₦airaland Forum

Ogu the god of retributive justice, as in Ofo na Ogu?

It is just as well, since Uranus is the god of the sky; and it would sound odd if we named a planet Igwe given that the sky for us is already igwe.

Yes, that Ogu.

Astronomy will always deal with states of matter. Planets come in many forms such as rocky, gas giants, etc. For that reason, terms need to coined for the various states of matter.

Matter - Ihe/Ihedi ('di' to further qualify it as a 'substance' of sorts rather than 'ihe' as a concept of something)
State[s] - onuno
Phase[s] -
Solid -
Liquid -
Gas -
Plasma -

Astronomy will have also deal with concepts such as direction, magnetism and fields (not as in open spaces, but as in energy).

Magnet -
Magnetism -
Field -
Direction -
Angle -
Distance - Nteanya

Cardinal Direction:
- North -
- South -
- East -
- West -
*note: It is often said that the 4-day calendar also represents the four cardinal points. However, there exists no standardization. Just as how the order of the 4-days differs from culture zone to culture zone, so also does the association with a particular cardinal point. So, we either once and for all create a standard order and standard cardinal point association, or we coin new terminology and forget using the 4-day calendar names. Personally, I believe we should develop new terminology.

Planets are typically thought of as having hemispheres.

Hemisphere -
Compass -
Axis -
Season -
Clockwise -
Counterclockwise -

Most importantly, the search for life outside of Earth means the search for atmosphere.

Atmosphere -
Layer[s] -
Exosphere -
Thermosphere -
Ionosphere -
Mesosphere -
Stratosphere -
Troposphere -

I wonder if anyone else is actually saving this information besides me, because NL can become subject to another spontaneous data loss incident. If you are visiting this thread and you intend to use these words or at least know them, then I suggest you save what you see for yourself.

Anyway, once we're done with the above concepts, we will move on to the next concepts and the next until it seems as though we may have covered basic astronomy well enough to discuss the topic in passing.

Okay, a few tentative suggestions:

Matter - Ihe/Ihedi ('di' to further qualify it as a 'substance' of sorts rather than 'ihe' as a concept of something)
State[s] - onuno
Phase[s] - agba (Already in use in Izugbe to mean 'stage')
Solid - akpọ (from verb 'kpoku', 'kpokuo' which means 'to solidify')
Liquid - eru/ehu (from –ru, which describes the flowing movement of water or liquids)
Gas -
Plasma -

Astronomy will have also deal with concepts such as direction, magnetism and fields (not as in open spaces, but as in energy).

Magnet - Odiigwe/Odigwe (from 'odo' which means 'puller' and 'igwe' which means 'iron')
Magnetism - Odudigwe (from 'odudo', 'the act of pulling' and 'igwe')
Field - Ilo/Ama or mbala/mbara. I think I like Ama best.
Direction - Uzo (I tried translating English sentences with 'direction' in them to Igbo, and it appears to me that 'uzo', 'way' fits naturally. It's my opinion that we shouldn't make the language unneccessarily unwieldy by seeking to coin a fresh word for every scientific term.)
Angle - Ngo (I don't know why I thought of this word which means 'crook' or 'a bend'. Maybe because it sounds somewhat like 'angle'.)
Distance - Nteanya

Cardinal Direction:

I get that you are not in favour of using the Four Days of the Week. Before I read the addendum where you explain why you think new terminology should be developed, I was already saying in my mind, "Easy. The days of the week." The indications that they (the names of the days) originally referred to cardinal points are very strong. I suggest prefixing 'uzo' (direction) to the day-names for the purpose of distinction.

- North - Uzaafo/Uzaaho
- South -Uzonkwo
- East - Uzeeke
- West - Uzorie/Uzolie/Uzoye

Planets are typically thought of as having hemispheres.

