₦airaland Forum

PhysicsQED:
I don't think they were "influenced" at all, because the way I see it, diversification/differentiation of languages was the reason for the split of Bantu from non-Bantu and the Bantu languages are just a more recent unique subgroup of "Niger Congo" that attained a very large size/population of speakers.

Looking at the specific languages you mentioned (Yoruba, Edo, and Igbo), when either read or pronounced, they seem very different from (many) Bantu languages, and this difference (which is apparent not just for Yoruba, Edo, and Igbo, but for other West African languages) is probably why there was some initial resistance on the part of professional linguists to claiming that there was some sort of deep relationship between West African languages and Bantu languages, before they finally joined them. I believe there is a relationship, as attested to by the shared roots of several words, but this relationship doesn't mean that words shared between Bantu languages and non-Bantu West African languages are due to influence of one upon the other, but just that, sharing a recent origin in the same place, they diverged from a common root. However, some other language groups came from the same relatively recent common root as well.

A good example is the word you brought up in your original post, the word "omo/umu" meaning "people" or "children". Far from being a Bantu or Proto Bantu remnant/aspect of Niger-Congo languages that was derived in non-Bantu West African languages from "muntu" or variations on "muntu", I would actually see it as a remnant of an even older original language from which Niger Congo languages and Afroasiatic languages emerged. Look at the word and compare it with Hebrew and Arabic (Afroasiatic languages):


Yoruba:

omo - child (omo is also child for Edo and umu is child for Igbo)

Edo:

omwan - person

emwan - people

Igbo:

umunna - children/descendants (umu) of the same father (nna)

Arabic:

ummah - commmunity or nation

Hebrew:

ummah - nation




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ummah


There are other examples, of course. Another one: iya (Yoruba) - mother, nwanyi (Igbo) - woman/female, iye (Edo) - mother, eym (Hebrew) - mother

And there are others, though it would take quite a while to dig them all up.


There is a very fierce (kind of) debate I've come across that is still ongoing where some anthropologists and linguists are trying desperately to "separate" Afroasiatic from other African language groups and group Proto-Afroasiatic with proto-Indo-European or just consider Afroasiatic an isolated language family separate from other African language groups - and part of this debate revolves around (not always explicitly, but it's a relevant factor) whether one specific group, the Egyptians, are to be seen as some unique East African group with Western Asiatic influence or as some kind of "racially" Middle Eastern/Semitic/Western Asiatic group with East African influence - an argument which I don't think that those trying to change/distort the existing classification will win in the end. You can't just have Yorubas, Edos, and Igbos, totally and undoubtedly black African groups, sharing some roots for very fundamental words (not obtainable through trade) with some Semitic languages without Proto-Afroasiatic sharing the same ultimate origin with Proto-Niger-Congo. The weird thing about the debate is that it is rarely acknowledged that human languages are not discrete, but form a kind of continuum with languages in between different extremes or endpoints with respect to different aspects/features and words, so classifying a language as being closer to one group than another does not really cordon off that group into a "separate" branch of humanity like some people involved in that debate are making it seem. At the end of the day, every group is just a subgroup of an older original group until you go back to the very start of humanity.

