Dialects of the Igbo language

The dialects of the Igbo language are the regional varieties of Igbo spoken across southern Nigeria. Most speakers live in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states. Igbo-speaking communities are also found in Delta, Rivers and parts of Edo. These include the Anioma communities west of the Niger River, Ndoki communities in Rivers and Abia states, and Ika communities in Delta and Edo states.

There is considerable variation between Igbo dialects. Pronunciation, vocabulary, tone and some parts of grammar differ from one area to another. In a comparative study published in 1967, Robert G. Armstrong examined 1,050 words from five Igbo dialects. He found a large amount of shared vocabulary as well as regular differences in their sound systems.[1]

There is no single accepted way of dividing Igbo into dialects. Clara Ikekeonwu identified six major dialect groups in 1986. Gabriella I. Nwaozuzu proposed eight groups in 2008.[2][3] Other classifications use the wider term Igboid for Igbo and its closest relatives. The boundary between an Igbo dialect and a separate Igboid language has therefore differed between classifications.

Standard Igbo (Igbo izugbe) is the common form used in education, literature and broadcasting. It developed during the twentieth century and is not the traditional dialect of a single community.

Classification

Dialect classifications

The large number of local varieties has led to several attempts to group Igbo dialects. These classifications use features such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and geographical distribution.[3]

Ikekeonwu divided the dialects into six main clusters in The Dialects of Igbo (1986).[2] Her classification is still used in studies of individual varieties. Joy Oluchi Uguru, for example, places Ika in Ikekeonwu's Niger Igbo group.[4]

Nwaozuzu divided the dialect area into eight groups:[3]

  1. West Niger
  1. East Niger
  1. East Central
  1. Cross River
  1. North-Eastern
  1. South-Eastern
  1. Northern
  1. South-Western

Each group contains a number of local varieties.

Igboid and Nuclear Igboid

Igboid is also used in comparative linguistics for Igbo and several closely related languages and varieties. Kay Williamson and Roger Blench place Igbo within Igboid in their classification of the Niger-Congo languages.[5]

The term Nuclear Igboid is used for the branch containing Igbo and a number of its closest relatives. Ekpeye is generally placed within Igboid but outside the Nuclear Igboid branch.[5]

Different classifications draw the boundaries of Igbo differently. Some varieties described as Igbo dialects in earlier works are listed separately in more recent classifications. This is the case with several varieties spoken in Ebonyi and Rivers states.

Regional varieties

West Niger and Anioma

Igbo varieties west of the Niger are spoken mainly in northern Delta State and neighbouring parts of Edo State. Much of this area is associated with the Anioma people. Nwaozuzu places a number of these varieties in her West Niger group.[3]

Ika is spoken in Ika North East and Ika South in Delta State and around Igbanke in Edo State. Uguru describes Ika as a dialect of Igbo and places it in Ikekeonwu's Niger Igbo group and Nwaozuzu's West Niger group.[4] Williamson earlier studied Ika together with Ukwuani and documented the phonological features of both varieties.[6]

Enuani is spoken in parts of Delta North, including communities around Asaba and Ibusa. The Igbo-speaking communities west of the Niger have also had long contact with neighbouring peoples of the western Niger Delta.[7]

Anambra and central varieties

Many local varieties are spoken across Anambra and Imo states. They include those associated with Onitsha, Awka, Owerri, Mbaise, Orlu and surrounding communities. Nwaozuzu places much of this area in the East Niger and East Central groups.[3]

Owerri and Umuoji were two of the five dialects compared by Armstrong. His study recorded differences in vowels, consonants and tone alongside the vocabulary shared between the dialects.[1]

Abia and southern varieties

Several southern Igbo varieties are spoken across Abia State and into neighbouring parts of Rivers State. They include Ngwa, Ohuhu, Ukwa and Ndoki varieties.

Ohuhu was one of the five dialects compared by Armstrong.[1] Ngwa is spoken in the area south and southwest of Aba and has a number of local forms.

Ndoki

Ndoki is spoken in communities in both Abia and Rivers states. Its speech area crosses the present state boundary, with Ndoki communities in the Ukwa area of Abia and neighbouring parts of Rivers State. Studies of varieties such as Ibeme describe Ndoki as an Igbo dialect.[8]

Northern varieties

Northern Igbo varieties are found mainly in Enugu State and neighbouring areas. They include speech forms associated with Nsukka, Udi, Ezeagu and nearby communities. Nwaozuzu includes these varieties in a Northern group.[3]

Waawa is a name used for several Igbo-speaking communities in and around Enugu State. The varieties spoken by these communities are not identical and differ from one locality to another.

Eastern and Ebonyi varieties

The eastern part of the Igbo-speaking area contains a number of distinct local varieties. Nwaozuzu identifies Cross River, North-Eastern and South-Eastern groups in this area.[3]

Varieties are spoken around Afikpo, Arochukwu, Ohafia and neighbouring communities. Armstrong included Afikpo in his comparative study.[1]

Izi, Ezaa, Ikwo and Mgbo form a closely related cluster centred in Ebonyi State. They have not always been classified in the same way. Earlier works grouped them together as Igbo varieties, while more recent classifications list them separately within Nuclear Igboid.[9]

Ikwerre and Ogba

Ikwerre and Ogba are spoken in Rivers State and are closely related to Igbo. Both are part of the Igboid group, although their treatment as dialects or separate languages has varied between sources.

Earlier descriptions often included Ikwerre within the wider Igbo-speaking area. Later comparative classifications separated Ikwerre while retaining it within Igboid.[5] Victor Manfredi's 1989 treatment of Igboid used the term Delta Igbo for varieties including Ogbakiri and Emohua in the Ikwerre-speaking area.[10]

Ogba is also placed within Nuclear Igboid. Comparative studies of Igboid have included Ogba alongside varieties such as Owerri, Ohuhu, Onitsha, Ukwuani, Ika, Izi and Ezaa.[11]

Current classifications commonly list Ikwerre and Ogba separately from Igbo. Earlier classifications and comparative studies, however, have drawn the boundary in different places.

Ekpeye

Ekpeye is spoken mainly in Rivers State. It belongs to the Igboid group but is usually placed outside Nuclear Igboid.[5]

Ekpeye is more divergent from other Igboid varieties. Williamson described it as the most divergent member of Igboid, a view also discussed in Roger Blench's work on the language.[12]

Linguistic variation

Differences between Igbo varieties can be heard in pronunciation and tone and can also be seen in vocabulary and grammar. The amount of difference varies from place to place.

Armstrong's study compared 1,050 lexical items from Awo-Idemili, Owerri, Ohuhu, Umuoji and Ukwuani. The dialects shared much of their vocabulary, but Armstrong also recorded regular sound differences between them.[1]

Some varieties have sounds which are absent from Standard Igbo. Ika, for example, differs from the standard language in parts of its consonant and vowel system.[4] Tone is important across Igbo and Igboid varieties, but tonal patterns are not the same everywhere.

Mutual intelligibility

Mutual intelligibility across the Igbo-speaking area varies. E. Nolue Emenanjo examined this issue in a study of how speakers of different Igbo varieties understand one another.[13]

Mutual intelligibility does not always correspond with whether a variety is labelled a language or a dialect. The Izi-Ezaa-Ikwo-Mgbo cluster, for example, was historically treated as an Igbo dialect cluster, but the four varieties later received separate ISO language codes after research found limited mutual intelligibility between them.[9]

This makes mutual intelligibility only one factor in the classification of Igbo and Igboid varieties.

Standard Igbo

A common written form of Igbo developed through missionary work, education and literature. One early attempt was Union Igbo, which combined features from several dialects. Central Igbo later became important in written and educational use.

