Radoillo:


Forgive my prying, but what's your home town in Ukwuani? I only ask because one Revd Okolugbo whose work I came across not so long ago, claimed that Ukwuani communities are for the most part Bini in origin.

I'm from Abbi, or Abbi Town as I love to think. (Momsie says we should stop deceiving ourselves. Abbi na village, no be township )

There are several knocks to that Bini theory which I'd rather not elaborate here because I don't want to derail this thread.

Revd Canon Emmanuel Ogeleka Okolugbo's work 'History of the Ndosumili and Ukwuani: People of the Niger-Delta' is part of his 1972 (or is it 76? I forget now) Phd Thesis 'History of Christianity in Ukwuaniland' which, in my opinion is incomplete. As Prof Obaro Ikime (who supervised his Phd thesis) rightly pointed out in the foreward to book, the Rev didn't place the Ukwuani migrations in the wider migratory trends of the people in that area, which might have given us more insight of the cultural exchanges that took place between the Ukwuani and her neighbours.

Ishilove:

I'm from Abbi, or Abbi Town as I love to think. (Momsie says we should stop deceiving ourselves. Abbi na village, no be township )

There are several knocks to that Bini theory which I'd rather not elaborate here because I don't want to derail this thread.

Revd Canon Emmanuel Ogeleka Okolugbo's work 'History of the Ndosumili and Ukwuani: People of the Niger-Delta' is part of his 1972 (or is it 76? I forget now) Phd Thesis 'History of Christianity in Ukwuaniland' which, in my opinion is incomplete. As Prof Obaro Ikime (who supervised his Phd thesis) rightly pointed out in the foreward to book, the Rev didn't place the Ukwuani migrations in the wider migratory trends of the people in that area, which might have given us more insight of the cultural exchanges that took place between the Ukwuani and her neighbours.

Hmm. Interesting.

Radoillo:


Hmm. Interesting.

It sure is.

Onwe ofu egwu onwe nkem mazi Bright Chimezie ti gbasara ote oyibo ko wo bekee si cho imebi ife na ala Igbo, afa ego a bu "Because of english " na aka onye calabar ka mu si nwete ya, umu nwannem biko nwa awa ge egwu ahu, otutu ezi okwu no naya, owe to kwa ezigbo otu. Udo

Afam4eva:
I have mad love for the creator of this thread. I can already see people downplaying the truth in the OP's assertion. Forget about UNESCO 50 years projection and let's tell ourselves the truth. We can't deny that the relevance of Igbo language keep waning daily. How you know that a language is relevant is if the educated folks speak the language whenever they meet. Rarely do i see two educated Igbo folks speaking Igbo to each other. It's not just about knowing how to speak but actually speaking it. If you're not speaking Igbo now, it means your children may not even know which tribe they're from talk more of speaking the language. Whenever i bring uo this issue of people not speaking Igbo, some Igbos see me as a tribalist. What is tribalistic about speaking you own language. I don't what sort of humans emanated from the east. That's why i don't move with Igbos anymore. I'm currently in Mauritius where Hausa language is the defacto language of hausa people here. they speak it in the morning, afternoon and night. If you're Hausa and you can't speak the language you will be killed by firing squad. If you can speak but don't speak, your toe will be cut off. That's how important it is to them. But for Igbos, it's when you can't spak your language that you're hailed as educated. Speaking cut and join English with their tick Igbotic accent feeling funky. Tufiakwa unu.

Afam what does it matter?

Language is meant for communication and not communication for language..It is important you express in the language that best delivers your message with a vast pool of phrases, idioms et al.

Comparing Igbos to Hausas is very degrading on Igbos..Things being in correct order, Hausas and their poor level of intellectual capacity ought to be confined to the lowest spectrum of the Nigerian society.

HopeAtHand, digh whne i di ime obena?

Unu amaala ihe na-ato m ochi? O bu nde 'odikwa-egwu' liile na-eji Bekee ekwu maka odinma okwu Igbo. Ihe nkea o dabara? Unu ga-eji Bekee ezi uwa la okwu Igbo di oke mkpa?

