| Yoruboid | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | EasternGhana, CentralTogo, Southern, Central & NorthernBenin, Western, Southern and CentralNigeria |
| Linguistic classification | Niger–Congo?
|
Early form | UndifferentiatedEde-Igala |
| Proto-language | Proto-Yoruboid language |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | yoru1244 |
 | |
Yoruboid is a language family composed of theIgala group of dialects spoken in south centralNigeria, and theEdekiri languages subdivided into theEde group (which includes Yoruba) spoken in a band acrossTogo,Ghana,Benin and southernNigeria, and theItsekiri group of the Warri Kingdom in the northwestern Niger-Delta.[1]
The nameYoruboid derived from its most widely spoken member,Yoruba, which has around 55 million primary and secondary speakers.[citation needed] Another well-known Yoruboid language isItsekiri (about 1,000,000 speakers). The Yoruboid group is a branch ofDefoid, which also includes theAkoko andAyere-Ahan languages.[2]
The termDefoid itself is a derivative combination using the elementsede (meaning 'language' in most lects within the grouping), "Ife", a city of profound cultural significance to speakers of the diverse lects, and-oid, a suffix meaning 'to be like' or 'in the same manner as'. TheDefoid group itself is a branch of theBenue–Congo subfamily of the widerNiger–Congo family of languages.
All Yoruboid languages are tonal, with most of them having three level tones. Grammatically, they are isolating with a subject–verb–object basic word order and share significant degrees of both structural and lexical similarities.
Igala is a key Yoruboid language, spoken by 1.6 million people in the Niger-Benue confluence of central Nigeria; it is excised from the main body of Yoruboid languages to the west byEbira and the northernEdoid languages. Igala is closely related to both Yoruba and Itsekiri languages.
The Itsekiris are a riverine Yoruboid people who live in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. They maintain a distinct identity separate from other Yoruboid people but speak a very closely related language. Their neighbouring languages are theUrhobo, theOkpe, theEdo, theIjo, and the Mahin / Ugbo, Yoruba dialects spoken in neighbouringOndo State.
| Proto-Yoruboid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Igala | Edekiri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ede (Yoruba Proper)* | Itsekiri** | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Ede | Mokole | Eastern Ede | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North Nago & Ede Kura | Southwestern Ede | Ede Shabe | Southeastern Ede | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ede Isha &Manigri | Ede Idaasha | Ana-Ife | Nuclear Yoruba | Ede Ije, South Nago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ede Yoruba - Lucumi | Olukumi/Ulukwumi*** | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NWY & SWY | Central Yoruba | NEY & SEY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* - All dialects in the Ede cluster share between 85 and 95% lexical similarity and are thus all mutually intelligible without needing different specialized literature to achieve universal understanding.
** - Itsekiri is actually most closely related to SEY (South-Eastern Yoruba), and is a divergent branch thereof, but has a different standard writing orthography.
*** - Some scholars classifyOlukumi as separate variant of Nuclear Yoruba, and others as a dialect of SEY.[clarification needed]
Below is a list of selected Yoruboid language names, populations, and locations from Blench (2019).[3]
| Language | Dialects | Alternate spellings | Own name for language | Endonym(s) | Other names (location-based) | Other names for language | Exonym(s) | Speakers | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulukwumi | Olukumi, Unukwumi | 20,000 | Delta State, Aniocha and Oshimili LGAs | ||||||
| Igala | Ánkpa and Ògùgù in Ankpa LGA; Ìfè in Ankpa and Dekina LGAs; Ànyìgbá in Dekina LGA; ‘Idáh and Ìbàjì in Idah and Anambra(?) LGAs; and Èbú in Oshimili LGA | Igara | 295,000 (1952), 800,000 (1987 UBS) | Benue State, Ankpa, Dekina, Idah and Bassa LGAs;Edo State, Oshimili LGA;Anambra State, Anambra LGA | |||||
| Iṣẹkiri | Itsekiri, Ishekiri, Shekiri, Chekiri, Jekri, Izekíri, Tshekeri, Dsekiri | Iwere, Irhobo, Warri | Iselema–Otu (Ịjọ name for Warri/Itsekiri people), Selemo | 33,000 (1952); over 100,000 (1963 Omamor); 500,000 (1987 UBS) | Delta State, Warri, Bomadi and Ethiope LGAs | ||||
| Yoruba | Many dialects | Yorùbá | Yorùbá | Aku, Akusa, Eyagi, Nago | 5,100,000 (1952), 15,000,000 (UBS 1984), 50,000,000 (Ethnologue 2018)[4] | Most of Kwara, Lagos, Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo States; western LGAs inKogi State; and intoBenin Republic,Togo andGhana. Yoruba is spoken as a ritual language in Cuba and Brazil |
This article incorporatestext available under theCC BY 3.0 license.