Igbo language
Enlarge text Shrink text-
Topic
- Niger-Congo languages, 1991:p. 21ff (languages such as Yoruba, Edo, Nupe, Idoma, and Igbo, which have for long been classified as Kwa, are now classified as Benue-Congo)
- Ethnologue:p. 336 (Igbo (var. Ibo)--Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Igboid, Igbo)
- Ruhlen world lang.:pp. 95, 97, 99 (Igbo ... a Kwa language; work by Welmers, Kay Williamson, and others has confirmed Greenberg's suspicion that Kwa and Benue-Congo are not in fact distinct subgroups)
Igbo (English: EE-boh, US also I-gboh; Standard Igbo: Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò [ásʊ̀sʊ̀ ìɡ͡bò] ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, an ethnicity in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. Igbo languages are spoken by a total of 31 million people. The number of Igboid languages depends on how one classifies a language versus a dialect, so there could be around 35 different Igbo languages. The core Igbo cluster, or Igbo proper, is generally thought to be one language but there is limited mutual intelligibility between the different groupings (north, west, south and east). A standard literary language termed 'Igbo izugbe' (meaning "general igbo") was generically developed and later adopted around 1972, with its core foundation based on the Orlu (Isu dialects), Anambra (Awka dialects) and Umuahia (Ohuhu dialects), omitting the nasalization and aspiration of those varieties.
Read more on Wikipedia >