Edusouls:
igbos are the most foolish and proud tribe in nigeria, we are very poor yet makes the greatest noise, white men first came to hausa land, and then to the yoruba's we met the white men like 100years after the yoruba's, but we dey behave like say na only us see the white men, our inferiority complex and pride makes us to see our language as second class, because we are second class, and igbo women are the most stupid,inferior and proud set of people, they now almost speak english through out to their kids, they see igbo language as a let down and too local to speak, pride and stupidity is the worse disease any one can suffer from, and igbos suffer mostly from this disease...

See am , eeJiot. Na you and your family be the most foolish. Anuofia.

ChinenyeN:
HopeAtHand, digh whne i di ime obena?

This your dialect sef hard o..Well, im actually here to contribute as an Ikwerre couzin.

I choro ka m puo ebea??

yuzedo:
Ndigbo kacha nu! Rie nu! Muo nu! Zuo nu!

Funny this topic should be on the front-page at the exact same time I am compiling my favorite Igbo proverbs and anecdotes, while listening to the high-life goodness of Sir Stephen Osita Osadebe, Oliver de Coque, and Prince Morocco Maduka.

I just tweeted 10minutes ago about how Igbo men aged 25years and upwards should check themselves if aspects of our culture don't appeal to them till now.. and I must confess that even in the present comfort of my Ikoyi location, I am currently fighting the sweet nostalgia of (missing the) East.

I hold two Chieftaincy titles from my Anambra home. And I hope to acquire more. In fact I discussed the possibility of "ichi ozo", mana, man proposes..................

As I just mentioned in my discussion on Twitter, I deliberately test every girl I am interested in by speaking solely Igbo to her. 99% respond in English (Like say dem speak pass me), the remaining 1% was going to be my Oriaku 1.. Mana, again, man proposes........... (no pun)

I'd simply explain this peculiar situation with a proverb that says "Ugo chara acha adi(ghi) echu echu".. My nephew and niece aged 3yrs and 2yrs respectively hear Igbo to an at least 70% proficiency. Meanwhile, some of us cannot boast of a 20% understanding, talk more, fluency.

Ndi igbo siri na adighi eji na alu gbara afô, we kpô ya ômenala.

I hope we wake up from our slumber. Daalu nu.

Chief Dikeanagbalizu 1, Anwulu Nna Ya, Eze Nna Ya, The Onwanetilora-Nwachinemelu writes from Ikoyi, Lagos.

Amunaekeuto 1 of banana island

yuzedo:
Ndigbo kacha nu! Rie nu! Muo nu! Zuo nu!

Funny this topic should be on the front-page at the exact same time I am compiling my favorite Igbo proverbs and anecdotes, while listening to the high-life goodness of Sir Stephen Osita Osadebe, Oliver de Coque, and Prince Morocco Maduka.

I just tweeted 10minutes ago about how Igbo men aged 25years and upwards should check themselves if aspects of our culture don't appeal to them till now.. and I must confess that even in the present comfort of my Ikoyi location, I am currently fighting the sweet nostalgia of (missing the) East.

I hold two Chieftaincy titles from my Anambra home. And I hope to acquire more. In fact I discussed the possibility of "ichi ozo", mana, man proposes..................

As I just mentioned in my discussion on Twitter, I deliberately test every girl I am interested in by speaking solely Igbo to her. 99% respond in English (Like say dem speak pass me), the remaining 1% was going to be my Oriaku 1.. Mana, again, man proposes........... (no pun)

I'd simply explain this peculiar situation with a proverb that says "Ugo chara acha adi(ghi) echu echu".. My nephew and niece aged 3yrs and 2yrs respectively hear Igbo to an at least 70% proficiency. Meanwhile, some of us cannot boast of a 20% understanding, talk more, fluency.

Ndi igbo siri na adighi eji na alu gbara afô, we kpô ya ômenala.

I hope we wake up from our slumber. Daalu nu.

