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Igbo

Igbo is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken in Nigeria, by about 27 million people.

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Igbo · 4.6°N 7.2°E

Igbo (English: EE-boh, US also IG-boh; Standard Igbo: Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò [ásʊ̀sʊ̀ ìɡ͡bò] ) is the principal native language of the Igbo people, an ethnicity in the Southeastern part of Nigeria.

Igbo languages are spoken by a total of 31 million people. The number of Igboid languages depends on how one classifies a language versus a dialect, so there could be around 35 different Igbo languages. The core Igbo cluster, or Igbo proper, is generally thought to be one language but there is limited mutual intelligibility between the different groupings (north, west, south and east). A standard literary language termed 'Igbo izugbe' (meaning "general igbo") was generically developed and later adopted around 1972, with its core foundation based on the Orlu (Isu dialects), Anambra (Awka dialects) and Umuahia (Ohuhu dialects), omitting the nasalization and aspiration of those varieties.

From Wikipedia · Igbo language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Written down

A mụrụ mmadụ nile n'ohere nakwa nha anya ugwu na ikike. E nyere ha uche na mmụọ ime ihe ziri ezi nke na ha kwesiri ịkpaso ibe ha agwa n'obi nwanne na nwanne.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR in Unicode).

Words in Igbo

MeaningWordRomanization
mothernne
fathernna
childnyaka
womannwanyi
nameahà
friendenyi
eyeanya
earntị
handáká
heartobi
bloodobara
boneọkpụkpụ
liverimeju
watermmiri
fireọku
starkpakpando
rainmmiri ozuzo
snowsinoo
mountainugwu
riveruji
seaosịmịrị
treeosisi
leafakwụkwọ
dognkịtā
fishazụ
birdnnụnụ
horseị̀nyị̀nyà
pigezì
snakeagwọ
oneotu

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Vocabulary

Grammar

Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.

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Glottolog · nucl1417 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · ibo