₦airaland Forum

10thTenthMan:
I do understand where the poster is coming from. The praise singing of Asari Dokubo in this video sounds definitely Igbo Language. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT KALABARI LANGUAGE. ANY KALABARI SPEAKER WILL TELL YOU THAT IS NOT KALABARI AND UNLESS YOU ARE CONVERSANT WITH IGBO LANGUAGE, A KALABARI PERSON WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SAID IN THAT VIDEO.

Igbo Language and Kalabari are not the same.

English, Igbo and Kalabari for example:

God - Chukwu/Chineke - Tamuno

Come - Bia - bo

Go - Gawa - So

Cloth - Akwa - Kapa

Please - Biko - Pasisi

Bush - Ofia - Piri

Head - Ishi - Sibi

House - Ulo - Wari

Road - Uzor - Etela

Market - Ahia - Ogambiri

Dog - Nkita - Obiri

Gun - Egbe - Alagba

Woman/Female - Nwayin - Erebo/ Ereme

Small/Little - Ntakiri - Kala/ Iru


And I could go on and on ...

But there is hard fact that due to the Kalabaris being middlemen in the slave trade, general trade and intermarriages, there has been a lot of mixing. I doubt if there is a Kalabari family without an Igbo grand or great grand relatives. Many Kalabari Men marry Igbo Wives and have been known to be very compatible.

The individual who opened this thread knows this.
The aim of the thread is to attempt to misinform anyone who is unfamiliar with these places, cultures or ethnicities.
But to no avail as they will always be busted!

It is a known fact that the Kalabaris are part of the Ijoid ethnic group and have their language which is definitely not Igbo, but an Ijoid dialect - Ibani.

Igbo began to become a popular language during precolonial era when communication was a necessity between the locals of the coastal areas and Igbo slaves and their sellers as it was Igbos who mostly sold Igbos as slaves through middle-men.

With a system which encouraged integration of freed slaves into the communities (eg Jaja of Opobo, Goodhead, etc), the abolishment of slave trade, migration and intermarriages, it became an adopted language in these areas.
It's akin to Hausa beginning to claim Maiduguri or Jalingo or Kwai is Hausa land with Hausa people because they speak Hausa as a 2nd language (which the Hausas have never attempted and would Honourably never attempt such).


Below is an excerpt from just one of documented accounts of explorers and merchants in Bonny Island in the early to mid 1800s:

Paul Hair (1967) seems to have been the first bibliographer to cite the history and citations of
Ijo in early historical sources and the following is largely adapted from his essay.

The first actual words of Ibani were recorded by Captain Hugh Crow, an English slave-trader who
operated from Bonny around the end of the eighteenth century. From his account one would
think that there was only one language, namely Eboe [Igbo] spoken at Bonny, but in his wordlist
of Eboe’, a few Ibani words are found casually embedded in it.

The expedition of 1832 - 34 up the Niger collected vocabularies of a number of languages but not of Ijo.
Edwin Norris, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, used these when he
compiled a handbook for the use of the next Niger Expedition and added materials from other
sources, including numerals in ‘Bonny’, i.e. Ibani (Norris 1840).

In 1840 a German doctor spent some four months in Bonny as a ship’s doctor, and wrote a
detailed account of Bonny including a long vocabulary of Ibani. (Köler 1842-43), reprinted as
Köler 1848). He notes the use of two languages, Ibani and Igbo, at Bonny, and the attempts by
elders to prevent boys from teaching him Ibani. This confirms what is said today, that the major
reason for the decline of Ibani is the successful attempt to keep it from being learnt by outsiders,
which in the nineteenth century included a large slave population. The result of this policy is
that Igbo has become the common language of communication.

Two more dialects of Ijo were recorded for the first time by John Clarke (1848). These were
‘Numbe’ [Nembe] and ‘Akrika’ [Okrika], together with further lists of Kalabari and Ibani.
Clarke was a Baptist missionary who, with the help of an Afro- American colleague, Merrick,
collected his wordlists in an unsystematic way, some in Fernando Po and some in the West
Indies (Hair 1967).

