Languages are a medium of exchange and therefore only exist so long as they are of use.

You cannot revive a dead or dying language. Latin is taught in schools and universities world wide but no one is using it as a common medium of exchange.

YonkijiSappo:


You are not getting the point.
If you go to arochukwu now for example, what you will see is Arochukwu culture which is quite distinct from other Igbo cultures, due to the significant amount of Ibibio-ish fusion into their culture. On the other hand, If any such opposite influence exist in Akwa Ibom state, how then can you call it Igbo influences if it comes just from Arochukwu. Arochukwu had an Ibibio foundation.... whereas Ibibios don't have an Igbo foundation.

Ibibios share a lot of cultural similarities and customs with the Igbos. Ibibio customs are barely highlighted but if you look into it, they practise customs similar to Igbo customs you see in movies, if you're not so conversant with Igbo history. Their native marriage ceremony (where the lady is given a cup of wine/palm wine to go look for her spouse) is exactly the same in Igbo culture. My family lives in Calabar and culturally Igbos and Ibibios are almost the same except for a few differences. Infact for this reason were the Ibibios called 'qua ibo' or 'kwa ibo', meaning 'just like the ibos' by the Europeans because of the cultural similarities they shared with the Igbos. 'Kwa Ibo' is what later became 'Akwa Ibom' that you have today.

please we are not here to discuss who influence who's language or not, we are here to salvage the situation I don't wish to see any Niger delta language go extinct BT it hard for those who do not reside in uhrobo town BT are from that ethnic group to learn, I think an uhrobo thread should be opened. or something

Onegai:


Same story everywhere. Even for those who grew up in Delta state. It's too bad. I speak the little I know to my 15 month old baby. I'm planning on joining my mother's socio-cultural group to learn my language, in a few years' time.

is ur husband Urhobo ? .. If yes tell him to teach u

[quote author=Pidggin post=49523386]..

My brother, I understand but that one no concern me. For my state e bi like say tower of babel fall for there so Pidgin dey help inter and intra, enjoy your own language as for me nothing do Pidgin for my area, take care [/quote guy you are damn funny.... Lmao.. Tower of babel indeed, not only in your state dear, the tower fall con scatter all over Nigeria. No language wey no get complicated versions ]

Efewestern:


is ur husband Urhobo ? .. If yes tell him to teach u

He is worse. Barely speaks and doesn't care. I'm not Urhobo but I'm from Delta and my language is dying too. So I'm learning small Urhobo and my language to teach our kids. But I've already told him we are getting them lesson teachers in both languages from age 3 to 5.

ogorwyne:

Fratermathy let's talk about the Orogun people. I just want to know, a friend from that town claims they are not Urhobos neither are they Ukwuani. They speak my language Ukwuani, and whenever I say they speak Ukwuani she says the language is Orogun. Meaning the people of Orogun speak 'Orogun'. U seem to know a lot, what tribal group do the Orogun people fall under?

I am from Orogun but my grandmother is from Ukwuani ...... The Orogun people from my village definitely speak Urhobo although a lot speak Ukwani and Urhobo due to intermarriage influence , u also see a lot whose Mum are Ukwuani but dad from Orogun speak Ukwuani as a mother usually will teach their children . There is no language called Orogun

Nahwao:


Also at the very least the existence of Arochukwu nullifies the statement from that lady i quoted who said that Akwa-Cross had no "Affiliation" with Igbo. Dead wrong.

Well, her own interpretation of Affiliation may be the problem here.

Nahwao:


On what basis can you conclude that ibibios especially those living around Arochukwu has ZERO influence from Igbos?

Na wa for una.

Same way those in Rivers and Delta have ZERO influence from Igbos and only Igbos are influenced by others?

Some of these conversations lmao.

I've noticed the tendency for other tribes to project their influence on Igbos but are quick to reject any Igbo influence on their tribal affiliation. Nigeria now knows of the Bini influence on Igboland but did you know that many are not aware of the Igbo influence of the 4 market days of Eke, Oye, Afor and Nkwo on Igala, Idoma and Bini lands which the Igalas, Idomas and Binis use till today?? Many also do not know that Igbo and Bini share many words in similar. The title of the Oba of Bini goes by Omo n'oba Akpolokpolo uku, the 'uku' in the title is the same as 'ukwu' in igbo which stands for great. Igbos say 'nkita' for dog and the Binis say 'ekita'. Osakwe and Osakhue both mean the same thing in Igbo and Bini. These and many more similarities.

mmsen:
Languages are a medium of exchange and therefore only exist so long as they are of use.

