Language

.

Yoruba is the common language spoken, but classified by tongues and dialects.

From several studies on Yoruba language, three different variations of the language have been identified:

These dialectic groups speak Yoruba with slight variation cause by pronunciation in consonants and vowels in the formation of words with minimal impact on semantics. For instance, the north-western Yoruba town of Ọyọ-Alaafin (a savannah situated-metropolitan town) and Ibadan (a rain-forest metropolitan city) are known by velar-fricative voice. A condition in which vocal track is closed partially, while the lips are left to produce sound.

Velar–fricative (one of the two fricatives, the other is stop) is a common feature of Latin/Roman/Greek letters, because many of Greek letters are pronounced by different parts of the mouth (such as “y” represented by ‘ɣ’) because of air stoppage which may be (partial or total) as words (letters) pass through the oral cavity, the mouth. In Yoruba, some letters like (P, T, K, H, F, and S) fall under this category, as they are pronounced by different parts of mouth such as: lips, tongue (front/back) because of vocal track closure.

P	Pronounced by lips
T	by the tongue (half part of the tongue)
K	back of the tongue
H	frontal part of the tongue (with total air track closure)
F	frontal part of the tongue (with total air track closure)
S	the tongue

Also, this dialectic group is known for its upper vowel for “i and u” thereby creating

seven oral and three nasal vowels ~Wikipedia

against the five known vowel letters.

The South East dialectic classification has velar-fricative feature common to North West, but has ‘lower nasal vowel’ of “in, un which is always changed to en/on.” However, what is amazing about Yoruba is the overlapping features which contributes significantly to semantic commonality.

The third group- the Central Yoruba share all the features of North-West and South-East and since Yoruba overlap, the difference in this group is marginal, and is barely noticed.

Yoruba has 25 letters, the letters were derived from the Latin (Roman) alphabet; because of the past Roman (empire) influence on the global affairs for more than one thousand years, letters of its alphabet became adopted symbols in several languages around the globe. Although, Roman letters originated from the Greek alphabet called “Cumae an”; it underwent several years of modification and standardization before codified as communication “symbols, numeric characters, digits, punctuations, signs”; says,  Wikipedia.

These letters individually or collectively are assigned sound and meaning–the basic blocks for word formation, and the essential element for speech making and writing.

Language, like other cultural element of any human society is dynamic, subject to changes and transformation; Yoruba is no exception. For more than three centuries (18th-20th) Yoruba was influenced by contact with Europeans, Christianity, Islam, western education and industrialization.