Sigismund Koelle was a German scholar who worked for the Church
Missionary Society (CMS) in Freetown. There he compiled his Polyglotta Africana in 1850
which was published in 1854. It was a collection of vocabularies of African languages,
compiled by interviewing the freed slaves who had been resettled in Freetown. Koelle used a
standard wordlist of about three hundred items and added notes on his informants and their
homelands, from which he was able to draw a map which is remarkably accurate for a period
when no European knew the interior of West Africa. His vocabularies are grouped according
to genetic relationship in so far as he could trace it from the wordlists. He has two wordlists of
Ijo, grouped together as V.C., the group which conjoins Igboid and Edoid.
The first list, ‘OkuIma’, is a wordlist of Ibani, named for the town Okólómá, although Koelle’s informant
was from Orupiri (órüpIrI). Koelle (1854: refers to Obäne as the name for these people given
by the Ibos and Kerekas [Okrika]. Williamson (1966) discusses Koelle’s Ijo lists in detail. In
the case of Ibani, she shows that some 73% of Koelle’s forms were accurate and also yield
interesting information about lexical and phonological change in the language since they were
recorded. In 1856, Baikie published his account of the 1854 voyage to explore the Niger. In his
appendix on the languages, he states:
From the Rio Formoso to the Nun, including all the western portion of the Delta, the natives
speak Orü or Ejó, and to the westward of Abó a distinct dialect is used, namely the Sóbo, Nimbe
or Brass is very nearly related to the Orú, and I believe that from the Brass River to the New
Kalabár, the natives dwelling on the banks of each of the intervening rivers all talk differently.

Development of coastal and estuarine settlements in the Niger delta
the case of the Bonny Local Government Area
by Winston I. Bell-Gam

Why are Igbos like this? Go to plateau state, Kaduna state Bauchi and Adamawa even Kebbi State, we have plenty of tribes that are not Hausas in these states.... Everyone speaks Hausa just like indigenous Hausas but have their own language and cultures that are entirely different than Hausa and won't tolerate you call them Hausa because they are not.

NIGERIA IS:-
NW------HAUSA.

NE------KANURI.

SW------YORUBA. DOWN THE RIVER NIGER TO THE CREEK.

SE------IGBOS. DOWN THE RIVER BENUE TO THE CREEK.

ORISA37
THE FULANIS AREN'T NIGERIANS. THEY'RE FROM FUTA DJALON.

Igbos are always trying to steal other people's land. No wonder Ikwerres have publicly rejected being Igbos to save their land from the invaders just like Anioma people of delta state. Now they want to claim Kalabari too. This long throat of Igbos is why Ijaws have produced president in this civilian dispensation while so-called majority tribe like Igbos are still begging to be President. They seem to be ashamed of their 5 tiny, gully erosion ravaged states.

Ofodirinwa:
this yeye logic of they are 'majority igbo because of slave trade' is foolish and outdated.
How can you have more slaves than locals, or have slaves and adopt the language, culture, customs of the slaves. Your royal family is from the slave not the indigine lineage. Your market days are the slave's market days, your gods are the slaves gods, your instruments are the slaves instruments,

I'm not insulting you because I have heard the same logic the way you heard it but when you sit down and think about it, it sounds like comedy.

Lol go to Atlanta, Georgia USA.

OP just set ibos up for drags. If not that he is a popular Ibo commenter in the politics section, I would have said that he was an impostor.

But do they speak any other indigenous language apart from Igbo?

NextAbuja:
Your likes are among the most foolish human being I have ever encountered on Niaraland. Scottish Welsh Irish British all speak English but England is not forcing them to be English.

Foolish people like you need to be beaten beyond redemption so that you can desist from exhibiting this level of foolishness among humans.

Stale!

Argue why they're speaking Igbo as their indigenous language?

yarimo:
Very soon they will claim Gwoza in Bornu state belong to them

Do they speak izon alongside Igb?

WhizdomXX:
Truth is they are ijaw towns with majority Igbo population now due to the slave trade. If you don't understand, please pass. If you like insult me, I'm Igbo too.

Ofodirinwa:
this yeye logic of they are 'majority igbo because of slave trade' is foolish and outdated.
How can you have more slaves than locals, or have slaves and adopt the language, culture, customs of the slaves. Your royal family is from the slave not the indigine lineage. Your market days are the slave's market days, your gods are the slaves gods, your instruments are the slaves instruments,

I'm not insulting you because I have heard the same logic the way you heard it but when you sit down and think about it, it sounds like comedy.

