Itsekiri
| Itsekiri | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Nigeria | |
| speaker | 510,000 (1991) | |
| Linguistic classification |
Niger-Congo
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 |
its |
|
The Itsekiri language is a yoruboid language that is spoken by nearly 900,000 people in Nigeria as their mother tongue and by some others as an additional language, especially in the Niger Delta and parts of the Nigerian states of Edo and Ondo .
Itsekiri is a major language of the Yoruboid group of languages, which is itself a key member of the Volta-Niger subfamily of the Niger-Congo African language family . The other key members of the yoruboid group are Yoruba (22 million) and Igala (1.8 million) along with various Yoruba dialects spoken in Benin and Togo . Itsekiri is most closely related to the southeastern Yoruba dialects and closely resembles their grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. The Itsekiri-speaking area is at the southern end of a continuum of Yoruba dialects that extends from the northern Yoruba countries of Oyo and Offa to the western mouths of the Niger Delta. In many areas, Standard Yoruba and Itsekiri could be considered official variants of the same language. Although Itsekiri and the southeastern Yorubadialekte up to some extent understandable, depending on how they are close to, but do not use native language Itsekiri spokesman as opposed to Speakers of Other Yorubadialekte the Standardyoruba as a lingua franca . This is due to the historical isolation of the main part of the Itsekiri speakers in the Niger Delta from the continuum of the Yoruba speakers and the centuries-long development of an independent and different socio-cultural-political Itsekiri identity. Nonetheless, from a linguistic standpoint, both Itsekiri and Standard Yoruba (based on the Oyo dialect) can be considered the two officially recognized standard formats of the Yoruba dialect cluster - one spoken by nearly a million people, the other by over 20 million.
Itsekiri is closest to Yoruba and distantly related to Igala, and combines elements of both languages. It was also heavily influenced by Edo (Bini) , Portuguese, and English , and has borrowed words from the neighboring languages Ijo (an ijoide language ) and Urhobo (an edoid language ). However, its basic structure, grammar, and vocabulary are essentially Yoruboid, as their closest relatives are the southeastern group of Yoruba dialects: Ijebu, Ilaje-Ikale, Ondo, Akure, and Owo. While it most closely resembles these dialects, the Itsekiri also contains elements from the northern Yoruba dialects, especially Ife and Oyo. Itsekiri has also developed in part from the palace Yoruba dialect spoken in the pre-colonial Kingdom of Benin - the Itsekiri monarchy has its roots in the Benin Kingdom and a form of the palace Yoruba also influenced its development. The Itsekiri also developed partly from an amalgam of languages from different groups that were present in the western Niger Delta at the time of the formation of the Itsekiri nation in the early 15th century.
Nowadays the Yoruba, English and especially the Nigerian Pidgine English exert a great influence on the development of the Itsekiri. Many Itsekiri are now bilingual with English or Pidginenglisch and prefer these as everyday language.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Williamson, Kay 1989, Benue-Congo Overview, pp. 248-278.