₦airaland Forum

Antivirus92: Alot of work to be done! Let's not blame the whites now,we are now the architect of own problems especially ndiigbo. Nwogu is now wogu,arochukwu is now arochuku,chukwu is now chuku,igbo is now ibo,okonkwo is now okonkwor,ofo is now ofor/ofoh etc. The day somebody will dare call me ikechuku,that day i give the person a befitting death

Aside from the 'Nwogu' reference, everything else is actually the other way around. In the early part of the colonial era, most Igbo words that had the 'gb' and 'kw' dipthongs were written as 'b' or 'k'.

However, I also believe that in Igbo (like many other languages) people often choose to stray from the standard spellings of certain words. For example in English, 'Jesse' can be spelled as 'Jessie' or 'Jessey'. In Igbo, 'Chidinma' can be spelled as 'Chidimma' or 'Chidinma' and 'Okafor' can be spelled as 'Okafor' or 'Okafo'.

achi4u: ahu ime mmadu 'irukwuru-irukwuru'
Torchman ole ebe ino?

Lol i mazi kwa amazi maka gi na Ify na agwa m ihe di iche kama aga m asi kwa gi ndeewo.

Biko nu unu yere m aka ka m choputa ihe a. Ubochi gara-aga ajuru m mmadu oburu o di "drowsy" na olu m onye ahu aghotaghi m, ya mee m ji si na m ga achoputabe ka esi ekwu ya.

ifyalways: Drowsy: ichu aju, Anya aju.
Ogwu a na-eme m Anya aju.

Can't do the tonation bit now but it's a high a and low u.

Ndeewo, Ify.

Ana ekwu ya ka esi ekwu "anya nju" (dizziness)?
O buru achoro m ikwu "I am drowsy" aga m asi "anya aju na eme m" ka o bu "anya aju na apam"?

Ndeewo ozo kwa.

Umu Igbo ndeewo,

O nwere onye ma ka esi ekwu "to be drowsy" na Igbo Izugbe?

Does anyone know how to say ''to be drowsy" in Central Igbo?

I don't know how to say it in Central Igbo but I do know it in my dialect.

PhysicsQED: Also, what are you saying about the names Owerri and Nsukka? What's the problem there exactly?

He's referring to having them changed to their Igbo spellings. In the Igbo language, for the most part, things are spelled exactly the way they sound. For example, Owerri would be 'Owere' and Nsukka would be 'Nsuka'.

Ezeagu, I think there's a need for change also, but that would definitely require a large amount of resources.

Here are some more places that need to be changed:

Enugu to 'Enugwu'
Igbanke to 'Igbo-Akiri'
Igbuzor to 'Igbo-Uzọ'
Anambra to 'Ọmambala'
Orlu to 'Ọlu'
Ogwashi Uku to 'Ọgwashi Ukwu'
And possibly Arochukwu to 'Aruchukwu'

The traditions of the Igbo are very interesting. Any pictures?

Blyss: Stop complaining all the time.

I'll look into it first.

dayokanu: I thought Odumchi was an elderly person cos he posts more in culture section

Lol no I'm not. I'm only 16. I post mainly in the culture section because that's the section of Nairaland that interests me the most. Besides, I don't see how posting in the culture section makes one elderly, lol.

Ileke-IdI:
That's one grown azz man wanting to be young again.

Like EzeUche's 40 yrs old sef claiming to be 22.

I don't see anything that's unbelievable about it. If you don't believe it then that's your pot of soup.

achi4u: The truth of the matter is that "things had really fallen apart" in nigeria and Africa in general.
These days nobody want to be seeing as 'village guy' or 'village man',if not,why are we still copying from the west by answering their names,immitating their accent while speaking english so that u sound like 'white man'?

The white man religion impose to African is like a death roll hanging on our neck,so Africans will keep losing their cultures and identities to the west.

To those on far away countries...
"you can't eat ur cake and have it"

You've said it all, my brother. As they say in Afikpo: eziokwu bu i la ekwu.

ezotik: lol..odumchi, u are not a child but not an adult, so what are u? an adolescent? and whats with the hypersensitivity to my post? obviously, u lack a sense of humour, do.

so what is ur gripe exactly? u feel isolated in a foreign land, but instead of u to try and integrate and make urself feel at home in ur host country, u come here to rant with all sorts of generalizations that they lack what u supposedly have in ur home country? while in reality it is the other way round?

oh, i know it can be lonely abroad...especially when u are in a faraway country without ur kin and kith. but when u are feeling too lonely... like i earlier, instead of ranting on the internet, save towards a plane ticket and go home for some fresh air, so that u can have a balanced perspective.

