My all time favourite; "kee ka eke si anya anwu" which is an Anambra colloquialim for "how are things turning out for you" and also "aga awanyelu gi ji" which also is a colloquialim for "what shall we do to make you feel better"

ChinenyeN:

***Is Nsuka an actual group or just some name for an area?

I'm guessing Nsuka is a village group that was urbanised.

ChinenyeN:

So, have we exhausted the number of lectal/dialectal representatives here on NL?

Aro
Isinweke
Ugbo
Onicha
Abiriba
Owere
Item
Agbor
Nsuka***
[some place in Enugu; Afam didn't specify]
Ikwere
Riverine/Ukwuani/Oguta/Oru
Idemili
Elai

***Is Nsuka an actual group or just some name for an area?

Most likely a group since they have their own dialect.

NRI PRIEST:

Bia ada ide, you of all people should know that Anambra dont say "nri" as in food. And you call yourself ''ADA IDE". Do you even know what ada ide means ?

You're right, Anambra do not use "r".

You should not blame Ada Ide, Igbo Izugbe taught in schools tend to conflict with Anambra dialects.

Ngiri wu aha ghu/ aha ghu wu ngiri(what is your name)
Ichoro iri ri ngala-ugbu/Ichoro iri ri ugbua/(d'you want to eat now)
Mepu ya otuiwhu (do it immediately)
Ala akwupula otele (alarm don blow)


Isiala-Mbano!

Alright. Expanding the list by One.

Aro
Isinweke
Ugbo
Onicha
Abiriba
Owere
Item
Agbor
Nsuka
[some place in Enugu; Afam didn't specify]
Ikwere
Riverine/Ukwuani/Oguta/Oru
Idemili
Elai
Isiala Mbano

toshmann:

Isiala-Mbano! 

What's the difference between Isiala Mbano and the rest of Mbano?

ezeagu:

I'm guessing Nsuka is a village group that was urbanised.

If it's a village group then which clan did/does it belong to or are they among the many 'mini-clans'?

odumchi:

Most likely a group since they have their own dialect.

hm. Alright.

Where is Afam to help resolve this?

On another note, reading through these responses only leaves me with one question in particular; where did gini come from? In some way, I want to believe that it is an engineered word, but with words like "gunu" it seems clear that "gini" is an actual live cognate, but which people actually say it as their dialect?

@ last post, most Anambrarians use "gini",but my town which is an Idenmili town says "odi nni". Igbo language is so varied!!

@Chinenye
The dialect I wrote Is Nkanu.

@chinenyeN and ezeagu ur guess are wrong, nsuka is not just a village, town or l.g.a, u can call nsuka a group or clan if u choose to, it a sub of igbo group with igbo nsuka as there dialect, and it is the most widely spoken dialect in enugu state with 7 l.g.a speakin it. Like nsuka, igbo etiti, igbo eze north, igbo eze south,isi uzo, uzo uwani and udenu.

NRI PRIEST:

Idenmili where my humble self came from says; kedu ife na eme gi- what is wrong with you.

achoom ina kitaa- I need to go now.

kedu afa gi ?-whats your name ?

udene lie ozu gi(my uncles favourite curse)-may the vulture eat your corpse

ibili kam bili-live and let live.

ka ayi jee olu-lets go to work.

obi agbawaa mu-my heart is broken.

kedu ka osi gbasa gi-how does it concerns you.

kee mgbe iga elute-when will you arrive.

okaa omee-he who keeps his promises.

ife gi asogbugo mu-i love your way.

agboo-young woman

anam abia-i am coming.

Nwanne, do u guys in umuoji use 'gi' rather than 'yi' ?

even within idemili,there are variations,for example in typical idemili dialect, the saying: They are rejoicing, will be said as, fa na enwe anuri. But in Ogidi it will be, fa na ekpoli ufala,though these days Ogidi use more of the former than the later.

nedu210:

@chinenyeN and ezeagu your guess are wrong, nsuka is not just a village, town or l.g.a, u can call nsuka a group or clan if u choose to, it a sub of igbo group with igbo nsuka as there dialect, and it is the most widely spoken dialect in enugu state with 7 l.g.a speakin it. Like nsuka, igbo etiti, igbo eze north, igbo eze south,isi uzo, uzo uwani and udenu.

