Yoruba language

Yoruba (US: /ˈjɔːrəbə/, UK: /ˈjɒrʊbə/; Yor. Èdè Yorùbá, IPA: [jōrùbá]) is a language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 47 million, including about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

Yoruba
Èdè Yorùbá
Pronunciation	IPA: [jōrùbá]
Native to	Benin · Nigeria · Togo
Region	Yorubaland
Ethnicity	Yoruba
Native speakers	L1: 45 million (2021) L2: 2.0 million (no date)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Volta–Niger Yoruboid Edekiri Yoruba
Early form	Proto-Yoruboid
Writing system	Latin (Nigerian Yoruba alphabet, Beninese Yoruba alphabet) Yoruba Braille Arabic script (Anjemi) Oduduwa script
Official status
Official language in	Nigeria
Recognised minority language in	Benin Togo
Language codes
ISO 639-1	yo
ISO 639-2	yor
ISO 639-3	yor
Glottolog	yoru1245
Linguasphere	98-AAA-a

People	Ọmọ Yorùbá
Language	Èdè Yorùbá
Country	Ilẹ̀ Yorùbá

Yoruba vocabulary is also used in African diaspora religions such as the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé, the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language, and various Afro-American religions of North America. Most modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas are not fluent in the Yoruba language, yet they still use Yoruba words and phrases for songs or chants—rooted in cultural traditions. For such practicioners, the Yoruba lexicon is especially common for ritual purposes, and these modern manifestions have taken new forms that don't depend on vernacular fluency.

As the principal Yoruboid language, Yoruba is most closely related to the languages Itsekiri (spoken in the Niger Delta) and Igala (spoken in central Nigeria).

History

Further information: Volta–Niger languages and Benue–Congo languages

Yoruba is classified among the Edekiri languages, which is together with the Itsekiri and isolate Igala from the Yoruboid group of languages within the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo family. The linguistic unity of the Niger–Congo family dates to deep pre-history, estimates ranging around 11,000 years ago (the end of the Upper Paleolithic). In present-day Nigeria, it is estimated that there are around 50 million Yoruba primary and secondary language speakers, as well as several other millions of speakers outside Nigeria, making it the most widely spoken African language outside of the continent. There is a substantial body of literature in the Yoruba language, including books, newspapers, and pamphlets. Yoruba is used in radio and television broadcasting and is taught at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

Varieties

The Yoruba dialect continuum consists of several dialects. The various Yoruba dialects in Yorubaland can be classified into five major dialect areas: Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and Southeast. Clear boundaries cannot be drawn, but peripheral areas of dialectal regions often have some similarities to adjoining dialects.

• North-West Yoruba (NWY)
  • Egba, Ibadan, Yewa, Ọyọ, Lagos (Eko).

Egba dialect

Onko dialect, Okeho

Shaki dialect

Oyo dialect from Iwo

• North-East Yoruba (NEY)
  • Yagba, Owe, Ikiri, Ijumu, Oworo, Gbede, Abunu.
• Central Yoruba (CY)
  • Igbomina, Ijesha, Ifẹ, Ekiti (including Akurẹ), Ẹfọn, Western Akoko.

Ekiti dialect

Ifẹ dialect

Ijesha dialect

Ekiti from Irun Akoko

• South-West Yoruba (SWY)
  • Ketu, Awori, Sakété, Ifè (Togo), Idasha, Anago.
• South-East Yoruba (SEY)
  • Ondo, Ọwọ, Remo, Ijẹbu, Ikale, Eastern Akoko (Akoko, Ào), Ilaje, Usẹn.

Owo dialect

Idanre dialect

Ijebu dialect

Ikale dialect

Ao dialect, Ifira

North-West Yoruba was historically spoken in the Ọyọ Empire. In NWY dialects, Proto-Yoruba velar fricative /ɣ/ and labialized voiced velar /gʷ/ have merged into /w/; the upper vowels /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ were raised and merged with /i/ and /u/, just as their nasal counterparts, resulting in a vowel system with seven oral and three nasal vowels.