I think you might have fallen victim to the dangers of living in the diaspora like I described above. I don't see why else you'd be insinuating that I am among the ranks of those who have lost touch with home.

Maybe to you America (or whatever part of the Western world that you live in) is your newfound home where you have found all of the things that you lacked in Nigeria, but for me it isn't so. In fact, I find the West lacking in many ways.

There's no place like home.

ezotik: u do not know ur people then. there are igbos in lagos who do not know the road to the east not to mention other igbos who are permanently settled across nigeria cities outside the east. and only time they finally go back home is in caskets!!

But for some reason strange they flock back to the East in times of uncertainty (Biafran war, June 12, Boko Haram), right?

Onwo onye na ebe mkpuru okwu nde a (ngwangwa na osiso) za? Ka o na ndi ive na asugba wo nabu? Ngwakata okwu emeele o na di nve ima nke wu nke.

Does anyone know the regional origins of the words 'ngwangwa' and 'osiso' or are they both present in the same dialects? Cross-pollination has made it hard to tell which is which.

Aribisala0, you're right concerning the Ikwere being on the geographic peripheral of the Igbo country. I misinterpreted what you wrote. However, that doesn't change my stance of everything else.

Has the Igbo nation declined so much in political relevance that minorities now mention us anyhow?

ezotik: lol...so u are a child? good. and there is no need to lie about going home regularly.

and aren't there more community based programs in america than in nigeria? and to crown it all, they also have a welfare system which i guess ur family survives on

and they dont do that over there? because u in particular (or other nigerians) live in isolation without ur grandparents, uncles, aunts etc around u does not mean the general populace does. if i remember correctly, obama was mostly raised by his grandparents.

sorry, most nigerians live in the cities in their states and only go tend to go 'home' occasionally. the igbos for example, most of them who live in lagos only go 'home' during christmas and new year celebrations and by 2nd or 3rd of Jan, they are back to lag...while the others do not move an inch and have not been to the east in years!! so they live permanently in lagos and that is why they call themselves lagosians.

I just want to make it clear to you that, despite your personal convictions, I am no child. A hundred and fifty years ago, I would've been old enough to establish my own family; however, I digress. If you don't believe that we return home regularly, then that is your own business.

It's funny how you (the supposed adult) is displaying the lowest level of maturity by attempting to insult my family and I as if you have something to gain. Like they say, age is but a number; you've shown me that age is no guarantee of an increase in maturity.

Anyway, the reason why we human beings have older relatives is so that they can pass along their life lessons to us. Someone who has no older relatives to learn from will blunder more in life than the person that learns from his/her elders. It is through this lineal passing of knowledge that progression occurs.

As for the Igbo, most of those that live in cities that aren't their hometown aren't permanent residents. The Igbo (and other peoples) driven from their localities in search of employment. After staying in a city for a specific amount of time, they eventually return to their native lands. That is the same case with many other Nigerians abroad.

ezotik: lol... incoherent rants of a nigerian stuck abroad who has probably not been home for over a decade. odumchi is just missing home and people who rant like this are those who don’t go home regularly. nigerians in the diaspora who touch base regularly would not rant like this.

and to counter ur main arguments, there are lots of nigerians raised in nigeria who cannot speak their language especially kids of the so-called elites. the era of it takes 'a village to raise a child' is long gone as most nigerians no longer live in villages but in cities.. and the crown it all, the ecomonic situation in nigeria does not help matters. the average nigerian can hardly take care of his immediate family not to talk of taking on another's man child, so the modern proverb is 'on your own' and nigerian families are very nuclear these days as nobody wan carry overload.

odumchi, i know u are missing ur akpu and oha soup. so what u need to do, is buy a plane ticket and go home. try touch base this year, u hear? xmas and new year is around the corner!!

Lol.

First of all I am not an adult. Secondly, my family and I go home (Nigeria) regularly.

I also believe that you too misinterpreted that proverb. The proverb isn't referring to a physical village but a community. This means that a child is raised not only by the parents but by the grandparents, uncles, aunts, and anyone else that positively influenced the child's life.