Hemisphere - okarowa/okalowa (okara - half + owa - planet. Since sphere in this case means planet, I see no point coining a new word for sphere here. There'll probably be need for that, however, with atmosphere, stratosphere etc.)
Compass - okuuzo (oka - that which tells [from 'ka', tell] + uzo, direction)
Axis - okpolo/okporo ('path'/'road'. You may have a better idea, though)
Season - udu/nduru (I don't know what the udu/nduru in udummiri/ndurummiri (rainy season) means; so I guess we can take that and call it season)
Clockwise - Kiijelekere/Kijelekere ('ka ije elekere' - like the movement of the clock; ka ije aka elekere is more accurate, but i think it is too long)
Counterclockwise - Adiikijelekere/Adikijelekere (Adighi ka ije elekere - not like the movement of a clock)

Most importantly, the search for life outside of Earth means the search for atmosphere.

Atmosphere -
Layer[s] -
Exosphere -
Thermosphere -
Ionosphere -
Mesosphere -
Stratosphere -
Troposphere -

ChinenyeNN:
The etymology is a little difficult to explain because there isn't any real logic to it (which part of language is actually truly logical anyway?). The only 'logical' aspect is where we made use of 'o' as part of the vowel prefixing convention, but that was only loosely, and just to create the final noun usage. The 'ki' does not refer to any actual verb root. Rather, it originally comes from 'akhu' (kernel) and 'hnii' (an object identifier -- hard to explain, but an already existing part of Ngwa speech). Basically:

'akhu-hnii' -> 'akhii' -> 'akhi' -> 'okhi' just to officially give it the final noun usage.
*I've been ridiculously inconsistent with my use of nasals and aspirants in this thread. *shrug*

We basically defined chemical elements as the kernels of chemicals.


Yeah, I figured as much. Most Igbo that I have come in contact with aren't even aware that the number system is actually ohu-based. So, naturally, I believe that due to this discrepancy, the atomic number naming convention would probably not become widespread among general Igbo.


It goes without saying that I agree.

Good thing I checked back here because your etymology for 'atom' is surprising, because in the nsibiri dictionary I made with some terms I came up with which are not definitive I also used 'aku' or palm kernel as a root for the word.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/281219778/Ikpokwu

One of the reasons I started the project (Nsibiri) was because of clarification needed in times like this.

AjaanaOka:
[...] Magnet - Odiigwe/Odigwe (from 'odo' which means 'puller' and 'igwe' which means 'iron')
Magnetism - Odudigwe (from 'odudo', 'the act of pulling' and 'igwe') [...]

I went about a similar way of coining magnet/ism in the nsibiri dictionary. I used the verbs sè [draw or suck] and jì [hold] for it because nsibiri makes it clear to the reader what the verbs are.

The elements I translated, the one in English I did not translate, partly because tin and sulfur probably already have Igbo names I'm not aware of. I used suffixes like zim for things like radioactivity (from zí 'send'). My favourite ones are ume anya anwu (sun's breath, helium) and asu Agwu (Agwu's spittle, mercury).

https://i.imgur.com/SUcuOW9.png?1

See, Odensibiri, if you had shown up earlier, we might not have even had to bother developing names for the elements. Interestingly enough, some of our coined words are strikingly similar. Where I have Ugbam for flourine, you have Ugbasi. We both used indigenous words for coal/charcoal when coining the respective terms for carbon. You certainly put some thought into the names for those elements.

AjaanaOka, certainly I am in agreement that a new term need not be developed for each and every thing. For instance, we already have equivalent expressions for magnet, magnetism, magnetize, magnetic, etc., and we developed them simply by taking advantage of the verb-based nature of the language. This minimizes the number of actual new words we have to coin. Or at least, that's how it seems to us.

Gas - eruku (from -ru [eru] -ku [same ku from ikuku])
Plasma - eruke (from -ru [eru] - ke [spark for the ionization])

Atmosphere - igweikuku [sky + air]
Layer[s] - (possibly consider something from fold)
Exosphere - igweikuku-mkpughe
Thermosphere - igweikuku-oku
Ionosphere - igweikuku-ekeke
Mesosphere - igweikuku-oyi
Stratosphere - igweikuku-mbadamba
Troposphere - igweikuku-ndu

Some testing with the new terminology. Let's see if people can translate.