South-East Yoruba was most likely associated with the expansion of the Benin Empire after c. 1450. In contrast to NWY, lineage, and descent are largely multilineal and cognatic, and the division of titles into war and civil is unknown. Linguistically, SEY has retained the /ɣ/ and /gw/ contrast, while it has lowered the nasal vowels /ĩ/ and /ʊ̃/ to /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/, respectively. SEY has collapsed the second and third-person plural pronominal forms; thus, àn án wá can mean either 'you (pl.) came' or 'they came' in SEY dialects, whereas NWY for example has ẹ wá 'you (pl.) came' and wọ́n wá 'they came', respectively. The emergence of a plural of respect may have prevented the coalescence of the two in NWY dialects.

Central Yoruba forms a transitional area in that the lexicon has much in common with NWY and shares many ethnographical features with SEY. Its vowel system is the most traditional of the three dialect groups, retaining nine oral-vowel contrasts, six or seven nasal vowels, and an extensive vowel harmony system. Peculiar to Central and Eastern (NEY, SEY) Yoruba also is the ability to begin words with the vowel [ʊ:], which in Western Yoruba has been changed to [ɪ:]

Literary Yoruba

A Yoruba speaker, recorded in South Africa

Literary Yoruba, also known as Standard Yoruba, Yoruba koiné, and common Yoruba, is a separate member of the dialect cluster. It is the written form of the language, the standard variety learned at school, and that is spoken by newsreaders on the radio. Standard Yoruba has its origin in the 1850s, when Samuel A. Crowther, the first native African Anglican bishop, published a Yoruba grammar and started his translation of the Bible. Though for a large part based on the Ọyọ and Ibadan dialects, Standard Yoruba incorporates several features from other dialects. It also has some features peculiar to itself, for example, the simplified vowel harmony system, as well as foreign structures, such as calques from English that originated in early translations of religious works.

Because the use of Standard Yoruba did not result from some deliberate linguistic policy, much controversy exists as to what constitutes 'genuine Yoruba', with some writers holding the opinion that the Ọyọ dialect is the "pure" form, and others stating that there is no such thing as genuine Yoruba at all. Standard Yoruba, the variety learned at school and used in the media, has nonetheless been a decisive consolidating factor in the emergence of a common Yoruba identity.

Writing systems

Main articles: Yoruba alphabet and Oduduwa script

See also: Nigerian braille § Yoruba Braille

Yoruba hymn, Church of the Visitation, Jerusalem

The earliest evidence of the presence of Islam and literacy goes back to the 14th century. The earliest documented history of the people, traced to the latter part of the 17th century, was in the Yoruba but in the Arabic script called Ajami. This makes Yoruba one of the oldest African languages with an attested history of Ajami (Cf. Mumin & Versteegh 2014; Hofheinz 2018). However, the oldest extant Yoruba Ajami exemplar is a 19th-century Islamic verse (waka) by Badamasi Agbaji (d. 1895- Hunwick 1995). There are several items of Yoruba Ajami in poetry, personal notes, and esoteric knowledge (Cf. Bang 2019). Nevertheless, Yoruba Ajami remained idiosyncratic and not socially diffused, as no standardized orthography existed. The plethora of dialects and the absence of a central promotional institution, among others, are responsible.

In the 17th century, Yoruba was written in the Ajami script, a form of Arabic script. It is still written in the Ajami writing script in some Islamic circles. Standard Yoruba orthography originated in the early work of Church Mission Society missionaries working among the Aku (Yoruba) of Freetown. One of their informants was Crowther, who later would proceed to work on his native language himself. In early grammar primers and translations of portions of the English Bible, Crowther used the Latin alphabet largely without tone markings. The only diacritic used was a dot below certain vowels to signify their open variants [ɛ] and [ɔ], viz. ⟨ẹ⟩ and ⟨ọ⟩. Over the years, the orthography was revised to represent tone, among other things. In 1875, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) organized a conference on Yoruba Orthography; the standard devised there was the basis for the orthography of the steady flow of religious and educational literature over the next seventy years.

