Writing in Igbo Language

Writing in the Igbo Language: Standards and Trends, by M. C. Onukawa

1.0      Preamble

Before the advent of Christian Missions in Igboland (through whose efforts the Igbo language was reduced to writing) Igbo, like several other Nigerian languages, had no written form. The Igbo language, literature, and culture were transmitted orally from parents to their children, adults to young ones, generation to generation. 

Children “were taught the history, geography, literature, civics, etc., of their people through stories, songs, myths, legends, and even contact with the environment” (Nwadike, 2008, p. 2). They were also taught different traditional trades and spheres of life in practical terms. 

The Igbo, however, had some esoteric sign writings through which they kept some accounts and records, and also preserved and transmitted some information (particularly secretly). There was also the NSIBIDI sign writing that was popular among the Igbo and their Ibibio neighbours.

1.1      Some Facts of Orthography

Orthography consists of the letters (i.e the alphabet) used in writing the sounds, as well as the rules that govern the spelling of words, phrases and sentences in a language.  A good orthography should therefore provide the following: the alphabet, the spelling rules, the punctuation marks and the rules governing their use. There are five recognized principles

that make a good orthography: accuracy, consistency, convenience, harmonization, and familiarity (Williamson, 1984).

Accuracy:  Accuracy entails that orthography must agree with the sound system of the language for which it is intended. It must have different ways to write all the different significant sounds (phonemes) in the language. If there are say eight different vowel sounds (or phonemes) in the language  (as we have in Standard Igbo) which can make a difference to the meaning of words, then we need eight different letters or combinations of letters with which to write them.

If there are twenty-eight consonant sounds in the language (as we have in standard Igbo), then we need twenty-eight different consonant letters or combination of letters to write them. If the language is a tone language (e.g Igbo), then we need some methods for indicating the tones so as to distinguish different words. When orthography fails to provide distinct ways of writing all the different sounds of a language, the result is ambiguity.

Consistency: Orthography is said to be consistent if the same sound or word is always written the same way whenever it appears. Consistency means that any letter or letter combination should stand for the same sound or sounds throughout the system. Putting it the other way round, a good orthography should have only one symbol for each significant sound. If orthography does not fulfill this, it is inconsistent. 

Convenience: Orthography should be convenient to use. If there are too many symbols which are difficult to write, type or print, it would be too cumbersome and people will not bother to write it correctly. However, care should be taken with the issue of convenience. People sometimes say that it would be ‘more convenient’ to drop the dots used under some vowels, and also not to use tone marks, etc. The fact is that this would make the language most difficult to read as differences between certain words will not be indicated. The principle of accuracy would be broken. 

Harmonization: This is also called ‘the principle of similarity to other orthographies. Many different languages are spoken in Nigeria, and many Nigerians speak more than one language. It is therefore important that the orthographies are similar.

Familiarity: People are usually happy with what is familiar. If something new is to be introduced, we want to be convinced that it is actually better than what was known before. The same applies to orthography. If we try to change too many things, people will just refuse to accept them and the orthography will be controversial. Therefore, other things being equal, orthography should be as familiar as possible in appearance.

2.0      Issues in Igbo Orthography

The Igbo language was written down for the first time in last half of the 18^th century by Rev. G.C.A. Oldendorp, a German missionary, in far away West Indies, where he collected some data from Igbo slaves. In 1777, he published a few Igbo nouns, numerals, and sentences (Oraka, 1983). The Igbo language written form started (more seriously) with the Lepsius 1854 orthography. In 1929, the London International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIAC) through her leader, Westermann, introduced another orthography called Westermann’s orthography (also referred to as Africa orthography or New orthography) to replace the age-long Lepsius orthography. The (new) orthography had 8 vowels and 26 consonants: a b c d e ε f g gb gh gw h i j k kp kw m n ŋ nw ny o  ө p r s t u v w y z.  The Church Missionary Society (C.M.S) which had published extensively in the old (Lepsius) orthography bluntly refused to accept and adopt the new orthography and this sparked off very serious and bitter controversy that raged for 32 years. In 1961, the then Eastern Regional Government set up a committee headed by Mr. Onwu to settle the orthography controversy and save the Igbo nation from a malady. The Onwu committee later came up with compromise orthography, popularly referred to as Onwu orthography  which has been in use. Thus, from 1854 till date, the Igbo language has used three orthographies, namely, the Lepsius, Westermann, and Onwu orthographies.

