AkinPhysicist:


the emboldened is thrash

YourNemesis:


Nobody is calling Igalas Yoruba, and Yorubas are clearly not claiming them in anyway, but the Language surely does sound Yoruba. I even learnt that in the core North, they are regarded as one and the same with Yoruba people.
What is your tribe sef.

pazienza:


Lol. So the "Slimy Afonja" decided once again to show up with this his alternative handle when it looked like he was being over Numbered.

Lol!

bigfrancis21:


Exactly, you are doing the same thing I mentioned earlier by inciting unnecessary troubles here. Sound like something is NOT the same as TO BE something. That Igala sounds like Yoruba does NOT mean it IS Yoruba. Of course, it is common knowledge that Igalas do not want to be called Yorubas and nobody is saying nor implying that here. It is often Yorubas that I see trying to claim Igalas. Therefore sounding like Yoruba does not mean it is Yoruba. Sometimes I wonder the level of English apprehension of many of our so-called graduates.

Olu317:
Yoruba as a nation did not at anytime lay claim over Igala but Okuns and the likes. Despite Igala/ Ebira sharing certain percentage in Yoruba Language, doesn't make them Yorubas. After all certain terms used among Yorubas are of Egypt's origin. Does this make Yorubas as Egyptians? Absolutely No!. Kindly opine your view in regards to all the contending intellectual juxtapose of contact as it concern the three groups

YonkijiSappo:

Olu317:
Does this startled you? Perhaps you aren't conversant with Yoruba history. Do you even know Yoruba is the most researched ethnicity in the world? Yoruba ethnicity may not know much about the outside western world's curiosity and her researches being carried on them because of nonchalant approach from us. You doubt? Read Olumide Lucas' book on “The religion of the Yoruba"(1948). Honestly, being more widely read on a subject matter helps so much, that it won't be a shock once you or I find something quite revealing. One of the major detriment to many of us is as a result of non fixation on the area of specialisation. Hence, little knowledge is acquired on such subject matter. Thousands and thousands of books have been written on Yoruba history by Caucasians and the other like mind researchers.

9jakool:

Mentioning the Egyptian is irrelevant in this matter. I think that's what he was referring to. This is between Igala and Yoruba. It's well known that the two languages diverged a long time ago. They have the same ancestral stock, but are now different languages.

laudate:


You dey mind dem? I have lived, schooled and worked in Lagos as well as other parts of Nigeria, and I am yet to meet a Yoruba community or person trying to label Igala as Yoruba, or trying to drag the Igala into their fold. They have not claimed even the Itsekiri yet, is it now the Igala they would drag? when you attend Itsekiri social & political gatherings, you will observe mutual respect between both groups, when they relate with each other. Hehehe.... everyone knows those who specialise in dragging other ethnic groups into their clique, in order to populate their proposed republic. It is the IPOB crew.

Shey, you can see the angle from which they started this thread? They began with the issue of language. Soon, they will digress to the issue of culture, and then they will land in the realm of ancestral ties and ethnic identity. It is at that point they will start dictating to the Igala what their ancestral history should be, and how they believe it unfolded through the ages. As if the Igala and other tribes in Kogi, asked them for a tutorial. Anyone with a contrary opinion will be derided by the IPOB crew. They are silly revisionists. They have done it on other threads before. We know their antics! We are watching in 3D.

Noneroone:
you are busy mentioning IPOB carelessly when it's obvious it is yorubas you have issues with. When they come for you now you'll start calling the moderators.

Olu317:
The point is quite consequential because, having closely related or borrowed words from one group and the other doesn't necessarily mean they are from the same family tree. Igala /Ebira / ibos/ Edos (except few elements) etc were not from Yoruba family tree. These people once had contact with Yoruba through a well organised State and towns which in absolute term was as a result of wealth creation. Many of these groups were once used as workers in husbandry work and slaves forms in ancient Yoruba setting. If you so claimed same descendants with Yoruba, then how come Yoruba developed a chain praise family panegyric. Even in the panegyric, each family status is acknowledged. Can you explain reason for this?

9jakool:


Yes, they are not descendants from Yoruba family tree. The languages including Yoruba all had a non-Yoruba proto or common ancestor thousands of years ago. If a language share similar words with another language, it's either a result of borrowing or the language having diverged from an original source or both. This is why Linguists don't just rely on similar words alone to determine relationship. Phonology, sentence structure, and grammatical features can also be used to determine.

When you brought up Egyptian sharing words with Yoruba as an analogy, I dismissed that, not because you are wrong, but because it was the wrong analogy. Yoruba uses tone which is very important to determine meaning, and Egyptian doesn't. So any shared words would be a coincidence and rather irrelevant in meaning. Egyptian also uses gender grammar, meaning that words have feminine and masculine forms depending on the context. This is also foreign to Yoruba. In fact Egyptian and Hausa are more related because they are afroasiatic since they have not only similar archaic cognates, but also certain features such as the gender factor and conjugation.

