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Publication Date: July 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.87.10384. Nnamdi-Eruchalu, G. I. (2021). Anglicization of Written Igbo Personal and Place Names: A Sociolinguistic Study. Advances in Social
Sciences Research Journal, 8(7). 501-515.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Anglicization of Written Igbo Personal and Place Names: A
Sociolinguistic Study
Geraldine Ifesinachi Nnamdi-Eruchalu
Department of English Language and Literature
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The Igbo people are at the verge of losing their language, culture and identity to the
English Language [Azuonye 2002, Asonye 2013, Emeka-Nwobia 2020]. This work
aims at investigating into the Anglicization of written Igbo personal and place
names with a view to highlighting the extent of spellings and pronunciation
inconsistencies, discover what impact it has on the learning and development of the
language, and discover ways the attitude of the people can be changed towards the
language to forestall its death. It argues that the spelling inconsistencies it
introduced to the language is a source of challenge to learners, the majority of
whom already have negative attitude towards the language. Ogbalu [1974],
Oruchalu [1979] and Okodo [2008] made lists of anglicized names with their correct
Igbo spellings, and decried the practice. The data for this research were collected
from personal experiences, class lists, radio and television programmes, the
internet, social and print media, and interviews. It concludes that a change in the
attitude of the people towards their language, culture and identity as well as total
implementation of the Onwu Orthography with regards to the spelling of personal
and place names will complement the efforts being made to sustain the language.
Key words: Anglicization, spelling inconsistencies, identity, Onwu Orthography, names
INTRODUCTION
Igbo people are good at embracing novelties – novelty in dress, customs, language and in short
novelty in everything. In speech they prefer English to the mother tongue and those who have
smarthing (sic) knowledge of Hausa, Yoruba or Efic speak them even in an environment they
are not called for. [Ogbalu, 1974, p. 58]
The graphization of the Igbo Language is usually traced to its contact with the Europeans of the
colonial era and subsequently the writing and compilation of words to produce word lists by
the freed slaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone . However, its development went into limbo between
1929 and 1961 due to the Orthography and Dialect controversies, and reemerged with the
introduction of the (Official) Onwu Orthography in 1961. Also, through the efforts of the Society
for Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture using its standardization Committee, a standard
dialect of the Igbo language was arrived at, [Ogbalu 1974, 1982, Emenanjo 1982, 1985,
Nwachukwu 1983]. Meanwhile, the standardization movement has been blamed for the
marginalization of many Igbo dialects which would have helped to make the language more
viable [Azuonye 2002]. But this argument is beyond the scope of this paper since dialect
influences are not implicated in the Anglicization of Igbo names.
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Since the introduction and acceptance of the Onwu Orthography, it has been adopted in
writings and publications in the language, but one area where spellings have remained as the
colonialists left them or at the discretion of individuals is personal names, and this makes such
names ‘unIgbo’. Names are an embodiment of a people’s culture, worldviews, beliefs and
identity. Names place the thing named in one group rather than another. A name should,
therefore, carry the bearer’s identity, but this is no longer the case in the present-day Igbo
society where many names have been anglicized with little or no signification in the language.
Anglicized names here refer to Igbo names which have been influenced by the English culture
or affected by the English orthography to the extent that they have lost touch with Igbo
language and culture. Consider the following:
Enugu the capital of Enugu state of Nigeria means Énúgwú , which is hill top in Igbo language
due to its topography. Enugu as it is wrongly spelt is meaningless in the Igbo language.
Ísélé Úkwú /ísélé úkwú/, a town in Delta State is wrongly spelt Isele-Uku. Uku is meaningless
in Igbo language, but Ukwu means big/large.
The capital of Anambra state is wrongly spelt Awka instead of Ọka.
A more disturbing situation is where place names with the same pronunciations are spelt
differently across different Igbo towns. Examples:
Onícha in Anambra State is spelt Onitsha, while the one in the Igbo speaking area of Delta State
is spelt ‘Onicha’.
Ọba /ọba/ in Idemili North LGA in Anambra State is spelt Ọba, while the one in Nsukka, Enugu
State is spelt Ọrba.
The word Anambra is an aberration in Igbo spelling because of the presence of the consonant
cluster <br> which is not acceptable in Igbo phonotactics. The correct spelling is Anambara in
line with the ‘Ọmambala River’ from where her name was derived. The /m/ is a syllabic nasal
and as such treated as a vowel.
The danger in this practice is that the meanings of Igbo words are being lost, and people who
are not familiar with the correct pronunciation of such wrongly pronounced names pronounce
them wrongly.
Personal names are not left out of this trend. People who answer Okafo, meaning a male child
born on Afor market day, for instance, have spelt their name as Okafo, Okafor, Okarfor, Okaphor
respectively, while those who answer Uzoka have spelt it as Uzoka, Uzorka, Uzohka, Uzokar.
Uzokah. These inconsistencies are misleading to learners of Igbo, and create confusion for users
of the language as to which of the spellings to select when faced with a situation to address an
Okafo or an Uzoka, for instance, in writing. It was this observation that drew my interest to this
research.