NILAS Vol. 2 No. 2     Journal of Institute for Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Aba Campus http://www.inlanc.edu.ng Page 3

 A.       Poor Writing of Standard Igbo 

It is quite disheartening that in spite of this long history of written Igbo, most native speakers of the language still write it poorly. In fact, most of the Igbo natives are illiterate in the writing of the language (I have noted this elsewhere, see Onukawa, 2001). I am also aware that many of the Igbo natives neither speak nor write the language. Such people feel that they do not need the language for anything. They speak English and other languages which, in their own understanding, portray them as widely traveled and enlightened. This situation is due to the excessive recognition and importance which the Nigerian government presently accords the English language at the utter expense of Igbo and other indigenous languages. Government should, very urgently, take various measures to revert the present retrogressive situation. It is necessary for government to, among other measures, embark on public enlightenment on the equal importance (with English) of the indigenous (Nigeria) languages, use the indigenous languages in official (government), amend the language policies especially on the language requirement for admission into institutions of higher learning, and compel the authorities of various institutions in the country to introduce “use of indigenous languages” as a compulsory course for all students. 

I am particularly concerned here with those Igbo natives who write the language carefreely. Such people are ignorant of the fact that their written form of Igbo should agree closely with the spoken form, so that people would be able to read what they write, just as people understand what they speak. The observable poor writing of Igbo by most Igbo natives is caused by these among other reasons:

B.                 Lack of Interest in the Igbo Language/Ignorance of Standard Igbo Orthography

An obvious fact is that most Igbo do not show any interest in their language. As far as they are concerned, Igbo should be a language of “any thing goes”. It does not matter how the language is spoken and written. Again, most of the Igbo are neither aware of the existence of the standard Igbo dialect (Igbo Izugbe) nor an acceptable orthography. Such people are neither ready nor willing to be taught.

C.                 Poor Teaching of the Language

I am aware that Igbo is poorly taught in many primary and secondary schools (many privately owned primary and secondary schools do not offer Igbo for reasons known only to them). Many teachers do not realize that even though the native speaker has already internalized the rules of the grammar

of the language in his conscious, there is the need for him to be able to recognize and explain the rules governing the spelling, word division, tone marking, adding of diacritics, etc.

D.             Colonial Influence

The British colonization of Nigeria has influenced virtually all aspects of the life of the Igbo, particularly the language. Some of the Igbo who attempt to write the language feel that this should be done in accordance with what obtains in English – they spell and write Igbo in English. This has become excessive that they often end up writing what is neither Igbo nor English. The Igbo have also adopted the mistakes made by the colonial masters in the writing of some Igbo place names – Onitsha, Awka, Awgu. Some of the Igbo have anglicized their names e.g. Akomas, Mefos, Ekeson.  Some of the so-called elite have followed English orthography so sheepishly to the extent of suggesting that the diagraphs (gb kw etc.) in Igbo orthography should be ‘modified’ to be in consonance with what they have in English. They are also of the view that tone-marking should be ignored in Igbo, since their model language, English, does not have tones. 

3.0       Current Acceptable Practices in the Writing of Igbo Language

Having expressed some dissatisfaction with the writing of the Igbo language by Igbo natives, I highlight here the basics on the orthography of the standard Igbo for the sustenance and development of the language. I have, however, drawn sufficiently from Emenanjo (1996) and also SPILC 1987. 

3.1       The Writing of Igbo Alphabet

There are 36 letters (of the alphabet) which represent the sounds of standard Igbo:

        a b ch d e f g gb gh gw h

        i ị j k kp kw l m n ñ nw ny

        o ọ p r s sh t u ụ v w y z   

The 36 letters are always written in alphabetical order (as above) with the simple letters (monographs) placed before the double ones (digraphs) and the undotted ones placed before the dotted ones. The alphabet is made up vowels and consonants.