Chief Dikeanagbalizu 1, Anwulu Nna Ya, Eze Nna Ya, The Onwanetilora-Nwachinemelu writes from Ikoyi, Lagos.

Amunaekeuto 1 of banana island

MbaanabaraAgu:


Nwanne ji sie ike. O buru na i choro i muta ka esi asu igbo, i ga agba mbo i hu na ndi ezi na ulo unu (family) na asuru gi asusu Igbo mgbe obula. O buru na i hu onye o bula bu onye Igbo, subara ya Igbo, ekwekwala ka onye Igbo suoro gi bekee, o buru na ime nke a oge nile, i ga amuta ka esi asu igbo na mgbe na adighi anya.
Dalu ri nne

anugom, o ife agama eme, daalu.

PerfectlyPerfect:


That's the thing. Most children nowadays don't use theirbigbo names any more. Its always blessing or favor or precious. Wot happened to Ngozi or Amarachi or Olaedo

P square named their kids Cameron, Andre and Aliona.

Idiots! They think that makes them "cool".

We can understand that slave mentality from the older generations who were closer to the colonisation era, not today.

Inferiority complex.

Why do Igbo people like bearing English name, especially the ladies?

It baffles me atimes. Most times, I usually ask for the African name.

there are things that we have to understand, igbo will not die cos we have about 40 million native speakers and not the assimilated speakers, what you should understand is that igbo is evolving, I for an example was born in owerri from anambra and my igbo is mixed up now i married a delta igbo(ukwuani axis) woman and her igbo is more like oguta and we have a daughter ..we live in a non igbo speaking area...so the problem to me are our ladies

Wify speaks english with ukwuani igbo , me i speak central igbo with some anambra..at the end of the day my baby get it all mixed up..mixing anambra with delta igbo..but we have an understnading

I will toe the steps that my friends took and their parents took..I will send her to a good school in east when she is in JS3 so that igbo culture will be ingrained in her...like seriously she is so awarte


another thing is that after the war, igbo conciousness was at the lowest ebb but now there is high igbo identity due to the remarkable progress we have made in all factes of life and if you take a look today igbo music with igbo words are the reigning by non igbo musicians like omawumi, waje, timaya etc they are incorporating igbo words in igbo music. Now movies help to project our language to the world, that is why today if you go to kenya you can here a massai saying igwe to every nigerian he sees


DONT WORRY IGBO LANGUAGE WILL NOT DIE

Go back to East
then you will understand
that our language
still dey kampke
Udo umunne

superstar1:
Why do Igbo people like bearing English name, especially the ladies?

It baffles me atimes. Most times, I usually ask for the African name.

becuause the are christains and predominantly orthodox christian and infant baptism requires you taking up a name after a patron saint or good biblical character but every igbo has pure igbo names and igbos rare bear foriegn names as surnames....I hope you are claered. Next time do a proper research before you come and make jest of urself


now its like asking why do hausa people and Nigerian muslim even yorubas bear Arabic names.... Names like Azeez, Yusuf are pure Arabic names


now yoruba still bear english names like Gbenga Daniel, Bankole Wellignton, Tiwa Savage, Peter Ojo etc

HopeAtHand:


This your dialect sef hard o..Well, im actually here to contribute as an Ikwerre couzin.

I choro ka m puo ebea??

Come this ikwerre boy ogini ka ina eme eba?


YOU ARE IKWERRE YOU ARE NOT IGBO, CAN YOU JUST STAY AWAY FROM US, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IGBO HERE. JEBE, IDI KA NWA MBA MIRI


KA ANYI BIDO EBE ANYI KWUSIRI....

ICHORO KA GWO GI IBA.....? BIA BIKO ACHOGHI M OKWU, SIE EBA PUO


LOL...NO MIND ME NWANNE, ANYI CHA BU OFU

I WANTED TO GIVE YOU A BIG HEART ATTACK...SAW YOU AT ROMANCE SECTION BUT SOME IDIOT GIRL HERE BANNED MY LOL...