The current orthography of Yoruba derives from a 1966 report of the Yoruba Orthography Committee, along with Ayọ Bamgboṣe's 1965 Yoruba Orthography, a study of the earlier orthographies and an attempt to bring Yoruba orthography in line with actual speech as much as possible. Still similar to the older orthography, it employs the Latin alphabet modified by the use of the digraph ⟨gb⟩ and certain diacritics, including the underdots under the letters ⟨ẹ⟩, ⟨ọ⟩, and ⟨ṣ⟩. Previously, the vertical line had been used to avoid the mark being fully covered by an underline, as in ⟨e̩⟩, ⟨o̩⟩, ⟨s̩⟩; however, that usage is no longer common.

A

B

D

E

Ẹ

F

G

Gb

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

Ọ

P

R

S

Ṣ

T

U

W

Y

a

b

d

e

ẹ

f

g

gb

h

I

j

k

l

m

n

o

ọ

p

r

s

ṣ

t

u

w

y

The Latin letters ⟨c⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨z⟩ are not used as part of the official orthography of Standard Yoruba. However, they exist in several Yoruba dialects.

The pronunciation of the letters without diacritics corresponds more or less to their International Phonetic Alphabet equivalents, except for the labial–velar consonant [k͡p] (written ⟨p⟩) and [ɡ͡b] (written ⟨gb⟩), in which both consonants are pronounced simultaneously rather than sequentially. The diacritic underneath vowels indicates an open vowel, pronounced with the root of the tongue retracted (so ⟨ẹ⟩ is pronounced [ɛ̙] and ⟨ọ⟩ is [ɔ̙]). ⟨ṣ⟩ represents a postalveolar consonant [ʃ] like the English ⟨sh⟩, ⟨y⟩ represents a palatal approximant like English ⟨y⟩, and ⟨j⟩ a voiced palatal stop [ɟ], as is common in many African orthographies.

In addition to the underdots, three further diacritics are used on vowels and syllabic nasal consonants to indicate the language's tones: an acute accent ⟨´⟩ for the high tone, a grave accent ⟨`⟩ for the low tone, and an optional macron ⟨¯⟩ for the middle tone. These are used in addition to the underdots in ⟨ẹ⟩ and ⟨ọ⟩. When more than one tone is used in one syllable, the vowel can either be written once for each tone (for example, *⟨òó⟩ for a vowel [o] with tone rising from low to high) or, more rarely in current usage, combined into a single accent. In this case, a caron ⟨ˇ⟩ is used for the rising tone (so the previous example would be written ⟨ǒ⟩), and a circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩ for the falling tone.

Á

À

Ā

É

È

Ē

Ẹ

Ẹ́

Ẹ̀

Ẹ̄

Í

Ì

Ī

Ń

Ǹ

N̄

Ḿ

M̀

M̄

Ó

Ò

Ō

Ọ

Ọ́

Ọ̀

Ọ̄

Ú

Ù

Ū

Ṣ

á

à

ā

é

è

ē

ẹ

ẹ́

ẹ̀

ẹ̄

í

ì

ī

ń

ǹ

n̄

ḿ

m̀

m̄

ó

ò

ō

ọ

ọ́

ọ̀

ọ̄

ú

ù

ū

ṣ

In Benin, Yoruba uses a different orthography. The Yoruba alphabet was standardized along with other Benin languages in the National Languages Alphabet by the National Language Commission in 1975, and revised in 1990 and 2008 by the National Center for Applied Linguistics.

Benin alphabet

A

B

D

E

Ɛ

F

G

Gb

H

I

J

K

Kp

L

M

N

O

Ɔ

P

R

S

Sh

T

U

W

Y

a

b

d

e

ɛ

f

g

gb

h

I

j

k

kp

l

m

n

o

ɔ

p

r

s

sh

t

u

w

y

In 2011, a Beninese priest-chief by the name of Tolúlàṣẹ Ògúntósìn devised a new script for Yoruba, based on a vision received in his sleep which he believed to have been granted by Oduduwa. This Oduduwa script has also received support from other prominent chiefs in the Yorubaland region of both countries.