A.        The Vowels: The standard Igbo dialect has 8 vowels: a e i ị o ọ u ụ. The 8 vowels are neatly divided into two sets called heavy vowels (e i o u), and light vowels (a ị ọ ụ).  The heavy vowels go together in simple words e.g ego ‘money’ ìgbe ‘box’, òkpu cap/hat’. The light vowels also go together in simple words e.g àtọ ‘three’, ụlọ ‘house’, ịbà ‘malaria’. This co-existence of vowels in each set is called ‘vowel harmony’. Vowel

harmony may not operate in compound words (e.g Onyebụchi – personal name’, dibia ‘doctor’), complex verbs (e.g idepụta ‘to write out’), borrowed words (e.g gọmenti ‘government’). Special attention should be paid to the writing of the light vowels. Most people write these vowels (carelessly) without the diacritics. The dots below the vowels (ị ọ ụ) are essential and therefore must be included whenever these vowels are written. The dots are also very important since they create differences in words which are otherwise alike. For example:      

iku                        ‘to fetch (with container)

ịkụ                         ‘to hit’

ukwu                        ‘bigness’

ụkwụ                        ‘leg’

ogu                        ‘innocence’

ọgụ                        ‘hoe’

B.        The Consonants: There are 28 consonants in standard Igbo. They are the following: b ch d f g gb gh gw h j k  kp  kw l m n  ñ  nw ny p r s sh t v w y z . 

It should be noted that the consonant letters, ‘sh’ and ‘v’ occur in dialects (mostly in the Central Igbo dialect areas – areas within the former Owerri province). They are, however, used in standard Igbo for the spelling of words drawn from the dialects and also for borrowed words. The writing of some of the consonants should be given special attention.

C.        The Letter ñ: the dot on ñ is part of this letter and therefore must be put while writing it. The dot is very important as it creates a difference between some words which are otherwise alike. For example:

                              ịnụ ihe                  ‘to hear’

                             ịñụ ihe                   ‘to drink’

                             ọnụnụ                    ‘hearing’

                             ọñụñụ                    ‘drinking’ 

D.        Consonants with Labialization: Some of the consonants are accompanied with some lip rounding. The lip rounding is called labialization and it is represented in writing with‘w’. The consonants so affected are the diagraphs – gw kw nw. These consonants must be correctly written to distinguish between the pairs of words like the following:

                            ịgọ   ‘to deny’

                            ịgwọ ‘to cure’

                            ịkọ    ‘to tell’

                            ịkwọ  ‘to grind’

                            ịnụ    ‘to hear’

                            ịnwụ  ‘to die’          

E.         Consonants with Palatalization: Standard Igbo has one consonant with palatalization: ny. However, palatalization is also indicated through the use ‘i’ or ‘ị’ following a consonants. For example: ohia ‘bush’, orie ‘ a market day’, ọrịa ‘sickness’, ọbịa ‘visitor/stranger’. Palatalization should also be correctly written (represented) to distinguish between pairs of words like:

ịba                   ‘to catch’

ịbịa                  ‘to press’

ịba                   ‘to peel’

ịbịa                  ‘to come’

F.         The Syllabic Nasal: The syllabic nasal is a nasal which becomes a syllable by itself without a vowel. Actually, the standard Igbo has a syllabic nasal in addition to the 8 vowels and 28 consonants. The syllabic nasal, written as ‘m’ or ‘n’ (depending on the consonant that follows) is not a consonant like the ordinary ‘m’ or ‘n’.  The syllabic nasal is always homorganic (shares same place of articulation) with a following consonant and is therefore written as ‘m’ before the following consonants: b gb m p kp  f v w y as we have in mbọ ‘effort’, mgba ‘wrestling’, mpe ‘smallness’, mmà ‘knife’, mkpà ‘importance’, mfe ‘easiness’, mvọ ‘ finger nails’, mwepụ ‘removal’, myo ‘a sieve’. It should be pointed out here that the writing of ‘nm’ (as in nma) to mean anything is wrong. The syllabic nasal is written as ‘n’ when any of the other consonants follows it.

3.2       Tones in the Writing of Standard Igbo:  Igbo is a tone language. This means that in the language, the pitch of the voice can make a difference to the meaning of an element, word, phrase or sentence when the vowels and consonants are all the same. For example, the word za with a high tone means ‘reply’, but with a low tone zà means ‘sweep’. Without the tones, there is no other way of showing the difference between these two words which look alike. Tones are essential parts of Igbo structures and therefore should be indicated in writing. Tones are as important as the dots on the light vowels and ‘ñ’. The marking of tones in Igbo is necessary to indicate the correct pronunciations, and meanings of elements, words, phrases and sentences.