KEDU IJE?

Ishilove:

I'm from Abbi, or Abbi Town as I love to think. (Momsie says we should stop deceiving ourselves. Abbi na village, no be township )

There are several knocks to that Bini theory which I'd rather not elaborate here because I don't want to derail this thread.

Revd Canon Emmanuel Ogeleka Okolugbo's work 'History of the Ndosumili and Ukwuani: People of the Niger-Delta' is part of his 1972 (or is it 76? I forget now) Phd Thesis 'History of Christianity in Ukwuaniland' which, in my opinion is incomplete. As Prof Obaro Ikime (who supervised his Phd thesis) rightly pointed out in the foreward to book, the Rev didn't place the Ukwuani migrations in the wider migratory trends of the people in that area, which might have given us more insight of the cultural exchanges that took place between the Ukwuani and her neighbours.

I GET YOUR DRIFT DEAR, NO TOWN IS FULLY ABORIGINES BUT BUT WE ARE CLASSIFIED BY CULTURED AND LANGUAGE WHICH FROM MY PERSONAL OBSERVATION AND LINGUISTIC OBSERBATION EVEN ADMINISTRATIVELY UKWU ANI WHICH IS AN IGBO WORD IS JUST BASICALLY IGBO, BENIN THEORY TO ME PERSONAL LOOK STUPID, BUT I REPEAT DEAR ITS MY PERSONAL OBSERVATION.

HAVE YOU EVER ASKED WHEN THE MIGRANTS CAME TO UKWUANI DID THEY MEET AN EMPTY PLACE, IF YES, WHY THEN DID THEIR LANGUAGE CHANGE FROM BENIN TO IGBO LANGAUGE

ANOTHER ONE IS THAT IF THE EDO REFUGEES OR MIGRANT DID NOT MEET AN EMPTY PLACE, IT THEN MEAN THAT THERE ARE ORIGINAL OWNERS OF THE LAND THAT ASSIMILATED THEM AND THESE ORIGINAL OWNERS ARE IGBO ..THESE CAUSED THE MIGRANT TO SPEAK ENGLISH. JUST LIKE MIGRATING TO SOMEWHERE IN EKITI AT A TIME YOU WILL BE SPEAKING YORUBA BECAUSE HIGHER POPULATION OF PEOPLE SPEAKS YORUBA..THIS IS EXACTLY THE CASE OF UKWUANI


AND YOUR NAME IS ISHILOVE IF I AM RIGHT...IS ISHI NOT IGBO WORD FOR HEAD ?


OUR LANGUAGE WILL NOT DIE DEAR EVEN THOSE WITH IDENTITY CRISIS WILL NOT EVEN LEAVE OUR LANGAUGE


CHUKWU GOZIE ANYI
GOZIE IGBO NINE
GOZIE NDI CHORO KA ODILI IGBO MMA

PerfectlyPerfect:


You know what I mean. Shun rural areas. They're the only exception to this.

ATURU, SO NA ASABA, ONITSHA, NNEWI, ENUGU, PORT HARCOURT ADIGHI ASU SI IGBO EBE AHU

NNA NOTABA UNO, IFUGO

HopeAtHand:


Afam what does it matter?

Language is meant for communication and not communication for language..It is important you express in the language that best delivers your message with a vast pool of phrases, idioms et al.

Comparing Igbos to Hausas is very degrading on Igbos..Things being in correct order, Hausas and their poor level of intellectual capacity ought to be confined to the lowest spectrum of the Nigerian society.

Kwara uka aka kpu n'onu. This is the very mentality that's at the heart of this issue.

HopeAtHand:
This your dialect sef hard o..Well, im actually here to contribute as an Ikwerre couzin.
I choro ka m puo ebea??

M ka ga fuo, eh nwanna m Ikwerre? Noo nunu; la o dii whne nno la a. Nye ng'ichufu ghi la threadi na sef?

superstar1:
Why do Igbo people like bearing English name, especially the ladies?

