darfay:
@ op isokos do not speak urhobo period!!!

Okay o! You want to pick offence now that I am carrying Isoko along, as if you don't understand the said Urhobo or like you were never part of Urhobo at any point before? Na wa for some of una.

I never said Isokos are Urhobos. I only added Isoko to the mix here in order to carry our genuine brothers and sisters along. The issue of identity and loss of language affects both of us.

Efewestern:


yes I get your point, something really needs to be done about this, out of every 10 urhobo youth 2 can speak very well, 2 can only hear , the remaining six na OYO.

I think nothing can be done about this, if you have suggestions on how to tackle this issue free free to drop it.

The thing is that neither the federal nor state govts promote minority languages. So, many minority languages are heavily threatened. Even many igbos complain thag Igbo language as large as it is, it is threatened.

The only reason why Urhobo seems quite worse is because this threat has infiltrated urhobo homeland while other ethnic group languages are only threatened because their people migrate away from their homeland to bigger cities and cannot pass the language to their children.

Minority groups hardly have an option. Even Bini which used to be spoken all over Benin in the past is now gradually declining and most middle class Bini children and youths in Benin cannot speak the language well (although Bini is still better than Urhobo).

In the north, minority languages are vanishing and being replaced by Hausa.

Wow
She try .. She dissect the urhobo as if there's no tomorrow
Nice one!

[quote author=Bishop post=56071663]


That person na urhobo albino... no be oyinbo

dragonking2:
This video is wonderful. Our language cannot die but I will suggest that we marry our own ladies and speak to the language to our children. The language is tough so children need to understand it while growing up if not, OYO is it. Also, we shouldn't make jest of others for not speaking the language rather we should encourage them to attend clan meetings or associations. Thats how the language will survive. Alot of us marry outside the tribe. I have several brothers and sisters married to igbos and yorubas. Who do you blame it children end up not speaking the language?
I am happy that atleast you bring up things like this. Thank you for this and God bless you...How I wish there are Urhobo and isoko videos were people can learn the language especially the basic parts. Abeg if you stumble on such videos please post them.
God bless delta State
God bless nigerdelta region.

PS: Thank you Chelsea. Oya Arsenal don't f up o.. ..over to watch the next match.

it's not about marrying our own tribe o.
I'm 100% Urhobo but can't speak

shestrong:




nobody to teach me,I grew in d north nd popsi married anoda tribe.Choi!

Choi! And he never bothered to tell you about learning?

fratermathy:


Uvwie is almost an extinct language! Okpe even fares better than Uvwie.

However, Uvwie's case is not as bad as Erhowa (Eruwa) in Isoko South. That dialect is basically extinct. Once the few persons from the colonial period who can speak Erhowa die, so does the dialect! Infact, Erhowa's case has been tagged as being almost irredeemable. The dialect is sandwiched between Ijaw and Isoko, with influences from other Urhobo dialects like Uwherun. The generation from the late colonial/early post colonial period can, at best, speak a highly diluted version of Erhowa. The younger generation only speak English and Pidgin!

erhowa is the oldest clan of the isoko and urhobo nation. what they speak is the original proto isoko/urhobo dialect not a mixture of anything

sa igbobie(hope I spelt it well)

Why do we celebrate oyinbo when they speak our language?

Kini big deal. We have been speaking their language for years.

Where did she learn the accent and language?

If na black man dey speak with jamaican accent or british/american lingo, una go dey hala say na copy copy.

You are only happy when they copy your culture but not vice versa?

BTW I'm not against oyinbo/foreigners learning out things. I am against the double standard that most people have.

Live and let live. Be proud of what you have, no matter what it is.

darfay:
@ op isokos do not speak urhobo period!!!

many isokos speaks and understand urhobo perfectly

fratermathy:
Area roll call:
Sanchez01 Efewestern Opharhe Onosprince DBriteLitehouse Scionofurhobo Caringguy Leriebloom Igholize DavidEsq Fifthcolumnist Efeski Sevantex mulattoclaroo Daphey Amberon Mavor Afriifa K9ine Nairaman66 Drstainlex Erumena Akoko11 BraniacX Sexina851 LKO Gmacnoms Dragon3 Basilovie

make i mark register too

It is so annoying that you are in your home town and you can not speak you dialect. There is no Ibo either at home or away that cannot speak their dialect, same thing to the Hausa's. But for this my Urhobo, those at home speak pidgin and those in Diaspora speak foreign languages, especially those in Yoruba land. Many of them will even give their children Yoruba names without giving a single Urhobo name.

Nicho118:
many isokos speaks and understand urhobo perfectly

Not many. 95% of Isokos can speak Urhobo if they want to. Many just don't want to, for obvious reasons (of which one is that they would be called or identified as Urhobos).