TonySpike:
By Bisi Olawunmi

If you are observant enough, you will notice him in markets - an ageing, cosmopolitan gentleman haggling with the market woman pricing pepper, fish, okro and vegetable oil. His age, generally 50 and above. At other times, you see him in the high brow areas of major cities doing his shopping at the mall. If he is no longer in paid employment, he spends much of his time at the Club house. There is a club patronised by such elderly live-alone men in old Bodija in Ibadan. He lives a relatively quiet life at home – no chattering or running around of children. Except, perhaps, for the occasional female visitor, that is for those still with libido, the house environment has an unnerving serenity. The above scenario typifies the changing times for the family set-up, especially for fathers in middle and upper class families in Nigeria. The ageing Nigerian husband and father is facing a silent revolt – a gang-up against him by wives and children who have chosen to remain abroad. The irony of it all is that it is the successful husbands and fathers who are mostly in this bind. Men took different routes to this common destination of loneliness in their twilight years. Many had travelled abroad, often to Europe, the US and Canada in their youth in search of the golden fleece, got married either to fellow Nigerians or ladies in their countries’ of residence, acquire higher education, raise families and look forward to a life of bliss thereafter. While some returned home immediately after their education, others stayed back to also get their children educated before returning home. Some went abroad as employees of government agencies or international organisations with their families or raised families at their duty posts and either returned after their tenure or stayed back. Some men returned while the wives stayed back – different strokes. We have a large number of stay-back wives in Maryland, New York and Atlanta, all in the US, among others. There is a third category of those who went abroad under the US Visa lottery. In all, going abroad were happy moments, then, and in some cases, all the children of many couples ended up going abroad. Many fathers of such children are no longer smiling. Yet, the rush to America and Europe continues.

With Nigeria’s worsening economic problems, those who never came back stayed put while the problems forced the children of many returnees back to the countries where many are citizens. Meanwhile, the returnee parents are getting older as well as those who never went abroad but had children there. The returnees and the locals are now in the same boat. In their active, younger days, many parents travelled abroad on vacations to see their children. Now retired or approaching retirement age, many parents are either financially or physically not able to make the journeys again, while some refused to visit to protest the children’s non reciprocation.

Then, the music changed, bringing about current woes of many men, in spite of some putting a bright face to it. This time, wives started travelling abroad, ostensibly to help take care of their grand children abroad. That was when husbands’ problems began. You would think there was a National Conference for Diaspora-bound Grandmothers at which a road map was distributed. This is because experiences of many marooned husbands are similar: initially when the first grandchild is born, the wife travels abroad and spends about three months. She returns home, spends about nine months to a year and when the second grandchild is born, she either spends six months or stays back permanently. For those who come back after the second trip, the third is for a permanent stay.

Welcome to the phenomenon of the husband ‘bachelor’. What I have found amazing about this category of men living alone, following their wives’ relocation abroad, is that many are not contemplating taking a second wife. Even those in their early 50s who are still randy avoid serious relationships while those who contract temporary marriages soon abandon the venture. I was to learn that the decision against taking a second wife, for many, is generally financially based, given the rising cost of education. “How do you expect me to start training a child from kindergarten at this age”, noted a 60-year-old Ibadan resident whose wife and children are in the US. He says he draws inspiration from more elderly people who are in their 70s and in similar situation. He, however, concedes that he feels the absence of his family most during festive seasons when the loneliness hits him. Some not so solvent again take consolation in the dollars and pound sterling from their Diasporan children. Even then, not all are so lucky. It’s a matter of different strokes. There are those who take in house helps, often with unpleasant experiences. An oil company retiree with a big house in upscale Lekki area of Lagos said house helps can be so unappreciative of your assistance and can walk out on you anytime. He narrated an episode where the driver threw the car key at him in the middle of nowhere, knowing that he had not driven for a long time. A common concern among elderly husbands living alone is the health hazard, the dread of falling ill in the middle of the night with no one to assist. There was the story of a man in the Alagbole area of Ogun State who had died three days before the door was forced open when he did not attend a Tuesday church meeting. Many ‘single’ husbands say their wives are always persuading them to come over, that the wives wonder why the husbands choose to stay in the hell hole called Nigeria. Although a few claim they enjoy cooking, many of the live-alone husbands say they don’t find it funny going to the market. Some husbands follow their wives abroad. According to a FESTAC Town, Lagos resident,” When the second invitation came for my wife to come to London, I told my son he has to send tickets for two, that I can’t stay back again”. After six months, they returned home, but when the wife was to go for the third and extended stay, he declined following. “I find it very boring”, he lamented. There are some husbands who refused to allow their wives travel abroad to help take care of their grandchildren. One such husband insists: Why should they take my wife away, I raised them, they too must raise their own children.