It baffles me atimes. Most times, I usually ask for the African name.

Because they sound more stylish and 'imported', don't we all like imported things? Especially if it's for a lady.

tonychristopher:


becuause the are christains and predominantly orthodox christian and infant baptism requires you taking up a name after a patron saint or good biblical character but every igbo has pure igbo names and igbos rare bear foriegn names as surnames....I hope you are claered. Next time do a proper research before you come and make jest of urself


now its like asking why do hausa people and Nigerian muslim even yorubas bear Arabic names.... Names like Azeez, Yusuf are pure Arabic names


now yoruba still bear english names like Gbenga Daniel, Bankole Wellignton, Tiwa Savage, Peter Ojo etc

Don't turn this tribal, you know if you want to, I will gladly oblige you.

Yes I quite agree that Yorubas have English names but they hardly bare them as first names. Your grandparents will never even reckon with your English name, no matter how sweet it sounds and no matter how sophisticated they are. Infact, they will take it to the next level by calling you by your unique "oroki" name, which is a special name that is peculiar for eulogising you as a person.

Religion and westernisation or arabicanisation should never make us to lose our identity and be proud of heritage. If you like bear Roseleen or Cassandra or Maureen, and be speaking with English with your nose, you will never be seen as a proper English man, as long as you are black.

Likewise, you can recite the quran in Arabic even in your dreams, it will never make Arabs not to see you as their subjects.

Just be proud of your identity and rep it to blazes.

superstar1:


Don't turn this tribal, you know if you want to, I will gladly oblige you.

Yes I quite agree that Yorubas have English names but they hardly bare them as first names. Your grandparents will never even reckon with your English name, no matter how sweet it sounds and no matter how sophisticated they are. Infact, they will take it to the next level by calling you by your unique "oroki" name, which is a special name that is peculiar for eulogising you as a person.

Religion and westernisation or arabicanisation should never make us to lose our identity and be proud of heritage. If you like bear Roseleen or Cassandra or Maureen, and be speaking with English with your nose, you will never be seen as a proper English man, as long as you are black.

Likewise, you can recite the quran in Arabic even in your dreams, it will never make Arabs not to see you as their subjects.

Just be proud of identity and rep it to blazes.

i didnt go tribal I made instances and for your information my grand father has an english name cos he was. a catholic

which one is better having a christian name or having a foriegn Surname


I go with the first cos I can't imagine myself having a foriegn surname ....its just too bad


People bearing yusuf ibrahim and peter Lewis

Thats just bad

Igbos maintain their native surname

tonychristopher:


ATURU, SO NA ASABA, ONITSHA, NNEWI, ENUGU, PORT HARCOURT ADIGHI ASU SI IGBO EBE AHU

NNA NOTABA UNO, IFUGO

I ma ihe m na ekwu. Biko a bughi m aturu. O buru na m by aturu, ginwa bukwa aturu maka o bu aturu ga aghota ihe aturu ibe ya n'ekwu

PerfectlyPerfect:


I ma ihe m na ekwu. Biko a bughi m aturu. O buru na m by aturu, ginwa bukwa aturu maka o bu aturu ga aghota ihe aturu ibe ya n'ekwu

Lol

I like you and the way you used to answer me otherwise memina gi

Ngwanu ebe anyi bu aturu chotasi igu mana ibu aturu mburu ebune

Olufemiolaolu:
If u ask me op, igbo language is already dead. I have an igbo neighbour dat her children cudnt speak d igbo @ all. This is evident in non existence of igbo local movie. Majority of u igbo are not proud 2 speak ur language. My uncle who lives in d States children cud speak fluent yoruba, even though they havent been 2 Nigeria b4. Ndi igbo ogini? wake up from ur inferiority slumber, because a man who knows his root not is 4ever doomed.

Wtf is with you Yorubas and competition. If you guys have nothing to contribute rather than giving ridiculous competition comments then f2k off cause this conversation in no way concerns yoruba. Neither did anyone ask for una "advice".