All the groups you listed exist simultaneously and did not derived from each other. It's clear that they are not from the Yoruba family tree, but a more archaic stock that's older than Yoruba. The panegyric element of Yoruba is a result of the culture that Yoruba developed.

Olu317:
The bottom line I am drawing here isn't about YORUBA as being EGYPTIANS but at one time did lived in that territorial landscape. This is just a reference to buttress my claim that Yoruba had lived with these set of people over 800 years or more for them to actually be able to pick certain percentage of our language. And not thousands of years as some wicked book sellers/ Historians always have claimed which is used emotionally to be attached to Odua personage to sell their books respectively. My reason to posit this is using a country like BÉNIN REPUBLIC which is a country with a trilingual background. Fon,Yoruba are spoken and French inclusive . The three languages as major spoken languages in an interwoven way if you have knowledge of these people. Despite the intricacies of these sub groups, each knows where it belongs,no matter how much of borrowed words from each other's group. Beside, Yoruba language wasn't too long ago developed because so many borrowed words such as Egyptians, Bantus, Semitic (Arab words, ancient Israel words ) exist in Yoruba Language. So, Ibo language as a case study in comparison is older through a research on “Phonetic Clues Hint Language Is Africa-Born”By NICHOLAS WADE, which identify Ibo language as ancient Egyptian language. And this simply mean it is older than Yoruba language with more archaic ancient words that were once spoken in Egypt being present in their language.

laudate:


Guy, save the epistle for your brethren. I do not need your long defensive explanation on the Ika/Ukwuani vs the Igbo/Igboiid ethnic question. There is no need to rehash it here. I followed that thread in detail, so do not digress from the main subject that is under discussion, here.

The issue is how you and your clique like ascribing a particular ethnic identity or ancestry to a group, without their permission. Na wetin?? Why not let the Igala indigenes themselves tell you what their language sounds like or what their ethnic identity is. You are the one to dictate to them that their language sounds Yoruboid, not so?? Wait first, do you speak Yoruba as well as Igala? So why all these postulations about how Igala is Yoruboid? Leave the Igala indigenes to tell you exactly what their own language sounds like.

If one of them comes in here, to say that their language is not Yoruboid, I know you and your clique would go up in arms trying to shove it down their throats, on how Yoruboid it is, or how many Yoruba clusters their language belongs to! Leave Igala indigenes to determine what exactly their language is! Chai!

9jakool:


I don't think we have much in disagreement. I believe Yoruba is very archaic. I just hate the Egyptocentric theories on different West African languages which I think is irrelevant in language comparison. I've seen many of these theory that links Yoruba with Hebrew or Egyptian and I feel strongly against it. This is simply pseudoscience and it's an attempt to diminish the value of a language and culture by attaching or relating its existence to another.

Probz:
laudete, I'm no Biafra agitator and I'm not claiming anyone into the Igbo nation o. If a Yoruba man can partially sabi Igala and admit it sounds like Yoruba, why is it not okay for me to point out that Igala is a Yoruboid language? How does pointing out well-known linguistic affinity mean I'm claiming ndi Igala as even Yoruba, let alone Igbo?

Probz:
laudete, I'm no Biafra agitator and I'm not claiming anyone into the Igbo nation o. If a Yoruba man can partially sabi Igala and admit it sounds like Yoruba, why is it not okay for me to point out that Igala is a Yoruboid language? How does pointing out well-known linguistic affinity mean I'm claiming ndi Igala as even Yoruba, let alone Igbo?

Probz:
How true is it that Ebira and Igbo languages are similar?

OmoIgala:
Well, Igala and Yoruba have their similarities in terms of Language.
In terms of culture, other things too like tribal marks , I think the two were connected before Igbira people came here and settled in the middle, because despite being neighbor to Igbira people we share more with Yoruba than them, that is why I say that.
On the other hand, there are regional variations within Igala culture, like the Ankpa and Olamaboro people have some commonalities with our Idoma neighbors.

Amoto94:
Chairman its called Ebira.

OmoIgala:

Wait a minute, but I know some Ebiras that call themselves Egbura. The Toto and Umaisha people in Nassarawa who work on Igala farms call themselves that.

Amoto94:
Yes you're right about that but those of us in Kogi Central refer to ourselves as Ebira.

OmoIgala:

Ok my fellow statesman, maadahi. Etemeya?

OmoIgala:
Well, Igala and Yoruba have their similarities in terms of Language.
In terms of culture, other things too like tribal marks , I think the two were connected before Igbira people came here and settled in the middle, because despite being neighbor to Igbira people we share more with Yoruba than them, that is why I say that.
On the other hand, there are regional variations within Igala culture, like the Ankpa and Olamaboro people have some commonalities with our Idoma neighbors.

bigfrancis21:


Ya I agree with you except that Igboid diversion would probably be the earliest or first given the complexity of Igbo compared to the more easier Yoruba.