I believe that you're also mistaken. Most Nigerian families are not "very nuclear" and most Nigerians don't live in urbanized areas (I think the figure is something like 50/50). Last time that I checked, Nigerians don't live permanently in cities (unless that's where they originated from). Take Lagos for example. Over half the population of Lagos doesn't live permanently in it; they live and work in Lagos but eventually pack up and go to their respective "homes" during times of festivity.

shymexx: Are you sure you're still in high school, Odumchi?? You're too freaking brilliant and knowledgeable to be in high school...

You're my darg, and I admire your mentality...

Nice and thought provoking post, keep it up, fam..

Lol, I am sure.

armyofone: ezotik, i agree. that takes a village to raise a child will not work. i mean if you have money, contribute to your society/community.

why must i expect the village to help raise my child?

see as those villager raising the child also molesting the child without parents knowing.

well, odi egwu.

You didn't interpret the proverb properly. The "village" is not referring to a physical "village". It means that to properly raise a child, the collective effort of the community (extended family) is needed.

Most Africans believe that a child is not raised solely by the parents but by the community. Although it's very difficult, people are still able to properly raise children singlehandedly.

aribisala0: I guess either you did not read or did not comprehend the statement you quoted. So I suggest you read it slowly and comprehend it. I said Geographically the Ikwerre are peripheral to the Igbo Nation regardless of whether one believes they are Igbo or not. This is a statement of geographical fact.If you do not understand English I cannot provide relief.Lagos state and Cross River state are geograhically peripheral To Nigeria as is Cotonou in Benin Republic. That statement was made in a particular context and for you to pick out a sentence out of context and distort its meaning is just another astonishing example of inchoate thinking

I still haven't seen what you are attempting to prove. As far as I'm concerned, that lengthy post that I made should suffice.

There's no need to make any rash or insultive statements; don't forget where you are.

Fulaman198: Why was my post hidden, I was giving advice on how to download a French keyboard for Smartphones

It's been revealed.

aribisala0: .Geographically the Ikwerre are peripheral to the "IGBO NATION" whether or not one believes they are within or outwith.

No, they aren't. The Ikwere are as different from the Nike (an Igbo group) as the Abam (another Igbo group) are. People often make it seem as if the Ikwere are a unique group who differ exceptionally from other Igbo groups; they aren't.

The point that I am trying to make is that this talk of Ikwere not being Igbo has no long-term historical base nor does it have any cultural or linguistic base; it is mere politics and anyone that refuses to acknowledge this is making a mistake.

Here is a map of the all the peoples who were identified as Igbo by outsiders:

[img]http://www.ub.uib.no/elpub/1996/h/506001/korieh/map2.gif[/img]

Another one courtesy of our very own Ezeagu:

https://www.wicfoundationinc.org/images/Map_of_Igbo_Land_-_1.jpg

pazienza: This just about explains it.

ChinenyeN: You worded your statements nicely and carefully, Odumchi.

Thanks guys.

Ileke Idi, where are you?

aribisala0: Since we are not discussing DARWINISM i suggest we dispense with SIMIAN references

I don't know if this was a coincidence or not but, strange enough, I was referring to monkeys in my post.

"Achuo gi na enwe i laa na adaka" literally means "When you are chased from monkeys you return to baboons". It means that you are hopping all over the place. Lol

This is my understanding of it:

The people known as the Igbo are not a single people. The Igbo people are a nation in the sense that they are a collection of peoples who are related but not necessarily by blood.

Prior to colonization, the Igbo organized themselves on the sub-ethnic level and the basic unit of social and political organization was the village community. In parts of Igboland, large sub-ethnicities formed as many groups of villages commonly identified with each other. This phenomena is found among many groups including the Ngwa, the Ika, the Ikwere, and the Aro, however the largest of these sub-ethnicities (population-wise) is Ngwa.

Most groups of the Igbo country existed in independent communities. They didn't identify with each other on the basis of being Igbo, instead they identified each other based on their communal or sub-ethnic name. For example, in Things Fall Apart the people of Umuofia identified as Umuofia while the people of Abame identified as Abame, but to non-Igbo they were identified as Igbo regardless.

If you went to 18th century Igboland and asked a native what language he spoke, the answer would most likely be 'Igbo'. The reason I say most likely is because it could've been possible that certain groups referred to their speech with the same name as their collective group name. For example, if you asked an Ngwa what language he spoke, it's possible that he would've said 'Ngwa'.