Phonology

The syllable structure of Yoruba is (C)V(N). Syllabic nasals are also possible. Every syllable bears one of the three tones: high ⟨◌́⟩, mid ⟨◌̄⟩ (generally left unmarked), and low ⟨◌̀⟩. The sentence n̄ ò lọ (I didn't go) provides examples of three syllable types:

• n̄ — [ŋ̄] — I
• ò — [ò] — not (negation)
• lọ — [lɔ̄] — to go

Vowels

Standard Yoruba has seven oral and five nasal vowels. There are no diphthongs in Yoruba; sequences of vowels are pronounced as separate syllables. Dialects differ in the number of vowels they have; see above.

Yoruba vowel diagram, adopted from Bamgboṣe (1969:166). Black dots mark oral vowels, while the colored regions indicate the ranges in possible quality of the nasal vowels.

	Oral vowels		Nasal vowels
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i	u	ĩ	ũ
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ	ɔ	ɛ̃	ɔ̃
Open	a		(ã)

• In some cases, the phonetic realization of these vowels is noticeably different from what the symbol suggests:
  • The oral /i/ is close front [i], and the nasal /ĩ/ varies between close front [ĩ] and near-close front [ĩ̞].
  • The oral /u/ is close back [u], and the nasal /ũ/ varies between close near-back [ũ̟], close back [ũ], near-close near-back [ũ̟˕] and near-close back [ũ̞].
  • The oral /e, o/ are close-mid [e, o], and do not have nasal counterparts.
  • The oral /ɛ/ is open-mid [ɛ], and the nasal /ɛ̃/ varies between mid [ɛ̝̃] and open-mid [ɛ̃].
  • The oral /ɔ/ is near-open [ɔ̞], and the nasal /ɔ̃/ varies between open-mid [ɔ̃] and near-open [ɒ̃].
  • The oral /a/ is central [ä].

Nasal vowels are by default written as a vowel letter followed by ⟨n⟩, thus: ⟨in⟩, ⟨un⟩, ⟨ẹn⟩, ⟨ọn⟩, ⟨an⟩. These do not occur word-initially. In the standard language, /ɛ̃/ occurs only in the single word ìyẹn ~ yẹn 'that'. The status of the vowel [ã] is controversial. Several authors have argued it is not phonemically contrastive. Often, it is in free variation with [ɔ̃]. Orthographically, ⟨ọn⟩ is used after labial and labial-velar consonants, as in ìbọn 'gun', and ⟨an⟩ is used after non-labial consonants, as in dán 'to shine'. All vowels are nasalized after the consonant /m/, and thus there is no additional n in writing (mi, mu, mọ). In addition, the consonant /l/ has a nasal allophone [n] before a nasal vowel (see below), and this is reflected in writing: inú 'inside, belly' (/īlṹ/ → [īnṹ]).

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	labial
Stop	b	t  d	ɟ	k  ɡ	k͡p  ɡ͡b
Fricative	f	s	ʃ			h
Approximant/Nasal	m	l ~ n	j	ŋ ~ ŋ̍	w
Rhotic		ɾ

The voiceless plosives /t/ and /k/ are slightly aspirated; in some Yoruba varieties, /t/ and /d/ are more dental. The rhotic consonant is realized as a flap [ɾ] or, in some varieties (notably Lagos Yoruba), as the alveolar approximant [ɹ] due to English influence. This is particularly common with Yoruba–English bilinguals.

Like many other languages of the region, Yoruba has the voiceless and voiced labial–velar stops /k͡p/ and /ɡ͡b/: pápá [k͡pák͡pá] 'field', gbogbo [ɡ͡bōɡ͡bō] 'all'. Notably, it lacks a voiceless bilabial stop /p/, apart from phonaesthesia, such as [pĩpĩ] for vehicle horn sounds, and marginal segments found in recent loanwords, such as <pẹ́ńsù> [k͡pɛ́ńsù~pɛ́ńsù] for "pencil".