BTW: Majority of the Yorubas I know both from my college, Nigerian meetings and work that were born and raised here, I'm yet to meet one that speaks yoruba. Hell I'm yet to meet one that's not imitating African Americans mannerisms to the T. The ones I know that migrated to USA, rarely speak the language even among themselves. So enough with una annoyance. Just like you have a cousin born and raised aboard that speaks yoruba, likewise I have a cousin born and raised in USA that speak, write and read Igbo fluently. I'm not going to use his isolation case as the overall behaviors for all.

OneNaira6:


Wtf is with you Yorubas and competition. If you guys have nothing to contribute rather than giving ridiculous competition comments then f2k off cause this conversation in no way concerns yoruba. Neither did anyone ask for una "advice".

BTW: Majority of the Yorubas I know both from my college, Nigerian meetings and work that were born and raised here, I'm yet to meet one that speaks yoruba. Hell I'm yet to meet one that's not imitating African Americans mannerisms to the T. The ones I know that migrated to USA, rarely speak the language even among themselves. So enough with una annoyance. Just like you have a cousin born and raised aboard that speaks yoruba, likewise I have a cousin born and raised in USA that speak, write and read Igbo fluently. I'm not going to use his isolation case as the overall behaviors for all.

Ok Oooo igbo American supporter

Personally I've asked around, at least to parents in America why they don't teach the language. Majority of them gave the same reply that they are trying to save their children the bullying African children's go through in middle and high school aka speaking English without any accent. I find the whole thing very laughable to be honest. My uncle even broke it down further. According to him, majority of the parents are pretty much following a herd mentality. They come to America and notice that parents aren't speaking their language to their children and they follow the behaviors because they don't want to "stand out". It's so fucking ridiculous and beyond stupid.

As for those that thinks parents do it because they think it's "cool". Well I can't speak for ones in Nigeria but for those in USA, I'm yet to meet a parent that's not embarrassed of it. I've lost count how many parents I've asked if their kids can speak Igbo and they reply "they understand but can't speak", only to find out from the kids that they can understand either. It's sad!! The funniest thing about it all is that I know some ppl that told me they used be punished by their parents during their younger years for speaking igbo and now they are adults their parents are on them about not speaking the language. It's hilarious. One of my cousin is actually a victim of that situation. He used to get punished anytime he spoke igbo; even the rest of us were punished whenever we visited their house, ironically enough, the same boy is constantly being verbally insulted by his dad for not speaking the language and constantly being compared to my siblings, other cousins and I. I honestly pity him.

With that being said, idk about the language dying. Unless theirs a new type of igbo language I didn't know about or theirs a different igboland I didn't know about but the one that I do know about, in every visit to Nigeria--to my hometown and SE, I'm yet to see this "lack of language speaking". Infact, I've seen ppl verbally insult others for speaking English to them while they spoke igbo. I'm not sure about igbos in lagos but one thing I know for sure but what you all are complaining about is rarely seen in my town, asaba, and towns next to us aka ogwashi, onitsha. It's also rarely seen in SE state I visit in each visit aka Enugu.

It's a problem...definitely but I think some of you all are exaggerating it. EX: name; for every igbo with an English one, I'm yet to meet one without an igbo middle name. Myself included. I was born with an English first name and igbo middle name yet anyone people that knows my parents, especially my father, can accurately tell you they are the proudest igbo ppl you'll ever see. Till date, my father refuses to do any business outside igboland and he constantly donate any igbo charity he can find. So yeah, naming your kids an English names does not translate as hatred of heritage.

Olufemiolaolu:
Ok Oooo igbo American supporter

Dumbest reply ever but not really surprised.
Na yoruba you be

OneNaira6:


Dumbest reply ever but not really surprised.
Na yoruba you be

How has dis stop d extinction of ur language efulefu per excellence

OneNaira6:


Dumbest reply ever but not really surprised.
Na yoruba you be

How has dis affected d extinction of ur language? You re nothing but a glorified efulefu per excellence