Chinenye, I'm Trying to interpret your signature as "Ngwa must exist till I die". Am I correct?

Let me write some words that i think Ngwas speak. But my spellings may be poor.

Nuruo.

I gbakalam ahu.

Lita nnya

lol I mean, I just hope you can understand where I'm coming from. I'm not saying I doubt you being Ngwa, but I am very curious about the type of Ngwa you speak that allows you to overstate the degree of mutual intelligibility. I have had more than my own fair share of difficulties that I often times end up either speaking English or pidgin, unless I know for certain that the individual(s) I'm speaking with will understand me.

Odumchi, not quite. 'Ngwam diya ma anwuo', or more appropriately, 'Ngwam diya ma agha', literally means, 'I remain an Ngwa person until I die'; a declaration of representation. I used 'anwuo' instead of 'agha' to give people a better chance at understanding what I wrote. Now try the bit I wrote to mbatuku1 some posts ago.

Anyway, mbatuku1 thanks for the effort. Although what you wrote isn't a lot to go on, I think I get it. The 'noruo' in particular caught my attention. Is 'noruo' commonplace in your house? Was it the expression you grew up with? Or was another/substitute expression also used?

It's commonplace. In fact the full expression is 'noruo odo'. That was said to me close to 100 times a day when I was small.

Yea, I'm very familiar with the expression, though we don't use it in our own house. It caught my attention when I read it because I've noticed that people who tend to use it sometimes also tend to speak 'city Ngwa' (I mentioned urbanization earlier). It's not always the case though, but it tends to be.

I couldn't interpret "Dii to akhu Ngwa la idi ikwu"

But I'm suspecting the ending "la idi ikwu" means "na idi ukwu" as in that you are great.
It's funny though that when Ngwa dialect was spoken to me by a relative of mine who lived in Aba, it seemed much more clearer and understandable than what you wrote. However, I must admit that the "urban" Ngwa which he spoke seems clearer than your, I presume, "interior" form.

From Ogwashi to Arochukwu and then from Enugu to Owerri is where people find it easier to understand each other, the people on the outskirts have a harder time understanding everyone else. But the Igbo dialects themselves aren't strictly defined, people do say a lot of different things and some dialects are similar despite being miles apart.

'Dii to akhu Ngwa la i di ikwu' (So, what type of Ngwa do you speak?)

I maintain that people are really overstating the degree of inherent intelligibility. Urbanization, 'central Igbo', and 'watered down' dialects has made a lot of people very unaware of the inherent degree of unintelligibility. People are just assuming now that all our dialects are 'mutually intelligible'.

Ezeagu, the majority of people in that Enugu/Owerri-Ogwashi/Aro axis are Isu or Isu-connected.

I thought all Igbo people were Isu connected.

When I say connected I mean ethnic kins.

I don't understand.

Recognized kinship.

Who are those with no recognised kinship with Isu?

Southern groups.

Pls,for my Igbo brothers,who knows why Owere people call any non-Owere person Isoma? Is it connected to Isuama in any way?

ChinenyeN:

'Dii to akhu Ngwa la i di ikwu' (So, what type of Ngwa do you speak?)

I maintain that people are really overstating the degree of inherent intelligibility. Urbanization, 'central Igbo', and 'watered down' dialects has made a lot of people very unaware of the inherent degree of unintelligibility. People are just assuming now that all our dialects are 'mutually intelligible'.

Ezeagu, the majority of people in that Enugu/Owerri-Ogwashi/Aro axis are Isu or Isu-connected.

Nna Igbo nke inyi atala akpu. I see a connection with my own "Nda udi Ngwa inasuje?" But I must admit there is are an interesting array of words found in what you wrote.

Isoma is what many southern communities call the Isu. It's derived/corrupted from Isuama, which is self-named.

Odumchi, it's more than just the words, the tone structure is also very peculiar. You should hear it when it's spoken.

Anyway, generally, the more experienced somebody is in one dialect, the more they can understand dialects that are different to the one they've learnt. As I said before, the dialects are not strictly defined in the words they use and a lot of places use a lot of different words. The place where people can get lost is when the words are rearranged in another dialect or extra words are added.

Ezeagu, I don't understand. Are you saying that as a way to support the idea of an inherent mutual intelligibility?

Not all the dialects are intelligible, but most of them are and with experience someone can understand the other a little.

chioma134:

Pls,for my Igbo brothers,who knows why Owere people call any non-Owere person Isoma? Is it connected to Isuama in any way?

Isoma = Isuama = Isu

Probably the major stock of Southern Igbos.The people you referred to as Owerri are actually known as Oroatta and Owerri just like Egbu,Orji,Emii etc are Oratta people.They are bordered in the North and West by the Isu,South by Ikwerre and South-East by Ezilihitte and Etche.

Interestingly enough,Ikwerre also calls them Isoma.

I think the Ikwere thing might be somewhat recent, just like how Ohnuhnu originally referred to the people in the now "Ezilihitte" area, but then overtime came to refer to every group north and west of Ngwa, even if they aren't/weren't Ohnuhnu or related to Ohnuhnu. Asa and Ndoki also use Ohnuhnu to refer to anyone not originally from the region.

Also, Ezilihitte and other small groups within the area use Isoma to refer to those north of them, and they [Isoma] are also traditionally called immigrants. Isoma also couldn't travel back and forth to Ngwa without Ohnuhnu escort, particularly Amumara.

Ezeagu, thank you. There's no such thing as mutual intelligibility across the board.

Thanks,Abagworo and ChinenyeN. I still need clarification,though. Does it mean Owere/Uratta people r not Isuama people? What is the origin of Isuama people? Where do Owere/Uratta people come from?
I grew up in Owere and my mum is from Egbu,so I happen to know that not all Owere is Uratta. Uratta is made up of Amakohia,Orji,Owaelu,Owaala,some villages in what is known today as present day Uratta,and others I can't remember.
Egbu,Naze,Awaka,Emii make up Alaenyi. Owere itself is made of villages called Owere Nchi Ise(5 villages) and is not part of Uratta. My point is this:not all villages in Owerri are Uratta. But I can understand why they may be called that,because the Uratta group are the largest of them all.

chioma134:

Thanks,Abagworo and ChinenyeN. I still need clarification,though. Does it mean Owere/Uratta people r not Isuama people? What is the origin of Isuama people? Where do Owere/Uratta people come from?

All the story of origin of most Igbo groups are based on speculation.The only factful ones are usually the short distance migrations like Aboh to Oguta,Umunoha to Ngwa,Egbu to Owerri Nchise,Ibeku to Ohafia.So the origin of Igbos is lost in thin air.

Though not for sure but in my own recent understanding,autochtony around the Owerri area may be our true origin.

What's the largest subgroup of them all?

Ngwa.

That's interesting. I was thinking that the largest subgroup of all could have had answers to origin, but come to think of it Ngwa were settlers themselves.

odumchi:

That's interesting. I was thinking that the largest subgroup of all could have had answers to origin, but come to think of it Ngwa were settlers themselves.

Mind explaining what exactly you mean here?