Yoruba also lacks a phoneme /n/; the letter ⟨n⟩ is used for the sound in the orthography, but strictly speaking, it refers to an allophone of /l/ immediately preceding a nasal vowel.

There is also a syllabic nasal, which forms a syllable nucleus by itself. When it precedes a vowel, it is a velar nasal [ŋ]: n ò lọ [ŋ ò lɔ̄] 'I didn't go'. In other cases, its place of articulation is homorganic with the following consonant: ó ń lọ [ó ń lɔ̄] 'he is going', ó ń fò [ó ḿ fò] 'he is jumping'.

C, Q, V, X and Z only appear in words borrowed from English.

Tone

Yoruba is a tonal language with three-level tones and two or three contour tones. Every syllable must have at least one tone; a syllable containing a long vowel can have two tones. Tones are marked by use of the acute accent for high tone (⟨á⟩, ⟨ń⟩) and the grave accent for low tone (⟨à⟩, ⟨ǹ⟩); mid is unmarked, except on syllabic nasals where it is indicated using a macron (⟨a⟩, ⟨n̄⟩). Examples:

• H: ó bẹ́ [ó bɛ́] 'he jumped'; síbí [síbí] 'spoon'
• M: ó bẹ [ó bɛ̄] 'he is forward'; ara [āɾā] 'body'
• L: ó bẹ̀ [ó bɛ̀] 'he asks for pardon'; ọ̀kọ̀ [ɔ̀kɔ̀] 'spear'.

When teaching Yoruba literacy, solfège names of musical notes are used to name the tones: low is do, mid is re, and high is mi.

Whistled Yoruba

Apart from tone's lexical and grammatical use, it is also used in other contexts such as whistling and drumming. Whistled Yoruba is used to communicate over long distances. The language is transformed as speakers talk and whistle simultaneously: consonants are devoiced or turned to [h], and all vowels are changed to [u]. However, all tones are retained without any alteration. The retention of tones enables speakers to understand the meaning of the whistled language. The Yoruba talking drum, the dùndún or iya ilu, which accompanies singing during festivals and important ceremonies, also uses tone.

Tonality effects and computer-coded documents

Written Yoruba includes diacritical marks not available on conventional computer keyboards, requiring some adaptations. In particular, the use of the sub dots and tone marks are not represented, so many Yoruba documents simply omit them. Asubiaro Toluwase, in his 2014 paper, points out that the use of these diacritics can affect the retrieval of Yoruba documents by popular search engines. Therefore, their omission can have a significant impact on online research.

Assimilation and elision

When a word precedes another word beginning with a vowel, assimilation, or deletion ('elision') of one of the vowels often takes place. Since syllables in Yoruba normally end in a vowel, and most nouns start with one, it is a widespread phenomenon, and it is absent only in slow, unnatural speech. The orthography here follows speech in that word divisions are normally not indicated in words that are contracted due to assimilation or elision: ra ẹja → rẹja 'buy fish'. Sometimes, however, authors may choose to use an inverted comma to indicate an elided vowel as in ní ilé → n'ílé 'in the house'.

Long vowels within words usually signal that a consonant has been elided word-internally. In such cases, the tone of the elided vowel is retained: àdìrò → ààrò 'hearth'; koríko → koóko 'grass'; òtító → òótó 'truth'.

Vocabulary

Roots

Most verbal roots are monosyllabic of the phonological shape CV(N), for example: dá 'to create', dán 'to polish', pọ́n 'to be red'. Verbal roots that do not seem to follow this pattern are mostly former compounds in which a syllable has been elided. For example: nlá 'to be large', originally a compound of ní 'to have' + lá 'to be big' and súfèé 'to whistle', originally a compound of sú 'to eject wind' + òfé or ìfé 'a blowing'. Vowels serve as nominalizing prefixes that turn a verb into a noun form.

