Although many scholars refer to the yoruba of southwest nigeria as a tribe, i argue here that the yoruba are not, and never were, a tribal group. The yoruba would hold on to their religion, but in order to keep it alive, they would have to make it into a new religion. The yoruba language is a nigercongo language spoken in west africa. Some people give egun feasts where music is played to the ancestral line of the person. I argue that scholars of african diasporic religion and language must attend more. Samuel ajayi crowther standardized yoruba language and orthography for. Lucumi clearly has an historical connection with yoruba antecedents, but i. Gather and discuss this spiritual system and way of life. Standard yoruba is the literary form of the language learned at school and heard on radio and television. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the yoruba language. Yoruba is a language spoken in west africa and most prominently south western nigeria. Yoruba101 is a fun, engaging and educative starter on yoruba language.
Mosadomi is a poet, who has authored several articles in books and journals on creole studies, african language and gender, african linguistics and pedagogy. The anago language of cuba fiu digital commons florida. The native tongue of the yoruba people is spoken, among other languages, in nigeria, benin, and togo and in communities in other parts of africa, europe and the americas. Learn the basics of yoruba language using over a dozen lessons, play games to test your knowledge and unlock yoruba legends to win the ultimate crown in this educative adventure. Learning the yoruba vocabulary is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. A variety of the language, lucumi, from olukunmi is used as the liturgical language of the santeria religion of cuba, puerto rico, dominican republic and the united states. An africanbased religion similar to voodoo, originating in cuba, which combines the worship of traditional yoruban deities with the. Yoruba deities oriate lucumi master of ceremony ori yr. Lucumi definition of lucumi by the free dictionary. These include creole in sierra leone and lucumi in cuba. The fact remained that as the people of a particular ethnic community differs in language, so also their cultural background when compared to others. I printed and bound the pdf file to work with it in my classes and always.
It is however possible to classify yoruba dialectal forms, found in nigeria, into five regional groupings. Many yoruba words are used in the afrobrazilian religion known as candomble. A study of relationship between arabic and yoruba languages. This is the first city in the united states in which a person was initiated into the yoruba religion, with mercedes nobles priestess of shango. Lucumi yoruba fiu digital commons florida international. The accents serve to approximate the tones for those of us who arent familiar with tonal language. Meet other local people who are interested in ifa, the wisdom system of the yoruba culture in western africa. According to akinlabi and connell 2007, interest and perhaps works on the state of. My friend qudus q from nigeria teaches me how to speak yoruba in the language challenge. Topics yoruba language collection opensource language english.
Lucumi is derived from yoruba, a language of southwestern nigeria. She is completing her manuscript on yoruba grammar. The presence of lucumi and the closeness of the language to yoruba is a marvel in itself. The nonvernacular remains of the language in the caribbean, lucumi, is the liturgical. The yoruba language was one of the first african languages to be encoded in a grammar and dictionary, the midnineteenth century by samuel crowther, a yoruba sold into slavery in 1821 and manumitted by the british and baptized and ordained as a missionary to serve in the yoruba country.
They were taken from their homes, family, language, and religion and brought to countries like cuba to provide free labor to growing agricultural markets that benefited european colonizers of the americas. Yoruba is a popular indigenous language in nigeria alongside hausa and igbo. It is one of the languages in nigeria, benin, and togo and in communities in other parts of africa, europe and the americas. Meet others who are interested in learning about the yoruba language and culture. Translation of the bible in 1884 by bishop samuel ajayi crowther, a yoruba speaker, in resulted in the development of a standard written form of yoruba that has been widely adopted across the dialects. The yoruba language is a benuekwa language of the larger nigercongo family of languages, of the yoruboid branch.
Traces of arabic words in yoruba language apart from the borrowed words from hausa to yoruba language like means leave the placekai, gani means to see properly, magaji means heirleader of a family and host of others, there are still many words in yoruba language which emanate from arabic. He is also the director of the institute of cultural studies in the same university. You can now read the ebook in the pane on the left, listen to the audio pane to the right and practice your pronunciation use on the pronunciation tool tab on right all at the same time the fsi yoruba intermediate course material can be used both as a selfguided course or with the. Yoruba language simple english wikipedia, the free.
Initiation, rituals, ceremonies, orishas, divination, plants, s garcia cortez, julio, corlez, julio garcia on. Her research interests include yoruba language, culture and history, yoruba women and creole studies. Selected people within the agboyiketu lcda were taken as sample population. The nonvernacular remains of the language in the caribbean, lucumi, is the liturgical language of the santeria religion of the region. A manual of lucumi ritual teaching that is handed down through a religious. They were taken from their homes, family, language, and religion. Secrets of the yorubalucumi santeria religion in the united states and the americas. Yoruba language remants are also used in many other afroamerican religions in the americas and the caribbean. Get babylons translation software free download now. Lucumi is a lexicon of words and short phrases derived from the yoruba language in cuba.
Felix ayohomidire is a professor of afrolatinamerican studies at the department of foreign languages. This can include specific songs to egun in lucumi yoruba, songs in lucumi yorubs to orisha, and also music of that persons ethnic heritage. Lucumi or lacumi is the yoruba language as it is spoken in cuba and the united states. Global yoruba lexical database university of pennsylvania.
He has widely travelled, studied and taught in diverse countries of the three major atlantic continents. This study examined the social functions of greetings in english and yoruba languages. But first we need to know what the role of vocabulary is in the structure of the grammar in yoruba. The number of speakers of yoruba was thought to be 20 million in the 1990s. Their language was first written by christian missionaries in the early part of the nineteenth century. We made using the fsi yoruba intermediate course material easier to use and more effective. Sociolinguistic documentation of endangered ethnography of communication in yoruba language introduction documentary linguistics, as a new subdiscipline within linguistics, is a relatively new coinage that dates back to only about two decades. An indepth look into lucumi and yoruba in comparison.
Lucumi synonyms, lucumi pronunciation, lucumi translation, english dictionary definition of lucumi. After decades, there are a people with a shared origin and shared language living in different parts of. When fidel castro gained control of cuba, many of the yoruba priests who no longer desired to live in cuba, came to the united states in the 1960s. The enslaved yoruba were brought to the new world through the transatlantic slave trade. Learn yoruba language with ease and fun in yoruba101. The yoruba language preservation law has been commended, and rightly so, by various stakeholders across the land, as very vital to the preservation of yoruba language, especially at time when the. New initiates are called brides of the god in the yorubainfluenced lucumi language, having made a lifelong commitment to a god who. Slavetrade grouped african people together into different categories. English language is however the main medium of communication especially in schools and institutions of learning. The incomplete yoruba guide to lukumi orisha image. There is no doubt that in any culture or civilization, language is basic, and wherever you find a similar language being spoken, there is no doubt that there must be some historical connection. Lagos and the preservation of yoruba language vanguard news. Loose ethnic or local descriptions were used for people of the same origin, like ewefonspeaking slaves from the area of the city alada in todays republic of benin became registered as arara at the port in havana, or rada in haiti. Lucumi, terranova, and the origins of the yoruba nation.