The Present Linguistic Situation in Ibo Country

Extract

A Bird's eye view of the present Ibo linguistic situation is not in one sense an inspiriting prospect. A rich profusion of dialects makes intercommunication a problem both for the 3 1/4 million Ibo-speaking people themselves and for the Europeans who live among them. The European attempt—a gallant effort in the face of extreme difficulty—to produce a lingua franca known as Union Ibo will be regarded either as a mitigating factor or an added complication according to the onlooker's point of view. In any case it has become to some extent a bone of contention as has also the question of orthography. Two different scripts are at present in use in the country, adding thus to the difficulty of the Ibo who wants to read and write his own language and of the European who wishes to learn it. And the lot of the Europeans faced by a difficult tonal and dialect-riven language is made harder by the fact that few if any of them get adequate linguistic training before going to the country or enough time to work at the language after arriving in it.

Résumé

LA SITUATION LINGUISTIQUE ACTUELLE DANS LA RÉGION IBO

La langue Ibo se subdivise en nombreux dialectes, qui n'ont pas encore été étudiés d'une façon adéquate. Un examen dialectal rendrait possible l'élaboration d'un dictionnaire comparé et éclairerait la question controversée d'un dialecte littéraire à usage général.

L'orthographe laisse à désirer. Alors que théoriquement les règles recommandées par l'lnstitut International des Langues et Civilisations Africaines sont généralement acceptées, il y a en réalité deux systèmes qui dans la pratique se font concurrence, avec des résultats fâcheux.