LANGUAGE- The Yorùbá language

THE YORUBA LANGUAGE

The Yorùbá language originated from western Nigeria in Africa. As decades have gone by, the language has spread to other West African countries; republic of Benin and Togo. A lot of communities speak the Yorùbá language due migration, business and other reasons. Some part of Congo, Cote d’lvore, Ghana, Senegal, Ghana, also uses it as a medium for trading.

This language has spread to most part of the world, according to BBC (2007),

an estimated 20+ million people speak Yorùbá all over the world as their first language while 2 million people speak it as their second language.

In the UK, is Yorùbá spoken in several part of London; Greenwich, Brixton, hackney, Lambeth, Southwark and mostly in Peckham (south east London), where passer-by and people speak it fluently, they have a Yoruba community there (BBC 2007). 

There is no specific history of Yorùbá in the UK, when it was first spoken, by whom and the story behind the arrival in the UK. The language might have come from migration of a Yorùbá group to the UK.

The three religions in Yorùbá are Christianity, Islam and traditional worship.  It is believed that Oduduwa was the first king of the Yoruba land, he settled in ile-ife in Osun state in Nigeria.The people of the Yorùbá engaged in lots of art and crafts. It is officially an Orthography (Malomo 2012).

This language is not just a way of communication buy also a way of discipline, passing moral values, expectation and religion (Malomo, 2012).   

 

A Yoruba styled door

(Think press Africa, 2012)

REFERENCES

BBC (2007) Yoruba Your voice  [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/multilingual/yoruba.shtml (Accessed : 15 November 2012).

Malomo, T. (2012) Hold Your Tongue Yoruba in the Diaspora

Think Africa Press [Online] Available at: http://thinkafricapress.com/nigeria/yoruba-diaspora ( Accessed: 15 November 2012). 

SOAS University Of London (2012) Languages of Africa at SOAS: Yorùbá’ available at: http://www.soas.ac.uk/africa/languages/languages-of-africa-at-soas-yorb.html (Accessed: 13 November 2012).

Thinkafricapress.com (2012) A Yoruba styled door Available at:

http://thinkafricapress.com/sites/default/files/styles/400xy/public/door.jpg (Accessed: 15 November 2012).