Comments on naijablog: On Nigerian Languages

Nsibidi is the writing of the Ekoi people, but it&...

2010-10-18T00:55:48.090+01:00

Nsibidi is the writing of the Ekoi people, but it's not the only indigenous writing system in southern Nigeria. Other writing formats are the Aniocha symbols and the Mbari symbols. There are probably even more, but they aren't given much attention. Aniocha and Mbari were invented and used by the Southern Igbo. Nsibidi is probably older than them, but this is just a guess.

For those of you who want to dig further into the ...

2010-09-23T13:27:57.731+01:00

For those of you who want to dig further into the structure of some Nigerian languages: A new e-book entitled, Verbal Categories in Niger-Congo Languages, by Derek Nurse, Sarah Rose and John Hewson, is now available. Each chapter of the book is available to download for free in PDF format from: http://www.mun.ca/linguistics/nico.

the age of the ceramics shocked every one. certain...

2010-09-16T21:37:20.484+01:00

the age of the ceramics shocked every one. certainly nothing like that is being done in that area anymore. 5th to 14th? century or so. I ran a joint at the museum so the team of his phd students hung out there the 2 summers it took to do most of the work... http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/afar.2007.40.1.18

Hi. Nsibidi can still be found on the wrappers efi...

2010-09-16T21:28:14.610+01:00

Hi. Nsibidi can still be found on the wrappers efiks, camerounians and quas tie... mostly men.

Theres an interesting excavation that was done by prof ekpo eyo in calabar years ago. ancient pottery. decorated with nsibidi. maybe women wrote this language in the past? cos they made the pots im sure... article http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Early+ceramics+from+Calabar,+Nigeria%3A+towards+a+history+of+nsibidi-a0160331983
pictures http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/mit-press/early-ceramics-from-calabar-nigeria-towards-a-history-of-nsibidi-lGgpn9y0wc

@sugabelly: Apology accepted. I didn't claim t...

2010-09-15T17:28:16.301+01:00

@sugabelly: Apology accepted. I didn't claim that writing hasn't existed in Nigerian languages before colonial times. I wrote "I haven't heard of any" which is true, as I hadn't heard of Nsibidi before. My fault. It's good you mentioned it, so people can make their own opinions.

Concerning my being an "expert" on Nigerian languages - I am afraid I need to lower people's expectations. The fact that someone has earned a Ph.D. in any field usually makes him or her an expert only in his or her topic of research - not in all the other topics.

I learned some Hausa and I earned my Ph.D. writing a dissertation thesis on "The Daffo variety of Ron", a small Chadic language spoken in Central Nigeria. Later I did more research on other Chadic languages. I never studied Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Fulfulde and all the
other languages spoken in Nigeria.

When I worked at Unijos from 1998 to 2000 I participated in the competition "Nigeria on the Net 1999", and earned a price for my "Nigerian languages page" which was later put online at the University of Iowa. Some of the information you find there is actually outdated by now. I am glad it helped you with a project anyway.

Today I publish articles on Hausa and other Chadic languages on my different blogs - while earning my living doing something else. I rarely get a chance to travel to Nigeria any more.

Hope my life story didn't bore you. I wish you a nice time of study in the US (I spent two years at CU Boulder). Try to be patient with ignorant people.

@Anon 3:31: Nope! The Ekpe is not purely Efik. It&...

2010-09-15T16:14:18.473+01:00

@Anon 3:31: Nope! The Ekpe is not purely Efik. It's actually much larger on its Igbo side.

@the other anon: Did I ever tell you that I was God and you must accept everything I say or die a blazing death of fire?

Exactly.. I didn't so draw your own conclusions

@Uwe: I apologise if I seemed rude in my initial outrage but you did say that there were no Nigerian writing systems in your interview. Seeing as you are considered an expert, statements like the one you made will probably become the backing emboldening people to say things like Africans are primitive and backward because they never achieved writing....when the reality is that 90% of Africa's (and most especially Nigera's) past has either been forgotten or still lies undiscovered.

I attend university in the US and you have no idea how many otherwise intelligent people in my classes have come up with such amazing gems during class discussions as

There are no banks in Africa
Africans never had any writing systems

There was no formal education in Africa before the Europeans came

Africans have contributed nothing in the arts

All Africans are farmers

and so on

Imagine having to sit through class after class listening to such rubbish and then to hear confirmation of it in an expert's interview when you know otherwise.

