Like any average word user, i love comprehension.

I am not too good with games, but I love the mental game of decoding puzzling words in Yoruba especially. So far so good, I ask a minister friend of mine, what is Eleburu-Ike? Apparently, its praise-word for the Loving Creator, but why? Well I found out the phrase means 'one that has inexhaustible blessing'. Another variant like it is 'onibu ore', meaning one with sea of gifting.


Morals: with this wonderful praises for God on our heart, how will you still keep believing that 'ti tenikan 'o ba baje, tenikan 'o le da'a'? Anyone with precious ideas or troublesome words?

Well me I find it hard to say that 'gb' sound and the 'p' sounding like 'kp' It is really hindering me being able to speak Yoruba fluently though I am getting better slightly. If I can't pronounce those words I doubt I'd be able to be fully fluent because they appear alot in the language lool

Roda94: Well me I find it hard to say that 'gb' sound and the 'p' sounding like 'kp' It is really hindering me being able to speak Yoruba fluently though I am getting better slightly. If I can't pronounce those words I doubt I'd be able to be fully fluent because they appear alot in the language lool

eyah. I dont think there is anything you can do about it o.

I had a foreign friend, she told me then to teach her to pronounce "Gbenga", the more Gbenga I said, the more "Benga" she replied.

!!! I must learn by fire by force loool- hopefully

Roda94: !!! I must learn by fire by force loool- hopefully

I understand your challenges, if you can play around the word 'rugby' often, you will soon deceive your tongue that you can do it with 'gb' as given in Yoruba words.

ladionline: I understand your challenges, if you can play around the word 'rugby' often, you will soon deceive your tongue that you can do it with 'gb' as given in Yoruba words.

Thanks, I will deffo try it out. I'm willing to try anything at this rate

Roda94:

Thanks, I will deffo try it out. I'm willing to try anything at this rate

Wish you the best

Roda94: Well me I find it hard to say that 'gb' sound and the 'p' sounding like 'kp' It is really hindering me being able to speak Yoruba fluently though I am getting better slightly. If I can't pronounce those words I doubt I'd be able to be fully fluent because they appear alot in the language lool

For the 'kp' sound, try pronouncing the name 'Kirkpatrick'. The nearest sound to 'kp' is what you get with 'kirKPatrick'. I hope that helps.

ciao

Thanks guys, I will try it out

Nagbon-nagbon-soso

kazyhm: Nagbon-nagbon-soso

Meaning of that?

Often, Yoruba words convey utter lexical simplicity. The meaning are right there in your own eyes without you seeing it. I don't know why that should be. The good instance of this is the word "ISHIKANRI". What does this mean in English? Flea. Well the Yoruba equivalent is not that simple but simple. the Yoruba equivalent of flea as ishikanri means "what you see when you open something that is going sour." I paraphrase.

As such, 'I-shi-kan-ri' is "opening the sour to see" and its true. In most untidy places or the kitchen where some food stuff are fermenting, flea finds their way in and the next thing is, they tend to colonize the whole place. If you are not aware or out on holiday and you come back, roam around to check your cupboard, you may be easily bombarded by these social creatures, the flea or Ishikanri.


















The Yoruba language is the envy of structuralists, the field would have been so influential if Levi Strauss had the chance to study Yoruba. It might be the same with other neighboring languages as well, but the languages will not reveal their "secrets" to "hit and run" enthusiasts. This also apply to business: its hard to succeed with a business that you do just for the fast profits.




You may get away with it time and again, but when you have made much more, you may pay for the exploits.




Thanks.

my difficult word is any word with the letter (r) for both English and Yoruba.

Bussy day. But then I think of this word: 'Aro' and its usage in Yoruba historiographical lexis. Observe: Ilaro, Ashero, Oro, Ijero, Iworo (ajidho), oworo(nshoki), etc. All these place names invoke the root word 'ro' which has to do with thinking, intellect or 'people skill' -ero.

But to whom does this term pertain in the annals of Yoruba liturgy? Yes, it pertains to Great Oshun, our matriarch. So it is said 'Osun Oshogbo Oroki (that's the word, oro-ki) Asala'. Fine. Here we go with shout-out to mama Africa: Oore Yeeye o!

some artistic impression of Oshun from public sites.

God, funny how time flies!

2013-2016.

Three solid years.

Recently, I discovered an impounderable word and a fascinating icing around it, I bet you wanna know.

The word is, 'opolo', hmm.

Oh, the word for frog, LOL.

The icing is this: certain phenomenon underlays Yoruba ambiguous words, we can find succinct ways to study them.

intra lingual morphemes
inter lingual morphemes.

brb.

On intra-lingual morphemes, we look at words that are available in a language, say, Yoruba with ambiguous usage.

Next is to study how the same word is used to achieve different purpose in linguistic fashion.

We can designate such words as talebearer or token of lingual-morphology. Earlier on, we isolated opolo, isn't it?

Another way the same word is used is to mean 'brain'. So, what's the semantic value of the said word?

OK, the word opolo for frog and for brain implies that the two bearers have some features in common.

This was apparently conspicuous to the man who coined the word for the twosome application.

Now what was on the linguist's mind?

opo (plenty)
Lo (curve)

Simply put, the donor morphemes are are compatible and meaningful where the sound favours frog.

But as to brain, such implication is lost. We have to look to the meaning of opolo to find what the word concealed.

Put more aptly, the colloquial 'plenty curve' means 'curvy mass' so to say.

Therefore, opolo is so called not because the animal is not pleasant to behold, but because it's such a curvy mass.

Then we can better see the 'word picture' in the way the brain looks. Anatomy shows it the grey matter, that's not far from curvy mass.