E nwere owa di iche iche n'uwa. Owa nke anyi bu owa nke ato n'omenakpakpando anyi. A kporo ya Owaala. Owaala na-atughari adikijelekere ma nwere otu kpakpam nke bu Onwa. Ikaaru Owaala jidere Onwa n'ogbuzo o na-agba. Onwa enweghi igweikuku. Nkea kpatara, madu enweghi ike ibi n'Onwa. Owaala nwere igweikuku. Ekenke* ise di n'igweikuku Owaala. Nke mbu bu mkpughe (igweikuku mkpughe). Nkea na-erute mbarauwa. Ekenke nke abo bu oku (igweikuku oku) maka na o na-adi oku. Ekenke nke ato bu ekeke (igweikuku ekeke). A kporo ya ekeke maka na oku no n'ime igweikuku oku na-eme ka aki ekeke baa n'ekenke nkea. Ekenke nke ano bu mbadamba (igweikuku mbadamba). Urupuru na [ozone] no n'ekenke a. Na ngwucha, ekenke nke ise bu ndu (igweikuku ndu). O bu ekenke ebe anyi bi. Ihe dika eruku igweikuku niile no n'ekenke a. O bidoro n'elu osimiri laa elu [mile] asaa. O bughi naani Onwa na-agba ogbuzo. Owaala na-agbakwa Anwu ogbuzo.

I'll stop there.
*Note: 'Ekenke' is a temporary measure, because I believe there should already be an existing equivalent.

Not bad. Easily understandable and translatable.

odensibiri:
Good thing I checked back here because your etymology for 'atom' is surprising, because in the nsibiri dictionary I made with some terms I came up with which are not definitive I also used 'aku' or palm kernel as a root for the word.

See. I know I cannot be the only one with my line of thought (sometimes I feel like I am though). Excellent work you did on that dictionary. I have a copy of it.

odensibiri:
One of the reasons I started the project (Nsibiri) was because of clarification needed in times like this.

I cannot speak for others, but for me, your time and dedication on that project is much appreciated. I've actually been working on an idea to help push your Nsibiri project along. It's currently in the planning phase, but I intend/hope to begin implementing it in 2017.

AjaanaOka:
Not bad. Easily understandable and translatable.

It flows, doesn't it? I believe it does. Strangely enough, it flows so well that I almost don't feel any sort of achievement from it, as if to say this is nothing new. I guess that speaks volumes. We're almost done with basic space and astronomy.

Another test...

Ihedi niile di n'uwa na-adi n'agba n'agba. Agba ihedi ano di. A na-akpo ha onuno ihedi. Nke mbu bu akpo. Akpo bu ihedi kporo akpo ma o bu kpokuo. Ihe dika osisi na nkuma so n'agba a. Agba ihedi nke abo bu eru. Eru bu ihe niile na-erughari erughari n'uwa dika mmiri ma o bu obara. Agba nke ato bu eruku. Ikuku na ahu (nke inyu ahu) so n'agba a. Na ngwucha, agba nke ano bu eruke. Eruke bu eruku nke ibaaki ete ya na-agaghari nke efu. Eruke na eruku bu otu. Kama, eruke na-akpatu agwa di iche maka ibaaki ete efu ya. Nkea kpatara, ndi amumihe asi na eruke bu agba ihedi nke ya iche.

ChinenyeN:
Another test...

Ihedi niile di n'uwa na-adi n'agba n'agba. Agba ihedi ano di. A na-akpo ha onuno ihedi. Nke mbu bu akpo. Akpo bu ihedi kporo akpo ma o bu kpokuo. Ihe dika osisi na nkuma so n'agba a. Agba ihedi nke abo bu eru. Eru bu ihe niile na-erughari erughari n'uwa dika mmiri ma o bu obara. Agba nke ato bu eruku. Ikuku na ahu (nke inyu ahu) so n'agba a. Na ngwucha, agba nke ano bu eruke. Eruke bu eruku nke ibaaki ete ya na-agaghari nke efu. Eruke na eruku bu otu. Kama, eruke na-akpatu agwa di iche maka ibaaki ete efu ya. Nkea kpatara, ndi amumihe asi na eruke bu agba ihedi nke ya iche.

