JaredNomak:


1891 == Bishop Crowther died (over 80), and the Isuama-Igbo period died with him. By this time two young men, the Englishman T. J. Dennis and the Sierra Leonean Henry Johnson, had joined the mission (Oraka p. 27).

1892 == Julius Spencer, an Onitsha-based Sierra Leonean missionary, published An Elementary Grammar of the Igbo Language. This was revised by Archdeacon Dennis in 1916 (Oraka p. 30).

You people are just being emotional.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free, Dude.


Now, you don't show up and call a whole tribe a liar.

Why? Because the link I provided is int'l, and it's not own by Yoruba.

Second every in that link proves and provides details! Breakdown for a common man to understand.

Lastly, it's a foreign sight which stand the test of time.

Now provide me 2 or more link to your claim and I will provide you like 5-10 that proved that handsome yoruba man taught ibo people how to speak English

Oya

Link, fact #1




A History of the Igbo Language

compiled by Frances W. Pritchett
 

Sources: Louis Nnamdi Oraka, The Foundations of Igbo Studies (Onitsha: University Publishing Company, 1983), and personal research. The Oraka book is excellent, and I strongly recommend reading the whole of it (64 pages plus bibliography). See also the important text *The Official Igbo Orthography as recommended by the Onwu Committee in 1961*.


*THE ISUAMA IGBO STUDIES (1766-1900)*
*THE UNION IGBO STUDIES (1900-1929)*

*THE GREAT ORTHOGRAPHY CONTROVERSY (1929-1961)*

*THE EMERGENCE OF THE SPILC (1948-1972)*

*THE STANDARD IGBO PERIOD (1972-)*

pre-1500s == A form of writing called nsibidi, using formalized pictograms, existed among the Igbo and neighboring groups. It died out, probably because it was popular among secret societies whose members did not want to discuss it publicly. In 1904, T. D. Maxwell, Acting District Commissioner in Calabar, was the first European to learn about the existence of nsibidi. Apart from nsibidi writing, the Igbo acculturated themselves effectively by informal methods (Oraka pp. 13,17).
 


THE ISUAMA IGBO STUDIES (1766-1900)

1500s-1700s == Inhuman slave trade forced Africans to North America and West Indies.

1766-1900 ==Isuama Igbo studies period. Isuama Igbo: type of dialect used in Igbo studies as a standard dialect by emancipated slaves of Igbo origin settled in Sierra Leone and Fernando Po (now part of Equatorial Guinea) in the 1800s (Oraka p. 20).

c.1766 == G. C. A. Oldendorp, a German missionary of the Moravian Brethren, went to their West Indies Caribbean mission (Oraka p. 20).

1777 == Oldendorp produced a book, Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf den Carabischen (History of the Evangelistic Mission of the Brothers in the Caribbean). It contained a few Igbo words, numerals, 13 nouns, 2 sentences. Thus he was the first to publish any material in Igbo (Oraka p. 21).

1789 == The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa The African (London, 1789), written by a former slave, mentioned 79 Igbo words (Oraka p. 21). A good modern edition: London: Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1969 (2 vols.; ed. by Paul Edwards).

late 1700s-early 1800s == Igbo language study transferred from the West Indies and London to Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Fernando Po, because freed slaves were settled there, the larger number in Freetown (Oraka p. 65).

1828 == Mrs. Hannah Kilham, a Quaker mission teacher, published Specimens of African Languages Spoken in the Colony of Sierra-Leone. Included: Igbo numerals and some 50 Igbo nouns (Oraka p. 22).

1831 == Mrs. Kilham started a girls' school at Charlotte village, Sierra Leone. Formal education in vernacular languages is begun (Oraka p. 22).

1837 == MacGregor Laird published the wordlist he collected inside the Igbo homeland during the Niger Expedition of 1832-34 (Oraka p. 22).

1840 == Jacob Friedrich Schon, German missionary, reported that he had collected 1600 words in the Igbo language. His report remained unpublished (Oraka p. 22).