3.2.1 Tones –Types, Functions and Marking in Standard Igbo   

There are two basic tones in standard Igbo - High [/], and Low [\] tones. There is another, which is not a full tone but a reduced high tone, referred to downstep or downstepped high tone [‫־‬].

Types of Tones:  

The High tone: This occurs unrestricted in the syllables of a disyllabic Igbo word.  It can precede another high tone or a low tone. For example: aka ‘hand’ akwà ‘a cloth’ ùle ‘examination’.

The Low tone: This also occurs in the positions indicated above. For example: àlà ‘land’, ìtè ‘pot’.

The Downstep: This can only follow a high tone. It cannot occur word initial position, and cannot follow or be followed by a low tone in a disyllabic word in Igbo. The Downstep may occur in the first syllable of a second noun in a noun-noun construction – this is, however, an instance of grammatical tone. The downstep is not a mid-tone and it occurs mostly in phrases and sentences. Examples: ide ‘to write’ ụlọ ānyị ‘our house.

Functions of Tones

Basically tones help to disambiguate words, phrases and sentences which are otherwise alike. For example:

oke     ‘male’

okè     ‘boundary’

òke     ‘a rat’

òkè     ‘a share’  

                       Ọ di mmā        ‘it is good’   (declarative)

                       Ọ di mmā?      ‘is it good?’ (interrogative)

                       Ọ di mmā        ‘if it is good’ (conditional)

ụlọ àto ‘three houses’(cardinal number).

ụlọ āto  ‘third house’  (ordinal number).

Tone Marking

It is quite certain that tone is very important in Igbo. Tones should therefore be marked in all writings in Igbo. Specifically:

Ø      All word, phrase, and sentence examples in grammar texts should be tone-marked.

Ø      Ambiguous words, words that are not clear from the context and grammatical constructions which are different only in tone should be tone-marked in prose texts.

Ø      Tones should be indicated in poems, proverbs, songs, tongue twisters, etc.

Ø       Every syllable should have its own tone placed on vowels and the syllabic nasal (consonants do not bear tone).

Ø      Tones should be marked economically using one of the known conventions. We encourage people to use the Green and Igwe (1963) convention whereby all low and downstepped syllables are marked while high tones are left unmarked. This is the convention used in this paper. However, in strict pedagogic situations, all tones should be marked.

3.3              The Writing of Parts of Speech and Phrases in Standard Igbo

Anyone who takes a careful look at the writings in Igbo of teachers, authors, practitioners, publishers, etc., would find lots of inconsistencies and variations in the writing/spelling of Igbo words and phrases. Many of the Igbo write words and phrases just the way they like and they way things have been from the colonial days. For many of the Igbo, how any word or phrase should be written is justified with English. 

Before getting on with discussions on the writing of words and phrases in Igbo, it is necessary to note these guiding statements:

Ø      Igbo is a syllable-timed tone language and therefore all words should be spelt/written with all their syllables as pronounced. This makes for easy and correct tone-marking.

Ø      Unjustified elision should not be imposed in the writing of words under the guise of what is usually termed ‘simplification’. However, elision (of vowels) can only be justified if the affected syllables have the same pitch level, thus giving room for correct tone marking.  It is known that diachronic elision has affected words like nwoke ‘male/man’ dike ‘strong man’, dibia ‘doctor’.

Ø      An analyst should have sufficient knowledge of the facts of the Igbo grammar particularly, the mophophonology (and derivational morphology) before taking a position on the writing of words and phrases in the language.

Ø      One should always avoid being guided by the English language in determining how an Igbo word or phrase should be written. In fact, if at all another language should be a model to Igbo in orthography matter, it cannot be English, which as much as I know, has a very chaotic and inconsistent orthography.

3.3.1    The Writing of Parts of Speech

The parts of speech recognized here for standard Igbo are: nouns, pronouns, numerals and numbers, adjectives, interrogatives, quantifiers, demonstratives, prepositions, conjunctions, verbals, affixes and enclitics.

Nouns: In Igbo, a noun may be monosyllabic, disyllabic or polysyllabic. For the purposes of this exercise, we group the nouns into two: Proper nouns and Derived nouns.