You cannot revive a dead or dying language. Latin is taught in schools and universities world wide but no one is using it as a common medium of exchange.

Wise words.
It is a painful reality of life, but many Nigerian languages will have to die.

Onegai:
Fratermathy, please write Books for schoolchildren in urhobo and Okpe. I promise you I will not only support you with my little financial contribution, I will raise funds for getting them published. Write books and write a dictionary. Get others involved. Have someone organise classes for language and culture studies targeting the young ones. Just keep me in the loop.

nice idea bro... It's good to catch Dem young.. It applies to all language or dialects

Igboid:
I often encounter individuals of the two Nigerian largest tribes who believe all Niger Deltans are Igbos. They don't even recognise that most of these tribes have NOTHING to do with Igbo!

The only Niger Delta group that has nothing to do with Ndiigbo is Itsekiri.

It's okay to say that all Niger Deltans are not Igbos, that I agree 100% with. But you start stretching it when you say that MOST of Niger Delta tribes has nothing to do with Ndiigbo.

Infact, the only thing that Unites all Niger Delta tribes culturally, excluding Itsekiri is Shared history with Igbo speaking neighbors.

Urhobo/ Isoko has some towns with Igbo ancestry and still share boundary and cultures with the Igbo speaking Ukwuani even unto today.

Some Esan towns were founded by Igbo speaking people, like wise some Esan people who were absorbed into Igbo speaking Anioma today. As we speak, Ekpon, an Esan town in Edo is losing her Edoid language in favour of an Igboid( Ika) one. And we all know of the Existence of Igbo( Ika) speaking Igbanke people right in Edo state, and the Edo origin stories of many Igbo towns today in Anioma, Anambra, Rivers, and even some Enugu towns.

Ogoni people share a long history with Ndoki Igbo, just as a significant section of Okrika people are said to have originated in Ndoki. Ndoki also has ancestral connection with the Ibani people in Bonny and Opobo as well as with Ibibios.

Ngwa Igbo and Ikwuano Igbos share alot with the Annang people, their interactions was pre colonial as neighbors with Inter marriage and trading as well as diffusion of cultures both ways, like the Ekpo society.

The Aro Igbo people were traversing the entire Ibibio- Efik-Ekoi area,breaking cultural barriers by development of unified cultural ideologies like the Ekpe cult system and the Nsibidi writing system, centuries before the white man created Nigeria and the Urhobo man became aware that there was ever a people called Ibibio- Efik-Ekoi people.
And these people remain neighbors to Aros and to Ehugbo Igbos and Ikwo Igbos even till today.

I can go on and on.

But I'm sure you already get the point.

Stop distorting history Mr man

Are you OK in your head bigot coming to talk about another tribe being lesser this is the problem with Nigeria, you most be isthekeri please grow up the world is changing keep deceiving yourself other nations are inventing technologies you are here talking about local champion tribe smh

themosthigh:
[b] The truth is that this is happening because urhobo is regarded as an inferior language by even urhobo themselves. That is why the greatest urhobo man and one of our founding fathers cheif okotie eboh went and denounced his race then applied to become and itshekiri man...ceremonies where done accepting him into the itsekiri fold and he forever dissociated himself from the lowly urhobos even though they have the highest population in delta state.
Urhobos are mostly regarded as poorly educated and local thinking savages and have been dominated historically by the itshekiris and ijaws.They possess no oil and are not good farmer and historically serve the superior itshekiris and during the biafran wars supported the nigerian side leading to the masscre of their compatriots who are the delta igbos. It is a thing of pride for an urhobo man to be mixed by blood to itshekiri or better still igbos or yorubas and they are so ashamed of their heritage if not untill recently that their nollywood guys have started embracing it.
They are the abokis of the nija delta and would remain so for a very long time or they should just allow themselves to be assimilated by the larger or more prestigious language groups like igbos or itshekiris


[/b]

Onegai:


He is worse. Barely speaks and doesn't care. I'm not Urhobo but I'm from Delta and my language is dying too. So I'm learning small Urhobo and my language to teach our kids. But I've already told him we are getting them lesson teachers in both languages from age 3 to 5.