Okodo [2008], Oruchalu [1979], Ogbalu [1974], compiled anglicized Igbo names to illustrate
their forms, and condemned the practice. Obitube and Okeke [2019] studied the sociolinguistic
and pedagogical implications of Anglicization on Igbo place names using questionnaires and
observation as instruments for data collection. This paper, in addition to compiling an extensive
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Nnamdi-Eruchalu, G. I. (2021). Anglicization of Written Igbo Personal and Place Names: A Sociolinguistic Study. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 8(7). 501-515.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10384
list of Anglicized Igbo names and describing the patterns of the Anglicization is a clarion call to
standardize the spellings of personal names to make the language simpler for learners now that
UNESCO has listed it as an endangered language. It advocates ways the people can change
their attitude towards their language so as to sustain their culture and identity. To this end, the
researcher sets out to document and carry out an in-depth analysis of Igbo place and personal
names in the face of Anglicization with a view to finding out its implication for Igbo language
development and learning. To achieve these set objectives, the research is guided by the
following research questions.
i. In what ways have Igbo personal and place names been Anglicized?
ii. What implication has the Anglicization of Igbo personal and place names on the
language and the learners?
iii. How can the the Anglicization of Igbo names be checked?
The answers to these questions will provide the information needed to understand the major
concerns of this paper.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Igbo and their Attitude towards their Language
Igbo is a major Nigerian language spoken as a first language in the South Eastern states of Abia,
Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, and parts of the South Southern states of Akwa-Ibom, Rivers,
Delta, and Cross Rivers. However, due to the gregarious, industrious, and innovative lifestyle of
the Igbo, it is spoken all over Nigeria and in the diaspora where the speakers live [Buah 1973,
Asonye 2013]. Ribadu [2017] observes that it is common joke that whichever village you go in
Nigeria and you don’t see an Igbo man, you should take to your heels. Though taken simply as
a joke, this speaks to the industrious and adventurous nature of a typical Igbo persona and
illustrates how rooted the Igbo are in this country [p..9].
Greenberg 1963 classified Igbo among the kwa sub group of the Niger-Congo languages family
[Niger-Congo Languages, n.p., Asonye 2003]. It is a tonal as well as multidialectal language, with
its dialects different mainly in their phonological and lexical components, at times to a point of
being mutually unintelligible. The preliterate Igbo were farmers, hunters, fishermen, traders,
and craftsmen and women with specialized knowledge of pottery, carving, black smiting,
weaving, and many others, and were thus comfortable with their subsistent economy In fact,
the Igbo were living an organized lifestyle in their ‘self-sufficient society’ before they were
invaded by the Europeans [Isichei, 1973, p. 50].
The Europeans did not penetrate the Igbo interior early, but when they did, they established
trading relationships with the people, as well as their religion, and government. With a colonial
government in place, schools, churches, courts, and administrative offices, prisons, and others
were opened, and provided various opportunities to the people. Thus a foreign culture, foreign
religion, and foreign language were imposed on them. By their very adaptive, dynamic,
individualistic, and adventurous nature, they embraced them wholesomely.. Consequently, the
lifestyle of the Igbo was disrupted. Achebe captures it vividly in this excerpt:
But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also
say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have
turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his
religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our
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brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us
together and we have fallen apart. [2008, p. 141].
The people placed everything English above their own local values. Many educated Igbo parents
have forbidden addressing their children in the Igbo language, or even speak it at home
[Azuonye 2002]. Such parents boldly announce that their children neither speak nor
understand the language. The uneducated, some of whom cannot utter a single grammatical
sentence in the English language or pronounce the words correctly cannot miss any
opportunity to brandish English even when such a display is uncalled for. They also make it a
point of duty to make English the language of the home, thereby introducing their children to
bad English and no Igbo. The implication is that many Igbo children living right in the heart of
Igbo land among Igbo parents cannot speak the Igbo language well [Ani 2012, Emeka-Nwobia
2020]. It is already established that many Igbo today lace their Igbo with English words in their
day to day use of language because they are losing grip of their language [Asonye 2013, Okoye
and Onwuegbuchunam 2011]. I have not forgotten that I heard the word ‘enemy’ as a child from
my late paternal grandmother who never went to school for one day and who was never
exposed formally or informally to the English language. At first I thought it was an Igbo word
until I came across it in the course of my primary education. Yet, she used it and other English
expressions in her everyday conversations. That is the extent English has permeated the Igbo
rural areas. Ogbalu in Afigbo affirm that:
The people’s flair for things foreign, their dislike for their own things, tradition and mode of
living have constituted the main obstacle to Igbo language development.... Even persons who
had not been to school and could not make any single correct English sentence now find it
difficult to speak Igbo without punctuating it with English utterances suitable or unsuitable
[1995, p. 257]
Also worrisome is that many Igbo have gone to the extent of blotting out everything Igbo in
their names by Europeanizing both their given names and surnames, thereby making it
impossible for them to be traced to their root [Nnamdi-Eruchalu, 2017]. Originally, through
Igbo names you could point to the part of Igboland where someone comes from, but this is
becoming increasingly impossible with such names as Bianca Paul, Goodness Loveday, John
Israel, Salome Sunday, Sunday Moses, Felix Abraham, Nikky Michael which many Igbo answer
officially as their name. This trend if not urgently tackled by launching well-crafted campaigns
targeted at discouraging it, or documenting Igbo names answered in different parts of Igboland,
with their meanings, will lead to the loss of many Igbo personal names (of which some of them
are already extinct) by 2050. In many of the instances I inquired into such change of name was
done by the family, while the original Igbo name is left to die.