@Anon UJ: Thanks for the greeting. I have gained s...

2010-09-15T11:15:59.272+01:00

@Anon UJ: Thanks for the greeting. I have gained some weight since then. ;-)

@ Jeremy, If Nsibidi was indeed "a hermetic ...

2010-09-15T04:09:37.020+01:00

@ Jeremy,

If Nsibidi was indeed "a hermetic script used by the Egbe secret society" then it follows that it must have been used by the Ibos since the Egbe secret society thrives among the Aro (particularly Arochukwu), Bende and Abriba peoples of Ibo land.

Sugabelly, what you stated isn't correct about...

2010-09-15T03:31:23.015+01:00

Sugabelly, what you stated isn't correct about the origins of nsidibi. For one the igbos share no secret societies with the ibibios and efik.

Ekpe society is purely an efik invention and doesn't even exist among the ibibios, though a few ibibio men have been allowed the join. The richest of the nsibidi found in the ejagham society and its wide use on structures suggests it's origin stems from them. Nsbidi doesnt translate into igbo The Igbo claim is nothing more that cultural misappropriation. Yes I know the ejagham are small but let's not marginalize them further. Soon we'll be told the monoliths were placed there by igbos

@ Sugabelly, an apology to Uwe would have been goo...

2010-09-15T00:59:08.512+01:00

@ Sugabelly, an apology to Uwe would have been good. He is too gracious. I don't think he asked for your explanation on nsibidi.

Secondly, learn to quote/cite ur references. It'll be good for the rest of us to analyse ur sources and not just take what you write as fact... you get my drift? If you believe the info on the internet is too sketchy, direct us to the wholsome info. tnx

@Jeremy: Yep, I'm referring to THAT punitive ...

2010-09-14T22:47:31.055+01:00

@Jeremy:

Yep, I'm referring to THAT punitive expedition.

It is not implausible to assume that the Aros (or at least those of them who were in power and of influence) knew about /used Nsibidi.

Considering the needs of their activities (their extensive network of spies, mercenaries, agents, etc), they would DEFINITELY need to send messages long distance to all sorts of people and given the nature of some of the activities they engaged in, the fewer people that could read those messages the better for them.

So I certainly would not rule it out. In fact, it might even be a key factor in how their reach extended so far (it's impossible to build that kind of extensive network without some means of reliable communication).

Also, I think that when most people think of Nigerian history they tend to think from colonisation forward. Noone remembers that before Nigeria it was a bunch of empires and kingdoms all neighbouring each other.

Of course there were power struggles and turf wars. Maybe between the smaller territories illiteracy might have been okay, but if you're talking about all the big empires in the south that were so close to each other, for the elite to be illiterate is unthinkable. How else would large scale wars be carried out? How else would people plot and betray each other and backstab their allies in order to gain even more power, influence, and wealth? There were obviously writing systems and other communication forms existent in Nigeria but when you take into account the fact that by the time the British arrived on our shores, most if not all the Nigerian empires were ALREADY in their decline and combine this with the fact that from the 19th century downward in most of the empires/kingdoms/etc of the world, MOST of the people (i.e. the peasants/non-elite/non-noble/non - aristocratic/lay people) either were completely illiterate or were only partially literate (again- need to know basis... such as market women knowing how to do basic accounting but not knowing sophisticated poetry) then it is not surprising at all that by the time the British arrived, there was very little left of any of the Nigerian writing systems (save of course for Arabic - which of course was imported anyway and so doesn't count).

Sugabelly: are you referring to the punitive exped...

2010-09-14T22:34:55.971+01:00

Sugabelly: are you referring to the punitive expedition that destroyed the Aro Confederacy? Of all the aggressive colonial adventures, this was surely the most defensible (among a long list of indefensibles), given the Aros role in controlling the slave supply routes to the Bight of Biafra.

If you ARE referring to the destruction of the Aro gangster network, then you are also implying that Nsibidi was part of the Long Juju right? That would make sense. It reminds me - I recall reading recently (I think in Crowder's Story of Nigeria) that the people of Arochukwu never believed in the Long Juju themselves, they always knew it was a con...

RE: Nsibidi Use by Igbos There is a common miscon...

2010-09-14T22:09:35.390+01:00

RE: Nsibidi Use by Igbos

There is a common misconception that Nsibidi was invented by the "ejagham" people.