The Igbo, for the most part, have always known subconsciously that the general name used to identify them collectively was "Igbo", but amongst themselves they identified sub-ethnically. For example if I existed in 18th century Igboland, I would've been referred to as an Aro by an Ohafia (Igbo town) native but as an Igbo by a Calabar native.

If you went to a place like Arochukwu in the year 1800 and asked a native to identify to you which neighboring communities were Igbo and which were not, they wouldn't have had a difficult time doing so. In fact, in Arochukwu, we commonly identify everyone east of us as "Ibibio" while we refer to those west of us sub-ethnically. The Efik to the east of us do the same; they refer to themselves on the sub-ethnic level while everything from Arochukwu westward is referred to as Igbo.

Unfortunately, this subconsciousness was not strong enough to make the Igbo peoples band together politically, but nevertheless, there is an Igbo nation.

aribisala0: I believe you miss the point completely. Not just eastern Nigeria but ALL of Nigeria and even beyond were connected. Excavation at Nri unearthed beads that were of Arab origin so trading links are not in doubt . The issue is whether NATIONHOOD among the "IGBO" in those times extended across MODERN Igboland EVER or whether there was EVER such consciousness or was Nation restricted to the clan level. In other words was there ever a SINGLE Igbo Nation or an ATTEMPT to create one in PreColonial times

Lol. Achuo gi na enwe i laa na adaka.

This is a complex topic but let me attempt to explain to you my understanding of it...

aribisala0: proof that the term IGBO had common currency before colonization.

Okay, I've supplied you with sufficient evidence.

aribisala0: You say ask ,any Igbo person but I am questiong whether there was any significant Interaction between Igbos such as those as far apart as Onicha and Obigbo eg in Precolonial times as well as how widespread the term ;Igbo was in that era and what evidence there is about this. This are reasonable questions of historical inquiry and very different from whether you are a plantain or potato!

Prior to the year 1900, much of what is now eastern Nigeria was connected economically. The Igbo not only experienced massive inter-ethnic interaction but developed cross-ethnic relations with the Ibibio-Efik, the Ijaw, the Igala, and the Edo.

This map dates before the year 1900:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Igbo_Trade_Routes_before_1900.svg[/img]

aribisala0: Well I asked for EVIDENCE remember? That inconvenient request that seeks to distiguish twaddle from reality.
You say it has been around from time immemorial .....so if I repeat that and I am asked how do I know I guess I'll just say ODUMCHI said so.
Its not going anywhere other than to point out that BELIEFS without FACTS are not any superior to diametrically contradictory beliefs and ulltimately protagonists will have to agreeto disagree.

You believe what you believe about the Aro Nickname but the truth is,honestly,you have no evidence.
Anyway you quoted me and I responded so I am not sure where it is supposed to be going

All I'm trying to avoid is engaging in an encircling argument because that would be a waste of time.

You have to understand that due to the constraints of time, there are certain things that you would have to take my word for if we are to maintain this conversation, or else you might as well tell me to provide evidence that I am a human being.

Ask any Igbo person what the nick name of the Aro is and they will tell you just like I have. Here is an excerpt from a document by Mazi Ben Ezumah (which I don't completely concur with but had to bring up just to quench your doubt) that should be sufficient evidence of the significance of the term "Aro oke Igbo":

"Every Aro indigene is a proud person due to the fact that we are the cultural chief in all Iboland. Our culture is being exemplarily practiced in all Iboland and this is how the 'Aro Okigbo' came about".

http://www.aronewsonline.com/files/Articles.doc

Now can we move on?

aribisala0: Fair enough! Though one might question how we can know how long this nickname has been around.
Aro Kwenu!

It's been around since time immemorial. Anyway, I don't see where we are going with this...

aribisala0: Do you have any EVIDENCE for this? I have not stated any familiarity with "The Igbo" in general or otherwise. I am a student of humanity everywhere and there is quite a lot to learn.Unfortunately many people just espouse opinions or wishes as FACT without any basis. The true test of facts is their resilience to scrutiny. I am always willing to learn but at the same time challenge opinions no matter how old or entrenched

I am an Aro and a native of Arochukwu. My people have a number of nicknames and one of them is "Aro oke Igbo" meaning "Aro, the great Igbo".