Nevertheless, the English language is a force to reckon with. It is spoken in the UK, United States
of America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa as a first language [Veghese
1989]. In Nigeria, India, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and almost all the countries colonized by Britain,
English is used as a second language. In many other countries of the world it is an official
language. Hornby [2015, R 91] enthuses that “one in five of the world population speaks English
with some degrees of competence”. It is the language of international diplomacy, world trade
and commerce, and international sports. The wealth of knowledge in modern scientific and
technological discoveries can only be adequately accessed through the medium of the English
language. It is one of the major languages used in the deliberations of the United Nations, and
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Journal, 8(7). 501-515.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10384
its organs, EU, AU, and many other international bodies as well as world communication. It is
also the language of command of NATO. In Nigeria, it is the linguistic bridge that links her
multiple small nations merged as one for colonial convenience. In fact, Nigeria exits because
English oils her existence. Though a second language in the country, its functional load is almost
as enormous as that of a first language [Onuigbo and Eyisi, 2009 ].
The Writing System
Writing is one of the “three basic modes of linguistic communication” [Finnegan 2012: 17].
Others are speech and signing. It is the use of graphic inscriptions to represent the words of a
language. Writing is system of representing the words of a language visually, and is different
from paintings, carvings, and so on which do not represent the word of a language [McGregor
2009]. Writing is said to have been invented thrice at three different regions of the world: the
Near East, China and Mesoamerica, the earliest of them being the Mesopotamian Cunieform
developed by the Sumerians of the present-day Iraq in the 3rd Millennium [Schmandt- Besserat,
2014 ]. Writing derives from speech which is primary to it, and represents it in some ways in
all true writing systems [McGregor 2009]. The writing system of a language defines the
linguistic unit that is represented by the graphemes of a language [Miller 2019. p. 1].
The world has evolved three main writing systems: the syllabary where a syllable corresponds
to a grapheme, morphographic where a word corresponds to a grapheme, and alphabetic where
a letter corresponds to a grapheme [Coulmas 2003, Schmandt- Besseret 2014]. The extent of
the consistency or accuracy between the sounds and graphemes of a language vary across
languages with Spanish, Igbo, for example, showing consistency, and English being highly
consistent, mainly due to the foreign status many of her word stock. Learning to read in a
language, therefore, involves discovering the linear correspondences between the sounds of
the spoken language and the graphemes. For instance, to be able to read the Igbo word ‘ụlọ’, the
reader would need to be able to realize that the sound /ụ/ is realized as the grapheme ụ, the
sound /l/ is realized as the grapheme l, and the sound /ọ/ is realized as the grapheme ọ. This
pattern of correspondence between the written and phonological forms is called the
orthography of the language.
The Igbo Orthography
The English language was already in use in this part of the world before the colonial rule. The
Education Ordinance of 1882 provided grants-in- aid for the teaching of reading and writing in
English, thereby sealing the fate of the fate of the Igbo language [Oraka, 1983, p. 2]. Meanwhile,
Igbo slaves continued to speak a dialect of Igbo called the Isuama Igbo. The German Missionary,
G. C. A. Oldendorp, came in contact with them in the West Indies, and had some Igbo words in
the book he published in 1777 [Oraka, 1983, p. 21]. Those were the first known written Igbo
words. About a decade later, tens of Igbo words were found in Oluida Equiano’s autobiography
published in London in 1789. The Abolition of slave trade, and subsequent settlement of ex- slaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone led to the compilation of Igbo word lists by ex-slaves.
Missionaries like Morrick (a missionary in Fernando Po), John Clark, S.W. Koelle also published
their Igbo wors lists. (Pritchett, n.p). Discussed below is a brief history of orthography of the
Igbo language:
The Lepsius Orthography: Lepsius, a German philologist produced the International Standard
Alphabets for all languages of the world in 1854 [Oraka, 1983, p. 25]. Thirty-four of them,
comprising twenty-six consonants and six vowels were adopted for the Igbo language. Among
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the alphabets were <ts> and <ds> which were not Igbo alphabets. Samuel Crowther’s Isoama- Ibo Primer, J.F. Schon’s Oku-Ibo:Grammatical Elements of the Ibo Language, F. W. Smart’s An
Ibo Primer were all published in the Lepsius orthography and like other books published at that
time in Isuama dialect [Pritchett, p.3, Oraka, p. 27].