This is untrue.

There are a number of secret societies that are shared by the Igbo, the Ibibio (and sometimes the Efik).

Nsibidi was created by one of these societies (and if I'm not mistaken it was the Ekpe cult)

Uli is an Igbo artform that makes use of Nsibidi but I'm not confusing Nsibidi with Uli.

Just making that clear.

@Uwe: Most of the information about Nsibidi availa...

2010-09-14T22:03:34.904+01:00

@Uwe: Most of the information about Nsibidi available on the Internet is sketchy at best.

Nsibidi is a logographic writing system (similar to Kanji/Chinese Kana) in which whole concepts, words, or ideas are represented by one symbol.

It was developed by the secret societies that are common to the Igbo and the Efik/Ibibio thousands of years ago and was heavily restricted as a means of protecting cult secrets and maintaining power etc.

Today most of it has fallen into disuse obviously and it has been impossible to get a complete listing of all symbols partly because of the effects of colonialism and westernization and partly because the secret societies that DO know about it want to keep it well... secret.

Nsibidi can be found on most authentic Igbo masks older than say 70-80 years, but probably the best place to find Nsibidi is on the clothes worn by secret society members during cult activities. It's also on some of the graves of cult members.

And it WAS a legitimate writing system. Unfortunately the folly was that it wasn't allowed to spread into the general population as a standard means of literacy. Of course there were members of the Igbo masses that knew Nsibidi but from what research I've been able to do, it's obvious that the literate secret societies only taught it to non-society members on a strictly need to know basis.

Then of course, English came along and wiped it all away anyway.

As for the age of Nsibidi, well consider the fact that with the exception of artefacts that were stolen from Nigeria during the occupation and the Punitive Expedition, very little archaeological work has been done in Nigeria. Oh there've been digs here and there but certainly no major concerted effort.

Nsibidi is at least 500-1000 years old, and probably older, but then again, it was written mostly on fabric rather than on paper, and considering that most of the fabric used by Igbos until the 16th century and beyond was pure organic cotton, I would wager that most of whatever was written has long since decomposed in the ground seeing as cotton is biodegradable.

A good discussion. I think we can all agree that ...

2010-09-14T21:06:53.701+01:00

A good discussion. I think we can all agree that with 527 to choose from, no linguist or linguistics professor can hope to be an expert in more than a handful (or maybe two handsful) of Nigerian languages.

As with so many other aspects of Nigerian culture and history, there is so much that is yet to be researched and analysed.

In a parallel universe, there would be tens of linguistics departments in Nigeria busy taking the weight of people like Dr Seibert!

easy on Sugabelly, it does get frustrating when on...

2010-09-14T20:48:27.442+01:00

easy on Sugabelly, it does get frustrating when one has to constantly challenge pre-conceived notions about 9ja etc.

On the other hand, Sugabelly, remember that project you were working on with your masters class on 9ja, I sent you a link on languages. They were carefully compiled by Uwe Seibert! If you used that at all he was key to that well deserved A lol!

@Uwe, I was a student of Linguistics at UniJos (graduated 91) when you first attended. I remember you being so lanky we wondered if you ate at all :) You looked so lost, so far from home. Glad you've done well for yourself. I gave up Linguistics for another profession although I'm beginning to find it fascinating, something I couldn't quite muster when I was in UJ.

Anon UJ

i don't know that racism is rife among black a...

2010-09-14T19:18:10.682+01:00

i don't know that racism is rife among black africans, just that the treatment of Uwe may stem from it. or maybe it's something rational like the fear of cultural misappropriation.

@ Anonymous 12:26 "racism is rife amongst bla...

2010-09-14T16:27:43.355+01:00

@ Anonymous 12:26
"racism is rife amongst black africans especially 'we' mannerless, intolerant Nigerians who can't bear the fact that a white foreigner probably knows a lot more about our history culture origins better than most of us."

Can you hear yourself?
Give us a break! The fact that one disagrees with someone from a different race now qualifies one as mannerless?

@anonymous 12:26 (good idea to use the comment tim...

2010-09-14T14:31:05.381+01:00

@anonymous 12:26 (good idea to use the comment time, since almost every one is "anonymous" here): Thank you for defending my status as an "expert". The truth is: I know very little about most of the languages spoken in Nigeria and probably I won't have enough lifetime left to change that.