Proper Nouns: Proper nouns here include personal names, place names, praise names, curse names, club names, and cult names. Some proper nouns are made up of a number of elements. All the elements in a proper noun are always written together no matter how long they may be. Some people are tempted to split some proper nouns with a hyphen because of their length. This is wrong. It should be pointed out that hyphenation can create more problems (than it be assumed to solve) particularly on placement and printing. We believe that if long proper nouns are properly written, and correctly tone-marked, they would always be recognized and read so easily.  Proper nouns include the following:  Agbùgbàeruleekè,  

Nwaànyịbụnwa, Nnàmdi, Anụkpọrọnkunaèjuọnụ, ọkunāāgbaọzàrà, àbàlịdịègwù, nwannedịnamba, ụmụnwaànwa, Mbaìtolū, Ibìnụụkpabị.

                                                                            

Derived Nouns:  Many nouns in Igbo are derived from verbs, while some others are derived from phrases and sentences. Like the proper nouns, all constituent elements of derived nouns are written together as one word, the length of the word notwithstanding. Derived words include the following: erimeri  (edible), èdèrède (text),  ụkọchukwu (pastor), nwanne (sibling), ụmụada (first daughters), nnàmochiè (grandfather),  diòchì (palmwine tapper), dìmkpà (adult), dinweụlọ (landlord), ọgàniihu (progress), àmàmihe (wisdom), èbùmnoobì (aim/plan), àlụkwaghịm (divorce), òjìiegoàchoegō (businessman).

Pronouns:  All pronouns of standard Igbo are written separately from other words in a sentence. For example:

           M gbùrù ewu               ‘I killed a goat’

           I gbùrù ewu                 ‘You killed a goat’

           O gbùrù ewu               ‘He killed a goat’

           Anyì gbùrù ewu           ‘We killed a goat

           Unù gbùrù  ewu          ‘You killed a goat’

           Ha gbùrù ewu             ‘They killed a goat’

           E gbùrù ewu                ‘Someone (some people) killed a goat’

The first person singular pronoun (M) and the third person plural (Ha) may follow the verb in a sentence, in which case the verb takes the harmonizing prefix, a/e.  As a prefix, a/e is written together with the verb while the pronoun is separated from the verb. For example:

                Egbùrù  m  ewu    ‘I killed a goat’

                Egbùrù  hà  ewu   ‘They killed a goat’

It should be noted that this prefix is different from the impersonal pronoun which is written separately from the verb.

The Reflexives: The reflexive pronouns are also written separately from other words in a sentence. For example:

               Mu ònwe m gbùrù ewu       ‘I myself killed a goat’

              Gi ònwe gi gburu ewu         ‘You yourself killed a goat’

Emphatic Usage with Nwa: The pronoun may take the particle/enclitic nwa to express emphatic meaning. In this case, the pronoun is written together with the particle. For example:

               Munwà        ‘my very self’

               Ginwà         ‘your very self’

               Anyịnwà       ‘our very selves’

Numerals/Numbers, Interrogatives, Quantifiers, Demonstratives, Adjectives, Preposition, and Conjunction

All of the words in these parts of speech are written separately from other words in a sentence. For example:

Noun-------Numeral                            Noun---------Interrogative

Mmadụ àtọ biàrà taà                          Mmadụ òle biàrà taà?

‘people three came today’                  ‘people how many came today’

(Three people came today).                  (How many people came today).

Noun-------Quantifier                         Noun-----Demonstrative

Ụlọ niile bụ nkè m                                Ulọ á bụ nke m

‘House all be own me’             ‘House this be own me’

(All the houses are mine)           (This house is mine).

Noun-------Adjective                            Noun--------Conjunction------Noun

Ụlọ ocha bụ nke m                              Ahia nà mmiri dì anyì nso

‘House white be own me’                     ‘market and water be us near’

(The white house is mine)          (The market and the stream are near to us).

Preposition--------Noun

Ụlọ m dì nà Nsụkka dikwa n’Aba

‘House mine be at Nsukka be also at Aba’

(My house is at Nsukka and also at Aba).

The preposition is written in full if the word following it begins with a consonant or syllabic nasal. The vowel of the preposition is deleted (and replaced with inverted comma) if the word following it begins with a vowel.

The Verb

Main Verbs: Main verbs are written separately from other words in a sentence without a hyphen. For example:

                         Uchè gbùrù ewụ  ‘Uche killed a goat’

Auxiliary Verbs: Auxiliary verbs often take the infinitive of the participle as complements. The participle may be simple, obligative, etc. If the auxiliary verb is complemented by either the simple participle of the obligative participle, it is written separately from the complement/participle without a hyphen.