The Old orthography: It was also called the CMS (Church Missionary Society), Standard, or
Union Igbo orthography. The Reverend Thomas J. Dennis reviewed both the Lepsius
orthography and the Isuama dialect and replaced <ts>, <ds> and <s> with <ch>, <j> and ‘sh’
[Oraka, p.29, Prichett, p.4]. In this orthography <u> stood for <u> and <ụ>, while<‘I> stood for
<I> and <ị>, making it difficult to differentiate between words that contain the two letters. It
retained the thirty-four alphabets of the Lepsius orthography. Many writers of the period
sought a ‘compromise’ Igbo dialect which could bind different dialects of Igbo and promote
wide readability of Igbo texts.
The New Orthography: This was referred to as the “Adam-Ward or Roman Catholic
Orthography. Igbo alphabets increased to thirty-six with the introduction <I> and <ụ> to clear
the confusion in the use of <u> and <I> to represent two sounds each. There was also the
replacement of <ch>, <e>, <ị>, <ṅ>, <ọ>, and <ụ>, with<‘c>, <ɛ>, <I> and <e>, <ŋ>, <ᴐ>, <u> and
<ө> respectively [Ngoesi, 1993, p. 2]. The orthography was approved of by the government, and
adopted by the Roman Catholic Church and the Methodist missions. The controversy emanating
from its adoption crippled the study of Igbo for decades.
The Onwu Orthography: In 1961, Dr. S.E. Onwu and his committee corrected what were
considered as the anomalies in the Old and New Orthographies, and produced a compromise
orthography based on the notion of a standard Igbo dialect. It was made up of thirty-six
alphabets, and the new letters introduced in the New orthography were replaced with dotted
counterparts as seen below: <a, b, gb, d, e, f, g, gh, h, i, ị, j, k, l, m, n, ṅ, o, ọ, p, kp, r, s, sh, t, u, ụ, v,
w, y, z, ch, gw, kw, ny, ny>. In 1973, the Society for Promoting Igbo language and Culture (SPILC)
rearranged the alphabets alphabetically as follows: <a, b, ch, d, e, f, g, gb, gh, gw, h, i, ị, j, k, l, m,
n, ṅ, nw, ny, o, ọ, p, r, s, sh, t, u, ụ, v, w,y,z>. [Ngoesi, 1993, p, 4].
The Phonotactics of English: Though English, a language of the Indo-European language
family, does not share much in common with Igbo. It has 26 letters of the alphabets( a, b, c, d,
e,f, g, h, I.j.k.l.m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u,v, w, x, , z), and about 44 phonemes. It is an intonational
language and stress-timed. In essence, only one syllable at a time carries the primary stress,
with the pitch of the voice rising the most during the pronunciation of the syllable with the
primary stress. This is unlike Igbo which is a tonal language, and is syllable timed. All the
syllables of the words of the Igbo language are given equal prominence.
English has a chaotic spelling system which has changed tremendously from the Old, to Middle,
to modern English[(Finnegan 2012], and entertains spelling and sound discrepancies and
inconsistent spellings. This is not so with the Igbo language which has a more recent writing
tradition and is in most part pronounced as it is spelt. Some of the phonotactic constraints of
the English which do not apply to Igbo are: consonant clusters (of up to three at the syllable
onset), doubling of letters, presence of a coda.
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Nnamdi-Eruchalu, G. I. (2021). Anglicization of Written Igbo Personal and Place Names: A Sociolinguistic Study. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 8(7). 501-515.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10384
Language Shift
Language shift is the theoretical framework guiding this study. It refers to a peoples’ gradual
replacement of their language, which is often less developed, with a more powerful and more
developed language. It is different from language change which is the replacement of some old
forms of the language with new ones, and is more of a historical study of language. Language
shift occurs in situations of bilingualism, multilingualism, language contacts, and Language
diffusion [Agyekum 2010. p. 82].
Language shift has been defined as “a situation in which a community of speakers effectively
abandons one language by shifting to another (not necessarily by conscious choice)” [Garret
2006. p. 63]. Fasold [1984 . p. 213] holds that “Language shift simply means that a community
gives up a language completely in favour of another one. The members of the community, when
the shift has taken place, have collectively chosen a new language where an old one used to be
used. It is a peoples’ gradual abandonment of their language because of its low status or the
perceived limited socioeconomic, educational, political value for a more viable and more
powerful foreign language. Language shift begins with the contact of two or more languages
occasioned by invasion, conquests, colonization, trade, and more recently westernization and
globalization.. This contact leads to bilingualism/multilingualism, code mixing and code
switching, then gradually the people tend towards monolingualism in the more powerful and
dominant language, and begin to lose competence in their own language. The result of this is
language endangerment. The language is no longer spoken to the younger generations of the
people, the adults themselves begin to code-mix and code switch between the language that
presents better prospects and theirs that has a low status. Any language plunged in this state
without serious efforts by the speakers to revitalize it becomes extinct.
