There is even a town in yorubaland called, ijueeigbo. Igbo, or ibo, one of the largest languages of west africa, is spoken by 18 million people in nigeria. The language s tone system was given by john goldsmith as an example of autosegmental phenomena that go beyond the linear model of phonology laid out in the sound pattern of english.
Hausa, ibo and yoruba when adequate arrangements have. Unfortunately, i found that this booklet makes things extremely complicated. With the assistance of a fantasy character, a fox, the boy is able to meet the challenges set by ominous oba kings in three kingdoms, each a greater distance from the boys home. Igbo is the language of igbo people of eastern nigeria. Pdf assessing the endangerment status of yoruba and igbo. Being a european woman living with a yoruba man, i wanted to learn some of his language and bought teach yourself yoruba.
The igbo language includes a number of diacritical marks, including notably vowel macrons and an o with a dot underneath. Jan 25, 2016 the feud between the igbo and the yoruba ethnic groups is contrived, just like the feud between the igbo and the ikwere. The yoruba language is a nigercongo language spoken in west africa. They are looked down upon by the rest of the yoruba for displaying igbolike character and traits, one of which is business prowess. Mar 14, 2019 yoruba is one of the languages on a list of suggestions for london police officers to learn, while the bbc world services hausalanguage operation has a larger audience than any other. The yoruba language yoruba is one of the three major nigerian languages the other two being hausa and igbo spoken majorly in south western nigeria. Yoruba has over fifteen dialects and standard yoruba is the written form of the language and the standard variety learnt in school. Probably the main reasons for this neglect have been the considerable variation between the dialects of igbo, noted from the beginning of igbo studies, and the lack of a single early authoritative figure to impose a.
Igbo and yoruba during and after the june 12 election was simply an extension and demonstration of the agelonged cold war that actually started in the colonial era between the political leaders. Neco 2019 expo hausa, igbo, yoruba language objective. Celebrate the harvest during the new yam festival and perform a. The teacher should present the language to the learners in meaningful and manageable units with adequate drills. Igbo kwa subfamily of the nigercongo language family the igbo are the second largest group of people living in southern nigeria. A history of the igbo language an igbo dictionary chinua achebe denounces standard igbo books helpful for igbo language study sources for the study of igbo proverbs the first igbo novel, omenuko a brief biography of the author of omenuko an igbo tale. Before european colonization, the igbo were not united as a single people but lived in autonomous. It is a pluricentric language spoken principally in nigeria and benin, with communities in sierra leone, liberia, other parts of africa, the americas, and. In scale of wealth ive realized that the richest yoruba man is richer than the richest igbo man, and the poorest yoruba man is poorer than the poorest yoruba man. Igbo words such as unu for you people, sooso for only, obia for native doctoring, etc.