For example:

                   Uchè gà  àbia                  ‘Uche will come’           (with simple participle)

                   Uchè gà àbia                   ‘Uche will surely come’ (obligative participle) 

          

But, if the auxiliary verb is complemented by the simple participle, the auxiliary verb is joined to the complement with a hyphen. For example:

                    Uchè  gà-àbia    ‘Uche will come’

                   Uchè nà-àbia      ‘Uche is coming’      

Most of the auxiliary verbs end with the vowel ‘a’. The hyphen is used as a convention to differentiate/separate this from the prefix of the simple participle. But, if the auxiliary verb takes a suffix, it is written separately from the complement without a hyphen. For example:

                 Uchè agāghi àbia             ‘Uche will not come’

                 Ò gaghị  àbịa                    ‘He will not come’

                Uchè anāghi abia              ‘Uche is not coming’

                Ò naghi abia                      ‘He is not coming’

Affixes:  There are three types of affixes in Igbo: Prefix (affixed before the root), interfix (affixed within), and suffix (affixed after the root). Affixes are found only on the verbs in Igbo. They perform inflectional functions (grammatical functions that do not change the part of speech of the word to which they are attached), extensional functions (modifying the meaning of the word to which they are attached) and derivational functions (producing words that belong to other parts of speech). In all of these functions, affixes are written together with the verb or the derivative of the verb. For example:

  Ebutele  ji!                           ‘Don’t (carry come) bring yam’ 

 E= prefix, te= suffix, le= suffix, while bu= verb

 O siwelere m erimeri            ‘She has started to cook some edibles (food) for me’

si=verb, we=suffix, le=suffix, re=suffix, m (in erimeri)=interfix

It should be noted that a verb can take a good number suffixes, and they all are written together with verb without a hyphen.

Enclitics: Enclitics are elements which like affixes cannot exist on their own as words. Unlike affixes, however, they are found with/following virtually all parts of speech including the verb. Enclitics are written together with all the parts of speech where they occur.

For example:

             Ònyezi bùzì onye à?                          ‘Who is this after all’

             Ginidi nòdì ebe ahụ?                        ‘What is it that is there’

             Ununwa gà-apụ!                                ‘You (yourselves) would leave’

            Biàkwanụ kà anyi kparịianụ!            ‘Come on let’s discuss’

                       Enclitic= zi, di, nu

If an enclitic occurs with a single-lettered word in a part of speech, the enclitic is written separately from the word. For example:

              Onye à kwà biàkwàrà  ‘This person also came’

3.3.2    The Writing of Phrases in Standard Igbo

There are several types of phrases in Igbo. We have, however, identified some of those that are regularly wrongly written in the language. They include nominal phrase, agentive phrase, instrumental phrase, duplicated (noun) phrase, and co-ordinate noun phrase.

Nominal Phrase: A nominal phrase is made up of two or more nouns (common or personal). The nouns in a nominal phrase are written separately irrespective of the semantic status of one or both nouns in Igbo and irrespective of whether the phrase translates to a word or idiom in English. For example:

              nwa akwụkwọ                     ‘student’

              ezi okwu                               ‘truth’

             mmekpa ahu                         ‘uneasiness’

             àhu ọnụ                                 ‘beard’

             ùdù mmirī                             ‘rainy season’

             aka èkpè                               ‘left hand’

             ọgba aghara                         ‘disturbance’ 

             onye nkụzi                             ‘teacher’

             ama egwùregwū                   ‘stadium’

             ụlò ọgwụ                               ‘hospital’

Agentive Phrase: In the agentive phrase, the ‘noun agent’ and one or more other nouns express the meaning of ‘doer of an action’. The nouns in this phrase are written separately irrespective of the translations in English.