1841 == Edwin Norris, Assistant Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, compiled wordlists from West and Central African languages to use in Niger expeditions. He used Laird's 70 words and others from two unknown sources (a manuscript, and an Igbo living in London) (Oraka p. 22).

1841 == Another Norris expedition on the Niger. He took two missionary linguists from the staff of the CMS (Church Missionary Society) in Freetown, J. F. Schon and Samuel Ajayi Crowther (the latter a Yoruba-born ex-slave and teacher), along with twelve interpreters, including Igbo who came from emancipated slave families settled in Freetown. John Christopher Taylor and Simon Jonas were among these. No permanent mission was founded. Schon was interested in Igbo and Hausa. At a stopover in Aboh, he tried to communicate in Igbo but was disappointed that people did not understand him. He then abandoned Igbo study for some twenty years (Oraka p. 23).

1843-48 == Morrick (missionary in Fernando Po) and John Clarke, Baptist missionary, together collected vocabularies of African languages. Clarke published them in 1848, including 250 words and a few numerals written in Igbo. 24 Igbo dialects were represented, including Aro, Bonny, Ndoli and Agbaja (Oraka p. 24).

1854 == Lepsius, German philologist, produced international "Standard Alphabet" for all world languages to use (Oraka p. 25).

1854 == S. W. Koelle, German missionary, published Polyglotta Africana, with a vocabulary gathered from liberated slaves in Sierra Leone. Contained some 300 Igbo words representing five dialects: Isoama, Isiele, Agbaja, Aro, Mbofia (Oraka p. 23).

1856 == Crowther and Jonas stayed together in Lagos, where Jonas taught his master Igbo (Oraka p. 24).

1857 == Crowther produced the first book in Igbo, with Jonas's help. Isoama-Ibo Primer has 17 pages, with the Igbo alphabet, words, phrases, sentence patterns, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and translations of the first chapters of Matthew's Gospel. Thus Crowther became the first to use the Lepsius "Standard Alphabet" (Oraka p. 25).

1857 == Dr. William Baikie's ship berthed at Onitsha. On board were Crowther and his missionary team, including Igbo speakers Simon Jonas and Rev. J. C. Taylor. Crowther established a mission and left it in Taylor's hands. In less than a week Taylor had opened a school for young girls. Isoama-Ibo Primer served as their textbook (Oraka p. 25).

1861 == J. F. Schon apparently resumed Igbo studies, publishing his Oku Ibo: Grammatical Elements of the Ibo Language, written in the Isuama dialect, using Lepsius orthography (Oraka p. 26).

1870 == CMS in London used Lepsius orthography to publish An Ibo Primer, by F. W. Smart, a catechist posted in 1868 to the first outpost Christian Station in Niger Delta. Crowther, first Bishop of the Niger, posted him there with W. E. L. Carew. In the 1870s Smart and Carew each published an Igbo Primer and carried out translation works on church liturgy (Oraka pp. 25-26).

1880s == Crowther thought his Niger Mission was collapsing, since the Igbo dialect he chose was not a "living" dialect spoken by a particular group of the Igbo. The CMS realized its mistakes and decided to give up its effort to use one dialect only (Oraka p. 27).

1882 == Crowther wrote Vocabulary of the Ibo Language, the first comprehensive dictionary in Igbo. In 1883 Crowther and Schon jointly revised it and added more words. They finally came out with Vocabulary of the Ibo Language, Part II, an English-Ibo dictionary. By this time, Igbo had had some 50 books and booklets published in it (Oraka p. 27).

1882 == Britain enacted the first education ordinance to control and direct educational activities of Christian missions in what later became her West African colonies. It provided grants-in-aid conditional on the teaching of reading and writing of the English language only. This caused a stalemate in the development of many West African languages (Oraka p. 29).

1885 == RCM (Roman Catholic Mission) reached Igboland but did not seem to be interested in the study of the Igbo language (Oraka p. 28).

1891 == Bishop Crowther died (over 80), and the Isuama-Igbo period died with him. By this time two young men, the Englishman T. J. Dennis and the Sierra Leonean Henry Johnson, had joined the mission (Oraka p. 27).