The problem of absentee wives and lonely husbands is part of an overall trend of separation in the family. Economic factor, especially employment, has also contributed to the dispersal of the family, even at local level where, for example, a husband works in Lagos and the wife in Abuja, with dire consequences for family cohesion. Prof. Adelani Ogunrinde, a former Vice-Chancellor, National University of Lesotho, while delivering the Second Commencement Lecture of Bowen University, Iwo on October 16, 2008, highlighted, almost in lamentation, this phenomenon of the dispersed family using his family as an example: He lives in Lesotho, the wife in Abuja and the children in North America. He died about two years later, with the family still dispersed.


http://www.punchng.com/opinion/as-wives-relocate-abroad-husbands-turn-bachelors/

Samantha124:
I don't know why you waste your time writing all these paragraphs because you and I are saying the same thing.

Apart from the Khoisan, all SA tribes have Bantu ancestry from their Bantu ancestors migrating from Central Africa to down South.

When they first came to SA, there weren't your Zulus, Xhosas, or Pedis... No, they were just one Bantu people with different clans... Then there came a time where those clans went their separate ways and ended up forming your Zulus, Xhosas, and etc.

Just like how the Pedis and the Tswanas are also the descendants of the Sothos.

When the Bantus first came to SA, they intermarried with the Khoisan, but as more Bantu groups kept coming to SA, they started outnumbering the Khoisan people and as a result, they then continued marrying each others as Bantus, hence the Bantu genetics within a typical South African surpasses that of the Khoisan... You may find that the person only has 20 or 30 percentage of the Khoisan genes, while the rest its only Bantu genetics... Only those that are living amongst the Khoisan in the Northern Cape may have high Khoisan genetics.

Those SA indians that you mentioned may still look like the same indians like those of India, but their cultural practices are not exactly the same as those of indians in India... Even the attires and cultural practices of the northern Indians in India are different from those of southern Indians in India... Which basically means that as they separated, their ways of life and cultures evolved... And southern Indians are darker than northern Indians.

I never said that Zulus, Xhosas, Pedis, and other black South African tribes migrated from Central Africa to South Africa... I said we are from Central West Africa because our ancestors the Bantu people migrated from Central West Africa to South Africa, but along the line, they evolved into the tribes that we are today.

We wouldn't be who we are today if they didn't migrate from Central West Africa to South Africa.

The main fact that you can't tell me where the Zulus and the Xhosas originate without talking about the Bantu people should tell you that WE ARE ALSO THE BANTU PEOPLE!!!

I don't know why you keep adding other different ethnic groups into our discussion when the main discussion here is about the Bantus and the black SA tribes... What does Trevor Noah, the indians, and the coloured have to do with Bantu people and black SA tribes' history?

The main fact that you can't tell me the origin of the Zulus and Xhosas without bringing up the Bantus should tell you that we are the descendants of the Bantus, which also makes us the Bantus because only a small percentage of Khoisan can be found within our genes.. Maybe those living in the Northern Cape can be found with the high percentage of the Khoisan genes because they live amongst them, but as for the rest of the black South Africans, the Bantu genes dominate.

Lionessza6:
Zim Ndebeles broke away from Zulus and the Lozis in Zambia broke away from the Basotho. They are however diluted now both linguistically and genetically, but they are definitely family.

IronGalaxy:
You are again fooling yourself, Nigeria is a massively underdeveloped country no offence, sentiments and patriotism aside! There's no way Benin City is on the level of Windhoek, absolutely no way! Windhoek is similar to SA cities and it's also one of Africa's cleanest cities, I really doubt you've been there, Namibia alone has the best road infrastructure in Africa! Your flagship city, Lagos, is rated as the second worst city to live in the world, I don't know where you get this bravado.. Lol, also saying only SA, Egypt, Algeria, Morrocco, etc, can stand "shoulder-high" with Nigeria! is laughable! Nigeria is nowhere near the level of those countries.

