Indigenous Languages and Oral Traditions’ Preservation

Languages are sets of words or signs used for communication between people of the same heritage. In our day-to-day dealings, we use languages for communication at home, at work, in schools, and in our businesses.

My Indigenous language is Ibibio, Ibibio is not The official language in Nigeria. Nigerians are diverse in languages and cultures, we have the Hausas, the Yorubas, the Igbos, and Efiks/Ibibios ethnic groups, and their Central languages come with their names, Hausa for the Hausas, Yoruba for the Yorubas, Igbo for the Igbos, and Efik/Ibibio for the Efiks/Ibibios. Although there are other languages in Nigeria, the aforementioned Languages are the central languages of these ethnic groups and are understood by most people from the groups.

The official language in Nigeria is English, this language was instituted by the colonial Masters, the British, and English is taught in schools, used in workplaces, and for official transactions. Let us now talk about Ibibio.

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IBIBIO LANGUAGE

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Ibibio is a language spoken by the Ibibio people in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. Ibibio is just a tribe in Akwa Ibom State, which implies there are tribes with other languages in the state.

What makes Ibibio slightly special among the languages spoken by the Akwa Ibom people is that it is the central language of the State, almost everyone from the state understands the language. The Oron people with the Oro language, the Eket people with the Ekid language, the Annang people with the Annang language, etc all understand and speak the Ibibio language, almost everyone. Ibibio is like a heritage of the Akwa Ibom state.

My husband and I use Ibibio in our daily conversations, though we both speak and understand English fluently. But we are bringing up our daughter in English, we want her to speak and understand English fluently first, and since Ibibio runs in her blood, she will easily understand and speak it later in her life.

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TRADITIONS

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Some cultures in our country are preserved orally or through the commonly spoken language, but I will be focusing on that of the Ibibios. These are a few of them;

1. Dressing: the common dressing in Ibibio is wrappers(Ofoisin in Ibibio language). Men and women tight it differently. Women wear blouses as tops and men wear shirts as tops. The process of wearing a wrapper by men is known as Usobo in the Ibibio language and the shirt is known as Onyonyo in the Ibibio language. While purchasing these things, Ibibio's names are generally known by everyone.

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My mother and father inlaw in traditional attire

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2. Traditional marriages: In traditional marriages, the used languages are usually the Indigenous languages. The young ones will get to learn the processes of marriage in their Indigenous languages. The attire that is worn by the prospective mates is traditional.

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3. Music and Dance: There are traditional songs that complement traditional dances, and these songs are sung in Indigenous languages, songs like Eyen-Eyen which compliments the Ekombi dance, you may read about the dance in this post.

4. Masquerade(Ekpo): Traditionally, the Ibibio displays some customs and traditions. It is for fun, the songs and the Incantations used by the Ekpo are in Indigenous languages.

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