They say women are from Venus and men are from Mars, and nowhere is that more evident than in Ubang, a unique Nigerian rural community where men and women have their own separate languages.

It’s hard to believe that men and women who grow up together in the same community can end up speaking different languages, but in the case of Ubang’s residents, it’s totally true. It’s not exactly clear what proportion of the words in the men’s and women’s languages are different, but there are enough examples to make sentences sound different when spoken by the opposite sex.

For example, for ‘clothing’ men use the word ‘nki’, while women say ‘ariga’; ‘kitchi’ means tree for men, while women say ‘okweng’. These are not just some subtle pronunciation differences, but totally different words and it’s been like this for as long as anyone can remember.

“It’s almost like two different lexicons,” anthropologist Chi Chi Undie told the BBC. “There are a lot of words that men and women share in common, then there are others which are totally different depending on your sex. They don’t sound alike, they don’t have the same letters, they are completely different words.”

Interestingly, both men and women are able to understand each other perfectly in Ubang, as both boys and girls grow up around their parents and get to learn both languages, but by the age of 10 boys are expected to speak in the male tongue.

“There is a stage the male will reach and he discovers he is not using his rightful language,” Chief Oliver Ibang said. “Nobody will tell him he should change to the male language. When he starts speaking the men’s language, you know the maturity is coming into him.”

No one really knows how or why the dual-language tradition of Ubang began, but most locals prefer the religious theory according to which God created Adam and Eve as Ubang people and gave them two different languages. He planned to give each ethnic group two languages but realized there were not enough languages to go around, so he stopped at the Ubang, leaving the village different from all the other communities of the world.

Anthropologist Chi Chi Undie believes the two languages are the result of a “dual-sex culture” where men and women operate in two separate spheres and live in separate worlds that rarely come together. However, she admits this is a weak theory, as the dual-sex culture is present in many parts of Africa, minus the different languages for men and women.

Today, as English words continue to enter the lexicon of young people in Nigeria, Ubang’s two languages are in danger of being lost forever. Neither the male nor female language is written down, so they both rely on young people passing them down to the next generation.

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45262081.amp

Why am I seeing AMU on the women's side.


Women and AMU has always been attracted since the beginning of ADAM & EVE

ladies and gentlemen,





this is fvck.

The only language of men that vagina people can speak fluently is penis

Wow! But when they are busy in other room they speak one language

How the men cum dey toast the women

Please how do they cope then
How man go ft toast woman ask for kpekus na?
Reasons To Eat Bananas Everyday

https://kingsmedics.com/10-health-benefits-to-eat-banana-more-often/

U-'bang'
If you know, you know
bang anything

Damnnn niggar
Rubbish

Just some few words that men and women in the community don't share in common doesn't mean they speak different languages

OkuFaba:
Why am I seeing AMU on the women's side.


Women and AMU has always been attracted since the beginning of ADAM & EVE

I swear.

Everything here is weird.

Even the anthropologists name is undie, abi na undies?

“It’s almost like two different lexicons,” anthropologist Chi Chi Undie told the BBC.

It a WOW something

Please why are bananas so costly these days?

Just when you thought you have seen it all... Then this

Did I just read something more like Obi is a goat?
Water is amu and if water is life it also means that amu is life.
OP, please when can we visit the village? I think there is more to be discovered in that village

TheCalculator:


Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45262081.amp

There is no mention in the write up about the state in Nigeria were this community resides. Is it deliberate or daftness ?

Their ancestors must be from Taliban

Damnnnn nigggarr it's not alright

Ayan not understanding oo, male and female speak separate languages.
Nawaooo, wahala no dey finish.

Wonderful

Like French where you have masculine and feminine terms for some words or items

TheCalculator:


Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45262081.amp

i had to search google to know ubang is located in cross river. i think that should have been added to the write up. nice info though

And so fucking what in delta we have
Urhobo
Isoko
Ijaw
Igbo
Youruba
Itskeri
Ukwale
Different type of pigin
Normal pigin
Slangs pigin
Dictionary pigin
Ajebo pigin



All in one state. We still they run am

Great

Wonderful...just Wonderful


Check my siggy nairalanders

Okay

Nice sha.
is like that tower of Babel, was built and distroyd in Nigeria.
Plenty languages and ethnic groups.

For me ooo..

That's part of the reason why Nigeria may not be like some country in Europe or American soon. Different cultures and believez and we value it too much.
Wetin dey acceptable for your culture, may not be acceptable for another.

Not a case of what is good for the groose is good for the gander.