Nominal roots are mostly disyllabic, for example: abà 'crib, barn', ara 'body', ibà 'fever'. Monosyllabic and even trisyllabic roots do occur but they are less common.

Grammar

Yoruba is a highly isolating language. Its basic constituent order is subject–verb–object, as in ó nà Adé 'he beat Adé'. The bare verb stem denotes a completed action, often called perfect; tense and aspect are marked by preverbal particles such as ń 'imperfect/present continuous', ti 'past'. Negation is expressed by a preverbal particle kò. Serial verb constructions are common, as in many other languages of West Africa.

Although Yoruba has no grammatical gender, it has a distinction between human and non-human nouns when it comes to interrogative particles: ta ni for human nouns ('who?') and kí ni for non-human nouns ('what?'). The associative construction (covering possessive/genitive and related notions) consists of juxtaposing nouns in the order modified-modifier as in inú àpótí {inside box} 'the inside of the box', fìlà Àkàndé 'Akande's cap' or àpótí aṣọ 'box for clothes'. More than two nouns can be juxtaposed: rélùweè abẹ́ ilẹ̀ (railway underground) 'underground railway', inú àpótí aṣọ 'the inside of the clothes box'. Disambiguation is left to context in the rare case that it results in two possible readings. Plural nouns are indicated by a plural word.

There are two 'prepositions': ní 'on, at, in' and sí 'onto, towards'. The former indicates location and absence of movement, and the latter encodes location/direction with movement. Position and direction are expressed by the prepositions in combination with spatial relational nouns like orí 'top', apá 'side', inú 'inside', etí 'edge', abẹ́ 'under', ilẹ̀ 'down', etc. Many of the spatial relational terms are historically related to body-part terms.

Numerals

Main article: Yoruba numerals

Yoruba uses a vigesimal (base-20) numbering system.

• Ogún, 20, is a basic numeric block.
• Ogójì, 40, (Ogún-méjì) = 20 multiplied by 2 (èjì).
• Ọgọ́ta, 60, (Ogún-mẹ́ta) = 20 multiplied by 3 (ẹ̀ta).
• Ọgọ́rin, 80, (Ogún-mẹ́rin) = 20 multiplied by 4 (ẹ̀rin).
• Ọgọ́rùn-ún, 100, (Ogún-márùn-ún) = 20 multiplied by 5 (àrún).
• - 16 (Ẹẹ́rìndínlógún) = 4 less than 20.
• - 17 (Ẹẹ́tàdínlógún) = 3 less than 20.
• - 18 (Eéjìdínlógún) = 2 less than 20.
• - 19 (Oókàndínlógún) = 1 less than 20.
• - 21 (Oókànlélógún) = 1 increment on 20.
• - 22 (Eéjìlélógún) = 2 increment on 20.
• - 23 (Ẹẹ́tàlélógún) = 3 increment on 20.
• - 24 (Ẹẹ́rìnlélógún) = 4 increment on 20.
• - 25 (Aárùnlélógún) = 5 increment on 20.
• - 30 ( Ogbòn) = 10 increment on 20
• -50 (Aadota) = 10 less than 60

Arabic influence

The wide adoption of imported religions and civilizations such as Islam and Christianity has had an impact both on written and spoken Yoruba. In his Arabic-English Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Quran and Sunnah, Yoruba Muslim scholar Abu-Abdullah Adelabu argued Islam has enriched African languages by providing them with technical and cultural augmentations with Swahili and Somali in East Africa and Turanci Hausa and Wolof in West Africa being the primary beneficiaries. Adelabu, a Ph D graduate from Damascus cited—among many other common usages—the following words to be Yoruba's derivatives of Arabic vocabularies:

Some loanwords

• Sanma: Heaven or sky, from السماء
• Alubarika: blessing, from البركة
• Alumaani: wealth, money, resources, from المال
• Amin: Arabic form of the Hebrew religious term Amen, from آمین‎