@sugabelly: I don't want to see any egg on your face - as much as I don't like to be thrown eggs at. Let's all be a bit more friendly. A smile makes you look more beautiful and makes other people happier.

This post was very useful to me it contains all in...

2010-09-14T13:32:30.184+01:00

This post was very useful to me it contains all information that was needed to Clarify all confusions regarding the subject. I express my appreciation to you for this post.

Dissertation Samples

This is something I've long remarked to a frie...

2010-09-14T12:40:24.517+01:00

This is something I've long remarked to a friend of mine about.

Why is it Nigerians are so quick to associate themselves with coming
from the Middle East? Yet the people in Middle-East pay little attention (if any at all), and want next to nothing to do with Nigerians. There may be some faint historical connections (which some people for whatever reason are blowing up out of proportion. Yes there may have been some adoption of words and habits from North Africa, and some genetic ancestry), but the fact of the matter, is that Nigeria is in Africa, and it's peoples are predominantly black African peoples.

It kind of reminds me of the black people of Zanzibar, who say they are descendants of Persians, there may be a sprinkling of Persian ancestry amongst a few middle to upper class families (in Zanzibar), but the bulk of them are black African. To be Muslim doesn't mean you are Arab or Persian.

Thank you anonymous 12:08, racism is rife amongst ...

2010-09-14T12:26:25.274+01:00

Thank you anonymous 12:08, racism is rife amongst black africans especially 'we' mannerless, intolerant Nigerians who can't bear the fact that a white foreigner probably knows a lot more about our history culture origins better than most of us.

@ sugabelly, it'll be advisable you stick to your man /self loathing issues rather than come here to insult another especially because you don't appear to know that much of what you speak about. And yes,he can call himself an expert - no one ever proclaimed that experts knew it all or where above mistakes. Read his response and read ur comment - who has egg on their face now?

Chill and go learn some manners child :)

To the anonymous who wrote (apropos of Yoruba bein...

2010-09-14T12:22:08.937+01:00

To the anonymous who wrote (apropos of Yoruba being part of the Niger-Congo group): "How is that possible? yoruba is an ancient Sudanic language tracing its roots to the pre-arab invasion of Egypt".

This is an interesting response, which I'm not sure is backed up by any (linguistic or otherwise) evidence.

Many different ethnic groups in Nigeria have an oral origin story related to the Middle-East in one way or another (some Igbos, the Borgu, Bornu, some Yoruba, some Fulani).

As we know, just as with individual memory/recollection, so too with oral legend - there are many factors involved in how the story evolves across time. There's some fascinating scholarship for instance on the claim among the Borgu to descend from Kisra of Mecca. It is clear in that case that the origins of the Borgu are in fact much more complex.

However, I wonder whether there is an unconscious (or otherwise) negative connotation/response to linguistic analysis/categorisation that places, for instance, the Yoruba language in line with what must have been a slow migration from the South (along with the Tiv and many other languages) rather than the north. Is there an unconscious preference to be associated with Egypt, the mediterranean and perhaps as close to Jerusalem as possible?

The oldest populations of the human species are found in southern and north-eastern Africa. It is no surprise that migrations from both areas must be in the mix in Nigeria, and that migrations back from the Middle-East are to a significant degree oral fiction motivated by other factors..

yeah, folks need to stop being so harsh and dismis...

2010-09-14T12:08:17.420+01:00

yeah, folks need to stop being so harsh and dismissive towards Uwe. May have to do with him being oyinbo

I don't think there's any evidence that Ns...

2010-09-14T08:30:01.906+01:00

I don't think there's any evidence that Nsibidi was ever used by the Igbo. It was a hermetic script used by the Egbe secret society in the main. I wonder how many ideographs there actually are in Nsibidi- I have yet to find any scholarship out there. Possibly Sugabelly is confusing Uli with Nsibidi?

As for a well developed literary heritage in Yoruba - this is something I'd love to know more about. I know there are playrights and poets aplenty, but how many novellists have written in yoruba? How many people read them and are they still popular today? Is there an equivalent of Kano market literature, with books selling in the 10's and sometimes 100's of thousands?

As Dr Seibert suggests in the interview, it would be wonderful if more writers/poets went into the riches of local languages a lot more in Nigeria, to preserve and develop otherwise hidden aspects of Nigerian culture.