Language maintenance is the opposite of language shift. It is the insistence of a people to retain
their language in the event of its contact with another language. The people resolve to speak
their local language and retain their culture in the face of a threatening dominant and more
powerful language . They promote the use of their language irrespective of the benefits attached
to the foreign language by giving it some functional load in the state, the media, education,
legislation, and so on.
METHODOLOGY
The qualitative research design based on the use of case studies to gain a deep understanding
of the phenomenon under investigation was adopted for this study. As a lecturer in a University
in the heart of Igboland, I always have access to students class lists. Moreover, I an an Igbo. I
relate with the students, and know the names they answer. The sampling technique adopted
for data collection in this study was deliberate selection. I wrote down as many Anglicized Igbo
names as I could find on billboards, books, the internet, print and electronic media, social media.
I also visited and interviewed twelve university lecturers who teach the Igbo language and
culture courses, some of whom are Igbo language consultants and external examiners in
various universities and colleges. The interview questions were unstructured, and I recorded
their responses by hand and by a tape recorder. The interviewees are identified as Interviewees
1 to 12 for easy reference.
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PRESENTATION OF DATA AND ANALYSIS
Research Question One
In what ways have written Igbo personal and place names been Anglicized?
Approximation of <gw>, <gb>, and <ch/> to <g>, <b>, and <tsh>. Examples:
Spelling of Wrong Spelling in Correct
Anglicized Name Pronunciation Igbo Pronunciation
1. Enugu enugu Enugwu enugwu
2. Oguta oguta Ugwuta ugwuta
3. Abaja abaja Agbaja agbaja
4. Abaw-Ogugu abo-ogugu Agbo-Ogwugwu agbo-ogwugwu
5. Ibusa ibusa Igbo-Uzo Igbo-uzo
6. Mbowo mbowo Mgbowo Mgbowo
7. Ogui ogui Ogwui ogwui
8. Ibo ibo Igbo igbo
Anglicization of these place names follow the pattern of the wrong approximations of <gw>,
<gb>, and <ch/> to <g>, <b>, and <tsh>. respectively due to the absence of the <gw>, <gb>,
and <ch/> in the English sound system. Hence, in Enugwu, Ugwuta, and Ogwui, /gw/ was
approximated to /g/ to produce the deviant spellings Enugu, Oguta and Ogui which are
meaningless in the Igbo language, and cannot pass as English words either. Ugwuta suffers yet
another Anglicization with the replacement of the initial <u> with <o>. Agba-Ogwugwu
contains both /gb/ and /gw/ which are approximated to /b/ and /g/. Its /ọ/ sound is also
replaced with a combination of /aw/. Abaw-ogugu, therefore, is a deviation and a corruption of
the Igbo place name Agbo-ogwugwu. A similar thing happened in Agbaja and Mgbowo where
/gb/ is approximated to /b/ giving rise to Abaja and Mbowo. Meanwhile, Agbaja has since
regained its Igbo spelling. Ibo is an anglicized form of Igbo, yet many Igbo regard them as some
kind of synonyms which can be used interchangeably. Some Igbo language experts use Ibo to
refer to the people, and Igbo to refer to the language, while some do not make such distinctions.
Yet Ibo is a corruption of Igbo.
ii. Replacement of <ọ> with <aw>or <or> as found in the following words:
Spelling of Wrong Spelling in Correct
Anglicized Name Pronunciation Igbo Name Pronunciation
1. Awka auka Ọka ọka
2. Amawbia amaubia Amaobia amaọbia
3. Awgwu augwụ Ọgwụ ọgwụ
4. Awkunawnaw aukụnaunau Ọkụnano ọkụnanọ
5. Awhum auhum Ọhum ọhum
6. Nawgụ naugụ Nogu nọogụ
7. Orsumogu ọsumogu Ọsụmoghu ọsumoghu
8. Orlu ọlụ Ọlụ ọlụ
9. Awkuzu aukuzu Okụzụ ọkuzu
10. Abawgazi abaugazi Agbọọgazi agbọọgazi
11. Nawfija naufija Nọfija nọọfija
12. Akpawfu akpaufu Akpofu akpofu
13. Awnueme aunueme Onueme onueme
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Nnamdi-Eruchalu, G. I. (2021). Anglicization of Written Igbo Personal and Place Names: A Sociolinguistic Study. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 8(7). 501-515.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10384
In these names, <ọ> is replaced with <aw> in Awka, Amawbia, Awhum, Nawgu, Awkunawnaw,
Awnueme, Akpawfu, Awkuzu, and with <or>in Orba and Orsumogu and Orlu. Replacing <ọ>
with <aw> or <or> disrupts the ‘CVCVCV’ or ‘VCVCVC’ syllabic pattern of the Igbo language and
introduces ‘VCCV’, a feature of the English language to Igbo. This is why the average Igbo ignore
the Anglicized spellings are pronounce them if the <aw> or <or> were not in existence.