Getting a lesson teacher is okay.. why not take a native house help.. one that can speak Urhobo fluently.. Re u itsekiri ?.. am really sad about this... but my case is not that worse atleast i hear Urhobo (Uvwie, Agbon).

fratermathy:
The Dearth of Urhobo and Other Niger Deltan Languages

By Mathias Orhero

It's a pity that I have to code-mix English, Pidgin and my native Urhobo language as well as code-switch between them in any lengthy conversation with a kinsman. I am a product of the "wasted" generation, and my case is far better than what obtains for 90% of my peers. One of the things that I admire about Igbos, Yorubas and Hausas is their commitment to speaking their mother tongue. Sadly, for those of us in the Niger Delta, multi-ethnicity is our undoing. We have developed a very negative attitude towards our native Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Isoko, Okpe (Urhobo dialect), Uvwie (Urhobo dialect), Bini, Esan, etc. We prefer to converse in Pidgin, which most of us have adopted as our first language. Some would rather speak English when they encounter people of their ethnic extraction instead of conversing in Urhobo for fear of being perceived as local.

Typical Urhobo interlocutors begin conversations with "Guy, how far na?" instead of "Oshare, mavor?". When the latter is said, they will call you an "Ogburhobo". This negative attitude is killing our language. The linguist, Macaulay Mowarin, has predicted the dearth of Urhobo language. Already, Okpe and Uvwie have less than a thousand speakers. Urhobo is in free fall and in about 30 years times, native speakers will be too insignificant for Urhobo to be called an ethnic group. Urhobos pride themselves as the 5th largest ethnic group in Nigeria. The irony is that only a little above 50% of Urhobos can speak the language fluently. Same goes for Isoko, our sister language.

One of the primary sources of this trend is that the colonial masters wanted to anglicise all of us. They knew our languages were diverse and unintelligible to them and one another. They reckoned that if they anglicised us, we would all merge into one people. However good their plans were, it was to our detriment. The Nigerian Pidgin evolved and filled the void between English and our native languages, and the Europeans hailed and encouraged it. The people of the Niger Delta took English a little bit too far when we began to see those who speak English as successful people. We associated aristocracy with the English language, and our native languages started dying...

Today, I am a product of the culminating effects of the preceding. However, I have been able to remedy my situation before it snowballed into a personal disaster and an existential crisis. Others still have the negative attitude and will prefer to learn Spanish, French, German, and worse, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. Many of the "wasted generation" individuals grew up in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and other cities in Nigeria, as well as other countries, and instead of showing interest in and learning their mother tongue, they'll actively learn the language of others who WILL NOT even acknowledge their language. I often encounter individuals of the two Nigerian largest tribes who believe all Niger Deltans are Igbos. They don't even recognise that most of these tribes have NOTHING to do with Igbo! Even with their bad attitude towards the minority languages, you still find the brainwashed individuals of the lost generation learning the languages of the big three and developing positive attitudes towards them while the negative attitude towards their mother tongue persists. It is not bad to be a polyglot or to speak many languages. However, charity must begin at home. I cannot learn Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba unless I have thoroughly mastered Urhobo. We must learn to put ours first. This microcosmic issue is what influences the "Cain-Abel" effect. This effect manifests when Nigerians believe anything Nigerian is bad and fake and everything European is perfect and right. We betray ourselves to keep capitalist societies that don't add to our economy running.

Having observed the trend, I decided to devote my scholarship to the documentation of Urhobo language, literature and culture. I may not be able to do much in changing our negative attitudes towards our native languages, but I'll be able to preserve our cherished language and culture, in case we snowball into extinction. God forbids it ever gets to that point!

Mathias Orhero writes from Okpara-Inland, Nigeria. He is a literary scholar and writer. literarymathy[at]gmail.

This's a truly educated African!. And until an African is enlightened enough to understand what this man is saying, I don't consider you an educated person.

You'll expect someone like Soyinka to open up to tell Africans the truth, but he's deep in it.

Every educated African has always arrived at the conclusion that English language is detrimental to our well being. In fact, the founding father of African independence, Lord Kwame Nkrumah, after studying in 3 universities in Britain and USA, he came back to Africa shading tears saying ''western education is a fraud''

Efewestern:


Getting a lesson teacher is okay.. why not take a native house help.. one that can speak Urhobo fluently.. Re u itsekiri ?.. am really sad about this... but my case is not that worse atleast i hear Urhobo (Uvwie, Agbon).

Helps are a tricky thing. We have spoken about the kids spending time with both grandparents but let us see. They after all, didn't teach their kids their language.

I'd love to see children's books in English, Ika, Itsekiri and Urhobo or Okpe. Dual. They have them for English and Spanish ans English and Yoruba and Igbo.

Igboid:
I often encounter individuals of the two Nigerian largest tribes who believe all Niger Deltans are Igbos. They don't even recognise that most of these tribes have NOTHING to do with Igbo!

The only Niger Delta group that has nothing to do with Ndiigbo is Itsekiri.

It's okay to say that all Niger Deltans are not Igbos, that I agree 100% with. But you start stretching it when you say that MOST of Niger Delta tribes has nothing to do with Ndiigbo.