1892 == Julius Spencer, an Onitsha-based Sierra Leonean missionary, published An Elementary Grammar of the Igbo Language. This was revised by Archdeacon Dennis in 1916 (Oraka p. 30).
 


THE UNION IGBO STUDIES (1900-1929)
 

1900-29 == Union Igbo Studies period.  Refers to Igbo version developed by CMS, aimed at binding or writing all Igbo dialects. Used terms understood in Onitsha, Owerri, Unwana, Arochukwu and Bonny dialects, keeping idioms and proverbs common to all.  Intended to be a sort of "central" or "compromise" Igbo, playing the role of a literary medium for the Igbo people.  The most prominent work published in Union Igbo was the Holy Bible (Bible Nso). The Union Igbo period saw major translation works. Missionaries collected materials on Igbo culture, including proverbs, folktales, riddles and customs (Oraka pp. 28, 29).

1900-29  == Rev. Thomas J. Dennis was the best, most prolific student of Igbo and writer of his time. He used an Igbo Language Translation Committee, including Igbo indigenes, to translate Pilgrim's Progress and some catechisms into Igbo. He also translated the Union Reader and the Union Hymnal. He died in a shipwreck in 1917 (Oraka p. 28).

1904 == A. Gabot, French missionary, produced a trilingual dictionary, English-Ibo and French Dictionary (Oraka p. 30).

1905 == Niger Mission saw a need to adopt a compromise dialect if the Bible were to be translated into a generally understood Igbo. CMS sent Dennis from Onitsha to Owerri to see about locating the headquarters of Igbo language studies there. Went with Alphonsus Onyeabo, an Onitsha-born catechist who later became a bishop. Dennis reported that Egbu, near Owerri, would be the ideal site, because the purest Igbo dialect was spoken there. CMS approved. Dennis, Onyeabo, and T. D. Anyaegbunam went to Egbu and opened a station  (Oraka p. 29).

1907 == P. C. Zappa, a French missionary, compiled a bilingual dictionary, Essai de Dictionnaire Francais-Ibo ou Francais-Ika, with the help of a catechist, Mr. Nwokeabia.  Zappa rightly saw Ika as an Igbo dialect and not as a language in itself  (Oraka p. 30).

1909 == Dennis and the others completed translation of the New Testament, the last part of their work.  Lepsius orthography was used. Dennis replaced "ds," "ts" and "s" with "j," "ch" and "sh."  Controversy ensued about the dialect used (Oraka p. 29).

1912 == Rev. G. T. Basden published Niger Ibos, a collection of Igbo customs and traditions (Oraka p. 30).

1913-1914 == Northcote W. Thomas produced Anthrological Report on the Igbo-Speaking People of Nigeria, in 6 volumes. Part II and Part V were devoted to Igbo-English (based on Onitsha and Awka dialects) and English-Igbo (with many words from the western Igbo dialect of Asaba) dictionaries, respectively (Oraka p. 30).

1916 == Archdeacon Dennis revised and enlarged Spencer's 1892 grammar (Oraka p. 30).

1920 == Phelps-Stokes Fund (American philanthropic organization interested in education of world's black people) sponsored two commissions to Africa. Subsequently (1922) it published Report on Education in Africa: Study of West, South and Equatorial Africa, recognizing the importance of the mother tongue in education of children (Oraka p. 31).

1923 == Isaac Iwekanuno wrote the first historical essay in the Igbo language, Akuko Ala Obosi, in Obosi dialect (Oraka p. 30).

1925 == The Phelps-Stokes Report prompted the British Colonial Office to set uup an Advisory Committee on Native Education in its African colonies, stressing the importance of the vernaculars (Oraka p. 31).

1926 == The Education Ordinance and Code of 1926 was enacted, requiring that only the vernacular or English be media of instruction. The Board of Education in Nigeria was reorganized to conform to the provisions of the Ordinance. (Oraka pp. 32,33).

1926 == On June 29, 1926, linguists and others from Africa and Europe met in London and launched the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (Oraka p. 32).