iii. Presence of consonant clusters in Igbo Place names
Spelling of Wrong Spelling of Correct
Anglicized Names pronunciation Igbo Name Pronunciation
1. Ugnenu ugnenu Ugunenu ugnenu
2. Uvru uvru Ụvụrụ ụvụrụ
3. Ogrita ogrita Ogrita ogrita
4. Ugrodo ugrodo Ugorodo ugorodo
5. Okrika okrika Okirika okirika
6. Ibrede ibrede Iberede iberede
7. Amnator amnato Amanato amanato
8. Orsu osu Oosu oosu
9. Orlu oolu Oolu Oolu
iii. Doubling of consonants in Igbo names is yet another pattern of the Anglicization of Igbo
words. Consider these names:
Owerri / Owere, Amatta /amaata, Ohaffia/Ọhafia, Ozalla /Ọzala, Izzi/ Izi/, Nkwerre/ Nkwere,
Attakwu, Atakwu, Abba/ Aba, Ezinihitte/ Ezinihite, Nsukka/Nsuka, Lejja/ Leja, Ede-Oballa/ Ede
Obala, Obollo-Afor/ Ubolo- Afo, Iwollo-Oghe/Iwolo-Oghe, Affa/ Afa, Ọssamala/ Ọsamala,
Onueke-Ekka/Onueke-Eka Eziowelle/Eziowele, Ezinihitte Mbaise/ Ezinihite mbaise Okwelle/
Okwele Nkwerre/ Nkwere Abbi/ Abi.
Consonants are not doubled in the Igbo language. What some people regard as double
consonants as found in nnu /salt/, mmaya /wine/, mmà /knife/, nne /mother/, nna /father/.
is not double consonant because the first letters are actually syllabic nasals . Doubling of
consonants is a feature of the English language. The doubled consonants in these Igbo words
do not add any value to both the meaning and the pronunciations of the names, and are
therefore irrelevant as far as the language is concerned. Meanwhile, In addition to the use of ‘rr’
in Owerri, the capital of Imo State of Nigeria, the ‘i’ is a colonial label. The right letter is ‘e’ as
seen in Owere Ezukala, Owere- Nkwoji. Meanwhile, many native speakers of Igbo pronounce
the ‘i’ as ‘e’.
iv. Closing Igbo words with consonants-. Igbo has an open syllable, so closing Igbo names with
consonants is an anomaly in the language. Igbo words rather end in vowels.
Examples:Udeh/Ude, Eneh,Ene, Okoh/Oko, Uzoh/Uzor/Uzo, Ozoh/Ozor/Ozo,
Ezeajugh/Ezeajughi, Ubuluisiuzor/ Ubuluisiuzo, Amabor/ Amabo, Nkpor/Nkpo,Utuh/Utu,
Agbor/Agbo, Osemotor/ osemoto, Ngor Okpala/ Ngo Okpala, Abor/ abo.
The final ‘h’ and ‘r’ are not pronounced, consequently, there is no difference in the
pronunciation of the names with or without the final consonant <h>and <r>. One of the Igbo
language experts interviewed remarked that “Igbo is a tonal language. We write our words the
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way they are pronounced. There is no silent alphabets”. This means that the suffixing of <h> or
<r> is irrelevant in Igbo.
Also, the personal name, Ezeajugh violates Igbo spelling convention because the vowel that
should have closed it is absent. The addition of <i> or <ụ> depending on the dialect of Igbo
makes the final syllable beginning with ‘gh, either’ ‘ghi’ or ‘ghụ’ meaning ‘not’.
v. Infixing silent or redundant <r> or <h> in Igbo names are found in the following:
Ngọrka/Ngoka, Ofordi/ Ofodi, Ozorka/ Ozoka, Oforkansi/ Ofokansi, Oforma/Ofoma, Amorka/
Amoka, Orji/Oji, Uzorho/Uzoho, Ikehdi/Ikedi, Udohnka/Udonka and so on.
These <r> or <h> are not pronounced at all, and can as well not be included in the spelling.
vi . Use of <n> instead of <m> as found in Nkpor/Mkpoo, Nkporogu/Mkporogwu, Nkpa/Mkpa,
Nbawsi/ Mbawusi, etc. These anglicized spellings beginning with <N> is wrong because /n/ and
/kp/ are articulated at the alveolar and labials and should not co occur. The rightful nasal to go
with <kp/> is <m>.
vii. A special kind of Anglicization, probably with some socio-political undertone, involving the
distortion of the Igbo word ‘nwa’ meaning ‘child of’ is common especially among the Igbo
speaking people of Rivers state. Examples: Wachukwu/ Nwachukwu, Waiwu/ Nwaiwu,
Wuwa/Nwauwa, Wike/Nwaike, Wimo/Nwaimo/, Weze/Nwaeze and so many others.
The pronunciation and meaning of these names remain the same irrespective of the distortion.
Similar to this is the prefixing
of < r > to the Igbo word ‘umu’ , meaning children, to produce such place names as Rumuomasi,
Rumuokoro, Rumuodomanya, Rumuokuta, Rumudara, Rumuosi, and so on, which stand for “the
children of” or “the house of”.
viii. Replacement of <e> with <i> as found in Abakaliki instead of Abakeleke which is its name,
and which many Igbo call it. The replacement of <w> with <b> as found in Ihuwe which has
been anglicized as Ihube, yet the people still call themselves Ihuwe (Afigbo 2006). Also, Okigwe
has long replaced Okigwi in both formal and informal speech. Again, Interviewee 9 observed
that the place name Omaahia which means ‘centre of the market’ was Anglicized to Umuahia,
which it bears currently, and which means ‘children of the market’.