99% of them understand central Urhobo, Evwreni and Uwherun dialects. Olomoro people speak an Isokonised Olomu dialect.

Urhobos, on the other hand, barely understand Isoko except they pay attention or learn it for a few days/weeks. Although some Urhobos naturally understand them without learning.

Apart from these normal Linguistic differences, occasioned by Isoko's relative isolation from other Urhobo clans, they are practically like Urhobos in everything else.

Its just so sad that the politics of tribalism and division had to encroach upon us. Look at the Epie-Atissa people. Even though they speak different dialects, they identify as one. I don't subscribe to these artifical divisions. Urhobo and Isoko are one and the same people. We may not agree to be called the other's name but we know that we are brothers so I generally prefer compounding the names (Urhobo/Isoko).

EnaibeSam:
It is so annoying that you are in your home town and you can not speak you dialect. There is no Ibo either at home or away that cannot speak their dialect, same thing to the Hausa's. But for this my Urhobo, those at home speak pidgin and those in Diaspora speak foreign languages, especially those in Yoruba land. Many of them will even give their children Yoruba names without giving a single Urhobo name.

You are very correct. I have distant relations in Lagos who rap Yoruba like water and act like Yorubas. In fact, they have Yoruba accent and behavior but they fail to realise that they are Urhobos first before anything else.

This prodigal children phenomenon is another thing Urhobo nation need to address!

EnaibeSam:
It is so annoying that you are in your home town and you can not speak you dialect. There is no Ibo either at home or away that cannot speak their dialect, same thing to the Hausa's. But for this my Urhobo, those at home speak pidgin and those in Diaspora speak foreign languages, especially those in Yoruba land. Many of them will even give their children Yoruba names without giving a single Urhobo name.

oga.. use Yoruba as an example not igbo.. I know many igbos who can't even greet in their dialect

fratermathy:


Lol. Sadly, he is not alone. Many Urhobo youths barely understand the language. Speaking it is even a different thing entirely.


We are working hard to undo the damage done to us by colonialism and negative attitudes towards our language.

I will like to know the steps you have taken in this regard, I'm really interested.

darfay:


erhowa is the oldest clan of the isoko and urhobo nation. what they speak is the original proto isoko/urhobo dialect not a mixture of anything

sa igbobie(hope I spelt it well)

I never said it was a mixture of anything. I said the dialect is "sandwiched between Ijaw and Isoko, with influences from Uwherun". You should have asked me to explain what I meant.

Erhowa, in its protoid precolonial form, is the accepted original proto-language from which many of the Isoko/Urhobo dialects are derived. However, due to its little size and the fact that it is spoken in only 2-3 villages, it's people started learning the dialects of wider communication, notably Isoko and Pidgin.

Furthermore, because the nearest secondary school to Erhowa is at either Patani or Uwherun, many of its educated people were influenced by Ijaw/Uwherun-Urhobo. So modern day Erhowa has many influences from all of these. Even with the influences, it's protoid form is still present, at least, enough to make it unintelligible to Isoko and Urhobo people.

As it is today, younger Erhowa people hardly learn Erhowa because it is seen as difficult and of no benefit in wider communication. Many speak Isoko as first language, all can speak Pidgin, few speak Urhobo and a handful speak Ijaw.

EnaibeSam:
It is so annoying that you are in your home town and you can not speak you dialect. There is no Ibo either at home or away that cannot speak their dialect, same thing to the Hausa's. But for this my Urhobo, those at home speak pidgin and those in Diaspora speak foreign languages, especially those in Yoruba land. Many of them will even give their children Yoruba names without giving a single Urhobo name.

You guys always think every other tribe is perfect. Your Igbo example is skewed though our case is not as bad as the Urhobo situation. The only Igbos we complain about not speaking Igbo are those who live outside Igboland. It would be a taboo for an Igbo person living in Igboland not to know how to speak the language. Even those outside Igboland understand the language.

Efewestern:


the fault is actually from our parents, you can hardly seen an itsekiri youth that can't speak there language, are we not in the same warri together? , in fact itsekiri always name there children with there itsekiri language but that can't be said with urhobo, uvwie is the worst, hardly do you see someone speaking it, only the elders but I can hear very well but can't speak the dialect.


this is wat development cause, almost all of urhobo land is fast becoming town, from warri to orerokpe to abraka to agharo to sapele to ughelle etc so they think the only way out is to master pidgin and forget about our root.

cc: fratermathy

You finish work... can't be better put

Nicho118:
True oo.. Uvwie own na worst pass

That dialect that sounds like what doesn't have a name, even my mum couldn't learn it by marriage.

I have met one white man also at Kris jetty in Apapa, our vessel berth alongside theirs and he was told there is an urhobo girl on my ship as soon as he starts to speak deep into the language I ran away cos I became scared this Oyinbo man fit fall my hand here publicly. Most of them are very keen in learning our language.

