An Open Letter To Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams A. Oshiomole. For The Sake Of Our Mother Tongue: A Cry For Help

MAR 4 AN OPEN LETTER TO EDO STATE GOVERNOR, COMRADE ADAMS A. OSHIOMOLE. FOR THE SAKE OF OUR MOTHER TONGUE: A CRY FOR HELP

The Comrade Governor Sir,

Edo Focus Parliament is a Pan-Edo interest group, formed primarily to propagate, promote and defend our age-long values of Unity; dignity of Labour; and unassailable cultural standing in the comity of states.

We wish to respectfully draw Mr. Governor's attention to the rather apprehensive and pertinent observation made by UNESCO regarding the imminent extinction of several languages, including sadly,the Edo language from the face of the earth. Your Excellency will doubtless be deeply concerned about this uncheering news since you are a well grounded Edo man.

Without much ado, as parents and Guardians, we are reliably informed that Edo language has been systemically obliterated from our public schools curriculum and we are alarmed that most stakeholders have shown little or no concern to this misnomer. We have therefore resolved that you take immediate step to reverse this inglorious scenario and save our dear mother tongue from the predicted hurricane. Andrew Dalby's assertion" A language dies every two weeks" depicts how serious this issue is. Studies by linguistic scholars further buttress this trend; as they evidently affirmed that over 3000 of about 6700 languages the world over will be extinct over the next century. It is worthy of note that 96% of the worlds population speak just 4% of the 6700 languages. This underscores how small languages are marginalized and put under pressure by larger ones and they must "fight" to survive every where, including our geographical divide.

Years of unguided, unmoderated and unwholesome assimilation of other cultural values, especially the English language in its standard, sub standard and bastardized forms have resulted in a violent dislocation that has alienated our youths and some adults from the Edo language in a dangerous way. Comrade Governor Sir, it is considered really trendy and sophisticated for young Edo children and adults to tell you with a sense of smugness that: "I can't speak Edo" "I can barely understand". And we speak of children born, bred and raised in Benin City. For their peers living outside Edo State, try address them in Edo language, and you get a strange look that says, "Oh! here comes one of the village oldies".And God help you, if you are hoary headed and a bit bent from age, because you would just have confirmed their perception.

Comrade Governor, we are not being facetious, the loss of identity consequent upon the losing of their language by our youths is complete . It is even more heart rending to find the painful linguistic torture you have to endure from the "English Language" of this class, when you try to engage some of them, in the English language they claim they speak.

When we compare this scenario to that of children from non English speaking European and Asian countries, who at age five can speak their languages fluently as well as the English language learnt from school and how that secures for them a sense of identity and build their self confidence, we can begin to understand the root of the disparity between those civilizations and ours. Comrade Governor Sir, we need not state here the inalienable value of our mother tongue. We need not state how it connects us to the brotherly fellow feeling with our community and how that together reaches back to our progenitors, our history, our heritage and culture. Language is our identity, the common bond of existence in a metaphysical land scape.

How many times in our lives experiences have we found unspeakable relief, consolation and bond in meeting our "language person" in other shores of the world. Not infrequently, life time bonds are formed from such musical phrases like: "Ovbiedo u kain"? "Oto' ma u kia"? " E'san we' khin" ? from such chance encounters.

Our Comrade Governor Sir, we are very worried about this negative development and the implications it procures for our history, our present and our future as a race. We are therefore appealing to you, to please convene an Edo Language summit to address this issue. The Forum is pledging an unmitigated functional partnership with the present administration to secure our common destiny. Already, Hon. Edokpolo has been involved in a limited sense in this endeavour through translation of Edo movies language into English to connect to our youth population. It is however our considered opinion that Government needs to firmly make Edo language a compulsory part of our academic syllabus from nursery to senior secondary school levels.

This with other deliberately organized and encouraged social interactions with the language will definitely find us reclaiming our roots again across Edo south/North & Central. We are confident that the Comrade Governor will find this a worth while legacy to bequeath to the Edo nation in his administration. Another issue of no less importance is teaching of history and social studies which now seem relegated to some academic trash can, but need to be revisited due to the importance of a people knowing who they are.

Please accept the assurances of our highest regard and support.

Signed.

Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo

Hon. Austin Atakpu Esq

Rt. Hon. Bright Omokhodion.

For and on behalf of the Edo Focus Parliament, Worldwide.

Benin-Edo Language In Written Culture

By AMBROSE EKHOSUEHI

Benin-Edo Language writing culture follows one another in the following letters order — a. b. d. e. e. f. g. h. i. k. I. m. n. o. o p. r. s. t. u. V. w. y. z.

The words contain low and high tones, mid and low tones, then those with rise and fall tones.

Un-nasalized vowels have no precedence over nasalized ones, except where the tones are the same.

Words beginning with e or e prefix occur mostly in context and often not pronounced when isolated but the grammatical elements like en are entered under appropriate consonant.

Different items with the same phonetic and tonal form are differentiated. Different meanings may be explained as semantic developments of words are marked within the same item.

Different meaning may be brought about by the addition in the genitive or objective relationship.

In the case of verbs, the verbal combinations are given before the verb- noun combinations. In the verb-noun combinations the two elements join where they are followed by an object. If there is no further object, the two elements are written separately.

