The Igbo Language: Letters, Tone, Grammar and Words

1 The alphabet: 36 letters, eight vowels

Written Igbo uses the Nkpụrụ Edemede Asụsụ Igbo, the Igbo alphabet. All three reference books consulted count 36 letters: eight vowels and twenty-eight consonants. Nine of those letters are digraphs, pairs of letters that stand for one sound and are alphabetised as one unit.

The vowels are a, e, i, ị, o, ọ, u, ụ. The three letters with a dot below are not decorations: akwa and akwụ are different words. The consonant letters are b, ch, d, f, g, gb, gh, gw, h, j, k, kp, kw, l, m, n, ṅ, nw, ny, p, r, s, sh, t, v, w, y and z. Two sounds are not found in English: gb and kp.

The dotted letters have a history. A 1961 orthography (the Onwu Orthography) used dots. One dictionary adopts a later variant in which dotted vowels are printed with umlauts, ñ replaces ṅ and c replaces ch, so that every character can be typed on an ordinary machine. This site uses the dotted forms common in schools and publishing today.

A note on counts: the books agree on eight vowel letters, but counts of vowels in the wider literature depend on the analysis chosen. This guide therefore says “eight vowel letters” and avoids a single phoneme count.

2 Tone: why pitch changes meaning

Igbo is a tonal language: the pitch pattern of a word is part of the word. A dictionary analysis describes two tones, High and Low, with a third feature, downstep, in which a High tone is pitched slightly lower than the High before it. A learner’s guide instead teaches three marks: high (´), low (`) and flat or mid (¯).

The classic example is akwa, with four tone patterns and four meanings. Other pairs are égbé “eagle” and égbè “gun”, ényì “friend” and ényí “elephant”; afọ means “year” with one pattern and “belly” with another.

Most everyday writing leaves tones unmarked and readers use context. The dictionary records the default lexical tone, that is, the tone a word has when said alone, and not every change caused by the surrounding sentence. There is no agreement on whether to mark all tones or only the low ones. The two descriptions are two ways of notating one system for different readers, and the dictionary is the better reference for tone.

3 Grammar basics: sounds, words and sentences

Word shape. Igbo words are built from open syllables. A grammar primer states that a consonant is always followed by a vowel and that two consonants never stand side by side except in digraphs. The dictionary shows this is a simplification: syllabic nasals, as at the start of mmiri “water”, also occur. It describes Igbo as essentially a two-syllable language: nouns usually begin with a vowel, a semivowel or a syllabic nasal, and verbs always begin with a consonant.

Vowel meetings. The primer describes three processes. Assimilation: one vowel makes a neighbour sound like itself. Elision: a vowel is lost when two words join, as in nwa + oke → nwoke “male”, nwa + anyị → nwanyị “woman”, uso + ekwu → usekwu “kitchen”. Harmony: dotted vowels tend to stay together in the same word and a goes with either set.

Parts of speech. The primer uses Igbo names: nnọchiaha (pronoun), mkpụaha (noun), ngwaa (verb), mbụụzọ (preposition), njikọ (conjunction), nkọwaokwu (adverb), nkọwaaha (adjective). Igbo has few true adjectives and nouns can do the work of adjectives.

Four jobs of na: conjunction “and” (anụ na azụ); preposition (n’elu oche); auxiliary of the continuous (ha na-aga egwu); and part of the verb “to be at” (Ọ nọ n’ụlọ). The future is marked with ga (Ị ga-aga ahịa). Plural is marked by a word, not an ending: mmadụ abụọ, ndị mmadụ, ndị Igbo. The negative uses the suffix -ghị: Ada bịara ma ọ hụghị anyị. The primer is a beginner’s guide, not a descriptive grammar, and its rules should be read that way.

4 Dialects, Igbo Izugbe and the word “Igbo”

Igbo is a family of closely related dialects. Older classifications mention Plains, Osimili, Savannah, Omambala, Central and Delta; informal names include Ahoada, Bende, Ika, Ikwerre, Izzi, Mbaise, Nsukka, Obowo, Ohuhu, Onitsha and Owerri. The dictionary’s practical choice is two major zones, Owerri and Onitsha. Speakers of different zones understand each other less easily, but the basic elements remain constant. Boundaries for sound and for vocabulary do not always coincide.

The two zones do use different words: “eat something” is rie ihe in Owerri and lie ire in Onitsha, and the forms cannot be swapped; “think” is cee in Owerri and loo in Onitsha; “food” is nri or nni.

Standard written Igbo, Igbo Izugbe, was drawn up by the SPILC committee from a generalised Owerri–Umuahia Igbo and a generalised Onitsha Igbo. The dictionary author regards this as sensible for sentence structure but “an impoverishing development when applied to the lexicon”, because it can erase dialect words.

On names: the lower-case noun igbo means “upland; poor farmland far from the waterside”, “Igbo” names the people and the language, and “Ibo” is an older spelling that the dictionary calls inaccurate, still found in colonial sources.