Some common Arabic words used in Yoruba are names of the days such as Atalata (الثلاثاء) for Tuesday, Alaruba (الأربعاء) for Wednesday, Alamisi (الخميس) for Thursday, and Jimoh (الجمعة, Jumu'ah) for Friday. By far, Ọjọ́ Jimoh is the most favourably used. This is because eti, the Yoruba word for Friday, means 'delay'. This is an unpleasant word for Friday, Ẹtì, which also implies failure, laziness, or abandonment. Ultimately, the standard words for the days of the week are Àìkú, Ajé, Ìṣẹ́gun, Ọjọ́rú, Ọjọ́bọ, Ẹtì, Àbámẹ́ta, for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday respectively. Friday remains Eti in the Yoruba language.

Literature

Main article: Yoruba literature

Spoken literature

•Odu Ifa, •Oriki, •Ewi, •Esa, •Àlọ́, •Rara, •Iremoje, •Bolojo, •Ijala, •Ajangbode, •Ijeke, Alámọ̀

Written literature

• Samuel Ajayi Crowther
• Wande Abimbola
• Reverend Samuel Johnson
• Yemi Elebuibon
• Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa
• Adebayo Faleti
• Akinwunmi Isola
• Obo Aba Hisanjani
• Duro Ladipo
• J.F. Odunjo
• Afolabi Olabimtan
• Wole Soyinka
• Amos Tutuola
• Lawuyi Ogunniran
• Kola Tubosun

As of 2024, the Yoruba Wikipedia is the most visited website in Yoruba.

Music

• Ibeyi, Cuban francophone sister duo, often sing in Lucumí, a liturgical variety of Yoruba used in Santería.
• Sakara, a Yoruba song originating from Abeokuta, Ogun Nigeria. One of the first performers of this type of music was in Lagos in the 1930s.
• Apala, Apala (or Akpala) is a percussion-based music genre originally developed by the Yoruba people of Nigeria during the country's history as a colony of the British Empire. It originated in the late 1970s.
• Fuji, a popular, contemporary Yoruba musical genre.
• Jùjú, a style of Nigerian popular music derived from traditional Yoruba percussion.
• Àpíìrì, a popular music common among Ido and Igbole Ekiti environs of Ekiti State. The musical instruments usually consist of beaded Calabash gourds and gongs supported with harmonic lyrics
• Fela Kuti, Afrobeat creator

See also

• Yoruba numerals

Notes and references

References

• Adetugbọ, Abiọdun (1982). "Towards a Yoruba Dialectology". In Afọlayan (ed.). Yoruba Language and Literature. pp. 207–224.
• Afọlayan, Adebisi, ed. (1982). Yoruba language and literature. Ifẹ / Ibadan: University of Ifẹ Press / Ibadan University Press.
• Ajayi, J.F. Ade (1960). "How Yoruba was Reduced to Writing". Odu: A Journal of Yoruba, Ẹdo and Related Studies (8): 49–58.
• Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1965a). "Assimilation and contraction in Yoruba". Journal of West African Languages (2): 21–27.
• Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1965b). Yoruba Orthography. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
• Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1969). "Yoruba". In Elizabeth Dunstan (ed.). Twelve Nigerian Languages. New York: Africana Publishing Corp. p. 166. ISBN 0-8419-0031-0.
• Fagborun, J. Gbenga (1994). The Yoruba Koiné – Its History and Linguistic Innovations. LINCOM Linguistic Edition vol. 6. München/Newcastle: LINCOM Europe. ISBN 3-929075-47-4.
• Fresco, Max (1970). Topics in Yoruba Dialect Phonology. (Studies in African Linguistics Supplement Vol. 1). Los Angeles: University of California, Dept. of Linguistics/ASC.
• Ladipọ, Duro (1972). Ọba kò so (The king did not hang) — Opera by Duro Ladipọ. (Transcribed and translated by R.G. Armstrong, Robert L. Awujọọla and Val Ọlayẹmi from a tape recording by R. Curt Wittig). Ibadan: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
• Oyètádé, B. Akíntúndé & Buba, Malami (2000) 'Hausa Loan Words in Yorùbá', in Wolff & Gensler (eds.) Proceedings of the 2nd WoCAL, Leipzig 1997, Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 241–260.
• Oyenuga, Soji www.YorubaForKidsAbroad.com (2007). "Yoruba". In Soji and Titi Oyenuga (ed.). Yoruba For Kids Abroad – Learn Yoruba In 27 Days. Saskatoon, Canada: Gaptel Innovative Solutions Inc. pp. 27 days.