I didn't even need to consult our 'glossary' while reading this. Everything felt very natural. Happy about this.

ChinenyeN:
See, Odensibiri, if you had shown up earlier, we might not have even had to bother developing names for the elements. Interestingly enough, some of our coined words are strikingly similar. Where I have Ugbam for flourine, you have Ugbasi. We both used indigenous words for coal/charcoal when coining the respective terms for carbon. You certainly put some thought into the names for those elements.

AjaanaOka, certainly I am in agreement that a new term need not be developed for each and every thing. For instance, we already have equivalent expressions for magnet, magnetism, magnetize, magnetic, etc., and we developed them simply by taking advantage of the verb-based nature of the language. This minimizes the number of actual new words we have to coin. Or at least, that's how it seems to us.

Gas - eruku (from -ru [eru] -ku [same ku from ikuku])
Plasma - eruke (from -ru [eru] - ke [spark for the ionization])

Atmosphere - igweikuku [sky + air]
Layer[s] - (possibly consider something from fold)
Exosphere - igweikuku-mkpughe
Thermosphere - igweikuku-oku
Ionosphere - igweikuku-ekeke
Mesosphere - igweikuku-oyi
Stratosphere - igweikuku-mbadamba
Troposphere - igweikuku-ndu

Yes, the fact that we're coining similar words is a testament to the fact that this was the method of coining new words in the past. I believe if more people are aware of this method then it would probably start somewhat of a revolution for Igbo.

ChinenyeN:
See. I know I cannot be the only one with my line of thought (sometimes I feel like I am though). Excellent work you did on that dictionary. I have a copy of it.


I cannot speak for others, but for me, your time and dedication on that project is much appreciated. I've actually been working on an idea to help push your Nsibiri project along. It's currently in the planning phase, but I intend/hope to begin implementing it in 2017.

Thanks for the support. I've been going a bit more slowly recently, but I was going to post some of the etymology of the dictionary in a page I made here, I'll do that later on. I'll also add some of the coinages made here.

ChinenyeN:
Atmosphere - igweikuku [sky + air]
Layer[s] - (possibly consider something from fold)
Exosphere - igweikuku-mkpughe
Thermosphere - igweikuku-oku
Ionosphere - igweikuku-ekeke
Mesosphere - igweikuku-oyi
Stratosphere - igweikuku-mbadamba
Troposphere - igweikuku-ndu

I took your reasoning for atmosphere and shortened it to èkwù, from kwù 'breathe' in a similar way élú was made, with the sense of the atmosphere being something that provides breath and also something that is created through the 'breath' of other substances (trees, rock, volcanoes, pollution). Adding that to your terms would be troposphere - èkwùńdụ̀ for example which could be understood as 'life breather'.

AjaanaOka:
I didn't even need to consult our 'glossary' while reading this. Everything felt very natural. Happy about this.

Glad to see you feel this way. I'm starting to feel as though my efforts make a difference. Honestly, I initially believed (and mostly still believe) that Igbo people just don't have the mentality for this. But ultimately, that belief is inconsequential. The only real action that will change things will be amendments to schooling curriculum, and to do that, the terminology has to be there. I guess we are just the preliminary wave.

odensibiri:
I took your reasoning for atmosphere and shortened it to èkwù, from kwù 'breathe' in a similar way élú was made, with the sense of the atmosphere being something that provides breath and also something that is created through the 'breath' of other substances (trees, rock, volcanoes, pollution). Adding that to your terms would be troposphere - èkwùńdụ̀ for example which could be understood as 'life breather'.