Mathantics:
Nigeria matter never worse reach like this, hmm


https://drcnewstoday.com/failed-state-drc-dead-bodies-transported-to-morgue-on-motorcycle/

obembet:
Nigerian Man, Eyo Okon Edet as shared how he courted his fiancée for 5 years and by the grace of God I have never touched her hands"

Mr. Okon share this on his Facebook page,

I want you guys to celebrate with me today is TM in Akwa Ibom state. I have courted my fiancee for five (5) years now and God has been faithful with us by keeping us holy and sanctified through thee blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! But the grace if God I have never touched her hands and He has kept my heart intact from any lustful desires while we were courting. I have experience the power of God that's set a man free. What God can not do, does not exist,He alone can set a man free from power of sin

Source: https://twitter.com/yabaleftonline/status/1656166774256140289?t=3OeaED4morNjVkVJ-6zeEg&s=19[/quote]Something as simple as harmless touching to drive home a point during a convo and/or holding hands with your fiancee is now a crime?

These purely conservative and overreligious folks are on another level. Lol.

helinues:
Wait, that you are living in Europe country like Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania don't even make your lifestyle better than some people in Nigeria self cos poverty is in those countries.

Now , speaking of you leaving in abroad, go through all your comments with this moniker today, read them as a neutral observer and judge if you sound like someone who live ordinary Togo not to talk of getting to airport.

I believe life in Europe is easy and full of joy and happiness, all what you have been displaying with this moniker are just opposite of life in the Europe.

NL's don't think I am sounding harsh oo, I would also urge you to go through this guy's comments and see how he has been trolling , accusing and abusing people all over.

If you are indeed in Europe, you are a disgrace to Nigerians in Europe

helinues:
Chinedu, you see when success becomes a tradition, I swear you won't have any urge of bragging of anything but instead be grateful..

In reality, empty barrel na him dey make noise pass . That you took that picture from high rise building don't even mean you leave there, what if you seized the opportunity to take the photo while doing your job as a cleaner or gardener

peekspot:
https://punchng.com/child-pornography-efcc-seeks-extradition-of-brothers-other-to-us/

Previous thread https://www.nairaland.com/7677218/3-nigerian-men-extradicted-us

Guyman01:
EFCC don assist these ones Japa to American prison.
Yahoo yahoo is blood money, when ordinary local 419 I met inside taxi deceived me that he needed money to buy Mercury that we will use to wash money hidden and covered with a chemical by his expatriate boss I gave them all my savings and even went on borrowing spree before my eyes opened to the scheme.

The worst part was the humiliation from people I borrowed money from some with promises of paying huge interest and I defaulted, they were insulting the hell out of me and anyone without strong mind will just go and commit suicide like this kid here

LordErrk:
How should I put it? Male and female Doctors have very different timelines. You literally have to really struggle to make it work...I'm talking about Doctors dating each other o
Now I've been with a few, and this is what I personally think. It may be totally different for other people

Jennyclay:
This short failed actor abi comedian should shut up Biko!! He talks too much.

He even failed In marriage sef . Capital failure!!

What’s his business If we don’t wear bra anymore. Why is he always looking at lady’s breast . Honestly men are pervert oo

Bunch of perverts!!!

LordErrk:
Yeah I think your right. It's just I prefer to be very sure I really like the person before putting it out. And being surrounded by fellow Doctors 24/7 isn't helping. Female Doctors can be unstable

Samantha124:
Well, thank you..

lhordspy:
I knew something was up when Elumelu started with 'Otedola is my friend' story after Otedola checkmated him.

I knew it was guilty conscience speaking. In a bid to hide his shame, he had to resort to unnecessary fancy-sweet stories.