History

• Adetugbọ, Abiọdun (1973). "The Yoruba Language in Yoruba History". In Biobaku, Saburi O. (ed.). Sources of Yoruba History. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 176–204. ISBN 0-19-821669-6.
• Hair, P.E.H. (1967). "The Early Study of Yoruba, 1825-1850". The Early Study of Nigerian Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Law, R.C.C. (1973a). "Contemporary Written Sources". In Biobaku, S.O. (ed.). Sources of Yoruba History. Oxford, Clarendon Press. pp. 9–24. ISBN 978-0-19-821669-8.
• Law, R.C.C. (1973b). "Traditional History". In Biobaku, S.O. (ed.). Sources of Yoruba History. Oxford, Clarendon Press. pp. 25–40. ISBN 978-0-19-821669-8.

Dictionaries

• Abraham, Roy Clive (1958). Dictionary of Modern Yoruba. London: University of London Press.
• CMS (Canon C.W. Wakeman, ed.) (1950) [1937]. A Dictionary of the Yoruba language. Ibadan: University Press.
• Delanọ, Oloye Isaac (1958). Atúmọ̀ ede Yoruba [short dictionary and grammar of the Yoruba language]. London: Oxford University Press.
• Sachnine, Michka (1997). Dictionnaire yorùbá-français, suivi d'un index français-yorùbâ. Paris: Karthala.

Grammars and sketches

• Adesola, Oluseye (2005). Yoruba: A Grammar Sketch. Version 1.0. The Afranaph Project.
• Adéwọlé, L.O. (2000). Beginning Yorùbá (Part I). Monograph Series no. 9. Cape Town: CASAS.
• Adéwọlé, L.O. (2001). Beginning Yorùbá (Part II). Monograph Series no. 10. Cape Town: CASAS.
• Bamgboṣe, Ayọ (1966). A Grammar of Yoruba. [West African Languages Survey / Institute of African Studies]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Barber, Karin (1985). Yorùbá Dùn ún So: a beginners' course in Yorùbá (1st ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300029581.
• Bowen, Thomas Jefferson (1858). "Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruba Language: With an Introductory Description of the Country and People of Yoruba". Available at the Internet Archive.
• Crowther, Samuel Ajayi (1852). Yoruba Grammar. London. The first grammar of Yoruba. Available at the Internet Archive.
• Rowlands, E.C. (1969). Teach Yourself Yoruba. London: The English Universities Press.
• Ward, Ida (1952). An introduction to the Yoruba language. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons.
• Yetunde, Antonia & Schleicher, Folarin (2006). Colloquial Yoruba. London: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Routledge).

External links

• Yoruba Wikipedia
• Omniglot: Yoruba orthography
• Yoruba dictionary
• kasahorow Yoruba Dictionary
• Ọrọ èdè Yorùbá Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
• lingua: Yoruba-Online-Dictionary English-Yoruba / Yoruba-English Archived 2019-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Sabere d'owo Yoruba video drama series. Radio Abeokuta (2006).
• Pan-African Localization page for Yoruba
• Journal of West African Languages: Yoruba
• Yoruba blog (features bilingual texts in Yoruba and English, including folklore)
• Abibitumi Kasa Yorùbá Language Resources Archived 2017-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Yorùbá Yé Mi – A Beginning Yorùbá Textbook
• A Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language