Obolo (or Andoni) is a major Cross River language of Nigeria. Obolo is the indigenous name of a community in the eastern Delta of the River Niger, better known as Andoni (the origin of this latter name being uncertain).[2] Obolo refers to the people, the language as well as the land. It is an agglutinative and an SVO language.
| Obolo | |
|---|---|
| Andoni | |
| Native to | Nigeria |
| Region | Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State |
| Ethnicity | Obolo people |
Native speakers | 318,000 (2011)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ann |
| Glottolog | obol1243 |
Dialects edit
There are six major dialect groups in the language, namely: (from west to east): Ataba, Unyeada, Ngo, Okoroete, Iko and Ibot Obolo.[3] Ngo is the prestige dialect, hence the standard literary form of Obolo draws heavily from it.
Obolo literature edit
- The Bible in Obolo was published by the Obolo Language and Bible Translation Organization in 2012. Obolo is the 23rd Nigerian language to have the complete Bible.[4]
- An Obolo-language website was launched in 2016.[5]
- The first literary material on Literature in the Mother-Tongue; a novel for Junior Secondary Schools and public readership, Mbuban Îchaka by Isidore Ene-Awaji © Obolo Language & Bible Translation Organization, was published in 2010.[6]
Writing System edit
Obolo language is written in the Latin script. The alphabet is as follows:
| a | b | ch | d | e | f | g | gb |
| gw | i | j | k | kp | kw | l | m |
| n | n̄ | nw | ny | o | ọ | p | r |
| s | (sh) | t | u | (v) | w | y | (z) |
- The characters in bracket are dialect-specific.
- Tone marks can be added to some letters. The tone bearers are the vowels a, e, i, o, ọ, u as well as the consonants m and n.
Obolo is a tone language. There are five tones in the language: low, high, mid, falling and rising tone.[10] In writing, only the low tone and falling tone are indicated.[11] Tones are marked compulsorily on the first syllables of verbs and verbal groups. For other classes of words, a standard literature will show the way to go.
Regulation edit
Obolo language is regulated by the Obolo Language and Bible Translation Organization (OLBTO), a community-owned research and development organization that does dialect surveys and research, oversees the development and introduction of new terminologies, publishes books in the language, etc.
References edit
- ^ NBS (2011) Annual Abstract of Statistics. National Bureau of Statistics. Federal Republic of Nigeria. p. 26,64
- ^ A History of Obolo (Andoni) in the Niger Delta. By Nkparom C. Ejituwu. Oron: Manson Publishing Company, in association with University of Port Harcourt Press, 1991. Pp. xiv +314
- ^ Obolo in "Orthographies of Nigerian Languages Manual VI." Publisher: Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council. 2000.
- ^ "About | Read the Bible in Obolo language". obolo.ngbible.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-26.
- ^ "Ida Obolo". obololanguage.org. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
- ^ "Mfufuk Ofolek Ikwaan̄ Usem Obolo (OLBTO) 1984-2014". obololanguage.org. Retrieved 2024-01-13.
- ^ Obololanguage.org 2015.
- ^ "Reading and Writing Obolo: Obolo Alphabet" in "A Workshop Manual for Teaching Obolo." Pg. 1. © Obolo Language and Bible Translation Organisation (OLBTO), 2011.
- ^ "Reading and Writing Obolo." Pg. 4. Andoni Language Committee and Rivers Readers Project, 1978.
- ^ "Reading and Writing Obolo: Tone Marking" in "A Workshop Manual for Teaching Obolo." Pg. 1. © Obolo Language and Bible Translation Organisation (OLBTO), 2011.
- ^ "Reading and Writing Obolo: About Marking of Tones in Bible" in "A Workshop Manual for Teaching Obolo." Pg. 9. © Obolo Language and Bible Translation Organisation (OLBTO), 2011.