Thank God Otedola showed him how the game is played. Bought large chunk of the transcorp stake, Unsettle the market, make Elumelu beg for his 'life' , Sold it off in 2weeks, cashed out almost 21Billion naira with little stress.
Abracadabra. Elemulu never saw it coming.

Otedola wasnt after the money nor the power play in transcorp. He just wanted to teach Elumelu a little bit of lessson. And the message was passed across. Elumelu will never forget this one for life.

Otedola cashed out 21billion naira in just 2weeks at the expense of Elumelu. The most fascinating thing is Elumelu was so boxed and made powerless that he had no option left in the world than to cry out for mercy.

Otedola got his revenge, and still cashed out.


That is how a boss cook revenge.

chisomkachy:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/597584-exclusive-otedola-speaks-on-bankruptcy-accuses-elumelu-of-backstabbing-him.html

ahnie:
The cheap meal I prepared as dinnerwith just #500
Ingredients
2 sachet tomatoes paste
Ginger n garlic
One knoor seasoning used.
Sachet Benny
Groundnut oil
Crayfish(optional)
My fam is a sucker for crayfish.
Fresh tomatoes
8 cone of raw eggs
Fresh pepper
Fresh tomatoes.

Islie:
https://punchng.com/new-york-city-mayor-to-visit-nigeria-sunday/?amp

GeneralPula:
You can see the blog..

When you see such blog, they’re made in Aba blog to peddle fake news..

It was those Made in Aba blog that peddled the fake news of UK apologizing to Lamba Nanu. It was Ra.co.on that created the fake news thread on nairaland and it was moved to front page, tho it was later deleted!

You can see the news itself, it’s as fake as Lamba Nanu’s promised to Ojukwu never to leave Apga..

Samantha124:
6. My tribe, Sepedi..

Samantha124:
4. Sotho

Samantha124:
1. Xhosa

raskymonojendor:
Do I blame them. IPOB aka UGM aka ESN and whatever name they are called reign supreme in the south east.

An.amb.ra1s.ts.on, over to you.

nlfpmod:
Tolu Ogunlesi writes:

https://twitter.com/toluogunlesi/status/1655596343933509633?t=TgwvgnYMf-MoUuBaLvbuSg&s=08


https://sec.gov.ng/blacklisting-of-six-6-unregulated-online-trading-platforms/

dre11:
Dangote: My Refinery Can Save Nigeria $10bn in FX, Generate Another $10bn in Exports

*Tasks incoming administration on public-private partnership

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/05/08/dangote-my-refinery-can-save-nigeria-10bn-in-fx-generate-another-10bn-in-exports/

Shortyyy:
Honestly, the worst person to date is a quiet person. Slow poison dangerous in action fear them oo. E better make my man be jovial and outspoken. So I'll know when he's happy, when he's angry and when he's sad.

Not these ones that don't talk, won't share emotion and won't express themselves. Never again.

You'll be dating yourself and be thinking you're dating someone.

Zikonna:
I need serious advice. I grew up an only child, raised by a single mum. My dad abandoned us as when I was a kid and few years later he died in an accident. My mum is the most important person in my life and I love and respect her. She is also a very religious woman and raised me so.

I am settled and ready to get married and I have met the woman I am sure is the one for me. My mum has met her once and although she had her reservations she wasn't opposed to it. But yesterday while going through my fiance's whatsapp status(bacause she has her number), she came across the picture below and because of it, she is now opposed to the marriage. According to her, she can't let her only child get married to a girl that wears bum shorts in public. She says "this sort of dressing is from the devil"

I have tried to explain to her that my girl isn't like that and she only wears clothes like that once in a while. My mum is still adamant. She wants me to end our relationship and find a "responsible woman"

I am currently torn between my mum and the woman I have decided to spend the rest of my life with. I am afraid that if I disobey my mother's instructions, it would lead to serious circumstances as she is also my spiritual mother.

I do not know what to do. Look at the picture below. I really don't see anything wrong. I cropped her face to maintain anonymity.