1927 == IIALC published a pamphlet, Practical Orthography of African Languages. 8 vowels and 28 consonants, with "gw," "kw," and "nw" added for Igbo sounds. The pamphlet used some international phonetic symbols. This was a radical change from the Lepsius orthography used by CMS for nearly seventy years. It started a heated controversy that almost suspended Igbo studies for more than thirty years (Oraka pp. 32,34).
 
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00fwp/igbo/igbohistory.html


Now before you call yoruba liars, the link provided above is int'l and isn't own by Yorubas.

Here is the same wiki you provided :


Crowther began translating the Bible into the Yoruba language and compiling a Yoruba dictionary. In 1843, a grammar book which he started working on during the Niger expedition was published; and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer followed later. Crowther also compiled A vocabulary of the Yoruba language,[12] including a large number of local proverbs, published in London in 1852. He also began codifying other languages. Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Crowther produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, another for the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Ajayi_Crowther

I am sure Yoruba own wiki too?
I am yet to figure out why you call Yoruba liars

Ofodirinwa:
Myth: It is widely believed that Yoruba Ex-slave Samuel Crowther was the first to write the bible in the Igbo language. The truth has been revealed that it was written by Simon Jonas, an Igbo ex-slave from Sierra Leone who gave Crowther the book due to Crowther's interest in translating the bible into african languages. It is now known that Crowther oversaw the translation of the English bible into the Yoruba language and this was the only translation he completed before dying a few months after the book was completed.




The mission to Onitsha which led to the translation was led by a group of ex slaves which included Simon Jonas (Igbo), Samuel Crowther (Yoruba) and Rev Taylor (Igbo). This is prompted by Crowther convincing the Anglican commission in Freetown and Lagos that it would be more effective to use natives to convert natives as opposed to europeans. Crowther was in Onitcha for a matter of weeks before heading off to Lokoja. Rev Taylor stayed in Onitsha and did the work that Nairalanders often credit to Crowther, who's only translation work was the Yoruba bible which he finished just before his death.

Source
http://anglicanhistory.org/africa/ng/dike_origins1957.html

I wonder how a man that speaks Yoruba can write a bible in igbo ..does it makes sense ...all these people


I know that Samuel story is a scam

Only heard that Samuel Crowther translated the Holy Bible into Yoruba. Never heard of him translating it into Igbo.

totit:
Here is the same wiki you provided :


Crowther began translating the Bible into the Yoruba language and compiling a Yoruba dictionary. In 1843, a grammar book which he started working on during the Niger expedition was published; and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer followed later. Crowther also compiled A vocabulary of the Yoruba language,[12] including a large number of local proverbs, published in London in 1852. He also began codifying other languages. Following the British Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857, Crowther produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, another for the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Ajayi_Crowther

I am sure Yoruba own wiki too?
I am yet to figure out why you call Yoruba liars

use your sense can a hausa man who have not spoke yoruba before but learned it for past a year know how to write it perfectly after a year? How long did it take you to write in english? After kg to nursery to primary then you can now write a bit in english, it took you almost 6 to 9 years to learn english language not talk of a language you barely hear about. That's a lie. Look wikipedia can be distorted because at the end of wiki they publish it there that if you have additional information you can add it up. So wiki can twisted as well.

jcross19:
use your sense can a hausa man who have not spoke yoruba before but learned it for past a year know how to write it perfectly after a year? How long did it take you to write in english? After kg to nursery to primary then you can now write a bit in english, it took you almost 6 to 9 years to learn english language not talk of a language you barely hear about. That's a lie. Look wikipedia can be distorted because at the end of wiki they publish it there that if you have additional information you can add it up. So wiki can twisted as well.

Lol

You should consider my precious/first reply before I referred to WIKI,ok?
Infact if you want more and more prove,link I don't mind oo

And,yes by the way I love your story line..very touching and heart warming

Eyah o

Alight, I can't write nor speak good english,are you good,happy now? Good boi
Now what you gonna do about that?