They had more slaves than locals in many places..whizdomXX was bang on.
cc:

WhizdomXX:
Truth is they are ijaw towns with majority Igbo population now due to the slave trade. If you don't understand, please pass. If you like insult me, I'm Igbo too.

Below is from "Among the Ibos of Nigeria (1921)"
- Book by George Thomas Basden

NextAbuja:
Your likes are among the most foolish human being I have ever encountered on Niaraland. Scottish Welsh Irish British all speak English but England is not forcing them to be English.

Foolish people like you need to be beaten beyond redemption so that you can desist from exhibiting this level of foolishness among humans.

..keep your mouth shut..you are in pains..

See an emilokan calling someone foolish..

..See how you exposed your foolishness to the World to see...

..you should be the one to ne tied to the stakes & given emilokan beaten to make more foolishness become your portion..

Paraman:
Only God knows the number of accounts you have on nairaland... Don't go and get a life they cry about paraman comment on nairaland with your numerous accounts

What are you even talking about?

Revealpanda:
What are you even talking about?

k

NextAbuja:
Your likes are among the most foolish human being I have ever encountered on Niaraland. Scottish Welsh Irish British all speak English but England is not forcing them to be English.

Foolish people like you need to be beaten beyond redemption so that you can desist from exhibiting this level of foolishness among humans.

What's the colour of your problem?

Ofodirinwa:
this video is from kalabari kingdom

They are blowing Oja
They are speaking fluid, clear igbo that is even closer to central Igbo than my own dialect
The man they are calling Odogwu has already said, several times, that he is an Igbo man with Igbo ancestors

Is it because he's wearing a british officers hat that you think he's Ijaw lol

Leave your propaganda video and come to Rivers State if you are in doubt.

I live in River State in fact, I was born and brought up here. No part of Kalabari language is related to Igbo language. From Buguma, Degema to Abonnema, I had been to every part of Kalabari land. I still go there till date cos Kalabari land is very close to Port Harcourt.

They don't speak Igbo language in the slightest.

Don't mistake Opobo people for Kalabari people.

Opobo people are Igbo speaking people no doubt about that.

DMerciful:
Do they speak izon alongside Igb?

Probably like 1 in 10.

10thTenthMan:
I do understand where the poster is coming from. The praise singing of Asari Dokubo in this video sounds definitely Igbo Language. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT KALABARI LANGUAGE. ANY KALABARI SPEAKER WILL TELL YOU THAT IS NOT KALABARI AND UNLESS YOU ARE CONVERSANT WITH IGBO LANGUAGE, A KALABARI PERSON WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SAID IN THAT VIDEO.

Igbo Language and Kalabari are not the same.

English, Igbo and Kalabari for example:

God - Chukwu/Chineke - Tamuno

Come - Bia - bo

Go - Gawa - So

Cloth - Akwa - Kapa

Please - Biko - Pasisi

Bush - Ofia - Piri

Head - Ishi - Sibi

House - Ulo - Wari

Road - Uzor - Etela

Market - Ahia - Ogambiri

Dog - Nkita - Obiri

Gun - Egbe - Alagba

Woman/Female - Nwayin - Erebo/ Ereme

Small/Little - Ntakiri - Kala/ Iru


And I could go on and on ...

But there is hard fact that due to the Kalabaris being middlemen in the slave trade, general trade and intermarriages, there has been a lot of mixing. I doubt if there is a Kalabari family without an Igbo grand or great grand relatives. Many Kalabari Men marry Igbo Wives and have been known to be very compatible.

These facts should settle the argument. Unfortunately, Igbos are adamantly trying to steal land.

What benefit is kalabari to igbo people They want to claim wellhead?

WhizdomXX:
Truth is they are ijaw towns with majority Igbo population now due to the slave trade. If you don't understand, please pass. If you like insult me, I'm Igbo too.

you just stated the real fact and reason. E.g king jaja of Opopo

10thTenthMan:
I do understand where the poster is coming from. The praise singing of Asari Dokubo in this video sounds definitely Igbo Language. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT KALABARI LANGUAGE. ANY KALABARI SPEAKER WILL TELL YOU THAT IS NOT KALABARI AND UNLESS YOU ARE CONVERSANT WITH IGBO LANGUAGE, A KALABARI PERSON WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SAID IN THAT VIDEO.