Infact, the only thing that Unites all Niger Delta tribes culturally, excluding Itsekiri is Shared history with Igbo speaking neighbors.

Urhobo/ Isoko has some towns with Igbo ancestry and still share boundary and cultures with the Igbo speaking Ukwuani even unto today.

Some Esan towns were founded by Igbo speaking people, like wise some Esan people who were absorbed into Igbo speaking Anioma today. As we speak, Ekpon, an Esan town in Edo is losing her Edoid language in favour of an Igboid( Ika) one. And we all know of the Existence of Igbo( Ika) speaking Igbanke people right in Edo state, and the Edo origin stories of many Igbo towns today in Anioma, Anambra, Rivers, and even some Enugu towns.

Ogoni people share a long history with Ndoki Igbo, just as a significant section of Okrika people are said to have originated in Ndoki. Ndoki also has ancestral connection with the Ibani people in Bonny and Opobo as well as with Ibibios.

Ngwa Igbo and Ikwuano Igbos share alot with the Annang people, their interactions was pre colonial as neighbors with Inter marriage and trading as well as diffusion of cultures both ways, like the Ekpo society.

The Aro Igbo people were traversing the entire Ibibio- Efik-Ekoi area,breaking cultural barriers by development of unified cultural ideologies like the Ekpe cult system and the Nsibidi writing system, centuries before the white man created Nigeria and the Urhobo man became aware that there was ever a people called Ibibio- Efik-Ekoi people.
And these people remain neighbors to Aros and to Ehugbo Igbos and Ikwo Igbos even till today.

I can go on and on.

But I'm sure you already get the point.

If i slap you sense go enter your head. How many times do we the Niger deltans reject you igbos bfore you accept you have been rejected. Kukuma say Niger deltans are Igbos fool. Proudly Ikwerre

Efewestern:


Getting a lesson teacher is okay.. why not take a native house help.. one that can speak Urhobo fluently.. Re u itsekiri ?.. am really sad about this... but my case is not that worse atleast i hear Urhobo (Uvwie, Agbon).

You see learning a language is not difficult, it is all about making efforts to speak it. I was not raised with Igbo as a child though my mom switched from English to Igbo when she saw we had picked up English, I didn't really make efforts to start speaking until my university days. Now I speak it fluently like I was raised with it. This was possible because I went out of my way to speak it. I not only speak it but read and write it fluently. Had a B2 in Igbo in my GCE exam in SS2 even though I wasn't speaking then but my reading and writing were excellent. You can only wish to speak a language but if you do not make attempts at speaking it you will not learn to speak it.

The beginning may be somewhat hard, but just continue. 2 to 3 years from now your speaking skills will improve. Remember, kids who speak Urhobo or English did not just learn it in 1 year. They spoke it continuously for several years from age 2 to age 5/6 (at least 3 years) with corrections by parents here and there until they mastered it. It is the same way for adult learners too.

Just make the effort to start speaking. Also watch Urhobo movies too. It helps. Remember the key is to speak, speak and keep speaking.

The death of the various languages in niger delta is cuz of the many languages spoken there, and as a result pidgin is the only unifying language for all, just as hausa is d unifying language in the north.

One way to reverse the trend is to ensure that primary and secondary schools teach the local dialect as one of their course. I know this is done be4, but it should be made compulsory.

I still feel sad today that I can't speak Urhobo and Uvwie, though I understand it a little.

fratermathy:


Thank you for the commendation. May God bless you too.

op, good write up. Personally I believe the problem is beyond the Urhobo language. To me, the Urhobos are not an organized group and lack a rich history that they can identify with. I say so because I grew up in a an Urhobo town and when I left to school in Benin I could notice the difference. While one has a rich cultural identity which is evident from their art, folklores and behaviour the other was flat and only identifiable by it's language. It is therefore easy for an Urhobo man to drop his language and not feel lost. The Urhobos will most definitely be consumed by superior culture, it is already happening

Efewestern:


Less than a thousand speaker ? Thats a big lie.. although Uvwie Is far loosing Its language but that ur claim its not true.. The reason is that we Accept Strangers alot and as a result we don't speak our language with strangers like the yoruba's do.

Our parents re d problem.. if i speak my Urhobo en .. u go laugh

We are on same page my brother. I questioned that position also. Go to Ekpan, u would get more than a thousand speakers of the Uvwie dialect. Go to Mereje, u would get more than a thousand speakers of the Okpe dialect.

All in all, we should strive to speak our language, it's our identity.