Ekwu is certainly less bulky than igweikuku, and I can't immediately think of any already existing usages for this particular ekwu (word and tone structure) as a standalone noun in general Igbo. If anyone else expresses interest, we can switch it in for igweikuku. I am for it.

exosphere - ekwumkpughe
thermosphere - ekwuoku
ionosphere - ekwuekeke
mesospere - ekwuoyi
stratosphere - ekwumbadamba
troposphere - ekwundu

@Topic: It should go without saying, but remember to feel free to adapt anything you see here to you respective lects.

More on Basic Astronomy

Temperature - ekpomoku
Astronomical Unit (measure of cosmic distance) - atu mbarauwa
Aurora -
Crater -

I believe this ought to do it for an initial, basic/passing/amateur discussion on space and and astronomy. That is, unless others have more to add.

Alright.

Aurora - Igweomumu (sky + shining/brightness)
Crater - Ize (-ze :: collapse)

A final test:

Onwa - Naani Kpakpam nke Owaala

Onwa bu kpakpam na-ezilata ihe si n'Anwu. O ya mere o ji na-acha n'anyaasi. O naghi enye oku nke ya. I lee anya n'ihu Onwa, i ga-ahu ize, maka na kpom ekili kporo Onwa. Ize na-adi n'udi n'udi buru ibu di iche iche. Ndi amumihe na-eche na ekili ma o bu ihe buru ibu kuru Owaala na gboo. Uzuzu foro afo na mberede ahu abia aghoo Onwa anyi. Ikaaru Owaala ejidere Onwa n'ogbuzo o na-agba. A gaghi ahu igweomumu n'Onwa maka na Onwa nweghi ekwu nkea ya. Kama o nwere odudigwe nke ya maka na ime ime ya bu nikem mana odudigwe ya adighi ike.

Hmm... I wonder how that feels for everyone. Aside from this, I would say that I am done with basic/amateur space and astronomy terms.

Who has another objective? That is, if no one has anything else to add?

I'm bored. Any suggestions as to what to tackle next to coin new terminology?

Who wants to coin new terminology? Pick a topic, any topic. Let's indulge ourselves.

ChinenyeN:
Who wants to coin new terminology? Pick a topic, any topic. Let's indulge ourselves.

Nice one. I was doing a google search and stumbled on this. Count me in if it is still in progress.

And an Igbo language blog or website where articles will be in a good first step.

scholti:
And an Igbo language blog or website where articles will be in a good first step.

agreed

Dear @ChinenyeN, I have been coining Igbo words. Please WhatsApp me for better communication via: 08062083830. Or simply locate my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/emmanzenwaGOC?mibextid=ZbWKwL

I have strategies to share with you. We must develop 9ur language!

N'ezie, o di m obi mma ihu na otutu n'ime anyi na-agba mbo ikwalite asusu na omenaala anyi. Biko, oge ozo unu na-eme ihe di otu a, kpoturunu m n'akara WhatsApp m bu 09035434937 maobu na nke Facebook m bu 'Ohadomere Ekenedilichukwu'. Daalunu.

ChinenyeN:
Who wants to coin new terminology? Pick a topic, any topic. Let's indulge ourselves.

Chinenye what are you up to these days? I have created an Instagram account out of your chemical elements. See it here:
https://instagram.com/igbochemistry

I hope that's okay.

dutch84:
Chinenye what are you up to these days? I have created an Instagram account out of your chemical elements. See it here:
https://instagram.com/igbochemistry

I hope that's okay.

That is perfectly fine. It is, after all, the entire reason I undertook this endeavor. The work done in this thread makes no difference if not adopted and adapted by the community at large. So feel free.

ChinenyeN:
See, Odensibiri, if you had shown up earlier, we might not have even had to bother developing names for the elements. Interestingly enough, some of our coined words are strikingly similar. Where I have Ugbam for flourine, you have Ugbasi. We both used indigenous words for coal/charcoal when coining the respective terms for carbon. You certainly put some thought into the names for those elements.