I'm from the bolded part of Enugu. How similar is the Nkanu dialect to that of Nsukka?

the main nkanu dialect is diferent from the main nsukka dialect, but there are similarity between border towns in the two zones were nkanu and nsukka are

Pazienza nwanne, Igbo language is indeed very varied. Do you know that in my own town Umuoji,the northern part of it speaks a slightly different dialect from the southern part of it. . . Mystery!!

NRI PRIEST:

Pazienza nwanne, Igbo language is indeed very varied. Do you know that in my own town Umuoji,the northern part of it speaks a slightly different dialect from the southern part of it. . . Mystery!!

I would not be suprised about that,umuoji is probably the largest town in Idemili.

Okay, so gini is prominent among Anambra groups. Thank you, Nri Priest.

@Afam thank you. I'll edit the list to reflect that.

@nedu, so what you're saying is that there is such thing as the "Nsuka Clan", encompassing 7 LGA's in Enugu. Am I understanding correctly?

The list so far:

Aro
Isinweke
Ugbo
Onicha
Abiriba
Owere
Item
Agbor
Nsuka
Nkanu
Ikwere
Riverine/Ukwuani/Oguta/Oru
Idemili
Elai
Isiala Mbano

@chinenyeN that is what am sayin and that is what it is. in enugu u hardly see sombody especialy frm igbo etiti and igbo eze tell u they ar frm dia, they only tell u nsukka and we call all of them nsukka not mindin there l.g.a

Add this to the list.

Ohafia:

What's your name?
ani wu efa gi?

Do you want to eat now?
Ichò iri ife ugbua?

How are you?
Imere g'ole?

Nedu what LGAs in Enugu are Wawa?

Alright, thank you, Nedu.

Updated List

Aro
Isinweke
Ugbo
Onicha
Abiriba
Owere
Item
Agbor
Nsuka
Nkanu
Ikwere
Riverine/Ukwuani/Oguta/Oru
Idemili
Elai
Isiala Mbano
Ohafia

Any more representatives?

"Gini" is core Isuama and largely central Igbo. Every other dialect has there variation of it from "kini" to "nini" to "ngiri" etc.

Writing of Igbo in dialects could make things quite difficult because of the tonal nature of the language.

PAZIENZA, rejoicing in Umuoji dialect is "Ngoli" and am sure you know that its common in Idenmili.
You may be right about Umuoji being the biggest town but I always thought Nkpor was even bigger than Onicha until the later STOLE all their lands!!
MANA,ONICHA ETEKA BU MAKA OGIDI!! OGIDI INWELE!!

Ututu:

Do you want to eat now?
ibia ri nri ugbua?

What is your name?
Iza ngen?

How are you?
Imere aà?

Updated List

Aro
Isinweke
Ugbo
Onicha
Abiriba
Owere
Item
Agbor
Nsuka
Nkanu
Ikwere
Riverine/Ukwuani/Oguta/Oru
Idemili
Elai
Isiala Mbano
Ohafia
Ututu***

***Who are the Ututu? From what you posted Odumchi, they seem eastern Igbo/Cross Rivers

The Ututu are a people in Arochukwu LGA, Abia State. You're also right, they are Eastern Igbo.

I figured as much.

@chinenyeN
Isiala and ehime are two local govt from the old mbano LGA. Both speak similarly but I think ehime has some similarities with mbaise.

Asi m ka m kaara gi ete eshi atuwa-atuwa eluwe-eluwe ngaa
Mbaise for I wanted to tell you how they(boko haram) are dropping bombs here

nedu210:

@chinenyeN that is what am sayin and that is what it is. in enugu u hardly see sombody especialy frm igbo etiti and igbo eze tell u they ar frm dia, they only tell u nsukka and we call all of them nsukka not mindin there l.g.a

This is the problem I used to have with my friends when I didn't understand. If one asked them where they were from, they'd say Nsukka and would hardly be specific whereas they may be from Igbo eze.

It's so sad I don't even know the dialect I speak. I know so many variations I often mix them up.

odumchi:

Nedu what LGAs in Enugu are Wawa?

There's nothing like Wawa; it's a way some Enugu people say No (mba) so Anambra people started calling them Ndi Wawa.

Obiagu1:

It's so sad I don't even know the dialect I speak. I know so many variations I often mix them up.

Seriously? How do you not know your own dialect?