5 Greetings and courtesy: a language of encouragement

Igbo greetings do more than say hello: many encourage, bless or wish safe travel. The verb daa carries the sense of “keep doing”, so Daalụ (from Da alụ ọlụ, “keep up the work”) is both encouragement and thanks. The words below come from the dictionary and the vocabulary guide; where they differ, the difference is noted.

Nzu, white chalk, is a symbol of purity and gladness used to welcome visitors or news of a birth. To accept the white chalk is a rite of hospitality, often restricted to title holders.

6 Counting, time and the four-day week

Traditional Igbo counting was by twenties. The dictionary records ogụ (or ọhụ) for 20 and nnụ for 400, a vigesimal system. The modern decimal system replaces them with combinations: iri abụọ “two tens” for 20 and nari anọ for 400. Numbers are joined with na: iri na asaa is 17, while iri asaa is 70. Ordinals use nke: nke mbụ, nke abụọ, nke atọ. The clock is a modern borrowing (elekere “hour”, nkeji “minute”).

The traditional week has four days, Eke, Orie, Afọ and Nkwọ, each also the name of a market. A week is izu; a seven-day “church week” is izu ụka and an eight-day “big week” is izu ukwu. A month is ọnwa, “moon”, and a year is afọ. The dry season is ọkọchị and the rainy season is udu mmiri; one learner’s book matches European seasons differently, so it should be checked against a dictionary.

Market-day names also become personal names. The prefix Oke- or Oko- plus a day gives men’s names such as Okeke (Eke), Okafọ (Afọ), Okonkwo (Nkwọ) and Okorie (Orie).

7 Family words: a vocabulary of belonging

Kinship words show how an Igbo person is placed in the world. The immediate family is ezi na ụlọ, “the compound and the house”. Beyond it lie wider circles: ụmụ nna, defined as “brethren, cousins, kinsmen” (the umunna, the patrilineal group central to Igbo social life), ikwu as kindred or lineage (ikwu nne for relations on the mother’s side) and ogbo as an age group.

Core words include nne and nna (mother, father), nwa and ụmụ (child, children), nwanne (sibling, from nwa nne “child of the mother”), okpara and ada (first son, first daughter), di and nwunye (husband, wife), nna nna and nne nne (grandfather, grandmother), ọgọ (in-law) and ibe (companion, neighbour; ibe nna paternal cousin). A proverbial phrase records that nwanyị bụ nwa: “a female child is also a child”.

8 A short history of Igbo dictionaries

Igbo has been written down for well over a century. The dictionary lists its predecessors: Schön (1852); Crowther and Schön (1882–83); Ganot (1904); N. W. Thomas (1913); Archdeacon Dennis and colleagues (1923); Armstrong (1967); Welmers and Welmers (1968); Williamson (1972); and two by Igbo authors, F. C. Ogbalu’s Okowa Okwu (1962) and H. I. Nnaji’s Modern English-Igbo Dictionary (1985). Ogbalu is honoured as the motive force of the revival of written Igbo, while the habit of mixing real Igbo words with coined equivalents of English words (for instance bakiteria “bacteria”) is criticised.

Michael Echeruo’s Igbo-English Dictionary (preface dated 1997, printed by Longman Nigeria in 2001) gathers attested words from several dialects with dialect labels, tone, numbered senses, etymological notes and examples from texts. It is not a learner’s dictionary. It also records borrowings: egusi and orisa from Yoruba, osikapa “rice” from Hausa, ekpe from Efik, and Maazi from French Monsieur.

For learners, a thematic vocabulary guide in eighteen chapters and a short grammar primer complement the dictionary: together they cover a scholar’s dictionary, a learner’s word list and a beginner’s grammar. As the dictionary says, “A dictionary is always work-in-progress.”

Key terms

Digraph

Two letters standing for one sound, such as ch, gb, kp.

Tone

The pitch pattern that is part of a word.

Downstep

A High tone pitched slightly lower than the previous High.

Igbo Izugbe

Standard written Igbo.

Elision

Loss of a vowel when two words join.

Vowel harmony

The tendency of dotted vowels to stay together in a word.

Vigesimal

Counting by twenties.

Izu

The four-day week; also a market-week unit.

Daalụ

Thanks, and encouragement to keep going.

Umunna

The patrilineal extended family (ụmụ nna).

Ogbo

Age group.

Nzu

White chalk, a symbol of purity and welcome.

Questions for discussion

1. Why might a tonal language leave tone unmarked in everyday writing, and what are the costs?
2. How does the greeting Daalụ reflect a cultural attitude toward work and gratitude?
3. What are the advantages and risks of a single written standard such as Igbo Izugbe?
4. How does the old vigesimal counting system still shape the way large numbers are built?
5. Which differences between Owerri and Onitsha vocabulary would matter most to a learner?