Is Yorùbá language endangered?
Three Nigeria’s major languages -Yoruba, Igbo, and Ishekiri are also endangered, according to studies by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and views expressed by language teachers, and linguists.
What kind of language is Yoruba?
Yorùbá is a Niger-Congo language related to Igala, Edo, Ishan, and Igbo amongst others. It is one of the principal languages of Nigeria and spoken in a couple of countries in the West African coast.
How many types of Yoruba are there?
According to numerous sources, there are between 20 and 26 dialects of the Yoruba language (Ethnologue May 2004; Professor of African languages 22 Nov.
How many countries in the world speak Yorùbá language?
Hours to be arranged. Yoruba is spoken in the West African countries of Nigeria, Benin Republic, and parts of Togo and Sierra Leone, therefore constituting one of the largest single languages in sub-Saharan Africa. Yoruba is also spoken in Cuba and Brazil.
Why is language endangerment?
Pérez Báez: A language can, unfortunately, become endangered relatively easily. It happens when fewer and fewer people speak it, and especially when children stop learning it as their dominant language. These children are then less likely to speak it at home and teach it to their children.
How many dead languages are in Nigeria?
There are over 520 languages spoken in Nigeria and 27 are close to extinction already. An endangered language is a language that it is at risk of falling out of use, generally because it has few surviving speakers. If it loses all of its native speakers, it becomes an extinct language.
Is Yoruba an isolating language?
Next, I present evidence that The Yoruba language is indeed a language isolate. At present many sources class Yoruba as being in the Kwa subgroup of the ‘Niger Congo Family’ or in the ‘west Sudanic family’.
Is Yoruba a hard language to learn?
The Yoruba language is probably the most scholastically studied indigenous West African language, which makes it one of the easiest African languages to learn. The Yoruba people are well travelled and scattered across major continents in the world.
Why is Yoruba important?
The Yoruba have traditionally been among the most skilled and productive craftsmen of Africa. They worked at such trades as blacksmithing, weaving, leatherworking, glassmaking, and ivory and wood carving.
What is unique about Yoruba culture?
The Yoruba are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. 5. The Yoruba are a very sociable and expressive people who commemorate major events with colorful festivals and celebrations. Weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals and even housewarming parties are celebrated in a lavish and ceremonial nature.
How popular is Yoruba language?
According to Wikipedia, Yoruba is the most widely spoken language outside Nigeria and Africa. It’s been estimated that there are over 40 million Yoruba primary and secondary language speakers across the globe. These Yoruba speakers are found in Togo and Benin Republic.
Does Brazil speak Yoruba?
The African slaves also influenced the way of life in Brazil. They brought their language, Yoruba, which is widely spoken in southwestern Nigeria today and also in parts of Brazil’s Bahia state.
What language is in danger?
UNESCO languages by degress of endangeredness
Name in English | Number of speakers | Degree of endangerment |
---|---|---|
Lombard | 3500000 | Definitely endangered |
Romani | 3500000 | Definitely endangered |
Yiddish (Israel) | 3000000 | Definitely endangered |
Gondi | 2713790 | Vulnerable |
Why is the loss of language a problem?
The loss of language undermines a people’s sense of identity and belonging, which uproots the entire community in the end. Yes, they may become incorporated into the dominant language and culture that has subsumed them, but they have lost their heritage along the way.”
What is an isolated language example?
isolating language, a language in which each word form consists typically of a single morpheme. Examples are Classical Chinese (to a far greater extent than the modern Chinese languages) and Vietnamese.
What makes language become isolating?
It is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or “genetic”) relationships—one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. One explanation for the existence of language isolates is that they might be the last remaining branch of a larger language family.
Which language is easiest in Nigeria?
Hausa should be the simpliest since its widely spoken in the even by non hausa tribes. Its even wiping out other languages in the north. It should carry the crown. Yoruba.
What do Yoruba believe?
Many Yoruba are now Christians or Muslims, but aspects of their traditional religion survive. The traditional Yoruba religion has an elaborate hierarchy of deities, including a supreme creator and some 400 lesser gods and spirits, most of whom are associated with their own cults and priests.
How would you describe the Yoruba culture?
Yoruba culture consists of cultural philosophy, religion and folktales. They are embodied in Ifa divination, and are known as the tripartite Book of Enlightenment in Yorubaland and in its diaspora. Yoruba cultural thought is a witness of two epochs. The first epoch is a history of cosmogony and cosmology.
What are Yoruba values?
In the various stories about the tortoise (ìjàpá), the stalking folk hero animal of Yorùbá mythology, it is clear that the values of respect, diligence, accountability, truthfulness, honesty, devotion, loyalty, etc., are never below the surface in all aspects of human endeavors and interactions with others and with non …
What are Yoruba known for?
Is Yoruba spoken in Cuba?
Lucumí is a lexicon of words and short phrases derived from the Yoruba language and used for ritual purposes in Cuba and the Cuban Diaspora; it is used as the liturgical language of Santería in Cuba and other communities that practice Santería/Cuban Orisa/Lucumí religion/Regla de Ocha.