Tones of imperfect forms are used in the headings and sub-headings and in the case of verbal combinations; each verb is given its independent tone, irrespective of tonal interrelations in actual speech.

In illustrative sentences and materials, the actual intonations are reproduced. Early writers used inverted commas occurring as in English equivalent.

In the translations of sentences, idioms and explanatory notes, inverted commas denote either a literal translation or a quotation.

E and 0 vowels occur nasalized as result of assimilator with preceding nasals, and as separate phonemes.

When nasalized vowels are elided in front of an e or o, only a nasalized glide shows in its previous existence. The middle and end of the e or o vowel remains unnasalized, at least in slow speech.

Nasalized vowels are left unmarked when the vowels follow the nasal. Consonants — M.N. MW; because their nasalization is the result of assimilation. The use of the nasalization mark has also been strictly limited in case of nasalized vowel preceding MW and not every vowel preceding MW is nasalized — Umwen- (salt) U-mwe (you have) umweni (proper name of a person)

I mwe — I have (Conjunctive pronouns)
I mwen — I haven’t. So also in Ukomwen, Ukonmwen, planting, foolishness, respectively, Diphthongs occur in Benin — Edo Language writing — ae, ai, ie, ie, i0, 1o ,ua, ue, Ue, uo, uç,Etc. and Triphthongs eq. Uae as in eguae, and e,e,i are usually very short in triphthongs the middle part is usually the most prominent.

V is a voiced bilabial fricative in literature while Vb is a nasalized bilabial fricative distinct from v and mw.
S and Z are sometimes heard palatalized in speech of English ‘ch; sh and

j. R is trilled between vowels; fricative at the beginning of a word. While Rh is a voiceless fricative trilled.

N is a post alvelar, mw is a velar nasal with lip rounding; while the velar nasal n is found in Onomatopoeic words.

Gh and Kh are respectively the voiceless and the voiced frIcatives. Gb and kp are labio-Velars require the lips and the back of the tongue against the soft palate, with simultaneous release.

W is a semi-vowel, while y is a voiced palatal fricative, Palatal and velar semi-vowels are often used in diphthongs and triphthongs.

There is evidence that languages have gained some positive aspects through contact with other languages.
 
The transcription of ancestral language makes it possible for scholars to translate most of the foreign languages.

It is now possible to keep record of much of traditional oral literature and heritage into further action in writing.

The broadcast of such a language makes the Language and the culture enjoy wider consumption,.
Language that draws advantage from contact with other cultures is a pride of history to be acknowledged. It is universally acknowledged that a child learns best in his ancestral vernacular or original mother tongue because it is natural of the child’s spiritual realm.

Some linguistic scholars observed that different Languages are bound to interact when people of different cultures come together.

This contact gives rise to the phenomenon of linguistic borrowing, instead of consolidating the language, the phenomenon is rather corrupting the vernacular.

The main reason for borrowing lexical terms lies in the need to find names for people, pleases, objects, ideas, nations and the concepts with which a language has come into contact.

This occurs, sometimes, when the speaker of the dialect cannot find solution to the linguistic challenges encountered in the previously learned patterns of the vernacular. Other known reason is prestige, where the knowledge of a particular language carries prestige.

Language is a kind of human speech. It gives pride to parents in seeing their children speak vernacular, the native language as well as foreign languages.

The joy and hope equated are that the language won’t be lost. Individual language lives progeny while separate language can exist side by side by maintaining their integrity with the vigour of incompatible tissues; and may come together, fuse, replicate and give rise to nests of new words or tongues.

Writing is genetically determined mechanism holding together the core and vehicle of culture, housing them in art, music or functions of the same universal mechanism of expression, in language writing culture.

Lecture series on International mother language day celebration

INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE DAY

Febuary 28, 2019

 *Edo state ministry of Art,Culture,Tourism and Diaspora affairs organises Lecture series on International mother language day celebration*

International language day is a day set aside for the celebration of our mother/indigenous language. The theme of this year celebration is Indigenous languages, matter for development, peace building and reconciliation.

As part of activities to mark this year's celebration, Edo state ministry of art, culture,Tourism and Diaspora affairs led by Hon.Osaze Osemwegie-Ero organised an event which included lecture series,drama and dance in our indigenous language.

The event was well attended by dignitaries, school students and stakeholders in the art and culture industry.

The key lecture was delivered by Chief Osayomwanbor Osemwegie-Ero (Edobayokhae of Benin), Special guests of gonour were Chief Eduwu Ekhator Obasogie JP (Obasogie of Benin kingdom) and
Princess Mrs Betty Ivie Uwa Igbinoba (Zonal Director NCAC)

The event reemphasized the need for society, parents and schools to imbibe the teaching of our indigenous languages at all levels ,this will help give a boost to the promotion of our indigenous languages as an identity of our unique cultural heritage.

Our culture, Our wealth...

source https://www.facebook.com/Edotourism/posts/400153287225113 

Ukhionmwen vbe Edo (Edonaze)

Make a sentence and translate in Edo using Ukhionmwen (1/2)

Ukhiomwekpo should be 100 naira because Ekpo = 200 .

50 naira is correctly Ikpen ugie vb'isele igbe. when you say "vb'ukhionmwen" is different from when you say ukhionmwekpo (Ukhionmwen ekpo)