AjaanaOka, certainly I am in agreement that a new term need not be developed for each and every thing. For instance, we already have equivalent expressions for magnet, magnetism, magnetize, magnetic, etc., and we developed them simply by taking advantage of the verb-based nature of the language. This minimizes the number of actual new words we have to coin. Or at least, that's how it seems to us.

Gas - eruku (from -ru [eru] -ku [same ku from ikuku])
Plasma - eruke (from -ru [eru] - ke [spark for the ionization])

Atmosphere - igweikuku [sky + air]
Layer[s] - (possibly consider something from fold)
Exosphere - igweikuku-mkpughe
Thermosphere - igweikuku-oku
Ionosphere - igweikuku-ekeke
Mesosphere - igweikuku-oyi
Stratosphere - igweikuku-mbadamba
Troposphere - igweikuku-ndu

Don't you think that's way too long? I imagine the vast majority of people would rather just say stratosphere, a 3-syllable, 2 morpheme word, rather than "igweikuku-mbadamba", a 10-syllable monstrosity with at least 6 morphemes.

Personally, I very much cherish brevity. You have to keep in mind that most Igbos are bilingual in English to some extent, and almost all educated Igbos to large extent. The temptation to just borrow English words which are often simultaneously more concise as well as precise, is overwhelming. It is a competition for oral space which Igbo is unfortunately losing when it comes to technical vocabulary.

Look at Asian languages for instance, a significant amount of words that are used and adapted today in languages like Korean, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesian, Hindi, Malay, etc are ripped straight from English, with just a mild phonetic change to match the speech patterns of the speaker. For instance in Japanese, Christmas=クリスマス(kurisumasu), similar to how in izugbe government=gọọmentị.

The one major language that stands in contrast this strong global trend of bending to English, is Chinese! There are many cultural, political and orthographic reasons why china is resistant to loaning words directly from English, but one factor that is undeniable is that Chinese morphemes are all typically monosyllabic and compound very simply, allowing you to express foreign concepts very concisely and predictably.

For the -sphere examples that you gave, it seems to me that the obvious solution is to just coin a new term for sphere, which would be immensely useful in abbreviating dozens of potential words, can be compounded like a native word and can give rise to concise ways to say things like "sphere of influence" "political sphere" and "intellectual sphere" in Igbo.

This puritanism in wanting all words to be derived from existing popular words has been tried many places and it often leads to a situation where people just use English (which most Igbo people already do, mind you) to express the idea. This can be seen even in Chinese and french, both are countries in which their governments discourage English words for official use.


I, like you, am really interested in the progression of Igbo but I believe for Igbo to modernize and to be able to express ourselves for any technical or niche concept we will need to coin dozens if not hundreds of new terms, as well as standardize and shorten some words and concepts in contemporary Igbo.

This is nothing unusual as many languages have gone through this process. Even tiny countries like Iceland which is less populous that Ikwerre keep their languages up to date. There are no million dollar contracts being written in Igbo, no binding constitution or legal documents, no LLM thinks in Igbo, even Igbo translation software is classified as "low information"(I emailed Meta about this). This is all very tragic, to rectify this we would need standardisation and institutional power behind it. I think puritanism or "my dialect better pass" are obstacles that need to be dismantled and overcome.

I've been reading some your write-ups ever since I started googling this topic like 2 years ago. I finally decided to comment, I think you should give this a read if you haven't yet, it's by a PhD at the national institute of Nigeria languages, Aba about Igbo technical terms.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339311529_Translating_Technical_Texts_The_Igbo_Language_Example

I also read this your post from 10 years ago in response to scholti . I agree with it to some extent, I think lexical expansion is more important than grammatical change for now, but we have to consider many things if we want the words to stick.

https://www.nairaland.com/2497042/brave-new-world-overhauling-igbo#36971804

Zuku:
Don't you think that's way too long? I imagine the vast majority of people would rather just say stratosphere, a 3-syllable, 2 morpheme word, rather than "igweikuku-mbadamba", a 10-syllable monstrosity with at least 6 morphemes.

