Igala Language
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Igala is a
Yoruboid Yoruboid is a language family composed of the Igala group of dialects spoken in south central Nigeria, and the Edekiri languages subdivided into the Ede group (which includes Yoruba) spoken in a band across Togo, Ghana, Benin and southern Nigeri ...
language, spoken by the
Igala Igala or IGALA may refer to: * IGALA, the International Gender and Language Association, an interdisciplinary academic organization * Igala Kingdom, a pre-colonial West African state * Igala language, a Volta–Niger language * Igala people ...
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
of
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
. In 1989 an estimated 800,000 spoke Igala, primarily in
Kogi State Kogi State is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti State, Ekiti and Kwara State, Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Fe ...
, though current estimates place the number of Igala speakers at upwards of 10.6 million. Dialects include Ibaji,
Idah Idah is a town in Kogi State, Nigeria, on the eastern bank of the Niger River in the middle belt region of Nigeria. It is the headquarter of the Igala Kingdom, and also a Local Government Area with an area of 36 km. Idah had a population ...
, Dekina, Ogugu,
Ankpa Ankpa is a Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ankpa on the A233 highway in the west of the area at . It has an area of 1,200 km and a population of 267,353 at the 2006 census. By 2016, the pop ...
, Olu, the Olumbanasaa group ( Anambra West); These lgala dialects share deep lexical (vocabulary) and structural similarities with the Yoruba and
Itsekiri The Itsekiri (also called the Isekiri, ''iJekri'', ''Itsekri'', ''Ishekiri'', or Itsekhiri) are an ethnic group who mainly inhabit Nigeria's Niger Delta area. They speak a Yoruboid languages, Yoruboid language and can be found in Ondo State, Ondo ...
languages, with varying degrees of influence from neighbouring languages around the Niger-Benue triangular wedge where the Igala homeland is situated. Renowned linguist
Kay Williamson Kay Williamson (January 26, 1935, Hereford, United Kingdom – January 3, 2005, Brazil), born Ruth Margaret Williamson, was a linguist who specialised in the study of African languages, particularly those of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, where ...
recorded a cognate/similarity score of 66% between Yoruba and Igala, and a score of 56% between Igala and Itsekiri. Igala, living on the left bank of the
Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...
below its junction with the
Benue River Benue River (), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is a major tributary of the Niger River. The size of its catchment basin is 319,000 km2 (123,000 sq mi). Almost its entire length of Approximation, approximately is navigable dur ...
. Their language belongs to the Benue–Congo branch of the Niger–Congo family. Their ruler, the Àtá, traditionally also governed two other groups, the
Bassa Nge The Bassa Nge are an ethnic group in Nigeria that traces its history back to 1805. They originally inhabited Gbara which was formerly the capital of the Nupe Kingdom. The Bassa Nge migrated from their homeland in Bida due to a dynastic feud in abo ...
and the Bass Nkome, who live between the
Igala Igala or IGALA may refer to: * IGALA, the International Gender and Language Association, an interdisciplinary academic organization * Igala Kingdom, a pre-colonial West African state * Igala language, a Volta–Niger language * Igala people ...
and the Benue River.


Phonology

Igala's phonology is as follows: Igala has seven
oral vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel /ɑ̃/ () or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are prod ...
s and five nasal vowels.


Alphabet

The Igala alphabet has a total of 31 letters.


Vowels

Igala has seven vowel qualities and seven vowel letters: , , , , and .


Tones

Igala also has five tones: extra high, high, mid-high, mid, and low. # The high tone is represented with an
acute accent The acute accent (), , is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin alphabet, Latin, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic, and Greek alphabet, Greek scripts. For the most commonly encountered uses of the accen ...
. # The mid tone is unmarked . # The mid-high tone, which is an infrequent tone, is marked with a
macron Macron may refer to: People * Emmanuel Macron (born 1977), president of France since 2017 * Brigitte Macron (born 1953), French teacher, wife of Emmanuel Macron * Jean-Michel Macron (born 1950), French professor of neurology, father of Emmanuel ...
. # The low tone is marked with a
grave accent The grave accent () ( or ) is a diacritical mark used to varying degrees in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan and many other Western European languages as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other ...
. # The extra-high tone, which is usually found in negative statements, is marked with a
dot A dot is usually a small, round spot. Dot, DoT or DOT may also refer to: Orthography * Full stop or "period", a sentence terminator * Dot (diacritic), a mark above or below a character (e.g. ȧ, ạ, İ, Ċ, ċ, etc.), usually to indicate sou ...
.


Homographs

# The word spelt, agba, depending on the tones used to pronounce it, may have four different meanings, namely: ## agba (casual greeting); pronounced with static, sustained Mid or Neutral tone – / ̩a ̩gba/ ## àgbá (hand-cuffs); pronounced with Low-High tone combination / ̩à ‘gbá / ## àgbà (chin); pronounced with Low tone replicated – / ̩à ̩gbà / ## ágbá (Balsam tree); pronounced with the High tone duplicated – / á gbá / – # The bi-syllabic noun spelt, iga can generate three other words pronounced differently each having its distinct meaning as follows: ## ìga (Weaver bird); pronounced with Low-Mid tones – / ̩ ì ‘ga / – and a secondary-primary stress pattern. ## ìgà (net); pronounced with the Low tone duplicated – / ̩ ì ̩ gà / – and a secondary-secondary stress pattern. ## ìgá (estate); pronounced with the Low-High tone combination – / ̩ ì ‘gá / – and a secondary-primary stress pattern.


References


External links

* Roger Blench, Paul Gross. 2005
Igala mammal names
Yoruboid languages Languages of Nigeria {{VoltaNiger-lang-stub