Wait..? How does that change the facts I put up there,that yoruba man taught ibo how to speak english?
Ek english isn't my father language.
You can check my precious,recent mentions for manageable english
We dey try nah

Anyway thanks for the correction

Furk english boi

Ofodirinwa:
In Summary

1. The Anglican Church assembled a group of native africans lead by a white man named Schoen to master the Igbo language after Crowther suggested it would be more effective to do missionary work with Africans than Europeans.

2. The group assembled Jonas (Igbo), who and other Sierra Leonean Igbos who spoke a dialect called Isuoma, which was only spoken in S.Leone by former slaves.

3. Upon finishing the Primer, which was written in 1857 by Jonas (Igbo), he handed his work over the Crowther and Scheon and went back to Sierra Leone.

4. The Igbo in the Primer and that which Crowther was familiar with was a failure when they reach Igboland as the natives did not understand them, they didn't understand the natives, and natives cited they weren't Igbo speakers. The dialect was only spoken among former slaves of igbo descent in S.leone and had been several adulterated over generations.

5. Crowther died years after finishing his real work, which was a Yoruba bible.

6. almost 20 years after his death and Igbo bible was written.



Today he is credited for writing the Igbo bible which is a proven falsehood and the Igbo primer, which was written by Jonas.
All sources for my information have been cited.

Nice one here. However, I have seen copies of Isuama Igbo and it was not really 'adulterated' per say from other Igbo dialects but rather it was hardly understood by Onitsha/Aboh speakers of Northern Igbo dialects compared to Isuama Igbo mostly of Southern Igbo dialects. This is the very reason for the failure of Isuama Igbo in Onitsha and environs. Also the fact that the Onitsha people back then were not well-versed with other Igbo dialects to understand the variances compared to Onitsha people of today.

Below is a copy of the Lord's prayer in Isuama Igbo and you would find out that it was not adulterated in any way, just remarkedly different from the Enuani Igbo dialect the Onitsha people spoke:



In central Igbo Orthography of today it would be:

Nna anyi di n'ime Igwe, Aha gi wu nso.
Eze gi abiama
Ihe I ikwere n'ala 'agona'
Otu ahu n'ime Igwe
Nye anyi taa nri nke anyi mgbe niile
Biko gbaghara anyi ihe ojoo anyi mere
Etu ahu anyi gbaghara ndi mere anyi ihe ojoo
E kwena ka anyi nwuo n'oria
Wepu anyi n'ihe ojoo
Gi nwe Eze, na Ike na otuto
Na mgbe niile. Amen.

More clip of the Isuama Igbo book written in 1859:


https://www.prbm.com/interest/children-1.php

bigfrancis21:


Nice one here. However, I have seen copies of Isuama Igbo and it was not really 'adulterated' per say from other Igbo dialects but rather it was hardly understood by Onitsha/Aboh speakers of Northern Igbo dialects compared to Isuama Igbo mostly of Southern Igbo dialects. This is the very reason for the failure of Isuama Igbo in Onitsha and environs. Also the fact that the Onitsha people back then were not well-versed with other Igbo dialects to understand the variances compared to Onitsha people of today.

Below is a copy of the Lord's prayer in Isuama Igbo and you would find out that it was not adulterated in any way, just remarkedly different from the Enuani Igbo dialect the Onitsha people spoke:



In central Igbo Orthography of today it would be:

Nna anyi di n'ime Igwe, Aha gi wu nso.
Eze gi abiama
Ihe I ikwere n'ala 'agona'
Otu ahu n'ime Igwe
Nye anyi taa nri nke anyi mgbe niile
Biko gbaghara anyi ihe ojoo anyi mere
Etu ahu anyi gbaghara ndi mere anyi ihe ojoo
E kwena ka anyi nwuo n'oria
Wepu anyi n'ihe ojoo
Gi nwe Eze, na Ike na otuto
Na mgbe niile. Amen.

More clip of the Isuama Igbo book written in 1859:


https://www.prbm.com/interest/children-1.php

This your isuama Igbo is very far from the central igbo(igbo izugbe). The difference is clear