Igbo Language and Kalabari are not the same.

English, Igbo and Kalabari for example:

God - Chukwu/Chineke - Tamuno

Come - Bia - bo

Go - Gawa - So

Cloth - Akwa - Kapa

Please - Biko - Pasisi

Bush - Ofia - Piri

Head - Ishi - Sibi

House - Ulo - Wari

Road - Uzor - Etela

Market - Ahia - Ogambiri

Dog - Nkita - Obiri

Gun - Egbe - Alagba

Woman/Female - Nwayin - Erebo/ Ereme

Small/Little - Ntakiri - Kala/ Iru


And I could go on and on ...

But there is hard fact that due to the Kalabaris being middlemen in the slave trade, just like the Igbanis, the general trade and led to Igbos settling within Kalabari Communities and intermarriages happened also as wives were sought from Igbo land. There has been a lot of mixing. I doubt if there is a Kalabari family (especially from the major Abonemma, Buguma, Obonoma, etc) without an Igbo grand or great grand relatives. Many Kalabari Men marry Igbo Wives and have been known to be very compatible.

Well said

I have a lot of friends from delta, bayelsa, rivers states. When we talk we speak and understand igbo very well.

Fejoku:
Anyone who knows Kalabari's history very well know that they're descendants of mixed people with Igbo and Ijaw being the largest contributors. Efik, Ibibio and edoids around down Niger tributaries also added to the fold making the place a cocktail of different persons. Two things however standout which is the language and culture of the people. Igbo language is predominant there together with a dialect similar to Ijaw but the customs and traditions resemble that of coastal people around the area specifically more of the Ijaws. Areas traditionally regarded as Kalabari doesn't include Okrika and Bonny. These two see themselves different even up till date.
Rivers state is a state where the true identity of many indigenes isn't easy to establish due to politics and historical alterations.

Ijaw customs and traditions are also igbo.
But 80% of the people being called Ijaw are regular igbo people.

10thTenthMan:
I do understand where the poster is coming from. The praise singing of Asari Dokubo in this video sounds definitely Igbo Language. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT KALABARI LANGUAGE. ANY KALABARI SPEAKER WILL TELL YOU THAT IS NOT KALABARI AND UNLESS YOU ARE CONVERSANT WITH IGBO LANGUAGE, A KALABARI PERSON WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SAID IN THAT VIDEO.

Igbo Language and Kalabari are not the same.

English, Igbo and Kalabari for example:

God - Chukwu/Chineke - Tamuno

Come - Bia - bo

Go - Gawa - So

Cloth - Akwa - Kapa

Please - Biko - Pasisi

Bush - Ofia - Piri

Head - Ishi - Sibi

House - Ulo - Wari

Road - Uzor - Etela

Market - Ahia - Ogambiri

Dog - Nkita - Obiri

Gun - Egbe - Alagba

Woman/Female - Nwayin - Erebo/ Ereme

Small/Little - Ntakiri - Kala/ Iru


And I could go on and on ...

But there is hard fact that due to the Kalabaris being middlemen in the slave trade, just like the Igbanis, the general trade and led to Igbos settling within Kalabari Communities and intermarriages happened also as wives were sought from Igbo land. There has been a lot of mixing. I doubt if there is a Kalabari family (especially from the major Abonemma, Buguma, Obonoma, etc) without an Igbo grand or great grand relatives. Many Kalabari Men marry Igbo Wives and have been known to be very compatible.

Great post. Can you explain the use of Igbo in this video?

ruggedtimi:
What benefit is kalabari to igbo people They want to claim wellhead?

Absolutely no use but everyone should stop lying

chopnaira:
They had more slaves than locals in many places..whizdomXX was bang on.
cc:

Below is from "Among the Ibos of Nigeria (1921)"
- Book by George Thomas Basden

So is the royal family a part of the slaves or the 'head of the house'? Because why is the head of the house going around saying he's and igbo man?