Igbo and Yoruba are definitely related. I also see the usage of 'o' in both languages as pronouns. For example, he/she has come in Igbo would be 'o biala', which would be similar in Yoruba too.

O na-abia - he/she is coming.

Please give us some examples of similar usages in Yoruba starting with the 'o' pronoun.

9jakool:


Glad to see an Igala person on the thread. I think Igala and Yoruba are just long lost siblings that diverged a long time ago and separated by the Niger river. Sometimes when I hear an Igala person speaks, I can pick up a lot of words, even a whole sentence sometimes. Even words I don't understand sound like it could be familiar. The tonality of Igala is pretty much similar to Yoruba. Here are some lit of similar words
English Yoruba Igala

Amen ase-ache

Arrow ofa ofa

Barn (store house) aka aka

Battle ogun ogwu

Beans ewa egwa

Bitterness ikoro rikoko

Black dudu edudu

Blood eje ebie

Bone egungun/egun egwugwu/achiku

Box apoti akpati

Bird eye ewe

Build ko ko

Cake akara akara

Canoe oko-ojuomi oko-eju omi

Clock ago/agogo agogo

Rooster akuko aiko

Come wa wa

Cough iko uko

Court ile-ejo unyi-ajo

Crocodile oni onye

Dance ijo ido

Days ojo ojo

Dead oku ukwu

Divide pi kpe

Dog aja abia

Drug ogun ogwu

Ear eti eti

Eye oju eju

Count ka kaluka

Feather iye iwe

Female obirin onobule

Fire ina una

Fish eja eja

Flesh eran-ara oro-ela

Flute fere ufele

Food ounje ooje

Fowl adiye ajuwe

Freedom ominira ominolami

Go lo lo

Goat ewure ewo

Gong agogo agogo

Grave iboji ofoji

Guinea fowl awo awo

Herbalist onisegun/ashogun achogwu

Hand owo owo

Head ori oji

He-goat obuko obuko

Hide farapamo folakpama/maja

Hoe oko ukoche

You iwo uwe

Hunger ebi ebi

Hunting ode ode

Husband oko oko

I want to eat mofejeun najenwu

Kill pa kpa

Knife obe obe

Lamb aguto aguto

Leg ese ere

Light ina una

Load eru adu

Masquerade eegungun/eegun egwu

Moon oshupa ochu

Mother iya iye

Mouth eenu alu

Musician akorin akeli

Name oruko odu

Next tomorrow otunla otona

Nose imu imo

Ocean okun iteku

Palm tree ope(okpe) ekpe

Palm tree branches imoope imaekpe

Pick ko ko

Pitifully lonely oshosho ochocho

Police olopa anokpa

Prayer adura aduwa

Pull fa fa

I am ok arami ya olami ya

Red pupa ekpikpa

Ridges ebe ebe

Road opopona ona-okpakpa

Rock apata apata

Rope oku ikwu

Season akoko/igba egba

Shade iboji ubojima/olubo

Shadow ojiji ojiji

Shoulder ejika ojika

Ok I didn't realize the similar cultural phenomenon like for dying children.
Yoruba Igala
abiku abikwu
I thought this concept only exist in Yoruba. Yoruba like to think that Ebira is the closest ethnic group to Yoruba, but I think that's due to the proximity with Ebira. The sooner we can widen our head from the generalized view of Northerners as Hausa or Hausa-like groups, the more we can broaden our horizon.

Olu317:
Yoruba are never lost siblings of EBIRA or Igala. Does Igala have knowledge of IJAMA writing ideology? Have you checked the development of Yoruba language from the inter land/rural areas? Have you checked alphabetic arrangement and letters being used in Yoruba land in Samuel Johnson book on “ Yoruba from The earliest time ". There isn't any need of this revision on Yoruba history. I don't know where you grew up and your family lineage but Yoruba noble and kingly families had thousands of people from the north who were used as SLAVES in the ancient times. Most of the mentioned here are all modern Yoruba word that existed when Oyo reigned in the 16th century upward. There isn't any iota of doubt about there was connections but not in siblings manner. Let me inform you and many who shared this untruthful idea that I still have knowledge of a families whose GENEALOGICAL SLAVES SERVANTS STILL EXISTS TILL DATE. They are even FULANI SLAVE SERVANTS. AND ALL SPEAKS YORUBA LANGUAGE. CAN YOU TELL ME THEY ARE YORUBA SIBLING ? Every group in Nigeria have their own story. In my lineage, we had Igala lineage that served my Patrilineal grands parents in the past 100s of years .Period!

9jakool:


No need to get overworked with what I said. Maybe the word "sibling" isn't the right word. I'm just noting obvious similarities. OK?