Research Question 2:
What implication has the Anglicization of Igbo personal and place names on the development
of the language and on the learners?
Interviewee 1: said it has no implication because it happens only with proper nouns which are
limited in the Igbo language. He observed that it has nothing to do with the verbs which are
more important in the language. He said that people are at liberty to write their names anyhow
they choose, and that Igbo is not the only language with spelling inconsistencies. He noted that
English has it, and that nobody has done anything about it. When asked about the Anglicization
of place names, he remarked that the Anglicized town names are already legal documents and
cannot be easily changed.
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Interviewee 2: stated that it has enormous implication on the learners of the language and on
its development in the areas of pronunciation and spelling. She observed some of the learners
who are not familiar with the names pronounce them as they are spelt only to hear that the
pronunciations or spellings are wrong., She noted that the time has come to correct the
aberrations in the spelling of Igbo names, and that she has already started using the correct
Igbo spellings of the names in her writings.
Interviewee 3: He said it affects the learning of Igbo language as well as its development because
it causes misspellings, making the names unIgbo. He highlighted instances of such Anglicization
which includes replacing < Ọ> with <Or> or <aw>; closing Igbo words with the consonants <h>
or <r> which cannot be pronounced; Europeanization of certain names like ( Eyiutchay for
Eyiuche: Ukpaby for Ukpabi; Okey for Okee), and insists that such names are not Igbo names,
yet they have been written down. He observes that “language should project the culture of the
owners otherwise the whole essence of language will be eroded”
Interviewee 4: stated that the inconsistencies in the spelling of anglicized names affect both the
development of the Igbo language and the learners of Igbo because students who are not
familiar with the spellings and pronunciation misspell and mispronounce the words and that is
a challenge to them and the language.
Interviewee 5: She observed that it introduces learners of Igbo to wrong spellings and wrong
pronunciation which they tend to extend to non-personal names. She highlighted some forms
of anglicized names to include suffixing of a consonant, doubling of consonants, clipped names
like (Ojel from Onyejerebechi, Zubby from Azubike, Chibyk from Chibuike).
Interviewee 6: He said that the inconsistencies create difficulties that are uncalled for and that
they affect the growth of the language.
Interviewee 7: She noted that Anglicized names violet the rules of Igbo spellings, and that
whenever rules are violated there is usually a negative consequence. She observed that the
same students who are taught the rules guiding Igbo spellings and pronunciations complain
when the rules apply to some names and not to others. She pointed out that Anglicized names
were devised by the colonialists to manoeuvre their way through the Igbo language.
Interviewee 8: She affirmed that the Anglicization of the spelling of Igbo names affect the
development of the language and the learners.She cited the case of the anglicized spelling of
“Nkpor” which should have been “Mkpoo” because <n> and <kp> do not share a common place
of articulation, and the addition of a redundant <H> to Obioha (Obiohah), and condemned such
a practice which violates the rules of spelling in the Igbo language.
Interviewer 9: He stated that the Anglicization of names has negative effect on Igbo as a
language. It makes some of the names non-recognizable as Igbo names. He observed that the
inconsistencies affect the children learning the language and literacy in the language in general.
But he noted that names are identity, and that those who want to change the way they write
their names can do so, but it should not be enforced. He said that his middle name, for instance,
is Oji, and that he spells it Orji and likes it that way. He points out that those that want to change
theirs should do an advertorial on that so as to maintain their identity.
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Interviewee 10 said orthography has no implication on the development of the language, and
that what matters is the continuous use of the language. But that where orthography has impact
is in the aspect of tone marking where its absence creates ambiguity for learners . He advised
that learners of the language should be encouraged to read literature in Igbo.
Interviewee 11: He stated that it has both negative and positive influence on the development
and learning of Igbo. He noted Anglicization enriches the language and will make it attain the
high status of a foreign language. But negatively he accepted it inhibits the development and
learning of the Igbo language.
Interviewee 12: He noted that the spelling discrepancies it introduced to the Igbo language do
not augur well with the language and its learners.
Research Question 3:
How can the attitude of the Igbo be changed towards their Language and culture?
Interviewee 1: He remarked that the Igbo have to define what they want.
Interviewee 2: She noted that the Igbo should go back to the grass root, since according to her
“we have thrown away our own and embraced other people’s own. She stated that we have to
start correcting the aberrations in names, and that we have to hold on to what we have. She said
that she spell names correctly in Igbo in her writings.