Jamean:


That dialect that sounds like what doesn't have a name, even my mum couldn't learn it by marriage.

Are you from uvwie?

fratermathy:


You are very correct. I have distant relations in Lagos who rap Yoruba like water and act like Yorubas. In fact, they have Yoruba accent and behavior but they fail to realise that they are Urhobos first before anything else.

These prodigal children phenomenon is another thing Urhobo nation need to address!

Matty, that is quite harsh. Don't blame them, really. I was born and bred in Lagos too and my Yorùbá would beat that of a typical Yorùbá man who is not aligned with Osun and Oyo hands down, but it didn't stop me in any way. I like the idea of being multilingual as opposed to being monolingual. I could speak Hausa perfectly at some point, but all I have left of it is when I'm bargaining steaks, mostly on Friday nights after work. Lol.

The acquisition of an L2 (second language) isn't the problem, but forsaking the L1 (mother tongue) while holding on to L2.

dragonking2:
This video is wonderful. Our language cannot die but I will suggest that we marry our own ladies and speak to the language to our children. The language is tough so children need to understand it while growing up if not, OYO is it. Also, we shouldn't make jest of others for not speaking the language rather we should encourage them to attend clan meetings or associations. Thats how the language will survive. Alot of us marry outside the tribe. I have several brothers and sisters married to igbos and yorubas. Who do you blame it children end up not speaking the language?
I am happy that atleast you bring up things like this. Thank you for this and God bless you...How I wish there are Urhobo and isoko videos were people can learn the language especially the basic parts. Abeg if you stumble on such videos please post them.
God bless delta State
God bless nigerdelta region.

PS: Thank you Chelsea. Oya Arsenal don't f up o.. ..over to watch the next match.

That oyibo woman surprises me .her urhobo is so clear that you wouldn't know she is a white lady. The problem can be solved when urhobo indigens decide to learn it not just watching cartoons, movies related to urhobo. I witnessed an oyibo man speaking itsekiri, I was how come? But you know what, he was determine to learn it at all cost. Foreigners and non indigens tend to speak it more than urhobo indigens. This was what I noticed

this is the problem with the black man @ op and co you have identified the problem what's the solution?
Y not you and your fellow urhobos here who know how to speak it open another thread to teach those who are willing to alleviate the problem you are referring them to some village

fratermathy:


Lol. Sadly, he is not alone. Many Urhobo youths barely understand the language. Speaking it is even a different thing entirely.

We are working hard to undo the damage done to us by colonialism and negative attitudes towards our language.

mumu talk

Many nairalanders speak western languages fluently......so...

Jamean:
[/b]

I will like to know the steps you have taken in this regard, I'm really interested.

There is an Urhobo radio station broadcasting from the US already. They have a page of Facebook and have their videos all over. Listening to the radio is a great start. The most important thing is showing genuine interest, else, the entire process would be futile.

fratermathy:
I stumbled across a video of a white woman who can speak Urhobo fluently like someone who grew up in the village. She was speaking it with pride and all the features of a native speaker were there. I don't know her or where she grew up but I found the video fascinating. I am aware that there are many whites that can speak Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. But this is Urhobo, a language that many of its people hardly speak (refer to my post on the dearth of Urhobo language), and so it is very intriguing. See video below:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf5glkJddSE



Urhobo people: Speak Urhobo today! Learn Urhobo if you can't speak it yet! Be proud of your culture and identity! Don't let someone else be proud of it on your behalf!

Urhobo Wadoo!!! Mesiaghware o!


**NB: Urhobo is a language spoken by the Urhobo/Isoko people of Delta State, Nigeria.

Jesus help me o. Upon all my years in warri an abraka I can't speak ukwuani or urhobo fluently. People abeg speak ur native dialect to your kids while they are young it matters

oyonu:


Jesus help me o. Upon all my years in warri an abraka I can't speak ukwuani or urhobo fluently. People abeg speak ur native dialect to your kids while they are young it matters

The town u mentioned is not an ukwuani speaking town na

Jesus

And I can't speak

Nicho118:
Are you from uvwie?

Yes

darfay:
this is the problem with the black man @ op and co you have identified the problem what's the solution?
Y not you and your fellow urhobos here who know how to speak it open another thread to teach those who are willing to alleviate the problem you are referring them to some village

I didn't refer them to villages. Someone else did and I contributed. I've always maintained that yo learn the language, those that are interested should take advantage of the Internet and watch many Urhobo movies that are online, including cartoons and music videos, all with subtitles. These can be found on YouTube.

Those who feel they won't learn through this route should employ a private Urhobo tutor to take them once or twice a week. I've referred many people to Urhobo tutors in Lagos, Benin, Ife, Abuja, and even in the USA and UK.