‘I'm proud of my Ph.D in Yoruba Language’
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Thursday, 22 September 2011

Nicolas Aubry
Nicolas Aubry, though a French national, is so versatile and fluent in Yoruba language that he fascinates and attracts attention wherever he goes. A Ph.D degree holder in African Studies specialising onYoruba language, he paid a visit to Tribune House recently and spoke with Taiwo Olanrewaju .

Belief about the Yoruba Language
ALTHOUGH of the French stock from Paris, France, 33-year-old Nicolas Aubry believes that the Yoruba language will never go into extinction.

“Ede Yoruba ko nii ku. Yoruba ko le tan. Yoruba ko nii ku. Ao le moo tan”, he asserted severally during the interview. Meaning that Yoruba is so broad that no one can know it in its entirety, so it can not go into extinction.

People marvel when they hear Aubry speak Yoruba, not only because he speaks, reads or writes it, but he also has a Ph.D. in it and by October, he will start to lecture Yoruba at the Institute National Des Language Et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France, the school where he learnt Yoruba language.
How his love for Yoruba was aroused:

After his secondary school education, at the age of 18 years, Aubry gained admission to INALCO to study Ethymology, a branch of Anthropology, which deals with the study of people’s culture worldwide.

He conducted a research on tradition in Brazil, where he met some Portuguese singing Yoruba songs in their language. They sang the songs with Portuguese phonological sounds, thereby losing a lot of Yoruba sounds in the song.

That experience struck a chord in him and he decided to give the study of Yoruba a trial. “After a year, I loved the lecturers so much that I wanted to learn Yoruba. After two years, I left Anthropology for Yoruba,” Aubry volunteered.

On his parents’ reaction, he said that his parents were good people and respected his opinion but were quite worried about what he would end up doing with a degree in Yoruba language.

Aubry, however, went all the way, as he did not stop at the first degree, but got masters and doctoral degrees in Yoruba.

According to the Doctor of Yoruba language, he bagged his first degree within three years (2000-2003), his masters within two years (2003-2005) and his Ph.D. after 5 years (2005- 2010).

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His doctoral degree, Aubry explained was in the Department of African Studies where he majored in Yoruba out of the 92 African languages studied there.

He said his Ph.D. thesis was on: Bi ede se yipada laarin igba ti ko si akosile ati igba ti ede di kiko sile (1930 - 2009).” meaning how language changed from the time there was no written version to the time it became written. He used a lot of Nigerian Yoruba newspapers which were in circulation between 1930 and 2009, spanning 80 years.

The French national’s greatest difficulty in Yoruba as a student was the tonal system because his ears were not used to it. He cited an example: Baba re – Baba e (your father). He has, however, mastered the art. There is hardly any Yoruba word he cannot mark with any of the three tonal marks.

Another area of difficulty for Aubry in his studies was the use of serial verbs which abound in the Yoruba language. He said he doesn’t have many examples of that because such construction does not exist in the French language. He cited an example, Bola pa eran je (Bola slaughtered and ate a goat).

The language expert also knows the difference between the Yoruba spoken in Ibadan, Lagos and different parts of Republic of Benin, especially Ketou, where Yoruba is referred to as Inago.

For instance, Omo N Ko (Nigerian Yoruba) is Omo Fe or Omo Hon (Republic of Benin Yoruba), meaning how is your child?

To further strengthen his belief that the Yoruba language will not go into extinction, Aubry urged the Nigerian government to provide the necessary tools, needed to enhance the study of the language.

He noticed that the Yoruba language still lacks a monolingual dictionary to which one could turn to, to check out spellings and meaning of words without necessarily depending on another language for the meaning of Yoruba words.

He said that French and English languages have monolingual dictionaries.

Also, he urged the government to empower radio and television channels to speak Yoruba and do Yoruba programmes while teachers should use Yoruba language to teach their pupils in the class.

He encouraged the youths to desire to know their language and endeavour to be good in both their official language and Yoruba.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/features/28543-im-proud-of-my-phd-in-yoruba-language

*smh* @op

Is it safe to say he bought his Ph.d?, because that is what happens in Nigeria dis days

This one na Yoruba ponbele

The guy tried

Great!
He actually learnt about Yoruba in Brazil. A lot of people didn't believe Yoruba is spoken by some citizens in Brazil.

This is a challenge for me to sharpen my french which I've been struggling with for years.

odiaero:

Is it safe to say he bought his Ph.d?, because that is what happens in Nigeria dis days

People marvel when they hear Aubry speak Yoruba, not only because he speaks, reads or writes it, but he also has a Ph.D. in it and by October, he will start to lecture Yoruba at the Institute National Des Language Et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, France, the school where he learnt Yoruba language.
How his love for Yoruba was excited:

After his secondary school education, at the age of 18 years, Aubry gained admission to INALCO to study Ethymology, a branch of Anthropology, which deals with the study of people’s culture worldwide.

it is perfectly safe to say you are one of those that jump to reply thread without reading any of its content

Dis Guy:

it is perfectly safe to say you are one of those that jump to reply thread without reading any of its content

Since u are SIMBI, ride on

Dis Guy:

it is perfectly safe to say you are one of those that jump to reply thread without reading any of its content

Thanks, i was about saying the same thing to him.

I wonder why he is yet to buy his own PhD

chamber2:

Thanks, i was about saying the same thing to him.

I wonder why he is yet to buy his own PhD

Sure, have already gotten mine, i bought it for 2000 naira, the Ph.d in yoruba, lwkmd

Caramba! Meanwhile, i am yoruba, and aiming to be more fluent in spanish and other latino idiomas. . .

odiaero:

^^ I wonder what u have that worth spying for

Its not really people in Nigeria but the ones abroad

Wahala dey

The guy suggesting they're learning our language for spying purpose. Ask yourself do you think they will make it public that they understand Yoruba if they want to spy. Posting several youtube videos and making it to the newspapers should dismiss any spying suggestion, not to even mention going all the way to get Ph.D just to spy.

some parents wldnt evn allow their children speak d language. many on NL even write it the wrong way

No biggie though, we also learn foreign languages too.

We don't know the value of what we got

odiaero:

Is it safe to say he bought his Ph.d?, because that is what happens in Nigeria dis days

You think everybody buys Ph.d Like Ibos?

odiaero:

Is it safe to say he bought his Ph.d?, because that is what happens in Nigeria dis days

I wanted to reply to u but I changed my mind cos u have already got enough.

seanet02:

You think everybody buys Ph.d Like Ibos?

Why bring tribalism here? The whole education sector in Nigeria is bastardised. Corruption in the sector cuts across tribal lines. Go to Unilag, U.I, LASU, you will see it everywhere. Are those universities domiciled in the south east. Pls lets grow up, we dont have to be ethnic-bound stupid.

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