For example:  ogba oso ‘sprinter’

                 òje ōzi                               ‘messenger’

                 ògba oke mgba                 ‘great wrestler’

                 ọkpu uzu                           ‘blacksmith’

                 ògbu nnu ọrià                   ‘universal remedy’ 

Instrumental Phrase: In this phrase, ‘noun instrument’ and one or more nouns express the meaning of ‘the instrument used for an action’. The nouns in this phrase are written separately irrespective of their translation in English. For example:

                  ngwu àlà                          ‘digger’

                  nche ānwu                       ‘sun shade/umbrella’

                  mbu ibu                            ‘beast of burden’

                  mkpo āja                         ‘pay loader’

                  mkpo āhihia                     ‘refuse disposal van’

Duplicated (Noun) Phrase: I have used the term ‘duplicated’ for these nouns, and not ‘Reduplicated’ as can be found in some popular literature. My reasons have been discussed elsewhere — they are not particularly the concern of this write-up. In this phrase, the same noun can be repeated two or more times to express a variety of meanings. The repeated nouns are written separately no matter the number of times they are repeated, and no matter what they translate to in English. For example:

                ọsọ ọsọ                               ‘quickly’

                ọsọ ọsọ ọsọ ọsọ                  ‘very quickly’

                mmiri mmiri                       ‘watery’

                òbàrà òbàrà                       ‘reddish’

                mma mma                          ‘very beautiful’

Co-ordinate (Noun) Phrase: This phrase is made up of two nouns or noun phrases that are joined by the conjunction ‘na’. They are usually complementary dualities. The nouns are so related that the combination usually translates to English as one word. This notwithstanding, all the components of this phrase are written separately. For example:

              èzi nà ụlò                                         ‘family’

              onye ihu nà onye azụ                       ‘all and sundry’

              òfọ nà ogù                                       ‘total innocence’ 

              òriri nà ọñụñụ                                  ‘eating and drinking’

              okwu nà ụkà                                    ‘a quarrel’

              ekwughi ekwu nà akàghị akà          ‘without warning’

            

               chi ọma nà chi ọjọọ                      ‘good and bad luck’

              àkụ nà ụba                                     ‘wealth’

               mgba nà ọgụ                                  ‘extreme struggle’

              ọnwụ nà ndụ                                  ‘life and death’

3.3.3.   The Writing of Igbo Metalanguage: Metalanguage is the language used in writing, describing and speaking about specialized matters in a language. It contains technical terms of all sorts for all subjects. In other to distinguish technical terms from others, the two or more elements which make up a technical term should be written together without regard to the vowel assimilation that is characteristic of the Igbo speech and without hyphens. For example:

                    ọkàasụsụ                                    metalaguage’

                    nkejiasụsụ                                  ‘part of speech’

                    ụtọasụsụ                                    ‘grammar’

                    nnọnèètiti                                   ‘interfix’

                    nsònààzụ                                    ‘suffix’

                   nkebiokwu                                  ‘phrase’

                   ndepụtaghari                              ‘transcription’

                   njirimara                                    ‘characteristics’

                   edendūonye                                 ‘biography’

                   mbùnuuchè                                 ‘objective’

3.3.4.   The Writing of Ideophones: Ideophones are words which are used to describe, dramatize and comment upon actions, states, or events. They can describe sounds, movements, gestures, colour, size, taste, smell, heat, cold and even silence. Ideophones are written separately as words in their own right. Ideophone can be in simple, duplicated or compound forms. Note should be taken that writing a simple ideophone twice (or even thrice) is not same as writing one that is originally duplicated or compound. For example:

O kwù chịm                                         ‘He is standing erect’

Ọ kwù chịm chịm?                               ‘He is standing very erect’

O fèrè isi yā kpàkàkpàkà                    ‘He swung his head in complete disagreement’.

Ọ gwàrà m kpomkwèm ihe ha kwùrù  ‘He told me precisely what they said’

Ideophones=  chịm, kpàkàkpàkà, kpomkwèm.

3.3.5. The Writing of Particles: The particle that features prominently in Standard Igbo, particularly in metalanguage, is ‘ke’ (of).

 Particles are written together with the words with which they are used. For example:

                Keàhà                    ‘of (pertaining to) the noun’

               Kembuùzò               ‘the preposition’

               Kemkpatara           ‘causative’

               Keakamèrè             ‘artficial’

               Keọdinkwenye        ‘credible’

3.3.6.   The Writing of Miscellaneous Words/Phrases: I have put under this heading various Igbo words and phrases which are written regularly differently and often with justifications from the English translations. We suggest that the following should be written as given based on the facts of Igbo morphosyntax (and semantics), and not on meaning drawn from another language:

                   di kà                                ‘like/as’