Interviewee 3: He observed that names are not easily changed, and making the people correct
the spellings of their name is difficult because their documents and certificates already bear the
anglicized names. The names have gummed up and it seems they cannot be changed again. He
admonished the Igbo to stop being more European than the Europeans. He stated that the Igbo
man should first of all accept himself, and stop being anticulture of his. He should cherish what
is good about him. He complained that the vantage position the English language is place in
Nigeria makes even the students of Igbo language look down on and laugh at their teachers
when they teach them in Igbo. He quoted Ben Obumse as having said that the Igboman dances
another man’s music and forgets his own music.
Interviewee 4: She stated that our orientation to our language is bad and should be changed.
She encouraged the people to use the language more often.
Interviewee 5: She made no suggestions.
Interviewee 6: He stated that the Igbo man should own up to his language. He should begin to
appreciate his language.
Interviewee 7: She noted that it is a personal decision, and that Igbo scholars should stop being
ashamed of their profession. She She encouraged the Igbo to accept themselves and their
language, and be proud of their culture, and the name they answer. She remarked that some
scholars are championing the issue, but that since one of them, a prominent leader of an
organization that promotes Igbo Language, has changed the spelling of his English name from
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.87.10384
Peter to Pita, but claimed he cannot remove the <r> in his surname, Ejiofor, because it is a family
name, he should go on air or through the media to complete what he had started.
Interviewee 8: She stated that the problem is from us, and the realization of that will help solve
the problem. The insisted that the Onwu Orthography should be the basis of all spellings if the
problem is gong to be solved, and that parents should help in this regard by resorting to the
correct Igbo spellings of their names.
Interviewee 9: noted that it is good to change the attitude of the people towards their language.
He stated that there are other ways of promoting a language, for instance, through language
policies by which a language is used as the language of instruction. But he observed that the
greatest problem Nigeria has is being multilingual.
Interviewee 10: He blamed the poor attitude of the people towards their language and culture
on the parents, especially mothers who he noted fail to address their children in their own
dialect. He also stated that the State should make Igbo language a compulsory subject in WAEC.
He praised the decision Nnamdi Azikiwe University to make Igbo a GST course. Lastly, he called
on parents to familiarize their children with their roots, rather than imbibe in them that village
people are evil, thereby alienating them from their identity.
Interviewee 11: He stated that it is a psychological matter, and that the mentality of our people
is the problem. He lamented that he does not know why the Igbo man hates himself.
Interviewee 12: He said government has to assist by encouraging people to study Igbo, and
make Igbo the language of interview for job applicants.
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
The analysis of Research question 1 shows that the Anglicization of written Igbo names has
taken many different forms, ranging from the approximation of <gb>, < gw>, <kp> and <ch> to
<b>, <g>, <k>, and <tsh> because the foreigners who committed the names to writing could not
articulate the former set of sounds , through the outright replacement of < Ọ> with <aw> or
<or> in Awka and Amawbia, to disrupting the syllable structure of Igbo with consonant clusters
and doubling of consonants. Others are infixing or suffixing of <r> or <h> sound that are never
pronounced even when every letter included in Igbo words are pronounced, replacement of
<e> with <i> or <i> with <e> as the case may be, deliberate distortion of the names and so on.
All these are aberrations in the rules of Igbo spellings which call for attention. Though a
language like English entertains spelling inconsistencies as was rightly pointed out by one of
the interviewees, English has a very long writing history, and has borrowed from many
different languages. But Igbo has a recent orthography, and like many of the languages whose
orthographies were devised lately maintains a direct correspondence between speech and
writing.
Given that the Onwu Orthography which has been accepted for the Igbo language enjoys wide
usage in written communication, books, journals, advertorials, announcements, and even
names, the Anglicization of Igbo names violates the rules of Igbo spellings, and as such has
some negative implications in the teaching and learning of the language and in its development.
It throws the learners into the confusion of not knowing when to suffix an <r>, for example, to
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the name ofo and when not to since it is arbitrary. There is nothing in Mr A’s Ofor that suggests
that it should or should not have an <r> suffixed to it. This supports the observations of Obitube
and Okeke 2019. Meanwhile two of the interviewees maintained that it does not affect the
development of the Igbo language.
Many of the interviewees were of the view that the attitude of many Igbo towards their
language is poor and called on them to accept themselves as Igbo, cherish their language, and
seek to preserve their culture which is their identity. Parents are advised to speak the Igbo
language to their children, familiarize them with their roots, and begin the process of making
their names Igbo. It was also suggested that government should encourage the use of Igbo by
insisting that every candidate should write it in WAEC and that it should be made the language
of job interview.
CONCLUSION
This work is an enquiry into the sociolinguistic phenomenon of language shift as it affects the
Igbo language through her naming system. Written Igbo personal and place names are infested
with spelling and pronunciation inconsistencies that at times one wonders why such a trend
exists in names alone and does not affect other aspects of the language use. Writing, except as
it pertains names is guided by the Onwu Orthography. But this study has observed that place
names have retained the spellings imposed on them by the colonial masters, and the wrong
pronunciations it engenders, and that personal names are spelt at the discretion of the bearers.
The spelling inconsistencies occasioned by these have been observed to be prejudicial to the
learning and development of the language as discovered from the responses of ten out of the
twelve Igbo language experts interviewed.
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