Modern Standard Igbo is used in schools, literature, broadcasting and other formal settings. It was developed for use across dialect areas and is not the traditional speech of one particular town.

Local dialects remain widely used. A speaker may use a community dialect in everyday conversation and Standard Igbo in school, writing or communication with people from other Igbo-speaking areas.

Language, dialect and identity

The terms language and dialect have not always been applied consistently to Igboid varieties. Linguists have used pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, common historical origin and mutual intelligibility when grouping them. Written standards and the names used by communities have also changed over time.

This can be seen in the treatment of several varieties. Izi, Ezaa, Ikwo and Mgbo have been grouped with Igbo in earlier work but are listed separately in some current classifications. Ikwerre has appeared within broader descriptions of Igbo speech and has also been classified as a separate Igboid language.[10][5] Ika has likewise sometimes been listed separately, although Uguru describes it specifically as an Igbo dialect.[4]

The different labels do not change the close historical relationship between these varieties. They reflect different ways of dividing the Igboid group and different uses of the terms language and dialect.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Armstrong, Robert G. (1967). A Comparative Wordlist of Five Igbo Dialects. Occasional Publication. Ibadan: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
  2. 1 2 Ikekeonwu, Clara I. (1986). The Dialects of Igbo. Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nwaozuzu, Gabriella I. (2008). Dialects of the Igbo Language. University of Nigeria Press. ISBN 9789780782313.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Uguru, Joy Oluchi (2015). "Ika Igbo". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 45 (2): 213–219. doi:10.1017/S0025100315000067.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Williamson, Kay; Blench, Roger (2000). "Niger-Congo". In Heine, Bernd; Nurse, Derek (eds.). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–42. ISBN 9780521666299.
  6. ↑ Williamson, Kay (1968). An Introduction to Ịka and Ụkwụanị. Ibadan: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
  7. ↑ Opone, Paul Oshagwu (2024). "Interrogating the origin and identity of the Anioma of the Western Niger Delta of Nigeria". African Identities. 22 (3): 743–759. doi:10.1080/14725843.2022.2117132.
  8. ↑ "A phonological analysis of the Ibeme dialect of Igbo". Journal of Languages and Culture.
  9. 1 2 Meier, Paul; Meier, Ingeborg; Bendor-Samuel, John (1975). A Grammar of Izi: An Igbo Language. Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  10. 1 2 Manfredi, Victor (1989). "Igboid". In Bendor-Samuel, John (ed.). The Niger-Congo Languages. University Press of America.
  11. ↑ Blench, Roger (2005). A Dictionary of Ọgbà, an Igboid Language of Southern Nigeria.
  12. ↑ Blench, Roger (2006). A Dictionary of Ekpeye: An Igboid Language of Southern Nigeria (PDF).
  13. ↑ Emenanjo, E. Nolue (1979). "How do the Igbo understand themselves? A preliminary study of mutual intelligibility in the Igbo culture area". Ikenga: Journal of African Studies. 4 (1): 60–74.

Further reading

  • Armstrong, Robert G. (1967). A Comparative Wordlist of Five Igbo Dialects. Ibadan: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
  • Ikekeonwu, Clara I. (1986). The Dialects of Igbo. Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press.
  • Manfredi, Victor (1989). "Igboid". In Bendor-Samuel, John (ed.). The Niger-Congo Languages. University Press of America.
  • Nwaozuzu, Gabriella I. (2008). Dialects of the Igbo Language. University of Nigeria Press. ISBN 9789780782313.
  • Emenanjo, E. Nolue (1979). "How do the Igbo understand themselves? A preliminary study of mutual intelligibility in the Igbo culture area". Ikenga: Journal of African Studies. 4 (1): 60–74.
  • Uguru, Joy Oluchi (2015). "Ika Igbo". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 45 (2): 213–219. doi:10.1017/S0025100315000067.
  • Williamson, Kay; Blench, Roger (2000). "Niger-Congo". In Heine, Bernd; Nurse, Derek (eds.). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–42.
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