Talk:Igbo language
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[edit] Igbo / Ibo (2)
Ibo is the predominant US term per Merriam-Webster ; i recognized it immediately on Cleanup, remembering it from press accounts of Biafra, but i was suprised to find in Biafra the link to Igbo, a term i'd never before seen. Igbo may be the professional ethnological term (perhaps the best phoneticization of the local term?), but IMO WP convention calls for Ibo to be the article on the ethnic group, with Igbo a redirect to it; explain in article which contexts the two versions pedominate in. (I doubt having one article for the language and another for the ethnic group can be justified without serious expansion of both.)
(Obviously a revision of the text of the current stub Ibo should be under a heading like ==Mythology == in the combined article, whose main text is currently in Igbo. IMO the separation of Biafra, a recent nation state, from Ibo or Igbo, is proper, but links in both directions are needed.) --Jerzy 12:29, 2004 Feb 15 (UTC)
- Use "Igbo" instead:
-
- Ask any Igbo man whether he prefers "Igbo" or "Ibo" - most prefer "Igbo."
- Search Google for "guestbook mugu". Note that the term "ndi igbo" is preferred by these 419 scammers.
- Search Google for "ibo nigeria" and "igbo nigeria". "igbo nigeria" will turn up TWICE as many results.
- Thanks. - Stevey7788
-
- Besides, concerning the term for the language: Ibo was used mostly in the past, but nowadays (since the second half of the twentieth century, in virtually all linguistic literature on Igbo language) Igbo is used, which is indeed phonetically more correct. (Though the /gb/ sound is really somewhere between /b/ and the way English speakers tend to pronounciate /gb/ — technically, it's a labial-velar sound, meaning that you articulate /g/ (velar voiced stop) and /b/ (bilabial voiced stop) simultaneously). There sure should be redirects to guide someone who types 'Ibo'; in fact, there are. I'd keep it this way. — mark ✎ 10:18, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Recent addition
Recently, a notice was added about the number of speakers:
- this figure is disputed and could be much higher
I would like to see a source cited before we include this statement (cf. the Cite sources policy). — mark ✎ 08:12, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Yes, t could be much higher. There are many overseas Igbos and Igbos in other countries. -- — Stevey7788 (talk) 20:04, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Igbo wordlist
I'm not an Igbo speaker or teacher, but here is a wordlist I compiled from several offline and online resources. — Stevey7788 (talk) 06:22, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
| English | Igbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | é | |
| No | mba | |
| Good | nma | |
| Bad | njo | |
| Come | bia | |
| Go | jé | |
| Sit | no odu | |
| Stand | guzoro | |
| Mother | nne | |
| Father | nna | |
| Is/are | bu | |
| Your | gi | |
| And | na | |
| Of | nke | |
| We/us | anyị | |
| Money | ego | |
| Fool | iberibe,"ewu" | |
| Son/daughter | nwa | |
| Name | aha | |
| My name is... | aha mú bú... | |
| People (ethnic group) | ndi | |
| Man | madu | |
| Help me | yelum aka | |
| Food | nri | |
| Sky/heaven | igwe | |
| King/lord | eze | |
| Hand | olu | |
| Hear | anu | |
| Book/paper/school | akwukwo | |
| Land/soil | ala | |
| Water | mmiri | |
| God | Chukwu | |
| Devil | ekwensu | |
| Prayer | ekpere | |
| Pen/pencil | mkpisi |
| English | Igbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | nda | |
| How are you? | kedu | |
| Good morning | ité-la | |
| Good-bye | no-nu | |
| Thank you | imé-la | |
| Please | biko |
| English | Igbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Day | Ubochi | |
| Week | Izu | |
| Month | Onwa | |
| Year | Afo | |
| Yesterday | Unyaahu | |
| Today | Taa | |
| Tomorrow | Echi | |
| Morning | Ututu | |
| Afternoon | Ehihie | |
| Night | Abali |
| English | Igbo | |
|---|---|---|
| One | otú | |
| Two | abuo | |
| Three | ato | |
| Four | ano | |
| Five | isé | |
| Six | isii | |
| Seven | asaa | |
| Eight | asato | |
| Nine | itolu | |
| Ten | iri | |
| Eleven | iri-na-otu | |
| Twelve | iri-na-abuo | |
| Twenty | iri-abuo | |
| Thirty | iti-ato | |
| One hundred | nari | |
| One thousand | puku | |
| One million | nde | |
| One billion | njeri |
| English | Igbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Bird/hen | okuko | |
| Snake | agwo | |
| Squirrel | osa | |
| Dog | nkita | |
| Eagle | ugo | |
| Goat | ewu | |
| Tortoise | mbe or mbekwu | |
| Antelope | ené or ele | |
| Monkey | enwe | |
| Lion | odum | |
| Elephant | eni | |
| Horse | nyi-nya |
[edit] Ibo vs. Igbo
I added the citereq specifically because even among those who write "Igbo" as opposed to "Ibo", the Igbo/Ibo with whom I've interacted overwhelmingly simply don't care about how you spell it. Believe me, it's refreshing to talk to people who would rather discuss "real" issues instead of how you choose to spell the name of their ethnic group. That said, the sentence made a quantitative statement, rather than a qualitative one, specifically, that "most Igbo" prefer "Igbo" over "Ibo". If most do, fine, I won't argue with a noteworthy citation. If it's such a big issue, I'm certain such a citation should be quite easy for those who believe this to be the case, to come up with. I haven't seen it, or I'd have simply added a citation to support it. Kol tov, Tomertalk 08:51, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
- Agree with you that the statement needs a citation if included. I have removed the statement altogether because it is not that important now that "Igbo" is already the most common term. I already explained the linguistic background of 'Igbo' above; let me add that the spelling 'Ibo' dates from the period when the Europeans didn't know what to do with the labial-velar stop, or how to pronounce it. To their ears, it sounded most like a heavily pronounced /b/ and therefore they wrote it that way. Later on phoneticists recognized that it in fact was a labial-velar plosive, a phoneme which is quite widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and the digraph /gb/ was introduced. From then on, the spelling 'Igbo' started to be used more widely and to date it is the most common spelling. No need to worry about 'Ibo' anymore, it's simply an archaic term. — mark ✎ 08:56, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Potential problems with phonology/orthography section
According to the orthography section,
- The digraph "ch" is reportedly used to represent both {/ɓ/ ~ /ɡb͡/} and /ʧ/. My suspicion is that one of these is incorrect.
- The letter "j" represents /ʤ/, however there is no indication of how ʒ is represented (if it is even found in Igbo).
- The letter "r" is said to represent /ɾ/, however the text of the phonology section seems to indicate that /ɾ/ is only used in intervocalic position (/ɹ/ being the apparently "normal" pronunciation), and possibly even then, only in ]a[ certain dialect group[s].
If anyone knows more about this, please make any necessary changes to the article. Cheers, Tomertalk 19:19, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