Personally, I very much cherish brevity. You have to keep in mind that most Igbos are bilingual in English to some extent, and almost all educated Igbos to large extent. The temptation to just borrow English words which are often simultaneously more concise as well as precise, is overwhelming. It is a competition for oral space which Igbo is unfortunately losing when it comes to technical vocabulary.

Look at Asian languages for instance, a significant amount of words that are used and adapted today in languages like Korean, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesian, Hindi, Malay, etc are ripped straight from English, with just a mild phonetic change to match the speech patterns of the speaker. For instance in Japanese, Christmas=クリスマス(kurisumasu), similar to how in izugbe government=gọọmentị.

The one major language that stands in contrast this strong global trend of bending to English, is Chinese! There are many cultural, political and orthographic reasons why china is resistant to loaning words directly from English, but one factor that is undeniable is that Chinese morphemes are all typically monosyllabic and compound very simply, allowing you to express foreign concepts very concisely and predictably.

For the -sphere examples that you gave, it seems to me that the obvious solution is to just coin a new term for sphere, which would be immensely useful in abbreviating dozens of potential words, can be compounded like a native word and can give rise to concise ways to say things like "sphere of influence" "political sphere" and "intellectual sphere" in Igbo.

This puritanism in wanting all words to be derived from existing popular words has been tried many places and it often leads to a situation where people just use English (which most Igbo people already do, mind you) to express the idea. This can be seen even in Chinese and french, both are countries in which their governments discourage English words for official use.


I, like you, am really interested in the progression of Igbo but I believe for Igbo to modernize and to be able to express ourselves for any technical or niche concept we will need to coin dozens if not hundreds of new terms, as well as standardize and shorten some words and concepts in contemporary Igbo.

This is nothing unusual as many languages have gone through this process. Even tiny countries like Iceland which is less populous that Ikwerre keep their languages up to date. There are no million dollar contracts being written in Igbo, no binding constitution or legal documents, no LLM thinks in Igbo, even Igbo translation software is classified as "low information"(I emailed Meta about this). This is all very tragic, to rectify this we would need standardisation and institutional power behind it. I think puritanism or "my dialect better pass" are obstacles that need to be dismantled and overcome.

I've been reading some your write-ups ever since I started googling this topic like 2 years ago. I finally decided to comment, I think you should give this a read if you haven't yet, it's by a PhD at the national institute of Nigeria languages, Aba about Igbo technical terms.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339311529_Translating_Technical_Texts_The_Igbo_Language_Example

I also read this your post from 10 years ago in response to scholti . I agree with it to some extent, I think lexical expansion is more important than grammatical change for now, but we have to consider many things if we want the words to stick.

https://www.nairaland.com/2497042/brave-new-world-overhauling-igbo#36971804

I think enough time has passed, and I can be a bit more forthcoming now. The methods you have seen me employ here on Nairaland to coin new terminology are not reflective of my actual personal methodology. Even 10 years ago, I was actually catering my thought processes to the audience (the NL Igbo community). Perhaps at the time I did not believe them ready to really hear the full unorthodoxy of my thoughts (unorthodox at the time).

The truth is, I used Nairaland more so as a teaching ground—a primer if you will. It is to nudge the needle for the next person in the future to build on top of. All the while (this past decade) I have been developing (and even perfecting) an entire framework for effectively coining new terminology. I have coined so much, and like you, I believe in brevity. I’ve found multiple ways to extract brevity from the linguistic framework that already exists.

That said, I have shared some of my thoughts across various posts here on NL. Perhaps enough to give someone a bit of an inkling into how I’ve actually been approaching language development. The personal terms I coined for atmosphere, etc at the time are markedly different, shorter and more semantically dense.

I have a number of different language-related projects. One of which includes creating a programming language in Ngwa as a way to build technical vocabulary and working on an LLM project as well (it helps that I work in this field as well). Between work and life, however, I don’t have time to make significant progress week after week, so it’s more of a slow, methodical exercise. But I intend on publishing a number of works within the next 5 - 10 years hopefully. Call it the summation of the past 20 years of my recreational research and study.