Nairaland Forum

manny4life:


But there's a "central Igbo" that everyone speaks, or is it not?

aribisala0: What belongs to whom? Does the banana belong to man or the monkey. Man came together in groups for survival often to protect themselves from other groups. No matter how nice you are as a people you must militarize to survive and often attack proved a more effective defence than Pacifism.Eastern Nigeria was protected naturally by the Forest and the ocean but eventually succumbed to the British and would either have succumbed to others or organized itself differently. Many small groups are now extinct. Let us not deceive ourselves with sentimental claptrap.The purpose of bigger nations is survival primarily.

manny4life:


But there's a "central Igbo" that everyone speaks, or is it not?

Afam4eva:
The central Igbo can also be called popular Igbo. It wasn't made central by God.

asha 80:

that was 'manufactured' in the 70s by some scholars of igbo descent when the teaching of igbo was thought of.

manny4life:

I know it wasn't made by God, but it's a common denominator that popularly spoken by "supposedly" everyone regardless of their dialects. Isn't it?
Yes...Though not everyone speaks it but a lot of people do.

manny4life:


But there's a "central Igbo" that everyone speaks, or is it not?

asha 80:

that was 'manufactured' in the 70s by some scholars of igbo descent when the teaching of igbo was thought of.

asha 80:

did anyaoku tell you that he wants to become an 'igbo leader' or become the president?

pazienza: central igbo aka igbo izugbe,is an artificial construct,made by picking out words from various igbo dialects,to form a language,every igboman can understand,irrespective of his mother dialect,igbo izugbe is nobody's dialect,as no igbo town speaks igbo izugbe,however igbo izugbe bears more semblance to some igbo dialects than others.

manny4life:

Oh ok... Well, I always thought it was one language spoken by ALL igbos regardless of your dialects.. Thank you for the education...

Jettage:

Did Orji's candidacy please you well? he wants to become Igbo leader by all means, How is his reputation. in a democratic system, it is the people who elect their leaders and not leaders who enforce themselves. You support and invite Emeka Anyaoku and[b] see if he will not help you out of your bad reputation and drudgery [/b]

Afam4eva:
I think what was manufactured is Igbo Izugbe which is the written Igbo.

pazienza: Igbos once had eze,if not,we won't have a word for king.

Nightshift: Onicha(Onitsha) Ado N'ide were the only Ndigbo who had Obi(Eze), a monarch . The rest of Ndigbo never had such an Eze with much powers like an Obi of Onitsha. And for you to rubbish an age old adage(Igbo enwe Eze) by Ndigbo here makes me to question your understanding of Igbo history . By the way, which part of Igboland are you from?

asha 80:

as you read you also learn to speak and gradually it assimilates.

asha 80:

i think the Enachioken of Arochukwu also belongs there.

pazienza: No regional african power that fights with matchets and arrows would have been able to annex the eastern region. Igbos have no imperialist tendency in them, we are for live and lets live. Look at the aros,immediately they secured arochukwu,they shifted they minds to trading with the minorities there,rather than looking for how to expand and annex those eastern minorities territories. Go to ogoja area,see the diversity we have there,it's like one kilometer one ethnic group,if the igbos have imperialist tendency,such won't be obtainable, i mean,look at the south west. Igbos liberal and live and lets live nature allowed those groups to survive. The igbo society was not structured for imperialism,unlike some barbaric cultures that pride themselves as being civilized.

pazienza: You are welcome bro,we all learn new things everyday. I happen to be an avid follower of your posts,i have learnt much from you.

Afam4eva:
You're right...but the Igbo Izugbe may not be what is spoken by a lot of Igbos. It's just like the English spoken in England being the standardized English but not the most spoken English. The American English takes that crown. I think what we call Central Igbo is the Igbo that's mostly spoken by a part of Anambra state.

pazienza: Are you by any means justifying imperialism?

manny4life:
Question though, at the bold, other than a few words or meaning, why should it be called central Igbo when a group of people just literally speak it?

Nightshift: Onicha(Onitsha) Ado N'ide were the only Ndigbo who had Obi(Eze), a monarch . The rest of Ndigbo never had such an Eze with much powers like an Obi of Onitsha. And for you to rubbish an age old adage(Igbo enwe Eze) by Ndigbo here makes me to question your understanding of Igbo history . By the way, which part of Igboland are you from?

manny4life:

I know it wasn't made by God, but it's a common denominator that popularly spoken by "supposedly" everyone regardless of their dialects. Isn't it?

pazienza: The history of igbo tribes outdates all oral history we have in our hands today. Come on,reason it out yourself, why would the igbos have a word for something they don't know of. The word Eze is as old as igbo tribes,when igbos say,igbo enwe eze,who is this eze they are talking of? My hypothesis is that igbos once had a king,something must have happened along the line( may be a tyrant eze) that made the people reject the authority of this eze( igbo ama eze),and evolved a perfect system system of democracy.

aribisala0:
You need to get an education and broaden your consciousness.

Afam4eva:
What i'm saying is that it is a dialect that is/similar to a dialect that is spoken in the Anambra area but is spoken by millions of Igbos. The term "Central Igbo" just seeks to show that this brand of Igbo is the most popular and the most recognizable.

Afam4eva: Most parts of Igboland have always had kings but these kings had limited powers and some of them were democratically elected like we still do in my village.