I belong to this set of generations, that can hardly speak nor understand. I feel ashamed & incomplete abt it as a person. The blame goes entirely to my parents..i wasnt raised with it while growing up as a kid. My parents speaks Urhobo fluently only when people from villa comes around but non @home...One of my greatest regret, knowing that i wont b able 2teach my child/kids my mother tongue...when they arrive this world..

Fratermathy, have you seen this YouTube channel CultureTree? It teaches Yoruba to kids. Can we have ours?

proudly Ika speaking

By the way, there's nothing wrong with Pidgin.

Pidgin is a creole language and its our own creation, not the creation of white people.

Creole languages evolve whenever two languages/cultures collide. So, you have Jamaican partios, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra-Leonian pidgin. In Ivory coast and in many other French countries they also have French pidgin that evolved with their contact with French people.

Pidgin began as far back as 1425 AD when the Portuguise traded gold in the coasts of Ghana and Lagos. Pidgin had been the language of trade between Europeans and Africans long before slavery began!.

Pidgin is the only thing we benefited from white people, in my opinion.

I think parents are the problem here, very many don't converse with their wards in the native language. I visited Warri sometime last year and while i and some friends went hanging out, one of them called up his son on the phone speaking pidgin, worse still when i asked him why not in his native Urhobo, all he told me was that he doesn't speak the language fluently himself. This was in Warri o, not Lagos or Abuja or Enugu.
Something should be done about this fast.

fuma:
I belong to this set of generations, that can hardly speak nor understand. I feel ashamed & incomplete abt it as a person. The blame goes entirely to my parents..i wasnt raised with it while growing up as a kid. My parents speaks Urhobo fluently only when people from villa comes around but non @home...One of my greatest regret, knowing that i wont b able 2teach my child/kids my mother tongue...when they arrive this world..

a lot of urhobo parents are guilty of these ,which is surprising when both couple are Urhobo. ....... Only my mum spoke Urhobo and somehow she made sure all her kids fluent speakers despite the fact that my dad doesnt speak
However my husband both parents are urhobo, who speak it well but the kids dont hear a single word in urhobo

soliddust2020:
Kindly tell me the urhobo towns with igbo ancestry. Isoko have a few town with igbo ancestry but most of them are from benin and urhobo, but urhobos migrated from benin. I can tell you the entire urhobo history. Leave urhobo out of your biafra.

Actually the Urhobo from Aragba in Orogun speak both Ukwani and Urhobo interchangeably. And for all intents and purposes Ukwani is Igboid

ogorwyne:

Fratermathy let's talk about the Orogun people. I just want to know, a friend from that town claims they are not Urhobos neither are they Ukwuani. They speak my language Ukwuani, and whenever I say they speak Ukwuani she says the language is Orogun. Meaning the people of Orogun speak 'Orogun'. U seem to know a lot, what tribal group do the Orogun people fall under?

Orogun is Urhobo. Point blank period. Stupid wicked maternal kinsmen of mine. But they are Urhobo simple and plain

themosthigh:
[b] The truth is that this is happening because urhobo is regarded as an inferior language by even urhobo themselves. That is why the greatest urhobo man and one of our founding fathers cheif okotie eboh went and denounced his race then applied to become and itshekiri man...ceremonies where done accepting him into the itsekiri fold and he forever dissociated himself from the lowly urhobos even though they have the highest population in delta state.
Urhobos are mostly regarded as poorly educated and local thinking savages and have been dominated historically by the itshekiris and ijaws.They possess no oil and are not good farmer and historically serve the superior itshekiris and during the biafran wars supported the nigerian side leading to the masscre of their compatriots who are the delta igbos. It is a thing of pride for an urhobo man to be mixed by blood to itshekiri or better still igbos or yorubas and they are so ashamed of their heritage if not untill recently that their nollywood guys have started embracing it.
They are the abokis of the nija delta and would remain so for a very long time or they should just allow themselves to be assimilated by the larger or more prestigious language groups like igbos or itshekiris


[/b]

Blatant, arrant nonsense

fratermathy:


Many of the Okpe and Uvwie people speak Urhobo as first language. Others speak Pidgin and English. Most are bilinguals. The few who speak Okpe and Uvwie represent the older generation of people and trust me when I say my statement is not far from the truth.

Very wrong . Okpe is of the Urhobo extract . Would an Okpe man in sapele speak Jese to thier kids ?

airsaylongcon:


Actually the Urhobo from Aragba in Orogun speak both Ukwani and Urhobo interchangeably. And for all intents and purposes Ukwani is Igboid

Are you from Aragba ......and this your statement Stupid wicked maternal kinsmen of mine......na wa oooo