Igbo language

Igbo (Asụsụ Igbo) is a language spoken by approximately 18 million people, mostly Igbos, in southeastern Nigeria. It is written in the Latin alphabet along with the Nsibidi pictograms used by the Ekpe and other secret societies. Igbo is a tonal language. Igbo comprises of hundreds of dialects and Igboid languages.

Igbo has a number of dialects, distinguished by accent or orthography but almost universally mutually intelligible, including the Idemili Igbo dialect, Bende, Isuikwuato, Owerri, Nkwerre, Ngwa, Umuahia, Nnewi, Onitsha, Awka, Abiriba, Arochukwu, Nsukka, Mbaise, Abba, Ohafia, Ika, Wawa, Okigwe Ukwa/Ndoki and Enuani. It is considered to be a dialect continuum. A standard Igbo dialect was developed for the Igbo language in 1972.

Igbo is both a spoken and written language mainly in southeastern Nigeria but this usage also extends to some parts of Rivers and Delta States where the Ikwerre, Anioma, and others are geographically situated. In Anioma especially, the Igbo language is still referred to as Asusu Igbo and retains much of Igbo words and idiomatic expressions.

The Igbo language was first written in the Nsibidi pictograms developed by the neighboring Ekoi people. These pictograms existed among the Igbo and other related groups before the 1500s, but died out after it became popular amongst secret societies such as the Ekpe, who then made Nsibidi a secret form of communication. Currently the most commonly used orthography for Igbo is the Onwu Alphabet.

The first book to publish Igbo words was the German 'Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen', published in 1777. Shortly afterwards in 1789, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano' was published in London, England, written by Olaudah Equiano, a former slave, featuring 79 Igbo words.

Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart', which concerns influences of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on a traditional Igbo community, was published in 1959. The bulk of the novel takes place in Umuofia, one of nine villages on the lower Niger. It is the most popular novel about the Igbo and their traditional life.

Central Igbo, the dialect form gaining widest acceptance, is based on the dialects of two members of the Ezinihitte group of Igbo in Central Owerri Province in Eastern Nigeria. From its proposal as a literary form in 1939, it was gradually accepted by missionaries, writers, and publishers across the region. In 1972, the Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture (SPILC), a nationalist organisation which saw Central Igbo as an imperialist exercise, set up a Standardisation Committee to extend Central Igbo to be a more inclusive language. Standard Igbo aims to cross-pollinate Central Igbo with words from Igbo dialects from outside the "Central" areas and with the adoption of loan words.

The wide variety of spoken dialects has made agreeing a standardised orthography and dialect of the Igbo language very difficult. The current Onwu orthography, a compromise between the older Lepsius orthography and a newer orthography advocated by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC), was agreed in 1962.

Like many other West African languages, Igbo has borrowed words from European languages, mainly English.

Information: Wikipedia