                   ọ bulà                              ‘every’

                   etu o sila di                   ‘however’

                   e wezụga                         ‘but for’

                   mà ọ bụ                           ‘or’

                   màkà nà                          ‘because of’

                   n’ihì nà                           ‘because of’

3.3.7.   The Writing of Loan Words:  A loan word is that which is borrowed from another language. Igbo language has borrowed mostly from English (of concepts and terms which are non-existent in the culture). The following should be noted on the writing of loan words in Igbo:

i.                     All loan words should be Igbonized.

ii.                   All the vowels that occur within the word must be clearly written out to give room for correct tone-marking.

iii.                  Consonant cluster (if any) should not be broken as its presence indicates that the word is actually borrowed.

iv.                  Vowels may not be inserted at the end of a borrowed word which ends with a consonant because, again, this feature shows the word is actually borrowed.       

Based on the foregoing therefore, either of the following is correct:

eletriik       -----   eletriiki           ‘electric’

boọlụ         ----    boọlụ                ‘ball’

klọọk         ----    klọọkụ              ‘clock’

shọop         ----  shọọpụ              ‘shop’

rekọod       ----  rekọọdụ             ‘record’   

The following should also be noted based on iii and iv above:

batrì               ‘battery’

eletrisitì          ‘electricity’

doometrì        ‘dormitory’

futbọọlụ         ‘football’

Cadbọọdụ     ‘cardboard’

3.3.8. The Writing of Dialect Words: Standard Igbo contains varieties of Igbo drawn from various dialect areas, mostly from the central Igbo area. The Igbo Standardization Committee has recommended, for the standard, words which contain certain consonants as against those with which they interchange in some dialects. For example:

             h         instead of                         f

          ahịa                   , ,                      afia                            ‘market’

          ahà                    , ,                     afaà                            ‘name’

              r                   , ,                         l

          mmirī               , ,                     mmilī                           ‘water’

           ìri                    , ,                      ìli                                ‘ten

     

          l                         ,,                        n

        ụlọ                       ,,                     ụnọ                              ‘house’

        kèle                    ,,                      kène                             ‘greet’

          h           instead of          r

        àhụ             ,,                  arụ                              ‘body’

       ihu               ,,                   iru                                ‘face’.

However, not all dialect words can be reduced to Standard and there are many dialect words which have no Standard forms. Given this situation, therefore, it is suggested that those words which cannot be re-written in the convention of the standard be written as they occur in the dialects.  Again, dialect words and morphemes (affixes) which are distinct in their right, should be written as they occur in the dialects. Thus, we would have words like:

            

                       ebìrì----ùkè---ògbo      ‘age grade’

                       abìrìka----ògèdè          ‘plantain’

                       òròma---epe--ugiri    ‘orange’

4.0 Conclusion

I have given some suggestions on the writing of some aspects of the Standard Igbo. However, the following should be noted:

i.                     Igbo is a tone language. Therefore, tone should not be ignored in writing the language.

ii.                   Igbo is a syllable-timed tone language. Words are thus written with all their syllables fully spelt out as pronounced. The spelling of the following words should be taken note of:

niile       NOT         Nile

Maàzi       ,,            Mazi

ndeèwo     ,,            ndewo

nwaànyị   ,,            nwanyi

unyàahụ   ,,           unyahu

deède       ,,           dede.

I share the view of Emenanjo (1996, p.33) that in a tone language like Igbo, it is better to ‘over spell’ a word with all its syllables and tone marks, than to under spell with elided syllables and no to marks.

References

Emenanjo, E. N. (1996). Standard Igbo Spelling – A Practical Guide. Aba: Unique Press Ltd.

Nwadike I. U. (2008). Igbo Studies: From the Plantations of West Indies to the Forestlands of West Africa, 1766-2008.

Onukawa, M. C. (2001). The Writing of Standard Igbo in Okereke O.O. (ed.) Readings in Citizenship Education. Okigwe: Wythem Publishers.

Oraka L.N. (1983) Foundations of Igbo Studies - A short History of the Study of Igbo language and Culture. Onitsha: U.P.C.

S.P.I.L.C. (1987). Recommendations of the Igbo Standardization Committees vols. I-V. Onithsha: U.P.C.

Williamson, K. (1984). Practical Orthography in Nigeria. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

Source: NILAS Vol. 2, No.2: Journal of Institute for Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Aba Campus

M.C. Onukawa is a professor of linguistics at Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria