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Serial No ISBN :978 – 2119- 51- 2 Author 1 NWADIKA, Uzoma . I Author 2

Author 3

Igbo Language in Education: An Title Historical Study

Keyword

Description in Education: An Historical Study

Category Arts

Publisher Pacific

Publication Date 2002

Signature

1GBO LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION . . AN HISTORICAL STUDY '. _ - m-: - I c2*aFc 3 1 L I 'r 4 : Ill

I. U. NWADIKE IGBO LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION: AN HISTORICAL STUDY IGBO LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION: AN HISTORICAL STUDY

INN0 UZOMA NWADIKE a.

-- ' * ... ..

PACIFIC PUBLISHERS: A Diviion of Pacific Correspondence College &'jlress Ltd. Uruowulu - Obosi, Anmbra State, Nigeria.

A' 0 Inno Uzpma Nwadike First Published 2002

Published by: PACIFIC PUBLISHERS A division of Pacific Correspondence College & Press Ltd. Pacific House, P.O. Box 2 1, Uruowulu-Obosi, , Nigeria.

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~esi~nedPrinted & bound by Pacific College Press, Obosi, Anambra State, Nigeria. CONTENTS

Dedication v List of Tables vi List of Maps vii 9.. List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Vlll Foreword ix Preface X Post Script xi Chapter 1 Introduction 2 The Origin of the Igbo 2 The Language of the Igbo 8 The Culture of the Igbo 9 The Script 19 Chapter 2 The Missionaries and the Igbo Language 25 0 The Isuama Dialect (1 700 - 1900) 25 Igbo, Its Path to Development as a Written Language 26 Freetown and Igbo Studies (Sierra Leone Studies) 27 Onitsha Studies (1857 - 1929) 3 2 The Early Missionary Period 3 3 The Decline of the Early Missionary Period 3 8 Assessment of Isuama Studies 4 1 The Union Dialect (1 90 1 - 1929) 44 The Later Missionary Period 44 The Union Igbo: An Assessment 50 Chapter 3 The Orthography Controversy 56 The Education Ordinances 56 The 1882 Education Ordinance 5 6 The 1926 Education Ordinance 59 Consequences of the 1926 Ordinance 6 1 The First Orthographic Reform in Igbo The Central Dialect and Orthography Controversy, 1939 - 1962 The Conference of 13/6/44 The Onitsha Conference of 26-27/6144 The Enugu Conference of 6/9/44 The Resumed Orthography Meeting, 1952 - 1961 The Aba Conference of 1952 The Owerri Select Committee Meeting of 25/8/53 The Owerri Select Committee Meeting of 2811 1/53 Newspaper Report of the 28th November Conference Reactions to the Orthography The Compromise Orthography Government Approves the Onwu Committee Orthography The Reconvention of the Onwu Committee of 1961 0 Evaluation of Orthography Controversy 0 Igbo Literature, 1927 - 1960 Chapter 4 The Society for the Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture (SPILC) History SPILC's Mode of Work The Various Committees The Achievements of SPILC Problems Facing SPILC Asscsament of SPILC's Role Chapter 5 lgbo Language as an Academic Discipline 0 Trends 0 At the Primary School Level 0 At the Secondary School and Grade I1 Teachers College 0 In Institutions of Higher Learning 0 In Public Examinations System 0 Problems Facing lgbo Language 0 Prospects: Igbo Faces the Future Chapter 6 Summary ~iblio~ra~h~ Appendix Index DEDICATION

In memory of my cousin, Lt. Clement Anya~gg, a devoted teacher and proficient choirmaster who lost his life in 1968 in the defence of his fatherland Also, it is dedicated to the memory of Chief (Dr) F.C. pgbaly, the doyen of Igbo studies who aedicated his life for the

upliftment of Igbo. '

vii List of Tables

1. Nsibidi Signs

viii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

A.C.E. Associate certificate in Education Alvan Ikoku College of Education Bachelor of Education CMS Church Missionary society E.O. Education Officer/Office JME Joint Matriculation Examination JSS Junior Secohdary School MM Methodist Mission M.O.E. , Ministry of Education NAE National Archives Enugu NAI National Archives lbadan NCE Nigerian Certificate in Education Nuc National Universities Commission RCM Roman Catholic Mission SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies SPILC Society for the Promotion of Igbo Language and Qlture SSS Senior Secondary School WAEC West African Examinations Council UNN University of Nigeria, Nrmkka Foreword

Igbo -LanguageIn Education: An Historical Study For the first time in the history of Igbo Language, an attempt has been made to trace the origin of the written language from Sierra Leone to Nigeria. The so-called Isuama dialect in which the first Igbo reader, "Azu Ndu" and the Union Igbo Bible was written was the work of freed Igbo slaves residing in Sierra Leone. Their work was valuable in that it gave the Igbo the first written language. The efforts of the others were facilitated by the Isuama dialect. The evolution ofwritten Igbo up to its present form is a fascinating study which has required patient, scientific and painstaking research. Only dedicated students of Igbo studies like Maazi I.U. Nwadike could have achieved this feat. I commend this historic and monumental work to all Igbo scholars and all lovers of Igbo language and culture. Rev. John.0. 1r6aganachi. . Preface

A racc whose languagc cannot bc 'uscd for litcrary and serious purposcs has no red identity; thc racc is dccadcnt. The most conclusive conqucst of a pcople is thc conqucst through language

M.C. Adicle.

I1 is an ;~cccplcdmaxim lhal lhc most csscnlial asscl of a pcoplc is no1 in lhcir afflucncc and lcchnological advanccmcnl. Ncilhcr is it in the numbcr of cmincnl sons and daughlcrs thcy own. Thcir most csscnlial asscl is lhcir own language - thcir molhcr tonguc. No pcople under normal circumstanccs would wan1 their mothcr tongue to dic, for it is after all Lhe languagc lhat makcs Lhcm an cthnic enlity or nation. Wilhoul n language of ils own, a nalion bccomcs mcrgcd and lost in lhc forcign group whose languagc it is forccd LO speak. But with ils own language, a nation idcnlifies itseIf and ensurcs ils pcrpetualion. I1 is Lhose languagcs which arc taught widcly in schools as wrillcn languagcs that will survivc and dcvclop. Thosc Lhal arc no1 will dic. It is on Lhc basis of Lhis imporlanl rolc allachcd to ~hc written aspccl of languijgcs 111:11 lhis lcxl lakcs a look a1 Igbo, one of Lhc wrillcn languagcs of Wcst Africa. Thc dcvelopmcnl of ils wrillcn form and ils acccptancc as an acadcmic discipline, bolh in lhc school curricula and public fj cxaminalions sysicm has bccn traccd from 1766 lo lhc prcscnt 16 Lime. This book is a rcviscd vcrsion of my M.Ed. Lhcsis titlcd 'Thc Dcvclopmcnl of Wrillcn Igbo ijS a School Subjccl, 1766- 1980: An Hislorical Approach' which I prcscnlcd LO Lhc Gradualc School of lhc SLalc Univcrsily of Ncw York at Buffalo, USA in 1980.

This work is an allcmpl to bring in10 a singlc volume facts aboul thc hislory and dcvclopmcnl of Igbo language and literature contained in scattcred documcnls. With thc ! rcorganizalion of lhc primary and posl primary school curricula in Nigeria's thrcc major indigenous languages viz. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba in ordcr to embracc thc 6-3-3-4 cducational systcm, it might bc a possibility that cvcry serious Igbo tcachcr in thc post primary institution will of ncccssity rcquirc some of thc information contained hcrcin. TG tcachcrs and studcnts in institutions of highcr learning, this is no less a necessary handbook. Thc wcalth of information of historical imporlancc which is conlaincd in this work will bc particularly uscful lo rcscarchcrs, since a lot of this information has not yct appcarcd in any standard rcfcrcncc works. As would be cxpcctcd, work of lhis nature rcquircd a lot of grass-root rcscarch - and this obligation has bccn mct. Firstly, archival materials which had laid dormant for years since thc colonial cra wcrc 'cxhumed' and utilized. Secondly, oral intcrvicws werc hcld with knowlcdgeable pcople in Igbo studies, cspccially thosc who wcre either cducational authorities or studcnts in during the first half of the twentieth ccntury when Igbo could bc said to have really taken a diffcrcnt dircction in favour of its dcvclopmcnt. Thirdly, through pcrsonal observations, I equipped myself with first - hand knowledge of ccrtain aspccts of the work. Having schooled in Igboland, and being a scholar and lecturcr of Igbo and a member of thc SPILC for many years now, I bccame, so to say, 'an insidcr'. I am most decply jndcbted to my thesis supervisor, Professor Charles R. Fall, for his invaluablc hclp towards the successful completion of this work. To Professor J. Ron Gcntilc, Director, SUNY/B - AICE Programmc, I am grateful for encouraging me to get the thesis published. This work could not have attained its standard without Professor E.N. Emenanjo who providcd mc with important reference materials and acquainted mc with some of my rcspondcnts. To him I say thank you. To Rev. John Iroaganachi, from whom I first learn about the School of Oricntal and African Studies and its activities on Igbo studies, I pass my most sincere thanks. To Dr. Sidney Osuji, I am very much indebted for exposing me to other sources of data without which this work could nofhave been as rich. To Nze B.M.C. ~zikeohaand Ichie P.A. Ezikeojiaku I express my profound gratitude for accompanying me'to far distances in search of data. To Maazi L.N. Oraka, who helped to suggest the thesis title and contributed a large proportion of the information on the SPILC, I am indebted. Many others helped me during,the preparation of the thesis and its revision to produce this book. It is not easy to mention their names individually, but a few names deserve to be mentioned: Dr. Martha I.B. McSwain (who read through the manuscript); Dr. and Mrs. Chuka E. Okonkwo; Dr. M.O.E. Akoma; my student, Miss Onii Nwangwu (who did the proff - reading); Innocent Ojo; R0.C. Dike (who typed the manuscript); Chief S.I. Nwakuna Duruoshimere of [Jmuowa town in Orlu who surrendered to me his file of rare documents; Mrs. M.O. Ukagwu for her invaluable suggestions. Above. all; I am indebted to my wife, Oriaku Sabina Ada Nwadike'for.bearing with me when I kept the light on far into the morning. And ro al.1 lwen of Igbo Language, I say, 'NDEWONU'

I.U. NWADIKE.

Department of Linguistics & Nigerian Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. April 1990.

xiii POST SCRIPT

Some of the political entities and boundary-adjustments mentioned in this work have been altered as a result of the Government's creation of new states and local government areas. and therefore, are no longer what they were at the time of writing. This does not however invalidate the pieces of information given.

April 1993

siv MAJOR LANGUAG~OF NIGERIA

Scale 1: 8,000,000

------International boundaries

Boundaries of languages referred to IGL. =lGALA in the text

ID. =IDOMA I) Towns referred to in IGB. =IGBIRA the text

bar CAMEROONS 1 Introduction i The Origin of the Igbo The Igbo pcoplc arc onc of thc main ethnic gr~psof Nigeria. Thc othcr two arc Hausa and Yoruba. Thc 1963 population ccnsus put thcir numbcr at 9 - 10 million. Writing in 1938, Basden, who had spcnt ovcr thirty-five years among the Igbo as a missionary, had this to say:

Thc Ibo Nalion ranks as onc of lhc largcsl in lhc wholc of Africa. 11s numbcrs havc bccn cslimalcd as high as four, and nevcr bclow ~hrccmillions. Thcse pcoplc occupy a very considerable arca of hc soulh-caslern corner of Nigcria and, of lalc ycars, ~hcirinl'lucncc has cxlcndcd farther afield. Thcy arc making a markcd impression on Lhc adjaccnl Lribcs, lhc Efiks, Ibibios and othcrs and, also, Lhc dislanl cosmopoli~mccnlrc s~lchas Jos, Kano and cvcn Lagos. Thcir rcadincss to uavcl and tcnaci~yof purposc, cspccidly whcn sccking cmploymcnl, havc carricd many of lhcm flu bcyond Lhcir nalivc cnvironmcnl. Whcn abroad. lhcy maintain closc conkicl, ccmcnlcd and suslaincd by a slrong tribal bond oS union. Whalcvcr lhc condilions, lhc Ibo immigrants adapt tllcmsclvcs lo mcct thcm, and ir is not long bcforc lhcy ~nnkcthcir prcsvncc fell in lhc localilics whcrc thcy sclllc. It has bccn rcmarkcd, ~hallhcy makc "good colonisls'. This ~hcydo in a quicl, unoblrusivc, but ncvcrlhclcx, cl'l'cc~ivcmanncr. Thcy build Lhcir own churchcs and schools. and supporl ~hcLcachcrs and clcrgy scnl Lo ministcr LO thcm. Mcnntimc, aflcr calcring for lhcir immcdiale nccds, 1hcy scntl lhc bulk of thcir gains lo ~hcir holncs lo bc uscd for building bcttcr houscs in prcparalion for thcir rclurn, and lo assisl in schcmcs for lhc gcncral bcnclil of ~hcirown villngc community. Thcy arc vcry gcncrous in hcir gifts, as wcll as bcing astutc in busincss affairs.1

Dr. Ida Wir.iJ who carricd out il linguistic rcscarch among thc Igb:, said that thc Igbo pcoplc arc vcry cutcrprising and virilc and travcl I'or work or o~hcrpurposcs lo any parts of Nigcria, and in Igboland itself to arcas far from their own nativc ~illagcs.~ Whcn and from whcrc thc Igbo camc to occupy where thcy arc today is slill enigmatic. uchcndu3 and 110gu4 are puzzlcd ovcr this and atlributc it to thc pcoplc having no common tradition of origin, thc abscncc of hclpful rccords or archaeological finds by which onc can dclcrminc lhc date of sclllcrncnl or placc of origin. Thc qucstion of thc origin of thc Igbo is vcry much askcd, and providcs food for thought for Isichci,, a noted historian, says that somctimcs thc qucstion: "Wherc did Lhe Igbos come from?' is discussed in Lhc prcss, and that she is oftcn confronlcd personally wilh that qucstion in convcrsation.6 But thc lirst pcrson to ask such a qucstion was no other onc than thc pcrson who made lhc first atlcmpt at the answer. Hc was Olaudah Equiano, thc famous Gustavus Vassa the African. Hc was an Igbo who was kidnappcd and sold into slavcry at lhc tcndcr agc of twclvc ycars. Hc livcd in London as an cx-slavc.

Intclligcnt, cncrgctic, tough-mindcd, and thrifty, hc snvcd up enough moncy to purchasc his frcedom and educate himsclf. Hc took an activc part in the movcmcnt for the abolition of thc slavc tradc and wrotc his own biography which hc cntitlcd The Interesting Narrative oj the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gusfavus Vassa the African .... Within his limitcd knowlcdgc and cxpcricncc, Equiano answered Lhc qucstion by claiming that thc Igbo arc one of thc lost lribcs of Isracl. His rcasons for saying so includcd thc fact that likc the Jcws, thc Igbo przlctisc circumcision, confinc thcir womcn for a spcciric pcriod aftcr child-birth aficr which they arc purified, name their childrcn af~crspecific cvcnts and cxpcricnccs and so on. To thc modcrn historian these rcasons are no1 sucficicnl proof of thc claim that Lhe Igbo arc Jcws. But to Equiano bclongs thc spccial distinction of bcing thc first to make this claim lor thc Igbo. The imporlancc of this becomes clcar when we rcalisc thai the claim Lo Jcwish origin is gaining morc and morc ground. among the lgbo?

* Nsukka escarpment. In each of thcsc arcas, later Stonc Age sites have bcen excavated. A rock shcltcr at Afikpo was first inhabited about five thousand ycars, ago, by pcoplc who madc rough red pottery and a vancty of stone tools, - hocs, knivcs, pounders and so on. Excavations at thc Univcrsity of Nigeria, Nsukka uncovered the pottery, 4500 ycars old, mcntioncd above, and Ibagwa, a town in thc Nsukka am, has a rock sheltcr which yiclded both ancicnt pottcry and tools of stone.12 Clear evidencc to the claim that did not migrate from somcwhcre elsc is tcstificd by this blunt statement made by an cldcr from Mbaisc in 1972 - 'We did not come from anywherc and anyone who tclls you we come from anywherc is a liar. Write it down'.13 The Igbo occupy an area or some 15,800 squarc miles in the lowcr eastcrn Niger basin which falls approximately within latitude 5 - 7 north or the Equator and longitude 6 -7 east of the Grccnwich Meridian. This is the area gcographically designated as 'Igboland'. War3 and Green referred to this . arca as 'Ibo country'. Professor Onwuejiogwu, a rcnowned anthropologist and ethnographer described this area as the ' Area', hercafter ICA:~~ The Igbo cullurc area is an area delimilable by an imaginary line running outside the settlements of Agbo, Kwale, Obiaruku, Ebu (West Niger Area), Ahoada, Diobu, - urnuagbaYi (Port-Harcourt area), , Afikpo, Ndibinofia, Iziogo ( area) and Enugu Ezike (Nsukka area) and ~zam.l~ In the prescnt states and local governments set-up in Nigeria, the Igbo are found in the entire ~nambral~and Imo States, in four of the fourteen Local Govcrnrnent Areas of Bendel state,17 and in also four or the ten Local Govem.cfit Areas of the Rivers statc.J8 Apan from thesc areas, thc Ig~o are still found at the periphery or the borders between thc Cross River, Akwa lbom and Imo States; Bcnue and Anambra States, and very deep into the Dclta of the Rivcr State: Like other groups whose limits are not defined by obvious natural boundaries, they (the Igbo) tend to merge into neighbouring peoples. Some Western Ibo communities -JWC# in common with their khan neighbours. Nonbtrn Jboland merge3 into the kingdom of Igala (Benue State), and a number of border towns, such as Ogurugu, are 1 equally at home in bo h languages. In the south-east, Arochukwu, historicall &ne of the most important of Ibo states, forms a peninsula in Ibibioland (Cross River Statc). In the Delta () no simple generalizations are possible. The general pattern is one of ever increasing Ibo infiltration, a process expanded, though probably not begun, under the impact of thc uans-. The trading cities of the Delta drew much of their population from the Ibo hinterland, and one of the most important of them, Bonny, gradually adopted the Ibo language. The history of the Ibo people is inextricably entwined with that of the Delta ....I9 Also on the widespread of the Igbo, Ottenberg wrote thus:

One might hypothesize for example, that before the European slave trade, Igbo society was in geographic area and that numerous cultural groups speaking different languages lived side by side with the Ibo much as there is a diversity of peoples in the Obubra area today. The European slave wade led to a rapid rise in population in the area .... the Ibo spread and absorbed surrounding groups 2 0 *- I ii Tb ht~guap~of the Iga)~: L Tkw .Qba speak Zgbo laogus e. onc eE she s etch comm~itin;41p th~Kws sub-famif y ef the Njgerr Pongo 1 fami4y.21 Ti& lfulguagc is frwgM with wulti-dialms which 1 can be gmpd h) C~U~S:Ika; Ukwuanj, and Emaoi clysters in Bends1 §we, Onkha, Qrlu, Dworri, Nsvkkg, Umuahia, AbaMW, $Qgmclustcss in Anambra an# Imsl States and Ikwear&rFjt@hcooluster in Rivers State. Those dialwts have a , lot of common features in grammar, lexicon and ph~aology, yet they difjbr to some exLen1 in these khrce aspects which do not dismpt mutual inteuigibility. In Imo Stak for elsqmple, aspiration liUiBd nasalization arc a fcature gf same dialwts. But this dws not inhibit oEIccQve communicalion between those j who wse il and tttosc who do not. Igbo is a tonc language whnr~bytsn~ marks arc uscd to distinguish meanings and grammalical relalionships. For , exa~n~le,,the w~rd'akwa', when lofig-parked, has the ! following meanings:- i 1 *wS (wid a asr~s (SCW 9 %++I(clolh) 4 Bkwii s w~a :I:;? 6 &kwh (bddgc) 7 igwi (cry Without thc application of Lonc-marks many words and sentences would becomc ambiguous as in Lhis conlcxt: Azyq rn stkwa(?) I boughl akwa (I?) Tmmarked, the following meanings cmcrgc: 1 Azury m &wh. (I bought a cloth) 2 Azun) m iIkw8. (I bough1 an eggs) s AZ~m akwa. (I bought a hi). The qucstion of Loncs presents difliculty only in the written form, for in the spoken form, distinclion is made naturally belwecn one form of u word and anolher as scen above. Even in the written form, wcanings arc sometimes differentialed within thc contcxls wilhoul Lone-marks. It is wcessary to make sornc pcrlincnt rcmarks here on the yord 'Igbo', and to corrcct ils anglicized vcrsion 'Ibg'. 'Igbo' is used in threc senscs today: to rcfcr to the native speakers, hereafter called 'Ndi I$&' (Igbo pRopYi$)), to the territory occupied by the-Igbo, hereafter called 'Ala Igbo' (Igboland), and to the language spoken by Igbs people, hereafter called 'Asysy Igbo' (Igba language). The wod 'Ibo' is the anglicized version of 'Igbo' which ar(r$e out sf sheer inability of the Europeans to pronounce tho digra b 'gb'. Without understanding why this Is so, even the lgtk themselves imitated the Ehropeans, hence ane comes across the word 'Ibo' in many books written by IghD pople. Others referred to the people as 'Ibo', and their, language, 'Igbo'. This is clearly wwng, and should br: discontinucd. iii The Culture of the Igbos: Long before the Igbo had contact with the Weskm civilization through whose influence their language was reduccd into writing, their language, 4s well as their risk corpus of literature were orally transmitted. Because the language and the culture of the people were one and the sac, no institution was set apart for teachin8 them to & yaugg and the strangew. This dld not mean that instruction in tkss was not taken seriously. So serious was this that uqlitlanal education in all its ramifications in the Igbo society 'starts from infancy. Basic instructions are given ~IIthe rnnthcr tongue and the child is made to live a full life in whi@ he participates from the very beginning. Nothin8 is left Q~LtC) make him benefit from his education. His education goes. Qn all the time, and takes place everywhere: in the home, gg the play ground, on the farm, in the market, on the wgy t~ the stnam, etc. Equally, he is surrouoded by his tqaghgq y&g may be members of his family, elders, seniors, pleer ggq, epe: group or wen strangcrs. In the Igbo context, fiq pw In , particular is the teacher. In fact, the society at largq ifi tk teacher. Through reinforcement, prohibition, exargpleq ~JI,Q preceptf;, a mere look or a word, children are initigted jgto their 1iazg~j;s;li~community and get to learn the d~'sand ". 'dsna&"~tho saeiciy. The world of Igbo folklorg 1$' to them thiwgh which they gain a lot in linguistic e+ wrnmon knowli:dgc, honesty, courage, endurance, &vpt!oa ~;o duty, rospet, truthfulnoss, the common rules and tkc cstabliohed aticluettc of thc Igbo society and the entir~tyaf good morals. Hcyskovit's exposition 01' folklore is no Scss func1ion;il in the Igbo contcxt. tic pormys il lhus: <, ,Fslkloic pcrfclr~nsvaricd I'unclions. Myths cxplain ~hc univcrsc and ... provide a basis for ritual and bclicl.. Talcs ... arc ol'lcn rggardctl as unwrillcn recording of tribal hiyory. Th~y@cl no1 only as a vnluablc educational dcvicc, bpi grc cqually viiluablc in mainlaining a scnsc of group uniiy hnd yryp wor1,h. Provcrbs which with riddlcs havc ,,qicnliiilly old wdd tlislributions, garrush convcrsalion with pointcd alb,slon, help clarify an obscurc rcfcrcnce Lo ' onc dclicicnl in wordlincss, and moralisc .... Riddlcs divcrt by serving as ~cslof wils, ~licygive prestige lo ~hconc who can 'pull' wilh surcncss and ~asc.~~ Thcy arc laught ~hclitcra~urc, hislory, geography and civics of thcirzccrrn~nqnilythrough stories, songs, danccs, myths, Icgcnds. i\lld conwl wilh lhc cnvironmenl. They are taught ari hrnct.jp by asking Lhcm to counl, add, sublract and divkjc'~bjcc1slihv yams, seeds, pears, cobs of maizc, nuls ctc. in prnclical t$rnj$; hygiene, lhrough cmphasis on the princiglcs or hoallli qducalion and pracliciil aclivilics such as taking thcir khcying slicks, culling lhcir nails, swecping thc robins and UIC tf0nics~c;itt. Thcy arc cncouragcd lo obscrve, ex~f~rcand intc~prc~,~,tlcirlocal cnvironmcnl by knowing the fiarhcs and sgcclq~,of ksccs, shrubs, herbs, fruits (poisonous and n0n-poisonous~~ncsand lhc namcs of mammals, rcptilcs, birds and insects, as wqll as lhc descriplion of appropriate pqriods ,and skasons, ;uqi ~hcforccasling of' ~hcwcalhcr. Thcy arc Ikau rh~the philosophy and ideology of thcir pdoplc Ll~jqugh.J k c 'Wisdom of lhc falhcrs', namcly, +prov$~bs.h~ccdotcs and wcllcrisms. Thcsc carry with thcm thc 8:irdilial principlcg of lil'c ol ~hcIgbo. For cxarnplc, right - fsonl thc bcgin~iing~l~c child is made 10 know Lhal thc provcrb Ilg~,bcrq (Icl lhc Kite pcrch, Icl lhc Eaglc and, Jcl live - is LI golticn rule of' lil'c which .@u~ns;li~nccs ,be violalcd. ol. he igho child is of pnramount imp6iIiid~$:,,&jq~[lnuri ihc bcgi~wing,hc is iiiughl suitablc I'orrris r~fgsc,&,tigs for approprialc occasions. Hc is indo~tr,in:il~d,~ii~~~,ccspcclli>~parcrils, elders, scniors and agc m;licS, A clqld ",I$ IIO! iillowcd to cilhcr give or rcccivc gifts wih rlic I~S~'liii11ti. This is ~cgardcdas bcing disrcspcctful. -, He is cncouragcd to mix up with othcrs in thc community, hence moonlight play is pan-lgbo. Attendance to festivities and public shows arc avenues of knowing the eustams and traditions of the socicty and also of lcaming and appreciating music, songs, and dancc. All thesc hclp to shape a child's behaviour and conduct. Physical training is adequately covercd in the traditional education set-up. As childrcn rurl about hunting for grasshoppers, lizards, butterflies, birds etc., they exercise themselvcs. Oftcn they organize racc competitions among thcmsclves in thc -village squares. Other forms of exercises include dancing, swinging, jumping, balancing, somersaillting, climbing, swimming, wrestling, shooting, weight-lifting etc. During moonlight play, there is no form of gamcs worth playing that cludes the childrcn. A lot of indoor games such as Okwe puzu, okwe otytu, okwe ~kpykp~,izo nzueo, \kp~, pga, lkpo une, chialughidi, nchol~koto,koso, etc abound, especially for the girls. All these aspects of physical training ) are not meant for children only. Adolescents and adults actively participatc whcre it is appropriatc for their ages. The taboos ol' the society and the punishments that?*IPe attached to brcaking thcm are madc known to the child and these hclp to keep him on the path of righteousness as he goes through life. Socio-politically, when the child grows into later adolescent stage, he starts to attcnd communal mcetings and public gatherings (in casc of boys). It is in this forum that he lcarns at first hand the system of his community's government. From this age hc is initiatcd into some ccremonies and societies to which he will abide by thcir +rules' and maintain and prcscrvc thc secrcts that go with- them. Thcse are the various ways through which he is ifiitiated into manhood and they tcst his loyalty and patriotism toward his community. Guidance and counsclling in traditional education is sine qua non. Each hmily unit has had systems of guiding and advising its yo,yths toward achieving their ultimate cxpcctarions in lifc as well as that of the society. But on the whole, choice vf carccr: blacksmithing, carvingJ Whbg, weaving, trading, Lraditional medicine, pottery ctc, have been chosen by youths on thc advice of the cldcrs. In Igbo society, farming as a carccr and way of life is not negotiable. It is a 'nalural' ci:Xcr so to say, and right from childhood, child~n L fam w& cht thcy pick it up ~~4th id@ca bad Uwm inra it. ho aqw nt on family otxupationu on the basis of tradition. c arture; fr~msu& ia wggrdod ra oiubbo~nnc.sli and m' 4ipw m @E af W dohulti~gyoulh. rf9 @@a&@h ~ct@&38, th@ grcatctii shock a hmily or a kinds4 PP;M~Si$&tat b~ O~OC~its mdrnbem JIM disgw~dit kw ths OM@&& m&%y by way of maling, pros~iiutianDP aay Q@JMvi~. IR ordw te saGguard against these , the Q~&P mcrnb~ol idividuul Kttmilies und socktk~kg@@ wW4hA rtym avw Iki~youths, guiding and adr'?ds$i@ tkm against sochi cvlln, ~cwwdinpand w.hing ia;l acdans apQ prcmaunecnlcrllu as rhc caso ma) w. BcOw a gid flm147 raturn m hcr husband nhc is glum a litany af a's qggj $@a18 19 guitf~hCr it7 ker marital hom~. Euun, mi%&#YBIIFS nllac, hcr rnathur und otlw cla~rclattnns continue a?r.iw 4~,1~ Pw, in khc igbcantego, no onc, no ' mW1: h9w M M Si& Itl sbrw kh~gwidvncc and wunwlling of 8w18 wkQ. Thi8 ia an burrse lkse pcclplc lirmly bliove {hat the indiv@usln rm aiutw in any circu~~e;ti~nces,ie no1 above the socicly. Hum thc suying: Qha nwc cas - (The ss~i~1)iwas hking) the pawcr al: Lhc king ia i!rrivod Fro111 1M pq4e. Igbp Lr&lbnat cducalion is lifc ilsclf. 'Ihroqgh 118 xariuug iigencics, spccific i~slruclions,arc comblrlcd 10 late ghjldpn's emoljons, quicken their pc~ccplionand &,cm as th~ycxplorc, cxplail and i~llcrprclLfrcir. world sqGj+ag. Traditiwal &uci~liorl 4)slcrn is so cornp!clc in ils~lf thM Ajayi, after sumyirg it yp, htalcd categorically hat I~C fi~@ftducation sysjem inllwduccd by lhc uihilc;nL~uwas only a supphncpt lo lhc Sonncr:

thousand cowries. But hc has nap cQme to wake me up in the morning for it. I shall pay you, but not today. Our clders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them. I shall pay my big dcbts first ..... 25 The most well-known of these writings was the NSIBIDI script which was greatly used by many Igbo communities of thc south-east and their Ibibio neighbours of the present Cross Rivcr and Akwa Ibom States. In 1904, T.D. Maxwell, a District Commissioner in , had discovercd the extcnsivc usc of this script within his jurisdiction. Hc collected twcnty-four nsibidi signs from a chief womcn of thc Henshaw family and got thcm published on tlic Govcmmcnt Civil List-for the Protcctoratc in July, 1905. Even though Maxwcll had known of the script and had somc of thcm publishcd, much investigation into it had not takcn plqce. It was in 1905 that Rcv. J.K. Macgregor, a Presbytcrian missionary and Jcachcr in Hopc Waddcl Training Institution, Calabar, appcqrcd to open a ncw vista on thc study of Nsibidi. This h~wcvcr,was accidental. Whilc tcaching his class and in a typical ethnocentric fashion, hc took timc off to dcclaim Ihe heights of his Europcan civilization in contrast to thc primitive cullurcs of Africans who had no writing systcm of thcir own. His students swalkowcd hard to this racial slur but onc of thcm, Ezeikpc Agwu pointed out to him that his pcoplc of Abriba had a-script which had cxislcd prior to ~hccoming of the whitcman; and,th@ thc script was known as Nsibidi. This rcvclalion gingcrcd up thc rcscarch innalc tcndcncy in Macgrcgor. Hc invcstigated and discovcrcd that the script was widcly uscd among the Igbo Communitics and Lhcir Ibibio ncighbours. With Excikpc Agwu and Onuolia Kalu, two Abriba sludcqt'si ,al (he InstiLutc, as his guidcs, Macgrcgor wcnt down lo ~bri6h,,wli$rchc collcctcd a numbcr of Nsibidi signs with cross-ch&d inltr rctations. This was in 1907, and in thc Sollowing ydar, h$ cof lccrcd othcr signs at Calnbar, and go1 thcm pu?;rlis,Hcd.iE( ihc Jqurtzal of the Royal Anthropolo~ical Itzstitufc 'Ih, .19(B(JI.(~wgrcgnr, '1 9W:2 10). In: 1hV. El hi~$$nc Qq-yell. 9 District Com~n,issibrl~r;a lkom id ~hc'9)f Ogojri Prcl$ihcc, got publ'ist%d over liliy nsibidl s~&~~lii&hc'hd collcctcd within his jurisdiction. This pbintcd out that thc script was in use bcyond Cross Rivcr r; $ 14 - Igbo and Calabar District. Daryell in his CareTu1 Stud noticed that nsibidi was not just a writrcn:s'cript but a i' dnguagc 'spokcn' with body movcmcnt. Thcse r'cvdations on nsibidi drove him to write again in the'iJo~rhnlof the Royal Anthropological Institute in 19 3 1. (Ogbu;'1978:80). rdphic wririn , &d ics or the Cd qese in character. It's me.' Rev. J.K. Macgregor attributed it to thc 'great Ibo, tribe wltlch is said to number four million people and 'tcr%ovcr'aboy~dn& third of the protectorate'. Macgregor buttressed his hrymenr

of the Igbo origin of the nsibidi thus: ' 1 it r * . i They [the Ibo 1 are a great artisan tribe, and hcir smiths.& to be met in every village in this p$ri of the tahlj.9, avi3 "., - ,l* wherever a smith goes he carries with Idrn hc'knowlkdge ; ' of nsibidi. (Macgregor, 1909:209). '' " J" , ,. " ,+" In support of the Igbo origin too, w8s M.D.W. JcfFfeys, Who '- writing on thc nsibidi in 1928 and 1964, maintained that

j I This sign writing originatcd so far as?m be asdir'ltuimd among the Aros (on the Cross Riv&)WW talI it N3ilridi and state that this was the rlame of a etublhiat"otg~i%'eB~tKk' writing and perpetuated it (Jeffrey ih OQu:,'78). ' . " '"' I i*Ii 'i .- i, But P.A. Talbot in his work titled, Ph ShaW~Wj+the Bush (1912) argued that it was thc Ekbi"(afi etHisgmup' on the Cross River) who originated nsf&i&.*Hd claim^ %34hve found a greater variety - of' signs amwg LW Elcoil &aWa!mong any other people. In his exp1afiatiotI;tlw Bkd b6ld,R that nsibidi is a corruption of Nchibbtdv wMch 4s;&xiv&f bptn'the verb Nchibbi, to bm, and that in &&go the w&-cli'&ade, agtlity of mind, cunning. Thev ex~lalnedfumheri t%at'&si&ddSWW the name of an ancknt bit de'funct club whose membership was restricted to chiefs and which was dhaped NWTthrk &%u'cion r i i i( V, of criminals. (Ogbu:81). bPv~. This issue of where nsibidi bri$fhiikd, ~hkthbt£kfhJl'th&"' Igbo or from any other people, isdo? Sitt.18 rfoheefti ..Ilc~e,bdt'" what is Upper most in our minds fb tkl firwas .\kiui$iY ti$$ " throughout the Cross Rivelt Basin pf"wh5ck";$HC'Ig'I.io f&@rk8a "

majority), up to thc Carner60ms hd' W~Bdot &s'tfl&&t to%ee 'S non-Bantu races, and is therefore, a script of African pcoples c(3Mtri~ptu hropcan wrong notion that the peoples of the sub-Sah~had no wriking system. ' The bc innings of nsibidi and some other forms of writing in A frica are shrouded in mythology. For cxampla, a Liberian, Wido Zogba, an ernploycc of thc American Rrestone Company, was inspired to devclop a form of writing which ktcr scad through bibcria, Toma and Guinea. This Was the Basm Script. in 1816, Dualu Bukele, another Liberian and a messonget far a Europtzan, was wrapped up in a dream tson drapsd in immaculntc whitc appeared bcfore him, an handed him a script. This was the Via Script. In fbibiuland in 1936, spiritualism led to the production of a new stript called Oberi Okaime Scdpt. And in 1976, therc merged me Ogbucfi Nwagu Aneke, an Igbo from Umulcri in Artambra Local Government Area of Anambra State, who claims to be divincly inspircd to produce the Umuleri script, a type of shorthand (mnemonic), As for nsibidi, the Ugwuakuma who live at Uyanga couched the beginning of nsibidi in this story which was told to Macgregor;

Large baboons (idiok) wcre vcry rampant in that forcsl arca lying a few miles off the mangrove swamp in Lhc Cross Rivet bank. If hunters mado fire LO warm thomselvos, ttta Gaboohs would gate-crash and imposc their united company. The first reaction of the hunlors wabi t scram bu ihey soon noticed that thc baboons would makc some inarks on Ehe ground and in a panlotrlimk fashion act out the meaning of the signs. Ugwuakurna pedpl0 dctcctcd a meaningful relatiohhi@ between the signs and tho pmtornimic act, and they called the signs nsibidi. Sibidi, according to Macgregor, meam to play 'for lhcy have lmedtho& things though bhc phyitlg of tho idivk'.Mm .- improved tm bb signs by adding rlcw symbols for mw artiule@wd as comb, money and m 0n (0gbu:79) Nsibidi served various functions in the localities wMr6 it operated; identity label, public notico, private warning, dmlaraticm of taboos, amorous dealings, rwkoning of gwds money, keeping nmcords and &orations, and as the and dkmko societies sproad and itlcquird importamer in the traditional gwernment, nsibidi became quite 'impaftant ~o~itkllyreconomicfly and politically, : r In a broader perspective,-it served the secret purposes of such esoteriq societies like the Ekpe and the Okonko. Because of this, these societies spawned a large number of nsibidi signs. An initiate into any of the societies had to learn the signs which helped to keep the official secrets of his cult from non-members. Members identify themselves by making or using these signs. A new comer is quizzed with challenging signs, and the higher one climbed in the ranks of the cult, the more nsibidi one learned. Nsibidi was used for erotic communications. The collections made by Daryell, Maxwell, Macgregor, Mansfeld and others describe every imaginable situation in a love affair from courting through intimate relationship to marriage. Pregnancy, divorce and illicit relationship were all duly represented in pictographic forms (Ogbu:83). It was on the basis of this illicit aspcct of nsibidi that Christians denied any knowledgc of nsibidi so that they would not be suspected of sexual immorality. And Macgregor was once told by one of his informants that to tell him about nsibidi was to reveal many shamcful things. Nsibidi was said to have bcen used extensively in recording proceedings of courts. On this Macgregor said:

I have in my possession a copy of the record of a court case from a town on the Enion [Enyong] Greek taken down in it, and every detail, except he cvidence, is most graphically described - the parties in he case, the witnesses, the dilemma of he chicf who tried it, his sending out messengers to call o~hcrchiefs LO help him, the finding of the court and joy of ~hcsuccessful litigants and of their friends are all told by the use of a few strokes (Afigbo, 197574) Talbot also claimcd to havc scen court records kept in nsibidi. Despitc all thcse purposcs which nsibidi served, it failed to develop as a medium for the transmission of Igbo literature for the following reasons: Firstly, was the high premium placcd on its secrecy. With the incursion of the'whiteman * such secrecy became dceper in some communities, thus restricting the fertilization of nsibidi by Western art of writing. ' In short, nsibidi became a form of cultural resistance. This can be contrasted with the Liberian attitude which was liberal and opcn, and thus, thc Vai script developed because each \ member of thc communily was undcr oath Lo Leach it to the others. Nsibidi was so sccrclivc lhal Darycll had this to say about it:

The men who understllnd Nsibidi arc very rciicent about giving any information on the subject, and it is only through natives whom I have known several years Lhal I have been able to obtain the signs now given. (E. Daryell, 191 1521) Secondly, was its unsyslematic modc of recording and interpretation. Thcrc was no rigid scheme for use of nsibidi symbols quile unlikc lhc Roman Script which writing and reading arc from lcfl LO right and top to bottom. Or lhc which is from right lo lefl and bottom to top. Or further still, the Chincsc Script which reads from top to boltom, then sideways lo thc right ScoM left. Nsibidi was done in a haphazard mmncr. I1 was no1 systemalic. Daryell put for111 anolhcr weakncss of nsibidi. Hc .remarked that cvcn lhough ccrlain signs did becomc convcntional, Nsibidi signs wcrc dcviscd by many social clubs or cults with thc rcsull Lhal lhcsc signs differed from placc to place. For instancc, in lkom Dislricl alone, he cilcd four different sociclics which had lhcir individual symbols. A writing syslcm Lhal is buggcd with loo many symbols and interpretations for diffcrcnl pcoplc and placcs such as nsibidi had, could nol'makc its mark on lhc lilcralurc of lhc pcople. Fourthly, nsibidi did no1 cxisl in a simplc medium. It was a multi-mcdium sysicm of communicalion not confincd to graphics. It was partly wrillcn and parlly acted out (pantomimic). And finally, nsibidi lacked lhc support of modcm technology such as ink and papcr for its advancemcnt. It was recorded on perishable objccts such as walls, floors, calabashes, wood and skin parchmcnl, and as a rcsult, it did not endure. However, nsibidi has somc polcntialilics which if it had developed, it could havc made ils mark on ~hcsands of literature. It was cross-cullural, and no1 bound to Lhe author. It was possible for anybody to read even without having to learn a particular langua#e. For example, an Igbo could read works on it wPitter: by an Ibibic) 3~ilhouLhaving to learn Ibibio first. . But thinking criticauy, one may impartially say that the colonial assertion that the' sub-Saharan people (Igbo inclusive) had no writing, is to some extent true because, even though the above systems of handwriting existed, they were by no means universal and known to all. One can rightly assert that they were on the main, 'hidden' or withdrawn from the generality of the people. It was only those who belonged to some esoteric societies that were instructed in them. The contention in the final analysis therefore, is that even thou@ there were some sort of writing that existed in Igboland, it was not meant for the education of all and sundry. Having been informally educated to its fullest in his mother tongue, the Igbo child was now fully equipped with the necessary tools to embrace the whiteman's system of education when it was introduced. He could think, dream, smile, love, appreciate, explore, learn and make progress in it, for any system of education whatsoever Lhat is founded outside the child's mother tongue is like building on a slippery foundation. It is this formal education and its involvement with the Igbo language that we shall begin to trace in the next chapter. Y

--, SOME NSIBIDI SIGNS, 4

Source: E. Isichci, A History of the lgho Pco#e, pp. 36 - 37 KEY 1-2 Mamed love (2, with pillow) 3 .Married love with pillows for head and feet a sign sf wealth 4 Mamed love with pillow 5 Quarrel between husband and wife, indicated by the pillow being between them 6 Violent quarrel between husband and wife 7 One who causes a disturbance between husband and wife 8 A woman with six children and husband; a pillow is between them . 9 Two wives with their children (a), of one man (b), with the roof-tree of the house in which they live (c) 10 A house (a) in which are three women and a man. The dots have no meaning 11 Two women with many children in the house with their husband 12 Two women on each side of a house. One on each side has a child 13 A woman with child (general sign) 14 The same; if e man writes this sign on the ground, it means that his own wife is with child 15 Palaver, the general term, by no means confined to marriage palavers 16 A woman who does not want her husband any more 17 A woman who wishes to put away hcr husband 17a Embracing? (unconfirmed interpretation) 18 A harlot 19 Two women who live in the same house have palaver every time they meet. A third woman is entering by the door 20 A man (a) who comes to a woman who has a,husband and asks her to live with him 21 (a), (b), and (c) are three men who sought the same married woman, and quarreled because of her 22 (a) is a man who committed adultery with a woman '(b), who now lives apart from her husband (c). The guilty man has to pay compensation to the woman's family and her husband. (d) is the money paid, (e) are the "partiesto whom the money was paid. 23 A man and a woman were 'friends.' The man wished to leave her, but she would not agree. One day he wmtc this sign all over her house, and took his departure. (a) mcans that hc curscs hcr, saying that shc has 'crawcraw'. ' (b) mcans 111at he has gone 10 another town 24 Love without agrccrncnl 25 Hcan with tnic lovc 26 Hcnn withoul lruc lovc 27 Inconslant heart 28 Two pcrsons agrcc in lovc 29 (a) is a woman who gocs lo balhc in thc rivcr at a fold (b), while hpr husband (c) walchcs lo scc that no onc - shoots her 30 Juju hung ovcr a door or 011 thc road lo a housc to kccp drmgcr-cspccially cvil spirits-I'rom tllc housc. Sacri liccs of fowls and goals arc ol'fcrcd 10 it 3 1 Fircwood 32 33 Looking plasscs (Also uscd I'or il man with il look~ng glass) 34 A nalivc mat, uscd as iI bcd 35 A gourd for il drinking cup 36 Nativc comb 37 Toilct soap 38 Basin and watcr 39 Calabash with 400 chittl~t~.\i~~sidc it. A chittim is ;I copper wire wort11 onc-twcnliclh of it rod. such calabashes havc hingcs of hrcc strings 40 Slavcs 41 Firc Notes 1 G.T. Basdcn, Niger lhos. London, I'ri111k Cass & CO. Ltd.. 1966, p.ix. 2 I.C. Ward, Igbo Dictlccts untf the l)evelo/ment of N Common Language, Cambridge, IIcffcr iind Sons Lld.. 1941, p.9 3 V.C. Uchcndu, Tlzc Igho of Sorttl~cctst Nigeria, Holt, Rinchcart and Wislon, 1905, 11.2. 4 Edmund Ilogu, Cl~ristic~r~itytrd Igho Culture, Nok Publishers Ltd., 1974, p. 1. 5 A.E.Aligbo, "Towardsa llisloryol lhc Igbo-Spcaking Pcoplcs ol' Nigeria', in Ogb;~lu and Erncnanjo cds. opcit. pp.11-27. 0 E. Isichci, A History of' thc I~Oopeople, London. Mixmillan 1970: p.3. 7 Aligbo.op.ci1. M.J.C. Echeruo. 'Ac Matter of Identity' Ahiajioku Lecture, Culture Division, Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Owerri, 1979, p. 14. Uchendu, op. cit. p.3.. See also Ilogu op cit. pp. 1-2. Ilogu, op. cit. p.2. Isichei, op. cit. Ibid, pp.3-4 Ibid. Emenajo, op. cit. p.1. M.A. Onwuejeogwu, 'The Igbo Culture Area' in Ogbalu - and Emenanjo, op. cil. p.1. Anambra State which consists of twenty-three Local Government areas (LGA) has some four tiny non-Igbo communities (inter-tribes): Amuda, Effium, Ntezi and Okpoto. Except Amuda which is in Ezza LGA, the other three are found in Ishielu LGA. Tradition has it that the people of Effium migrated from Igala area of the Benue State, while Arnuda, Ntezi and Okpoto migrated from the former Ogoja Division in the , because of inter-tribal wars. Tradition still has it that the last three have blood relationship. Because the four are enclosed by the Igbo, they have lost most of their original cultures, for most of their personal, market and botanical names are Igbo. Interview with Chief Ede Ogalagu of Okpoto The four Igbo LGAs are: Aniocha, Ika, Ndokwa and Oshirnili. The four Igbo LGAs are: , Ikwerre-, Bonny and Ahoada. E. Isichei, The Ibo People and the Europeans, London, Macmillan, 1976, p. 17. S. Ottenberg, 'The Presenl State of Igbo_Stu&es', Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 2, 1961, p.222. j.~.Grennberg, 'Sludies in African Linguistic Classificalion: The Nigcr-congo Family', South-westep Journal of Anthropology, 1949, Vo1.5 No.2, pp.79-100. T.A. Awoniyi, 'Molhcr Tongue Education in : A Historical Background' in Mother Tongue Education, Hodder & Sloughlon, 1976, p.9. J.F.A. Ajayi, Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1814-1 891, Longmans, 1969, p. 133. Isichei, A History of the Igbo people, op. cit i 25 Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. Ibadan, Hcincmann Educational Books Ltd., 1965, p.7. 26 Isichei, A History of the lgbo~People,op. cit. 27 Rev. J.K. MacGregor. 'Some Notes on Nsibidi', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. xxxix 1909, p.210. 28 Afigbo, op. cit. p.73. 2 The ~issioharies and the Igbo Language In the last chapter, Igbo Language was seen purely as a medium of traditional education. In this chapter, we shall see it in a double capacity: as a medium of instruction and as a subject for study in the formal education system. The reduction of Igbo language into writing and its subsequent adoption as a subject for study in schools were the handiwork of thc Christian missionaries both outside and within Igbo homeland. 2 i. The Isuama Dialect (1700 - 1900) The term 'Isuama' was a dialect variation that was used in Igbo Studies in thc 19th century. It was developed in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as a standard dialect when the slaves had been emancipated and settled there. It was later adopted for literary purposes both in Freetown and Onitsha, the two centres of early Igbo Studies. Isuama was a sort of an Esperanto, which the various dialect groups of Lhc Igbo cx-slaves used for the purposes of mutual intelligibility. In a conference which he summoned ak Onitsha in 1875, Crowthcr and his Igbo translators took a resolution on Isuama in the following words:

The standard and reading dialect of this language is strictly to b: that of Isuama, it bcing the one which a11 the other dialecls will lcarn to spcak, while the Isuama will yield to no other, hence translations in this dialect will be universally received by he nation.' Emenanjo dates the beginning of Isuama period from 17002 - the period of the shipment of slaves to the New World - when Igbo language made its first dispersion outside Africa, for without the slaves Lhcre could have been no Isuama dialect. Isuama/Isoama/Isoma is a derogatory name given to those communities living in the less fertile areas north or Oweeri, extending to Mbaitoli, Ikcduru, Nkwerre, Isu, Orlu, Mbano, Okigwe, Ihiala and beyond, by those who occupy the more fertile lands. Therefore, by merit or demerit, these people are referred to as 'Ndi Isoma' (Isoma people), and in Sierra Leone, the ex-slaves from thesc areas might have rcferred to themselves as such. This appellation exists till today. Isuama studies pcriod was mainly characterized by word- list collection, the translation of sacrcd tracts and the preparation of liturgical malcrials. a. Igbo - Its Path to Development as a Written Language: If the Slave Trade had any advantage at all, one would say that it was in connection with the development of some African languages as written languages. With the trans- Atlantic slave trade, Africans and Nigerians in gencral, and the Igbo in particular, were shipped to the Wcst Indics to work in the plantations. Like slaves, thcy wcrc subjected to slave labour, and wcre despised by those who bought them like . household commodities. Howcvcr, their sufferings wcre not all in vain. Although some owners dcspiscd and hated hem, there wcre some othcrs who showed concern and love for them. Such peoplc wcrc the missionaries.

In 1766-67,G.C.A. Oldcndorp, a German pastor of the Moravian Brethren, visited the West Indies to collect material for a hislory of the Caribbean Mission of the Brethren. He becamc interested in the slave population hc encountered, and wrote at length about their Aliican origins and languages: the account was edited and published in Gcrmany in 1777.~ From the slaves, Oldendorp collectcd twenty-eight brief vocabularies. Two of these wcre 1gbo:some numcrals and thirteen noum4 Even though thcy 'can be seen to bc ciose to modcm Ibo' 5, thcre is no doubt that their spellings will be irregular since he wrote them down as they m~ndcdto him in his own native orthography. These, Isgelher with an accompanying vocabulary of 'Mokko' clik), represcnkd the earliest information in print ... on the languages of any part of modem Nigcria'. 15 Oldcndorp did not only collcct thcse vocabularics, he also provided a scntence transhlcd into each language among which ,were two (USA) where he groups whom he Oldendorp' hrve been motiva ince nothing very signjficant was done w blication in 1777, but there ie no dopbt y 'threw little light on the geography of the Delta region and anthropological information on the Ibo' and ~bibio'.~ After Oldend~rp'S vocabularia of 1777 about,half a century elapsed before further vocabularies of the1lower Niger-Benue languages received attention again. But in the interim, (1790), an Igbo ex-slave, Olaudah Eqbinano, had transcribed seventy-nine Igbo words in his autobiographyg from his base in England. b. Freetown and Igbo Studies (Sierra Leone Studies): 'Sierra Leone Studies' of Igbo covered a period of about thirty years from 1828, when the first wordrlist in Igbo appeared in Freetown, to 1857, when such studies shifted to Igbo land. During this period, various attempts were made by diffqknt people and organizations to put Igbo in priqt. Tho term, Sierra Leone Studies therefore, covers all the attempts so made, whether in Sierra Leone, Overseas, Fernando Po or Igbo homeland before the studies shifted to Onitsha. During the heat of the campaign to suppress the slave trade, the British Government founded Freetown, in. Sierra Leone, in 1787, as a home for liberated Africans. .Hsi'e; the origins of Christian missionary endeavour in SQli@- speaking West Africa began. As slaves, they had been converted to Christianity, and the missionaries were concerned about their faith, lest they relapsed into traditional worship. This motivated the various missionary bodies to follow @em to their new home in order to minister to them. The pre-occupation of the Christian missionaries was the spread of their religion as effectively as possible by teaching the people to read thc scriptures in their own tongues. But this could not bc possiblc since those languages had not been reduced into writing. This purpose promoted the collection of wordlists which started in the 1820s. In 1828, Mrs. tl;unnah Kilhann, u Quaker cducalionist publishcd hcr collcclion of vocabularies which includcd nurncr;ils and :~bou$50 nouns ol lgbo.1° The purposc of wordlist collcclion is varied, According lo lo Killnarn, hcr own collcclion was with Lhc inlcnlion of leaching lhc c1ni:drcn ol' llnc cx-slavcs Lo Icam Lhcir own rcspcclivc .nnolhcr Longucs bcforc English.ll With her wordlisls done, sllc slarlcd the first form;~l cducalion in vcmacular Iimgui~gcin 183 1 when shc slarlcd a school for girls ii~Charlollc village. '11 was in 'Aku' (Yoruba) thal llnc lirsl vernacular lcssons wcrc given .,..'I2 Fornniil education in Igbo Iimguagc sccmcd LO hiivc slarlcd a little allcr the Yorulxi, for il was onc of Lhc Ici~ding Lwo vcmaculars. The following cxlrilcl Lcslil'ics:

Howcvur, by 1830, Roban was wcarying of his labour, and hc wrote lo Englund - 'I huvc comc LO ~hcconclusion that it will Ix bcttcr to conl'inc inysclf LO one or ~wolanguages ... The two wliich have I)cc~lpoint~d out to nlc as p;ir~i~uI;irIy iniporian~... arc tw A-ku i~dthc 1-bo.'13 Thc ncxl wyrdlisl collcclion was made in Igbo, hornclsnd, during Lhc Laird cxpedilion of 1832-4. Whcn Lhc iiccounl.of lhc cxpcdiliop was publishcci in 1837, il includcd a vocabuli~ryof"70 words. This vocabuli~ryWiiS rnadc usc of by Edwin Narris, Lhc assisliunl secretary of Lhc Royi~lAsia~ic Socicly in 1840 whcn hc was preparing a handbook of vocabuliirics for the usc ol' lhc ncxl round of the Nigcr Expcdilion. Norris added lo the Igbo lisl some words from an unknown rnanuscripl source 'rind olhcrs collcclcd from an Igbo in ond don.'^ Could this libo man havc bccn Equinna? As ~hcNigcr Expcdilion was bcing prcparcd for by Nosris, 111c CMS was arranging lo send two missionary linguisls on ~11c expedition. 'I'lncy wcrc ~hcGcrman missionary J.F. Schon iind the African school-lcachcr, Sarnual Crowllncr who wcrc on lhc slnff of lhc mission in Frcclown. Schon had been sludying Igbo and tlausii, iind by Scplcmbcr 1840, hc rniidc known lo the mission aulhorilics LhilL he had collcclcd a voc;ibul;iry ol' 1000 words in Igbo (lhc highcsl so frir), and had Lri~nsliiL~dil Icw praycss.15 I1 is no1 known why Lhis work was no1 publisllcd. IF il Ilad, il could havc bccn lhc firs\ lgbo dicliorkiry. Thc two missionarics sclcctcd twclvc intcrprctcrs (cx- Slavcs) rcprcscnting ninc language groups, including Igbo, to hclp thcm in their work;and tI~ccxpcdition finally yilcd from Frcetown in July 1841. Late in august, Ll~ccxpcdition was saiIing up thc Nigcr through Igbo country, and Schon :utcmpted to communicate in Igbo. Hc wfs totally disappointcd, and comnicnlcd in thc Sollowing words:

... thc dialcci ol' rhc Ibo languagc on which 1 had bcaowcd so much labour in Sicrra Lconc, diffcrs widcly liom that spokcn imd untlcrstood in this part ol' thc counuy. It ncvcr ' escaped my observation, tha~a grcal liivcrsity of dialccts existcd: but I must blarnc mysclf much for not making slrictcr inquiries about thit which would bc most usel'ul for ~hcprcscnt occasion. 1 Qu,itc disappointcd, Schori was not humilintcd and dismayed. Hc still

pcrsislcd in his cflhrls lo put his lgbo LO ubc, 2nd prcparcd to rcatl an addrcss in thc langurrgc to thc Chicl' of Abu: thc chicf, no doubt blifllcd by thc pronunciation and intonation, sooh grcw borcd and inlcrrupted rcnding.17

It was hcrc that Schon ilbandolrcd lgbo lo its htc, i~ndtwcnty ycars clapscd until hc tumcd tiis attcntioa to it again. This was the first major ill omcn that conflrmtcd thc dcvclopmcnt of Igbo Iilcnturc, not only of that agc, but of todity. Mcanwhilc, Schon Lu ncd his allcntion '10 Hnusa as a mcdium or instruct'on',18/ and lo which Ilc contribulcd in no small mcasura. Whilc Igbo studics had conrinucd in Sicrra Lconc, Fcmando Po formcd another basc for such sludics, for slaves from ships slopped by the British navy hid bccn rclcascd thcrc. In 1848, a Baptist missionary, John Clarkc, who hod scrvcd in a mission lo Fcrnando Po and in thc Wcst Indics, published a collection of vocabularies of' Al'rican languages which hc and Mcrrick, a missionary in Fcrn:uldo Po and thc Camcroons from 1843 to 1849, had collcctcd. Igbo hitd somc numcrnls md ahout 250 words. In his work, John Clark rcprcscntcd twcnty-Sour dialccts of' Igbo, though many of thcm bcar quccr spellings that lhcir location is dil'licult. But among lhcm wcrc 'Aro', 'Bonny,' Orala,' 'Elugwu', 'Ndoki', 'Abadsa' (Agbaja) and 'Oss' (perhaps Osu).19 ~hc'pub!icalion in 1854 of the fcrmous Polyglotru Africuna by a Gcrrnan missionary, S. W. Kocllc, oul-classed and supcrscdcd Clarkc's Spccimcns. l'hc Polygloua was a volumc oS vocabul;irics of African languugcs collcclcd mainly from cx-slaves in Frcclown. I1 was 'i~nmci~surablysupcrior lo both Lhc cnrlicr collcclions in lhc numbcr of languagcs rcprcscnlcd, in ~hcorlhography, ill ~hcnumbcr of words in each langu;igc, and in lhc dclail of kqmgraphical localion of cn~h'.~~)11 had aboul 300 words ill Igbo, rcprcscn~cdin thc fivc dialects oS 'Isoama, Isiclc, Abadsa, Aro iind ~bofia'.~~ The asscrlion ~halL~C Polyglolla rcprcscnlcd more words in lhc numbcr of languagcs, mighl apply lo olhcr languagcs olhcr 1han Igbo bccausc Schon, hod in 1840, rcporlcd lhal hc had collcclcd a vocabulary of 1600 words. IS lhc assertion is upheld, il is on thc ground ol' publicalion, for Schon did not publish his. The Polyglo~a,it wiis said, was not loully supcrscdcd a ccnlury lalcr as a slandard scfcrcncc work for comparalivc Wcsl African language ~tudics.2~Bul Dr. Hcinrich Barth, a serious sludcnl of Hausa and Kanuri, saw il as 'very fiir from rcliablc', and charged ils aulhor in the Kanuri vocabulary in thc following wolds:

thc missionary hirnscll' would have Imimtcd in such a cornplicatcd systcnl of writing an languagc if hc had worked upon the living idiom le nation, instcad of abstnicting ;ill his rulcs from uncialion of a singlc individual, whom hc was holding during five years undor ~hcconlrol of European thcorics and of Europcan schcmatisi~~~.~~ 1 A1 Lhc close of thc 1854 Expcdilion lo lhc Nigcr,Dr. William Baikic. on his way back Lo'Europc, discussed with Crowllicr Lllc prospects oS si~lnga mission on Lhc Niger. Simon JOII~LS,an Igbo inlcrplrrcr during Lhc 4844- and 1854 cxpcdilions, was rccallcd Lo Frcclown from forcign mission. Aboiird slap, Bishop Vidal 01' Sicrra Lconc, in Lhc company ol' Crowlhcr, showcd Biiikic thc Yoruba 1r;insliilions hc wns cdiling, iind Lold him his inrcnlion ol' taking up Igbo sludics soon. Uul hc died a Sew days iikr lhal bcforc rcuching . .,. 30 Freetown. As no subscquenL Bishop of Sierra Leone showed any interest in linguistic work, Igbo studies sccmed to have had a temporary sct-back. On reaching Frcctown, deputations of liberated slaves asked Baikic ncws of their homelands, and expressed eagerness to And back home in England, Baikie published his pcrsonnl account of the Niger Expedition in 1856, and in it, hc attached a linguistic appcndix consisting of , a short Igbo v~cabulary.~~ Crowther's request to the CMS in England for the establishment of a mission on the Niger, with a station at Onitsha, was readily accepted for the following two reasons: the Freetown Igbo had longcd for it for quite a long time, while a mission there would lead to the easy accessibility to the long desired ~ausaland.~~Crowther was asked to get prcparcd for the Igboland mission. He invited Simon Jonas to meet him in Lagos, and both settled down thcre to study lgbo. Crowther askcd Schon, who was then in England, to resume his study of lgbo, and to lend him thc vocabulary of lgbo which was compiled in 1840-1, and which was not used.27 When preparations were bcing made in England for further expedition on the Nigcr, Crowther was busy working for the setting up of the Onitsha mission. With the help of Simon Jonas, he printed the first book in a lower-Niger-Benue languages2*This was the Isoama-lbo published in 1857. The 17-page primcr 'included a translation of the first chapters of the Gospel according to St. Mathew. It also contained the Igbo , words, phrascs, some sentence patterns, the Ten Commandmcnts and the Lord's pnyer.'30 and commenting on the significance of this little book, Emenyonu said: The Primer was morc than a linguistic tcxt. It also formed the basis of Igbo written literature. The cxtract it contained were the first litcrary creations in Igbo Ianguagc. With it, schools began under shady trees, in private dwellings and other improvised 'school rooms', It served the purpose of introducing rwding and writing to the Igbo and remained the major text book for several dccadcs .....31 The orthography of krowther's primer was the 'Standard Alphabet' produced in 1854 by Lepsius (A Geman Philologist) for all the languages of the world.32 The CMS was quick in accepting it, and the first book that was printed in it was Koelle's Kanuri grammar of 185433, while Crowther's prkner appeared in 1857. It is not known whether or not Schon did develop an orthography in 1852 on which Igbo studies were based, as Emenanjo asserted.34 What is certain was that he had helped Professor Samuel Lee, the CMS' principal linguistic adviser, to produce in 1848, Rules for reducing ,wnwritten languages to Alphabetical writing.35 And immediately Lepsius' alphabet appeared in 1854, the CMS adopted it for all their linguistic work. It was thus prefaced in the lsoama - Ibo primer: 'The system of orthography adopted in this primer is based on Professor'Lepsius's 'Standard Alphabet' (Sceyleys, London, 1855). recommended by the Church Missionary Also in support of thc argumcnt is that An Ibo printed in 1870 was based on the 'Standard Alphabet' and not on any othcr. c. Onitsha Studies (1857 - 1929): The period 1857-1929 can bc styled in Igbo Studies as the 'Onitsha Studies Period'. During this period, the venue of Igbo language studies shifted from Frcetown in Sierra Leone to Onitsha in Igboland where a proliferation of linguistic works emerged. This period is sub-divided into: (a) The Early Missionary Period (1857 -1900) and (b) The Later Missionary Period (1901 - 1929). During these pcriods also, the missionaries were as beforc, Lhe architects, not only of Igbo language development, but also thc entirc educational needs of the people. When the DAYSPRING set sail in mid 1857 under Lhe command of Dr. ~aikie~~,the CMS missionarics on board, headed by Samuel Adjai Crowther, landcd at Onitsha to found the first Mission on the Niger. Accompanying Crowther were , a number of Igbo-speaking catechists from Freetown, among whom was Simon Jonas, the man who had helped Crowther in the production of Lhe Isoama-lbo Primer. This man had the sole~responsibilityof inlerprcting for the mission. A veteran of thc 1841 and '1854 cxpcditions, his missionary work at Aboh in 1841 entitles him tgbe called'the first apostle of the Ibo'.39 The next man of ereat importance was the Rev. John Christopher Taylor; specifically ordained for the Onitsha mission. He was born in Sierra Leone of Igbo parents who did not speak the same dialect of ~gbo.~~Even though it was said that 'he 'himself had some command of Ibo'41, the dual dialect he possessed was in no way hclpful to him in his task of studying the Igbo language. Whcn hc arrived at Onitsha he still had to preach through an interpreteP2, Simon ~onas.4~ But he quickly learnt enough Igbo for his pastoral works 'though not enough to make the contribution to he study of Ibo that Crowther was making to that of ~otuba'~~.To him was given the charge of organizing and nurtufing the Mission at Onitsha after Crowther had founded it in 1857. Assessing the works of this period, in fact, no other person made hlore contributions than he. '... Taylor was the pioneer of Ibo literature'.45 Like Crowther, he had studied at Fourah Bey Institution in his younger days. A. The Early Missionary Period: After negotiating with thc then reigning king, Obi Akazua and his council, Crowther got them to allocate land for a Mission station.46 Whcn all was set, he left Taylor in charge to organise it while he and Baikie continued up the Niger as far as to Igbebe, near the confluence, where he began mission work.47 One of the major tasks that faced Taylor was to open a school. Indeed he started this a week after his arrival when twelve children were brought to him by their parents to be educated. And in his comment, Taylor said: Z looked upon them as the commencement of our missionary work. We lost no time but began to whthem the A.B.C. Attendance at he young school was. however. very irregular as the children had t work on thcir parents' farms,48 When Crowthcr visited Onitsha in 1858, he was so impressed by thc progrcss made by thc school that he had to send 'a dozcn iron slates and two dozcn slate-pencils to aid Mr. Romaine, thc school mastcr in his work'P9 Thcre was no age limit to Mr. Romqine's school: there were paple of dl ages. As pointcd out earlier, thc basis of Igbo learning a$ this period, and, in fact, up till the recent limes within the Protestant domain, was Crowther's Igbo primer. In his let&x.to the Rev. Henry Venn, the C.M.S. Secretary in London, Crowther pointed to the historical importance of the' primer. He had this to say:

We had this morning a class of 12 pcrsons, men, women and a boy Eor the first time to read thc Ibb Language. from print: they were highly gratified at the dawning of the day ' fot the evangelization of the their people and nation and prayed God to send his blessing to impart the glwious light of the gospel to the people long kitring in heathon darhress on the banks of the long fmed ~iger.~O The Isoama-lbo Primer, originally a 17-page text,is historical in the following respects: firstly, it fonned the starting point in the study of Igbo grammar. for Crowther had originally markcd two tones: the acute and the grave, among other things51 The importance of tones in the Kwa langprages, of which Igbo is one, had already bcen discwsscd. Secondly, it fonned the basis of Igbo written literature, for 'the extracts it conqined were"the first literary creations in the Igbo language'.S2 Thirdly, 'it served the purposc of introducing reading and writing to the ~gbo'.~~Fourthly, it remained the major text-book for several decades especially among the Pn,tefimB. This primer was popularly known as A@ Ado (literally the green covers4 even though many misplaced the tones and styled it hQ iid3 (fresh fish). The news of Taylor's missionary work at Onitsha far and wide. Deputations came to see him fiom many 3=z Obosi, Asaba, Osomari, Ogidi, and even lg4a in Notthem Nigeria, to mention but a few. Pressure was brought on him by these people open Mission stations in their respective towns>5 but this expansion work was impeded by the shortage of men and materials. After Cmwther's consecration as Bishop in 1864 in Cmterbury Ca&,sdtal, King William F%@e of Bmny wrote to the Wshop of London requesting that mi8bhuies be sent to prcachsto his people. This letter was dilrbWCb.to Bishs Crowther, and one of his first acts as a bisbp Was to fof nd the Mission station at Bonny - the first outpopt of Christianity in the Niger ~clta.~~Vis station was mauW by tvlo Sierra Leoneans who were stationed as cakchists. They wcre F.W.Smart, who was with the Niger Missidn from 1868 to 1876, and W.E.L. Carew, who served from 1868 to 1889. Each of them published a primer of Igbo, and gamed out translation works on Church 1iturgy.~7Thus, Bonny became the second centre of Igbo developmenl during this period. 'between 1871 and 1872, Dandcson C. Crowther, Crowther's youngest son was' appointed Supcrintendent and later ~rchd&cunof the Delta and Lower Niger ~tations.5~ As argued earlier, the orthography in vogue at this peigd*was the Standard Alphabet with fcw additional sound symbols to serve the purposes of cach parlicular language. This is evident because most works produccd at this time, eiwat Onitsha or at Bonny, wcre based on it. The first orthography for Igbo is as follows: abd~fghik1mnoprstuvw~z. Additional symbols were: gb gh kp kw n nw ny o s dg 4.59 Such words like 'Chukwu', 'Chineke', 'jee', and 'urn' were spelt in this orthography like this: Chukwu - Tsuku Chineke - Tsineke jee - dsee V~QC~! - ub~tsi The orthography had thirty-four letters: six vowels and ht consonants. It formed the foundation y for Igbo, and was to continue to be in vogue in the Protestant circles until the Onwu emerged in 1961. n 1857 and 1893 when the Isuama period was'at about fift) productions were made. A catalogue I f these publications is as follows:- 1857 Samucl Crowther, Isoama-lbo Primer. It had 17 pages and contained such features as words, sentences, Lord's prayer. Decalogue and scripture verses - all in Igbo. Published by CMS London. It was reprinted in 1859.

35' 1859 John Christopher Taylor, Isuama-lbo Katskism. Translated from Dr. Watt's first catechism. 'CMS London. Page 3 was the preface; p .4 1.ord.s Prayer, pp. 5-18 Isuama-Ibo Katechism. Published by CMS London. 1859 J.C. Taylor, in his Journal published in 18$9, included a small colleclion of Igbo proverbs. 1860 J.C. Taylor rcvised and enlarged Crowther's Isoarna- Ibo Primer. London. 1860 J.C. Taylor, Isuama-lbo Sermon, preached at Trinity Church, Kiss Road in Frcetown, February 17th; translations o r a Gospel and extrqcts form jhe Prayer Book. Published in London. 1861 Jacob Friedrich Schon, Oku Ebo: Grammatical Elements of the Ibo Language. pp. 1-4 Prcface; (1) - 8 Contents; 1-86 Grammalical elemenls. London. 1864 J.C. Taylbr, Okuoma nke Marki na Luki -a translation of thc Gospel according to St. Mark and Luke, London. 18'65 J.C. Taylor, Oku omma nke owu Yohanu -a translation of the Gospel according to sl. John, London. 1866 J.C. Taylor, Ma oru nke Ayostili (Thc Acts of the Apostlcs); the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, Galalians and Ephesians - all translated into Igbo' by Taylor. Even though il is not mentioned on the title- pagc, thc.volume also conlains a translation of the 1 Epistlc lo lhc Philippians. London. 1870 Frcdcrich W. Smart, Ibo Hymns. This volume has 14 pages. CMS London. 1870 F.W. Smart, An Ibo Primer. The 19-pagc primer fcalured among olhcr things, words, sentcnccs, list of Delta towns, scripture vcrscs, Igbo market days, and numerals. CMS London.. 1871' J.C. Taylor, Akukwo Ekpere Isuama-lbo - A selection from thc Book of Common praycr, Lranslatcd into Igbo for the use of native Chrislians. 91 pages; contained Calcndar, Morning and Evening prayers, Litany, Somc Collects, Holy Communion, Baptism, Matrimony, Burial. CMS London. l87l? Isuama-Ibo hymns, pp.8, London? 1872? (J.C. Taylor), (no Litlc pagc),(on p.1-) Isuama Ibo Church Karckism, (oa p.8- ) The Order of Confirmation, (on p.12- ) Thc Thanksgiving of 36 Women after childbirth. pp.15. Except the titles, all translations, were in Igbo. London. It was in two versions: Igbo and English. pp. v-viii preface; 1-109 Ibo-English S.P.C.K. London. 1882 S,Cmwther, Vocabulary of the Ibo Language. This was the first comprehensive dictionary in Igbo. It was in two versions: Ibo and English. pp. v-viii Prcface; 1- 107 English - Ibo. S.P.C.K. London. 1883 S. Crowthcr and J.F. Schon, Vocabulary of the Ibo Language. This was part I150fthe 1882 work, this timc in English-Ibo. pp.90. S.P.C.K. London. ' 1886 Johnson and Christaller in a volume of vocabularies in Nupc, Kakanda (a dialect of Nupe) and Igbo, Igbo had about 250 words in English-Ibo from pp.21-3. 1887 A 10-page Ibo translation of the Church Catcchism. Printed at thc Lower Nigcr Mission Press, Bonny. 1887 Ibo translation of Simpson's primcr. pp. 1 Prefatory Nohon orthography; 2-22, works, lessons. Lower Niger Mission Prcss. Bonny. In 1897. the sccond edilion or vcrsion was issucd. S.P.C.K. London. 1887 Ibo translation of Dr. Watt's First Catcchism pp.18. L.N.M.P. Bonny. 1889 Henry Johnson, compiled Ibo hymn-book. His other works includcd a catcchism, parts of thc praycr book, and a reader. Thesc werc printed on the mission prcss before 1891. One account says that printing was done at Lokoja, another at Onitsha. But nonc of thcsc works has yet bccn traced. 18903 Watt's First Catechism in Ibo. Lokoja or Onitsha. 1890? Portions of thc praycr book in Ibo. Rcviscd by H.H. Dobinson at Onilshtl in 1891. 1890? Simpson's Primer in Ibo. Printcd at Lhe Uppcr Nigcr Mission Prcss, Lokoja or Onitsha. 1892 or 1893 Akukwo Paul onye Apostle barala nde Galatians. It was catalogued as from the Delta Pasloratc Prcss, Bonny. It was revised by H.H. Dobinson in 1896. 1892 Julius Spencer. An Elementary Grammar of the Ibo Language. The 1901 dition was cnlargcd, 52 pp: The third edition was revised and cnlargcd by T.J. Dennis in 1916. A fourth edilion appeared in 1927, and rctitled: A New Gmrnmur of Ibo. It was printcd by Sheldon Prcss, London. 1892 or 1893 Akukwo Paul onye Apostle barala ndi Filippians. Only chapter 1 of it could be seen at British and Foreign Bible Society Library. 1892 or 1893 Akukwo Paul onye Apostle barala nde Ephesians. 1892 or 1893 Ozi-Omma Jisus Kreist otu St Mathao bora. 1893 H. Johnson and H.H. Dobinson, Ozioma nke Jesus Kristi, dinwenu ayi. Dika Matyu. Marku, Luka M Johanu si deya. H.H. Johnson translated Mathew and Mark while wih t.hc assistance of Isaac. Mba, a brill@nt mature catechist, he was also of immense help to him during the translation works of 1889. Whilc H.H. Dobinson translated Luke and John, hc also revised thc first two. The Gospcls were individually paginated. London. It is pertinent to noie that thesc wcre not all the works produced in this era. Between 1893 and 1914, 'a mass of Ibo minor literature was published by CMS workers'.60 SOURCE; P.E. Hair's Bibliography of Ibo, the Early Study of Nigtvdan Languages. pp.102-4 *I made somc alterations for purposes '-"of clarity.

> 3 The Decline of the Early Missionary. ,Pei.iod: The Isuama cra camc to an end, about [his period. when, in the carly 1890s. Crowher's Niger rnission~collapscd.Many factors were contributory to this fall. . The first and major hctor that militated against the Isuarna studies was the Isuama dialect itself, 'it being thb'one which all the other dialccts will karn to spedk, while the Isuama will yicld to no other'. Isuama was .not '.a Wing' dialect. Nowhere was its written form spoken in Igboland. It was only a literary language which was shelved immediately the school or church service was over. A language of this nahm was bound to fail. The literary works made in it were rebuffed by the people (as was the oral at Abo in 1841) on the ground that it lacked clarity and the right pmunciatibn. Moreover, a language that was forcod on a people as the above quote showed, did not stand a chance of survival because if a horse w3ford into the stream;. the possibility d

" * 38 fomhg it to drink was rare. And so it was in attempting to fom thq use of the Isuiima dialect. In the 1880s. the mission realized its folly, and 'gave up the attempt to use one dialect' only, and translations were \henceforth prepa~ed at Onitsha and Bonny in scparate 3iale~ts'.~lIt was exactly in 1885 thar Crowther summoned enothar Oencral meeting of his Onitsha missionaries, and they decided to reverse their 'Magna Charta' of 1875 over 1suama.~2But this realizalicm camc too latc when rhc diseasc of decay had already made in-roads inlo the enlirc system. The practical use madc of all the publicatios di~cussed was very limited. They were rcslricted within the mission environments for the use of mission personnel and in the mission sch~ols.This is indicated in the words of Hair: 'The present writer was shown in 1952, at the CMS headquarters at Onitsha, a shelf-full of copies in mint condition of Crowthcr's Ibo Primer, printcd a cenlury earlier and nevcr opcncd. 63. What hindered their wide circulation was bcsl known lo the Mission, but one will not be wrong to conclude that he babks were diflicult tb use, and made fio meaningful reading to the people they were meant for. The disastrous fire of 1867 which engulfed thc Missios ' premises at Onitsha no doubt, affect d litcrary works.' , Reporting of the Are incident to the CMS "s ecretary, Crowther said, 'nearly all scarcely have a spoon to takc thcir mcal'. 64 The next major cause of the failure was the attitude of 1gb6 people who, up till the present timc, prcfcr English to their own language. This attitude of the Igbo at lhc time under discussian is best appreciated in the following words: ...the Ibo experienccd an upsurge of intcrest in lilcracy - but it was not a genuine and continuing inlcresl in l@&KUAR literacy. Ibo childrcn, having been taught t wdvernacular primcrs,were hurricd on by heir parents t acquire, and to read English, hc language of opportunity; in this way the Ibo gaincd a position of powcr in the colonial and postcolonial social and rulministrative ordcr in Nigeria, but the Ibo language was ncyleckd ...65 Strcngthcning this obsession for English to the dclriment of thc Igbo's mothcr tongue at this timc was the ill-fated Education Ordinance of 1882 which made thc English languagc Lhe mcdium of inslruclion in schools but discouraged thc usc of indigcnous languagcs for same in Nigeria. Thcre is no doubt that Lhc lgbo clung tenaciously to this, hcnce Isuama bccamc vcry un'popular. The Sicrra Lconcan cx-slaves who manncd the Isuma studies had minimal cducalion, and they had not Llic force necdcd to affect the course of a languagc as Igbo. Even though Lhcir first language was English, they did not have the mastcry of it as the owners of Lhc language, nor had Lhcy the command of Igbo. This handicapped their Lranslalion work to a largc extent as can be observed Ibrm thc adversc criticisms levclled against John Taylor. The cxil of Rev. Taylor from the scrviccs of the Onitsha mission in 1871 was a grcat blow to thc course of Igbo. Many a time whcn a pos~is abandoned by a pionccr, it is never easy to fill. Taylor's exit no doubt affccicd Lhc Isuama stud.lcs. Igbo languagc was unfonunate no1 LO hnvc a native leader of Crowthcr's calibre who would hiivc donc for it what Crowthcr did for Yoruba. Crowihcr imposcd his nativc Oyo dialect of Yoruba on Yoruba studics of Lhc S;\I~Cpcrbd, and ,with it, Yoruba la~guagchas dcvclopcd trcmcndously.,frbm , that pcriod. An Igbo who could havc made a significa~linark , in the coursc of Igbo language wiis Isiw Okcchukwu Mba, thc firs1 Nigcr Igbo calcchisl, but hc was Sorccd Lo quil the serviccs of thc mission by Europcan prcjudicc in 1800.~~ From thc 1800s whcn young and leamcd Europcan missionarics joined Lhc scrviccs of Lhc Nigcr Mission, thcy - levellcd dcvistilling crilicisms against Llicir African countcrparls. This was sufficicnl cnough lo bring about lack of sclf-confidcncc in thc Africans, which in cSScct causcd rclnrdillion in Lhcir quality of work. A crilicism likc this ftom ' Dobinson would surcly dcmoralizc any zealous workcr:

No grammar cxists in print ..... Fancy thirty ycars or more - bcing illlowcd to slip by, wilhoul having drawn up an Ibo grimmar or donc any langt~ilgcwork ... As Lo Lranslalions into Ibo, thcrv arc vcry L'cw ind~cd.~~ Dobinson did howcvcr apologise opcnly in Freetown and Lagos somc ycars aftcr when hc had rcalizcd Lhc true si~uation.~~ It seemed ,that one of the objectives of the British Gottemment is geftling free. slaves in Freetowq was that so.mc day, some ~f them would trgce their homes and eventually return to them. Many Yorubas did rctum to their qkive lands and effected the evangelizati~nof Yoybaland and'the develq ment of their language. Many Igb~ex-slaves who were at tPh e Mission wcre enthusiastic about this re- integration within their native communities, but when they discovered that they were regarded as outsiders and Wtruders, the energetic force with whith they worked at the initial stage slackened, and eventually they went back to Sierra Leone dejected and sorrowful. Had they been accepted into the 'family' fold, IsuamA studies could have made a more indelible mark. Crowther, now an old man, was an absentee bishop, for he no longer visited and supervised his men on the Niger as befon. After his joint work with Schon in 1883, his activity in Igbo language study waned. and with his death in 1891, the Isuama period died with him. Assessment of the Isuama Studies: From the discussion so far, and from the list of works put forth, the Nigcr Mission lived up to expectation irrespectibe of the odds that faced it as far as shortage of mcn and materials were concemcd. Bctween 1857 and 1893, it had over fifty books and booklets to its crcdit. This may, howcver, sound fafirastic, but in thc opinion of many, the quantily was rather 'negligible. Thc following comment by Hair ,hints to this allegation: In quantity, the output of linguistic material of the Niger Mission was rather srrialler than that (during the Fame period) of the Geiman, mission in Gold Coast, or of the American mission in Cameroons, or ol the British Baptist mission in Liberia, or of the British Presbyterian mission at Calabar or even of the neighhbouring CMS Yoruba mission.69 That comment, howevcr, will not pull the wool over our eyes bccausc, if one scrulinizcs ~hcpersonnel Ihnt workbd for the mission at this pcriod, one will note that they wcrc ill- equippcd for such linguistic work. With the exception of one ot two, the educational attainment of kc rest wa$ ngt $e type " that would grapple with such difficylt' situation. host of them ha& only secondary school education, or had atwnded thealo ical courses at Fourah Bay Institution. "Ifheir educat fohal attainments were therefbre on the average iarior to those of the largely-European staff of the bther The agents of the Niger Mission, their poor educational backgrbund n~twithstanding,were dcvoted and intercsted in linguistic work. Hair has this to say in their favour: lf we count in the unpublishad material, we have ,evidence that almost every literate agenl of Lhe mission tried t0 do linguistic work; if we count in eontribuuons to books, two out of th+ literate agents of the qissions put mu(erial,into print. It is doub@~iif any of the othcr missions menbioned above achieved such a high rale of attention to lineuistic work? l Higher academic attainment apart, Taylor, on whom thc work of me Mission rested "up till 1871 when he lcft, had not the expert advice Crowthcr got from Schon, yet,his contribulion to Igbo studies was immense. Most of the linguistic work of this pcriod was basqd on Bible and religious, tracts translations. Apart from Taylwss Igbo proverb and some grammar and vocabulary works by other contributors, no attempts wcre made at free text writiog. Free text writing could have been the best instrument thrQygh which the people's rcal language could havc cmerged by means of folklore, proverbs, idioms, customs and tradition. On the basis of much of this translation, Taylor was adversely criticized. Schon, in the introduction or his Oku Ibp of 1861, discussed this issue when hc,poscd the question: 'Why had -Taylor worked on translations inslead of collecting 'native 1iterature'?~2Even though he did defend Taylor on thc grounds that translations wcre indispensable for missionary work, he urgcd him in the following words: 'While we would nevcr make the Missionary a mcrc Iinguisiic inquirer, we would still racommcnd to him to devote some Lima to UIQ collection of a native literature.* 73 Another facet of the trahslatioiis "was that .my'%!ere below the standard obtaised elsewhere at the she pedod. Hair criticised them in the following words?

The translations made by the Niger Mi&ion were, tk far as can be judged, in the main'of mediocre quality, and quite unlike Crgwther's uansl8tia inlo Yoruba. While they were perhaps no worse than the tmnslations pfoduced when African languages in other areas were first Studied by European missionaries, here is evidence that they were certainly no better.74 Two later missionaries of the Niger Missian: Johnson - and Dennis, condemned Taylor's translations in equally devastating criticism:

Johnson, a fellw Sierra Leonean, reported of one of Taylqr's translations that it required 'alteratians and qndations in about every line of every page, in order lo , bring it within the comprehension of the people?5 The Englishman Detlnis merely complained that Taylor's translations were too literal (and showed an inadqua& of English idiom!76 And. 'Crowther made it clear that he was disappointed by Taylor's work, and thought it would have been better if he had paid more attention to Schon's atl~ice'~? In spite of the above comments, Iho Isqmii studies amused great intercst in Jgbo linguistics, and m@e significant contributions. It laid the solid foundation upon which (he future more scientific work was to rest: I'n many trumgn systems of this cosmic world,'the kginnhgs arc fraught with seemingly insurmountable difficulties. So, Uie Isuama studies were not a failure but rather a succcss, for as Hair said;

Nowhore 0180 in AMca in tho ninwonth century or for hat mtm, $4ha oarly dooados of lh8 twontiolh connrry - wu bo mwh 'llnguirb work dono, ro much unda AMom oohuol, a, ' in lho Nigor ~irrio~a,...'~~ . (ii) The Union Dialect (1901-1929) b.. The Later Missionary Period: The lsuama Pcriod gavc way to Lhc Latcr Missionary Period othcrwisc known as thc Union Pcriod, a period characterized by grcaicr and morc scicntific contribution to linguistic work in which many Igbo pooplc 'participated a~tivel~.~9Sincc some of thc Isuama studics survived the downfall of thc Nigcr Mission, some of the works wcrc improved on this timc. Like in the early pcriod, the CMS was still thc champion oS Igbo languagc dcvclopment, the coming of thc RCM into lgboland in 1885 notwithstanding. Two major reasons can bc advanccd for the inactivity of thc RCM in the coursc of Igbo languagc dcvelopmcnt at this timc. Firstly, shc arrivcd at thc timc when thc Isuama pcriod was almost over, and in thc 'Union' which followed, she was pre- occupied with sctling hcr housc in order. As a latc-comer, shc wanted to catch up lost grounds by fast evangelization and thc setting up of s~hools. Therefore, she did not bother (or was unable) to take on any serious lunguagc work, believing that there was much timc ahcad for such an endeavour. Secondly, thc 1882 Education Ordinance which discreditcd the usc of thc 'vernacular' as a medium of instruction in Soulhcm Nigcriq, coincidcd with hcr arrival, and she was to kccp hcr lingcrs crosscd unlil thcrc was a changc of attiludc. This docs not howcvcr suggcst that shc failcd to put anything into.print in thc language. Shc could not have donc without catechisms and hymn;lls as hcr starling point. Onc othcr charactcristic .of this pcriod was that the missionarics wcrc chargcd with thc collection of proverbs, riddlcs and sayings in thc nadvc languagc. The result was that in 1927, Cmwthcr's Isoama-lbo Primer was revised and cnlargcdsO to includc likpcn cssays on secul:ir topics, fourtccn short essays on Christian rcligious topics, and eightecn folktalcs. This timc it was titled Akwukwg Ogyg~~bo,~ otherwise known as 'Azy Ndy'. In addition, the missionarics transla&ed somc wtracts fmm the Arabien Nights, Grinun's Fairy Tales and Tale3 From Shakespeare into Igbo which werc widely uscd in schools for teaching thcir pupils to road and creak literature. 'Thus, thcy laid the foundations of Igbo crcativc writing82 The man who championed lhc coursc of the ncw era was Archdeacon Thom~sT. Dennis, 'a noted classicist and thc most prolific Igbo lanyage stmlerit.'~ With the help of lgbD native membcrs of the Igbo Language Transtation Committee, he 'produccd sevcral works in Igbo which included Ibo Folklom, Proverbs, translated thc Pilgrim's Pmgnss (udas a text for Igbo language cxaminalion by Govemmcnt official^)'^^ and some catechisms. But hi9 grcatesl cdntribution to Igbo sludies was his translation of 'the Bible into a dialect version callcd 'Union Igbo' which eventually became the standard Tor all Protestant Churchcs .dnd schools in ~gboland.~~It was he who reviscd and enlarged Spencer's An Elementary Grammar of the Ibo hnguage which was published in 1892. This new edilion appeared In 1916. He had two other translations: Ihe Union Hymnal and the Union Reader. In rccognilion of his mcrilorious and arduous linguislic work in Igb, Oxford Univcrsit'y awardcd him an honorary dcgrcc oT M.A., and on his way to rcccivc the awatd in 1917, he died in a shipwreck in the Irish Sca. Othcr works which hc had intcnded to have prinlcd and publishcd on rcaching England wcrc an Igbo dictionary which ran into 1hoUsitiidS of words, and a translation. These wcre never p~bllshcd.~~ Dennis's untimely death was a tragcdy td thq coursc of , Igbo studies. His exit causcd an equal, if not grcaler lob than whcn Schon turned his back on Igbo iq 1841. i What is 'Union Igbo'? In the minds of thc CMS missionaries who championcd it, it was a Vcrsion of Igbo which would bind all the Igbo dialecls togclhcr and thus bccamc acceptable Shroughout Igboland. And lhc Igbo Biblc which was publishcd in it was known 3s thc Union Igbu Bible, a Bible writtcn in a 'compromise' Igbo. In othcr viords, it w@ a variety of Igbo which attempted 'to usc words which arc ' understood in the Ieading dialects of Ibo, while maintaining " the native idiom common to all.'87 Writing a notc on Union Igbo, Ida Ward said: Union Ibo was devised in order to provide lhc Biblc in a fonn which it was hoped would bc casily understood by speakers of differing dialccu., It was consuuctcd frpm matcrial belonging to live arcas (Bonny, Owcrri, Arochukwu, Ngwana and Onitsha) ..., 1t might rwsonably bc thought, indccd it has bccn considcred, hat it would fill '\ thc mlc of a literary medium for thc lbo pcoplc ... X8 I 45 Unf~npq~ely,the Union Igb was not a universal dialect of Igba., lisnenanjo analyses it in the following words:

The now variety of igbo callcd 'Union Igbo was an amalgam of fiuc diffcrcnl and non-contiguous dialccls ,c- -mrily from as far apart as Qni~sb,Bonny, Arochukwu, Unwana and, of wursc. Owerri. BCcause of chc atbilri n;ilurc of lhc dialwu;, tho divco~uinuousnature ,of chc diulccrs ~hansclvcs,and llrc mixcd nalurc of their phonology and synux, and vocabulary, Union Igbo waci a . sull-born cspcnnlo yvhich livcd and still lives on qqly in I chc F$atcs~nlBiblc .... Like Isuama, Union Igbo was a 'heavy-footd cspcrmro' made up by forcign inissionaries for their own (scll'ish) cnds.89 An& so. from 1905 to 1909. Dennis surrounded himself with mission transl;ltors from thc five dialxt arcas, a Bible in the CMS's ideal Igbo dialect. To fully &gza how it 111 happcncid, this sketchy hismy isaecessary. Wit6 thc Failure of Isuama dialect the use of diffemna dialects such as Onirsha. Ika. and Awka, bolh for academic and pastoral purp~scsarose. This situalion perturbed the CMS at Onitsha, morc, especially as she wiis anxious to produce 8 version of the lgbo Biblc which could bc uscd in all parts of Igboland. A compmmisc dislcc.t' to adopt for ttiis purpose wu a matter for thought. Mokcovcr, hcr missionarics wen agid$ng for a bcLtcr place oChcr than Onilsha for the study of lgbo lzinguagc. Hclp came rmrn the hands of Leslic Pmbyq, he Acting High Commigsioncr at Calabar, whcn hc suggcsteb . to Bishop Tugwcll that Owcrri would prove a fertilc ground for missionajl activity. This was in 1904. It was hc loo made known to Lhe Bishop that, qround Owcrri, the pnu vcrsion of Igbo was spokcn.gO ' The Bishop who was dclightcd at the pipce oC information quickly appcalcd to the authoridcs of the CMS to send Archdeacon Dcnnis to Owcrri for a TcasibiliSy sup? d choosing Owcrri as Lhc ncw ccnlrc for the project.. In I'h DcM~S and Mr. Alphonsus Onycabo, a catechist (he later bccame a bishop), weE dcputcd for the fact-finding mission. Dennis cWosc Egbu ncat Owerri, and madc his mcommendatioris on his mum to Onitsha. Thc Igbo Languagc Translation Committcc, vcry much dclightcd' at thc report, rccommcn;dcd to thc Exccutivc Committcc of thc Mission 'that Dcnnis should bc scnt to Owcrri with thc sole purposc of producing a Union Igbo which would be used in both the Onitsha and Owerri districts.'91 In its own resolution aftcr accepting that rccommcndation, the Executive Committcc ilflirmcd That this Committcc support the pclilion of thc Ibo Language Confcrcnce Lhal ~hcVcn. Arch-dcacon Dcnnis bc dcfinilcly scl apart, aftcr furlough, for thc work of Ibo tmnslation with a view lo the production, us soon as may be, of a cornbincd version of thc Ibo scriptures suitable jbr rhe usc ovcr bc wholc arca of Lhe Ibo-spcaking pcopk?2

I Arriving at Egbu in the cdmpany of Anyacgbunam and Onycabo in 1906, Dcnnis did not only set about hi torsk but carricd out vigorous cvangclization work. By 1910, lhe New t Testament translation. thc last part of his work, hdappeprcd. Although a remarkable achi~v~rncntand a fulfillment of,m objective, the 'Owcrri' vcrsioo of thc Bible (as thc missibnaries at Onitsha saw it). if adopted in Onitsha would totally stifle the Onitsha dialeci.g3 Thcy thcrcforc protcstcd heavily. Ip order to resolvc the big conirovcrsy that arosc, it was agreed that thc Ncw Tcstamcnl would bc printed in both Union Igbo ahd Onitsha. At this point, it is nccessary to corrcct thrcc cmnwus ideas which have occupicd thc minds of many Igbo scholars. They are conccmcd with thc Union Igb~md its Biblc. Firstly, Union Igbo was in no way an orthography produccd by Dennis. It way only a dialect form like the kuama. In Lhe production of the Union Igbo Biblc, rhe original orchagnphy was used. This was the Standxd AJphabct of 1854 on yhich Isuama studics were based. What ha'ppened was that rho, obscurc digraphs: ds and ts wcrc disp~vd-of,qnd rcplawl with thcir cbrrcspondipg simplcr synlbols of 'j' and 'ch' respcctivcly. Also disposed of was the 's' which, stood fot 'rh'. With thcsc emcndakions, thc dlphabct took Lhis shape: (gb)chdef gghhijkkplrnnn~op rra b& tuvwyzgwkwnwny. Secondly, after Dennis's dcath in the shipwreck, what was washed ashore was not thc 'manuscript' of the Union Igbo Bible but that of his proposcd Igbo dictionary. His wife's account of it clarifies bc issuc:

Dqring the 6 or 7 ycars Tom wils translaling the Biblc into , Ibo, hc naturnlly discovcrcd ucmcndous numbcr of ncw Ibo words. They ran into many thousands. Hc thought it would bc a great pity if Ihcsc wcre lost and so hc conceived thc idca of putting thcm into somc pcrmancnl form. He quite saw that they might bc a vcry great hclp LQ any who might bc studying Ihc languagc. Sg hc bcgan t put them undcr their own inilia1 Icttcrs, hoping that whcn we rcached England he could gct ... thcm rcady and prinled as a dic~ionar~.~ Thirdly, lhc Union lgbo Bible, was not publishcd aflcr the dealh of Dcnnis in 1923 or 1924 ns some scholars asscrt. Before thc ill-fatcd journcy of 1917, ltlc Biblc had been publiihcd and had sold vcry hsl in many placcs. During his tour of Afikpo in 1909 to popularize ~hcUnion Igbo Bible, the Union Hymnal and ~hcUnion Reader, Dcnnis ciiscoverqd that thcy wcrc as yct vcry litlld known. Spcaking of lhc Bible, he said:

Our attcmpt wilh thc Union Vcrsion carinol bc callcd Successful (hcre), but I am neithcr surprised nor discouragd, for I bar in mind hat nolhihg whatsoever has yet becn done to cvangclizc this part of Iboland .... A vcry few years will makc a vast changc ... and cvcntually our new translation will win its way hcre as clscwhcrc. We mu$ havc paticncc?5 In the fint two dccndcs of lhc 2Uth Ccnlury, important

' linguistic ,works wcrc prodbccd by two Frcnch Calholic Missionaries and a Govemmcnt'anlhrop0logis1. In 1904, A. Ganot 'domplled a'trilingual diclionary - English-lbo and French DScrionary.96 Thrcc years laler (1907), Pcrc C. Zappa published a bilingual dictionary of ~rcnch-lboor Frcnch- 1ka.g7 Zappa understandably saw Ika as a dialccl of Igbo and not a languagc of its own colltriry LO whal dclrictors of Igbo languagc claim. Linguists likc Pro[cssor Kay Williamson and Mr. PauI Meir allcsl thal dialccls likc Izii, Ezaa, Ikwo, Mgbo, (Abakaliki); Ika, Ukwuani, (B and Ekpeye (Rivers) am distin Bslwepn 1,9113? and 191 Govcmment Anthropologist,, volurn~.ranthrop~logical repart ehti4e& q&&thrt)p@lo ical Repon on the ibo-Speaking .~eoplasofN4~!~Psfig*& and V wore dev~tcd to Igba*Engl'ish am RngFish-Igbo dictionnrics. Whilc Part I1 formed the biction$&s, Pa@ V was an Addenda to the fbo+Ettgldsh Dictidnaxy, WlPart Pl Ibo- English Dictionary, was based on oni its ha adAwka dialects while the Addenda was based mainly d "Asaba, a dialect of Ika 1gbo.99 I , ix,l, ,, , I! , I . Part VI was a collection of 'Prover in 1boV.lO" 'a, '"n '"n 1916, Dchnis rctisc4 aiiil, '&a Elernmarly GYammor Of the Iho hsn$ by fi.~hoh?isi6Man in l'917,~~~" '$ , One astounding work of &I# qr produqid , jn.,l?Q by late haac he was :the first evar,hist~ricalessay yi#ln ,theMislsio~ pyerniscs. but in,a palice.. c)$ms $# the, ,$ialwI &th$ ,t)ook,&v;l~Unim -lgt% &nenanjo says it was a cornkipation pf ~qits&"~nd,IQN@ ;~omnn;~Q~'~.~, . Iwekanuno's 'h'istorical essay' was a pointer to what *-. Professor Ajayi comments also:

Indeed, @e strong evangclical influence in thc missionary movement placed scat premium on the Sabbalh school for teaching adult converts and catcchumcns who could not comc to school daily during the week to read lhe New Testament for thcmsclvcs .... Besides the Sunday school, one or two stations whcrc adult literacy was taken most scriously ran cvcning classcs during the week. Some othcrs had reading lessons during their catcchumcns' classcs. In these differen1 ways the majority of thc early converts, who by the nature of Lhings had to be very kecn and zealous, did learn to read in Lhc vernacular ... lo8 Industrial education consisted of carpentry, masonry tailoring, practical agriculture, printing and allicd skills. In these, the missions trained such cmployces to work for thcm. In this way, many wcrc converted to thcir faith, and a lot of . them became litcratc in the process. Thcse various education medid werc vcry significant in Igbo studies of the period bccause some of thc recipients contributed to the development of Igbo litcrature. One of such people was thc late Pita ~wana,lO~author of OmenukollO the first Igbo 'biographical novel based on , actual events in the life of the hero, Omenuko.*lll Union Igbo: An Assessment The purpose for which Union Igbo was 'manufactured' was defeated. It was intcnded to be the brand of Igbo which every Igbo would understand and speak, but because of the 'discontinuous nature' of thc five dialects on which it was constructed, the mixed phonology, syntax and vocabulary that resulted therefrom made it a dialect 'from nowhere* - an ' esperanto. It was not a consistent whole but a 'composite picture'll2. Such a type of language was very unnatural, and therefore failed to develo . It was only read but not spoken. ' . Apan from the ~ibgand a few other works in which it appeared, there was 'little or no spontdneous writing in it*, and people could not write it 'with any keedom, nor did they use it in speaking'."3 Many ofher weaknesses of Union Igbo can best be

aripnciated in the following words of Ward: + '(a) It makes, &*6f f~86ms.Cwmsauctions which are used in a very limitkd area: e.3. the perfect suffixes - wo, - won, were recorded only in Afikpo and Okana and used by two of the informants at Awgu. (b) It makes too frequent use of the participle WE(a very meaning take, used in a few dialects, e.g. Onitsha, Lo continue a narrative but not to bcgin it). This is thio fohn used for the Biblical 'and' introducing a sentence.

(c) In so much as Union Ibo has madc use of somewhat restricted range ol grammatical lorms, this must have tended to exclude the variety of cons~ructionsand idiotnatic expression that makes Ibo a livcly and vigorous language.'144 Finally. Chinua Achebc dismisses Union Igbol fn the. following words: 'The inability of Union Igbo to cope with 1 drama and poetry ... rules it out decisively as a language'of creative literature.l15 Despite all these criticisms, Union Igbo was a bold attempt to combat the difficult dialect problem which arose, after the collapse of Isuama period. In the absence of nothing, it filled a vacuum. It was of considerable' value in that it concentrated on a number of usages which were. common to a large number of dialects. A number of constructions and spellings standardized by it did spread and ' establish themselves outside the areas of their 0rigin.l l6 Up till now, the Christian. Missions had been the only agents of .education in British West Africa. They had pradded on, stimulating and developing the indigenous languages as literary languages in order to nurture them to adequately embrace thcir new.religion. In thc next chapter wc Shall see how the British Govcrnmcnt interruplcd this monopoly of the missionaries in thc running of education and how this in , cffcct brought about chain nnctions in many quarters and led to thc grcatcst litcrary schism of thc ccntury, ... Notes 1 Hair, op. cit p. 94. 2 Emcnanjo, op. dt. p. 31, Hair, op. cit. in G.C.A. Oldcndorp, Geschichte der Mis,rion I der, svugelischen Bruder a1 J den ca hen Inseln S. Thumus, S. Jan, Barby, 1777, pp.271- Hair, op. cit. p. 72. ibid. ibid. ibid. ibid. ~larula'h~quisno, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Eqpiqno or Gustavus Vassa the African, London, Hcincmann Education Books, 1967. H. A Kilham, Speciwns qf hfriccln L thc, Colony,of Sierrp Leone,%London,

28 ibid. 1 29 S.A. Crowther, lsoarna-lbo Primer, CMS, London. 1857. 30 Emenanjb, op. cit. p.22. 31 ibld. 32 Hair, op. cit. p.16. 33 S.W. Koelle, Grammar of the BornU br khrruri Language, CMS London, 18%. 34 Emenanjo, op. cit. p.3. 35 Hair, op. cit. p.63 36 Crowther, op. cit. p.2. 37 F.W. Smart, ,411 Ibo Pritner, CMS London, 1870. 38 K.O. Dikc, Origins uf the Niger Mission: 1814-1891, Ibadan Univcrsi ty Prcss, 1962; p. 10. 39 E. Isichci, Ibo and Europeans, op. eit. p.92. 40 Ajayi, op. cit. p.130. 4 1 Hair, bp. cit. p.82. 42 S. Crowlhcr and J.C. Taylor, The Gospel on the Banks of the Niger ..., London, 1859. 43 ibid. 44 Ajayi, op. cit. 45 Hair, op. cit. p.85. 46 Dike, op. cit. p. 1 I. 47 Hair, op. cit. p.82. 48 Crowlhcr and Taylor, op. cit. 49 ibid. 50 Emcnyonu, op. cit. p.22. 5 1 hair, op. cil. p.9 1 52 Emenyonu, op. cit. 53 ibid. Also Ogbalu, Standard lgbo, op. cit. p. 9. 54 Ogbalu. op. cit. 55 F.K. Ekcchi, Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igholand, 1957-1914. London, Frtrnk Cass, 1971, p.43. 56 Dikc, op. cit. p.17 57 Hair, op. cit. p.85. 58 Ajayi, op. cil. p.223. 59 'Smart, op. cit. 60 Hair, op. cit. p.99. 61 ibid., p.94. 62 Mr. F.C. Ogbalu in an on1 intcrvicw at Awka, 1981. 63 Hair, op. cil. p.95. 64 Ekcchi, op. ci~.,p.30. 65 Hair, op.cit. p. 99. 66 Isichei, Igho and Europcuns, op. cit. p.93. 67 H.H. Dobinson, Lcttcrs, 1899, pp.45, 67 68 Ajayi, op. cil. p.270 69 Hair, op. cit. p.88. 70 ibid, p.89. 71 ibid, p.88. 72 J.F. Schon, Oku lbo: Grammatical Elements of the Ibo Language. London, 1861 , p.2. 73 ibid. 74 Hair, op.cit. p.92. 75 ibid. 76 ibid 77 ibid. 78 ibid, p.98. 79 Thcy were Isaac Okechukwu Mba, T.D. Anyaegbunam, Alphonsus Onyeabo and D.O. Pepple. 80 Emcnyonu, op. cit. p.24. 8 1 Akwukwo Ogugu Ibo, London, James Townsend & Sons 1927. 82 Emenyonu, op. cil. p.28 83 Ekcchi, op. cil. p.207. 84 ibid,p.230. 85 ibid. 86 ibid, p.234. 87 R.F.G. Adams and LC. Ward, 'Arochukwu dialcct of Igbo', Africa 2, 1929. 8 8 Ward, op. cil. p. 10. 90 Ekechi, op. cit. p.207. 9 1 ibid., p.209 92 ibid. 93 ibid, p.230. 94 ibid., p. 234 9'5 ibid .,p. 233. 96 A Ganot, English-lbo and French Dictionary, Missionary Prinling On'icc of thc Sodality of St. Peter Claver, Salzburg, 1904. 97 P.C. Zappa, Essui de L)ictrionuire Fruncais - Ibo ou Francais-lka (Avec Ic concours dc Catechiste Jacob Nwaokobia) Lyon, M. Pagnel, 1907. 98 Kay Williamson, 'The Lowcr Niger Languags,' Oduma Magazine, Vol.1 No.1, Ociobcr 1973, pp.32-5. 99 L.N. Oraka, The lmpact of the Society for Promoting lgbo Language und Culture on the Evolution of Igbo Studies in Nigeria, Unpublishcd M.Ed. Thesis, State Univcrsity of Ncw York at Buffialo, USA, 1981, p.14. 100 N.W. Thomas, Anthropological Report in the Ibo- Speaking Peoples of Nigeria. Paris 11 & VI - London, Harrison and Sons, 1913, 1914; Part V - Ncw York, Ncgro Universitics Prcss, 19 14 (1969 Rcprints) 101 Obi, Odenigbo, op. cit. p. 21. 102 Oybalu, Standard Igbo, op, cil. p.7, 103 Emennnjo, op. cit. p. 10. 104 Isaac Iwckanuno was ~hclhcn Obi of Obod, Hi$ family still roduccs thc Obi of Obosi. 105 Cf. 8ybtllu, op, cit. pp.126-133. 54 106 Ajayi, op. cit. pp.126-133. 107 Interviews with Cfiicf J.K. Nzcrem of Naze, a retircd veteran educationist and Mr. I.A.O. Umeh. Lcclurer, Department of Igbo Language and Culturc. Alvan Ikoku Collcge of Education, Owcrri, and former vcrnacular school tcacher. 108 Ajayi, op. cit. pp.131-132. 109 Peter Nwana, a native or Arondizwgu, was a mission carpenter. Hc bccarnc litcrate through the Sunday school whcn hc was apprcnticcd ?B his master who workcd for thc CMS at Onitsha. Hc was a conicmporary or Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Thc rorrncr Govcmor of Eastern Region. Nwana dicd in 1968. In~crvicwwith Mr. E.C. Nwana, Pila's cousin and houscboy, and Dr. Akanu Ibiarn, Ezc Ogo 1 or Uwana. 110 Pita Nwana, Omenuko, first published in 1935 aftcr winning an all-African litcrary conkst in indigcnous African Languagcs organized by the Intcrnalional Inslilutc of African languages and Culturcs in 1933. 11 1 Ernenyonu, op. cit. p.31. Orncnuko is thc fictional name of Chief Igwegbe Odvm, a notorious slavc trader, but a wise and ;idriot man to thc corc. 1 12 Ward, op. cit. p. 10. 113 ibid. 114 ibid. 115 Chinua Achcbe, 'The Bane of Union: An appraisal of the conscqucnccs of Union Igbo for Languagc and Literaturc'. A&, 1.1, 1979, 9.38. 116 .Ward, op. cit. p. 11.

t~ be-denied the grqnts, gr to lqave ,them.owt 0nti then get thc r#&, fhis was a dangerops sityittion bectiuse tat this rime t"aeit finandid st@d was prccarioys. " Tg obtain the grant was neet&a$ but leaving out vernqcqlar languages meant that the much needed vehicle through which they rcached their adherents was to be, no more. Taking note of the implications, the mi$si~niiriesrcacted rather vehemently. Soon, voices of protests, both ft~mthem and scculnr organizations, rent the air. The' first to do so were the Anglican and the Wesleyan ~issions~who drafted petitions and dcmonstrated in support of mother-tongue education. 'In fact, they argued that the 'v~maculpr' should take preccdcnce over the English languagk by being madc the foundation and the ladder for English ~eqching',~They bemoaned the exclusion of Igbo from the school curriculum, and rcgarded their efforts in the rcduction of the languagc into writing as wasted and to no avail. In reply tp the protest, thc Colonial Offioe accused the missiorl~rig,~whom they branded 'memorialists' of misplaced patriotism 'bqcausie thcy felt thal the .Memorialists' ... wanted easy grants by giving instructions in the mother torrg~e'.~In order not to seem offending, the Colonial Office in their reply ad?egblth&tthey werc more prohibiting or discobhging the tcq~higagof Ihe vemdcular languages of which I$bo was one, yet the stipulation in the ordinance was there, very- unyielding. lk was me that the ordinam was om to uphold English language and force it down on tho BritiSh cdonills, yet, it did not jo any way make any derogatory statements with regard to Igbb and other AMcan languages. But the statements made by Re,v.,r\clc&alfe Suntcr, the first Inspector of Schools for the Wc&,Afripn C~lonies,iq 1884, when he arrived in Lagos for inspction,, reveiled what the British thought of the languages of their colonials. To thcm, they were the languages of 'barbari$n,s1, languagcq that could not satisfy the purposes for whSch Gdd institutec! all human larxguages. ,Suntcr's statements we* vgi-3 abusive pd'friv~lous.He said: t I . ( . *

I,I / ie.g^udd&q said lang&qcs, 4s only inmestinting to the ,' cqmparative~hilologistwad never likqly ta komeof any prjlcbch\ qt'tocivilization.lo I *)

t-?, , On another Occasion, he madc a more provocative statement over thc language issue, this time arrogantly referring to his English mother tongue as the only language capable of serving human purposes:

The native must and will know English in spile of all well- meaning but diseased notions; it is thc language of cornrnercc and the only education worth a momcnt's consideration. l l This British attitude towards the indigenous mother tongues was inimical to sound pedagogical principles, for depriving a people the right of education in their own language was like cutting a trec from its roots. They did not rcalize that

language (mothcr/tongue) is the key to the heart of a - people. If wc lose the key, we lose the people. If we meW key and keep it safe, it will unlock the door to . untold'rishes, riches which cannot bc guessed at horn the other side of the door. l2 What was morc exasperating was that the Colonial Office was partial in the said ordinance. Thc languages that weiz to suffer this buffcting were Igbo, Efik and Yoruba (all in the South). In the North, the situation was diffcrcnt - there was a different policy for Hausa. Here, instruction was given in Hausa right from the bcginning.13 The syllabus in the Northern schools stipulated that in the Infant classes and also in Standard 1 (thc first three or four years of schooling) children were to bc taught in Hausa language, and from Standard 11, 'they werc to havc one vernacular and one English reading book." - This was the position in which Igbo saw itself at this period, a period which coincided with the tottering p~sitionof the Niger Mission which championed the course of Isuarna studios, with this cold attitude from British administration, couplod with tho unfavourablc attitude of I bo yo lo towards their languego, Isuma studics crumbled. 1ut all R opw ware not lost as the mi~~ionarlcswho wcn committed to tho coum of davolopiny Iybo lanyuagc and literaturn did not yiold to , the caprices of the government. They rather intensified their zeal as was evident during the pcriod discussed earlier. The 1926 Education Ordinance: The fight against the monster of an Ordinance 1882 was to continue. This time, the Phelps-Stokes ~undl~in its interest in Negro eduction waded into the matter when it financed two commissions to Africa in 1920. The first report published in 1922 - Report on Education in Africa: A Study of West, South and Equatorial ~frica*~- touched among other things, the language issues at stake. It made very impressive remarks on mothcr tongue education which were contrary to the British 1882 controvcrsial Code. Recognizing the vital role Igbo language plays in the cducation of thc Igbo child, it said in part:

Nativc tongue is immensely morc vital in that it is one of the chicf means of prcserving whatcvcr is good in Native Customs, ideas and ideals and thcrcby preserving what is more important than all these, namely, Native self-respect ... All peoples have iul inhercnt right to their language. It is the means of giving expression to their own personality, \ however primitive they may bc .... No greater injustice can be committcd a ainst a pcople than to dcprivo them of their own language. I$ The report of thc Commission had trcmcndous influence on the Colonial Office in London, which in rcsponse to the rccomrnendations made, set up an Advisory Committee on Native Education in British Tropical African depcndencies in '\ 923. This Committee headed by the Parliamentary Under- kxesretaryof State for thc Colonies, Ihc Hon. W.G.A. Ormsby- Gore: gas to advise the Secretary of Slatc for the Colonies on matters1 f indigenous education and to assist him in advancing\ t c progrcss of education in thesc territories. On inauguration, the Committee's first task was to decide the question of the function of mother ton uc In Afrfcan education. Its first tontatlvc memorandum on thf s wua issued In 1925, and it touchod on lhc bao of tho mothcr tongue in cducalion. It s tr~tcd: This stud,y af the edpcational use of the vernaculars is of primary importance. The committee suggests cooperation among scholars, with aids from governments and missionary societies, in the preparation of vcmacular texlbooks. ... Textbooks prcparcd for use in English schools should be replaced where necessary by olhers better adapted, the foundations and illusuations being laken from African life and surroundings. Provision will nced to be made for this by sctting aside temporarily men posscssing the nccessafy It Iurthor recommended that teachers in village scho~ls should, when practicable, be recruited from peoplc of thc tribe and district who are conversant with the lrlnguagc, customs and tradition. The memorandum was received with mixed feelings. While some supported it, others criticised it. Those who criticized it, like the CMS paper, In Leisure Hours, did so on the point that with the exception of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba .were not adequatc for the purposes of 'teaching and lcaming in all thc classes of the primary schools'.19 What this paper was driving at could best be cxplaincd by it, because no language is more suited than others for any purpose. The controversy which followed this memorandum culminated in thc enactment of a new education ordinance, popularly known and rcferred to as the Education Ordinance and Code of 19~6.~~This Ordinance which bccame operative from 27th May, @26, was one of the best colonial cnactments which met withelhe yearnings of the people of Nigeria. It mandated the use of Igbo along with English in the education of the Igbo chiw. In Regulation 71 it stipulatcd: 'No medium of inslruction other than the vernacular or English shall be used in any school without the express sanction of the ~ii'ector.'~~ It elaborated undcr Schedule A, thus:

Among infants and younger children all insuucion should as far as possible be given in that vernacular .... The free development of their minds must not be hampered by making the assimilation of ideas unnecessarily difficult by presenting them in a language not readily understood22 ' Further in Schedule B, it cmphagized that:. kz ,,

The vernacular should be the medium of in~truotioqwhere I its use will aid in thorough assimilati~nof other school subjects23 $f *,> Consequences of the 1926 Ordinance:, One of the immediate'effects of the 1%,6 Code was felt in Europe when, on 29th June, 1926, many ?epresentatives of scientific, missionary and official bodies from Africa and Europe gathered in London to inaugurate the Intcmational Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC).~~ Among the objectives of the Inslitutc are: (i) To be a coordinating agcncy, a ~entral$ureau, and a clearing house for information; ' " -9, (ii) To study thc languagcs and cultures of the natives of I Africa; (iii) To advise and aid in thc publicalion of studies on African languages, folklore, and nati\;e art; (iv) To assist in the produclion of an Cduca nal literature in the 'vernacular'; & (v) To promotc an undersranding of Aftican languages and social institutions, and to study the po'ssibilities of their use as an instruincnt or education. The Institute undoubtcdly inllucnced nd@f the policy dccisions on indigcnous cducntion In Africd. ir produted a memorandum on school textbooks for Afri(ca, In 1927, it came up with a pamphlet: Practical OrthogPaphy of African ~angua~es~5, in which it drew up the '~liicd'orthography which was 'applied to and adopted wholly oggin part for over sixty language^...'^^ In collaboralion with thk'@?~lonialOffice in London, it established. annual prizes f?t books Written in African languages.27 It also helped in the opcning up of Translation Bureaux in Nigcria for the irarqldtion of available literature in English into Efik, Hausa, Igbo and ~oruba.~~*' In Nigeria, he Board of Education was rc-organized in conformity with the provisions of thc 1926 Code for the purpose of standardizing ehe orthoyrilphy of Efik, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. This was with the intent of pr~ducing adcquatc lircraturc. To effcct this, PCO~SO~Westcrmann, an influential member of the IIALC; was invited by the , 61 Government for advice on the oithography for the languages mentioned earlier. Westermann advised the adoption of the 'Africa' orthography which the Board of Education accepted. But no sooner had he left than controversies arose in many quarten as to the wisdom of adopting it.29 On Igbo in particular, the Ordinance had tremendous consequences: it gave rise to orthography reforms and their attendant controversies ever known in linguistic circles; it ushered in the central dialect period; a new age of Igbo literature production, and later, the birth of the Society for the Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture (SPILC). The First Orthographic Reform in Igbo With the acceptance of the new or 'Africa' orhography in 1929 following Professor Westermann's visit to ~igeria,3O vigorous efforts were madc to adopt it in the place of the age- long Lepsius orthography with which Igbo had been written. The champions of this were Dr. Ida C. Ward, a research English linguist, and R.F.G. Adams, the Chief Inspector of Education;EaskYp Nigeria 31 Because they championed its adopti~n,this orllwgraphy has been referred to as the Adams- Ward Orthography. The orthography was made up of 8 vowels and 27 consonant letters, and appeared in the lollowing ordcr: abcde ef ggbghhijkkplmn~~nyo30 p r s t u v w y z.32The digraphs: gw, kw and nw were added to rcpncsent their individual sounds in Igbo. Ward and Adam advanced practical reasons for the preference of the New to the Old: a . The 'Africa' spelling was intended not primarily for the European, but as the best for African languages. b. - Tw6 significant vowel sounds: e(i) and e(y) which the old did not reflect. were4ntroduccd. This was really a roblem because in the old orthography i and u st6od For two significant sounds each. For example. the infinithe 'izu' in the old orthography was ambiguous. It could mean 'to steal' and 'to buy' et represented with the same vowel letters. Then with tK c introduction of e and o, the ambiguity was eliminated. 'Izu' could tqn be spelt differently to' convey the appropriate meanings: izu (to steal) and eze (lzy) (to buy). c. The new orthography did away with the diacritical marks which some letters of the old one carried. d. Diacritical marks both for reading and writing were bad for the eyes, expensive inprinting, since they wear out and break more easily than the letter to which they are attached. e. The 8 vowel letters made for complete vowel harmony. In the 6 vowel letters of the'old, it was imperfect and incapable of explanation. In Igbo vowel harmony, the 8 vowels are easily separated into two camps of fdur each: The heavy and the light. Heavy Light E a i e 0 3 u 8 But in the old, Lhis was not possible because of the absencc of LWO significanl sounds: Heavy Light e a i o 0 - u - f The new letters were casicr to lcam than the old- &.cause they were a more accuratc representation of the words, and consequently there was less confusion. People did not have to remember to add the diacritical mark?. The reform did not however go uncriticized and objected to. The opposers advanced Lhe following arguments and called for its revocation:- a The supposed inaccuracies of the old orthography were unimporlanl, and that the Igbo read it without difficulty, since the context gave a clue to meaning where ambiguity cxistcd. But Lhis group failcd to take into cognizance that ambiguity hindered intelligent reading aloud and quick undcrslanding, For example, in a sentence like Lhis: '0 zuru uhu anu', one would be left in doubt whether it was - (i) Hc bought the hind leg of an animal. (ii) He bought the waist of an animal. Nothing can be a8 embapassing as this, leaving one LO guesses. b They complained of the difficulty of a change-~yi;t.This reason is most untrue and unha~uralb~cauSc with gradual and systematic? introdfiction, peoplc wOuki mister the scsipt within 'the shdrtest tiine p~ssiblc.~~ c Another porous argunieni brought up ag&nsf,tie ,new script was that the English alphabet dig qot ,have the" letters e and 8, and advised thaL Jgbo spelling skpuld bc as near English as possible sinqe the Igbp leqq English as their second language, But the group ~filirled to acknowledge that spelling is a convention existing in every language, and that the letters rcprcsent "Qpificant sounds in Igbo language. They also failed Lo undersland that certain sounds which occur in some languages do not occur in others. For example, in English lhqre are no gb, gh and kp sounds, and in Yoruba Lhe z sound is not in existence, but they are all present in Igbo, d One plausible nason was that thc khan&-qve4 kQi& be costly if the existing materials Werc to bc re-written in the new. But if it was recagnized that as of January 1939, there were in Igbo very few literary materials, some of which were old-fashioned and nccdcd revisi~ns?~the argument could not have ariscn. In 1930, it was agreed upon by an advisory, c-lec including members of the main Missions to sct; &tp a Translalion Bureau at ~muahia35the seat of R.F.G.Adams. With his position as Education ofliccr, Adams .'single handcdly fought and qmpaigned for the adofition of the New 0rthogra~h~.'3~He asked thc Tridnslation Bbcccau Ib frmsrde ,.I, A, and write in it. kc In the final analpsis, the orthography Wds :adopted in * Government and Roman Catholic 'SChbals, atid th&.'bld adheed to. by the Protestant ~issions'~~(wlth the'exception of the Methodist Mission Which was 'c6nljnitted ~o~the.'hew scxiqt'). 38 .$ With this divided loyalty, by side, and the result was that prodused id?ae language for about in 1961 that the attendant dispute bvdr finally -settled by a further orthOpaphic tfeated later in this book. Meanwhile, - - lin'guistic work, adopted the Onitsha dialect for their publications. ii The Central Dialect and Orthography Controversy: 1939 - 62 This period overlapped with the orthography period. With the allure of Unipn Igbo to satisfy the purpose for which it was structured, Igbo language was again at the cmss- roads, looking for a viable dialect to be adopted in the production of its literature. Again, it fell on DL Ward to champion the course of this dialect - the 'Central' Igbo dialect.

The research expedition of 1939 was undertaken in order U, examine a number of Ibo dialects from the point of view of sound usages and constructions in order to find out if there is a dialect which could be used as a literary medium for African writers and for school publications, which would be acceptable over a considcrable area of Ihe Ibo country and which might form the basis of a growing 'stsrzc3lud' ~bo.~~ What is Central Dialect? What was its purpose? These questions are best answered in the words of Ward herself: 'The suggested Central dialect is as near as can be a consistent whole; it is a spoken, living language with nothing artificial about it.'40 In another place she defines it as the type of Igbo 'which will carry him (the foreigner) almost all over the Ibo country, with the possible exception of Onitsha and its immediate neighbourhood, and even here he will most likely be understood by all but the most 'bush' ~frican.'~l At the end of her Igbo-wide tour, Ward was fully convinced that the Igbo spokcll. in the old Owcrri Province (now ) fulfilled tile t+. ctive. In her analysis she also discovered that some oI [lit. Sorthc:.il dialects, including Nsukka, Eke, Udi, ah wcll t. w~bcrof what may be cqled borderline dialects (,vlucii a,, mmly in the Onitsha Province) show more affinity with thc Cen~ral Ybo typc th:w witb the Onitsha dialect.42 Ward was not the oril) ..,IN; who conceived the idca of the existence of a central dia1cr:t Miss Green who was in Nigcria Dr.:. e her said this ot thc d~a~ect: What has been called Central Igbo and which covers roughly speaking the Owerri and Umuahia areas including Ohuhu (in Umuahia District) has for many years been used as the medium of written Igbo. It has established itself not by government order or by prohibition of other dialects but as gradually accepted by writers and publishers and by education auhorities for use in schools .... 1.1 addition to books, Cenrnl Igbo has becn used from the beginning by the University of London in the O'Level lgbo paper for the General Certificate of Education. The training course in Igbo for the Colonial Cadets after the Second World War was dso carricd on in Ccnlral ~gbo.~~ Likc before, Lhe campaign for thc adoption of the dialect was shouldered by Adams in his capacity as Education Officer. He felt the urycnl need in order to cnablc Igbo take off with other lanyuagcs in lhe campaign for production of literature, Adat and Mass Education going on all over the country.44 The Umuahia Conference, 13th June, 1944: Yet, up till 1944, then were dissensions both in the adoption of be orthography and Lhe dialect. Adams in his careful and systcmatic approach had no option but to arrange for a series of meetings for mutual discussions on their adoption. The first of such conferences was held at the Government Coilege, Umuahia, on Tuesday, 13th June, 1944. It was altcnded by twenty-five top personalities in Igbo studies made up of teachers, administrators and missionaries. It was presided over by Adams. The Agcnda for the Conference was: 1 To recommend the universal use of a phonetic orthography for Igbo. 2 To recommend the acceptance of the alphabet shown on page 7 of Dr. Ida Ward's Ibo dialect and the development of a common language. 3 To make recommendations concerning the spelling of certain phenomcna of lhe language as shown in ,Appendix I1 of that book. 4 To advise the acceptance of thc central dialect recommended by Dr. Ward for all Ibo Literature. After the deliberations the following recommendations were made and signed by hdams:- 1 The universal use of a phonetic orthography for Igbo. 2 The acceptance of the alphabet shown on page 7 of Dr. Ida Ward's 'Ibo Dialects and the development of a common language' with the addition of kw, gw, and nw. 3 The preparation of books in the Central dialect with a view to thcir examination by anothcr conference in about 5 years time, and a request Lo the Public Relations Officer to use the dialect in broadcast and to prepare books and articIes in it especially in the Nigeria Review. 4 The setting up of a Sub-committee to examinc material in this dialect, the authority establishing the Sub- Committee to consider its composition as two-thirds from the central dialect area, onc-third from outside it. 5 (Thcrc were fourtcen grammatical rules enunciated under Spelling). On the 14th of Junc, Adams wrote to the Public Relations Officer, Lagos, undcr the caption, 'Ibo Language and Broadcasts'. He said among olhcr things:

.... A resolution was passed by 24 votes to 1 recommcnding the preparation of books in the central dialect of Ibo as suggested in Dr. Ward's book 'Ibo dialects and the devclopment of a common language' and that he PRO be askcd to broadcast in this dialect and to publish articlcs in it especially in thc Nigcria Review. Another resolution recommends with onc dissentient that foreign names and words bc shown in thcir ordinary English spc~~ing.46 The Onitsha Conference, 26th-27th June, 1944: The Umuahia Conference had recommended that the next conference was to be hcld 'in about 5 years time', but what led to thc summoning or thc Onitsha one immediately, is beyond thc comprchcnsion of this tcxt. This ConCcrencc was summoned by the Assistant Director of Education, Southcm Provinces of Nigeria, Enuy, inviting importanl pcrsonalities to it. It was well attended by 27 peoplc: 19 Africans and 8 Europeans from 26~hto 27th Junc. 1944, at thc African Club, Onitsha. It was much centred around thc dialect issue, individual participants and - (15,+ .,- &ominations opting for their ideal dialects. The RCM stuck to Oni*; the MM,to the Central. while the CMS was divided between the Central and the Uhiofi. After much heakd arguments and debate, many recommendations were wade. This included the proposal that a Subcommittee be set up as recommended by the Umuahia Cdnference. consid& ble discussion followed on the composition and duties o! such a sub-committee. Eventually, an amendment recommending that the proportion of the sub- Committee should be 50-50 was lost by 9 to 10, the original motion then passing by 10 to 9 votes. There were some other grammatical rules given. When the problems involving production of literature were raised, the Chairman undertook to take the matter up with the Government. In his recornmcndations to the Government, dated 27th September, 1944, R.F.G. Adarns said inter alia,

That the Education Dcparlment ask the Government Printer if he would bc willing to lend his type in the new orthography to the CMS to enablc them to set to work a1 once on the production of literik~re.~~ On 7th of July, the West African Pilot carried a caption: 'Language Confercnce Dccides to Adopt Ibo Central Dialect for Ibo Literaturc,' in which it recapitulated the proceedings 'of the meeting. But on the 10th. in its Editorial comment, ~t attacked in severe .terms the recognition given to the Central dialect 'made up by a foreign student'. It advised that precaution should be taken in order to revetye what it saw as an anomaly during the next confkrence at ~nugu.~~ The Enugu Conference - 6th September, 1944: The Enugu Conference whit31 was held on September 6, 1944, was attended by 16 persons with Mr. C.T. Quinn Young, Assistant Director of Education, Southern Provinces of Nigeria, Enugu, as Chairman. Contrary to thc expectations of the West African Pilot, the Enugu Conference unanimously passed the two previous meetings before it. It was however made clear that the use of thc Central dialect would apply only to such literature as would be produced in connection with any scheme which was supported or recommended by Governeat, and tlrtlk it would be open to anybody to produce literature in any dialect of Igbo language which he deemed fit to use. t It was also resolved that no schools would be penalized for using existing stocks of literature in whatever dialect on orthography, while stocks of literature in the central dialect, using the phonetic orthography, were not available. The Conference recommended that a committee (sub-committee) would be formed to examine all literature intended for publication in the central dialect.49 On the 10th of October, the Nigeria Daily Times had a lengthy article which it titled: 'Standard Ibo for Literary Use: Third Conference Held at ~nugu',~Oin which it narrated the proceedings. At the end of the orthographic reform and the introduction of a central dialect, and despite the efforts made to settle the controversy that arose out of them, there was no unanimous agreement on them. The CMS, while they 'cmbraced Ccntral Igbo which to them was 'Union Igbo' under a name',51 bluntly refused to adopt thc New Orthography. In a meeting hcld at St. Stephen's Church, Onitsha, on 17th and 18th October, the Onitsha District Church of Lhe CMS, in a memorandum to the Assistant Director of Education, attackcd in sevcre terms the decision to adopt the New Orthography, and resolved never to adopt it.52 The RCM on thc othcr hand quickly embraced the new orthography but 'continucd producing thcir tracts in Onitsha dialect.'53 However, the RCM was more tolerant in her doggedness, for by 1940, she had issued first readers in the two dialects of Onitsha and CcntraLS4 And moreover, wilh the creation of Owerri Diocese out of Lhe present Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province in 1948,~~she had to issue much of her literature both in the Ccntral and Oniisha dialects. The Methodists were more amenable LO the innovations than any 0thcr.~6 The Resumed Orthography Meetings, 1952-1961: After the Enugu Confcrcncc, it wcnt into official records hat the writing and reading of Igbo wcre to be based on the new orthography and the central dialect. Literature started flowing in them, but things were not what thcy were expected LO be. Thc orlhography in particul.ir Pwed divided loyalty when the entire CMS communily and somc olhcr groups refused to adopt it. The situation hit arose was so tense that it constituted a marring factor to the development of Igbo literature. Describing the situation and warning against the consequences, a linguist, Miss Margrct Grccn, said: No onc who hopes that the Igbo-spcaking people will achieve self expression in their own Imguagc can be happy about thc prcscnt position of lgbo spelling. If Igbo people are to makc any contemporary conuibution lo literature, if they are lo record the riches of lheir lraditional unwritten literature, if their language is to tllkc its place as a fit subject for study in a university dgree course, steps must be laken to rcducc thc prescnt chaos in spclling to somclhing approaching ordcr. For purposes of mass- lileracy the need is no lcss ~r~cnl.~' Shc illuslratcd from thc English language what the siiuation was likc it1 lhal Limc:

Supposc Lha~~hc Ibllowing English scntcncc, 'Hc walkcd into thc gardcn', wcrc somclimcs to bc spclt: 'Hc walkcd into lhc gar-dcn', or, 'H'walkcd into thc' gar dcn', or 'Hi work cdin loo thc garrdcnn', thc inconsislcncics would hardly facilitate cithcr writing or rcading. But such varialions arc common in ~hcwriting of an Igbo tcxl by the salnc wrilcr, LO say rwthing of thc variations bclwcen one writcr and nnod~cr.~~ Both thc Govcnimcnl ol' Easlcm Rcgion and Igbo people werc worried about ~hcsilualion, and there wcrc public outcry to gct tlic orlhography yucstion resolved. The Government was thcn forccd lo rcsolvc thc malter. The Aba Conference of 1952: On lhc 23rd of' August, 1952, thc Ministcr of Education, Eastcrn Rcgion, Mr. R.I. Uzoma, hcld a rcpresentalive meeting of lgbo people at thc Govcrnment School, Aba, 'to discuss the vexcd question of Ibo ~rthogra~h~'.~yUnfortunately, the Aba Conference arrivcd at no decision since it 'attempted to settle an educational problem from a political p~artforrn.'~~It however set up a Sclect Commitlee of sixteen under the f- chairmanship of Dr. S.E. Onwu 'to probe into the vexed question ... with a view to examining thc principles involved between the old and new orthographies and reaching at a compromise. '6 The Owerri Select Committee Meeting of 25/8/53: Thc first meeting of the Selcct Committee was held on the 25th of August, 1953, at thc Government School C0mpound.6~cxactly onc year aftcr the Aba Conference. Thc Committcc was ~*equiredto cxamine the merits of any cornpromisc any membcr would like to suggest bctwecn the principles involvcd in thc new and old orthographies. It was suggested that thc so-called strange letters of 'Dr. Ward' should be rcmovcd from the orthography and rcplaccd with lettcrs of thc old orth~griphyand writtcn with diucriiicill marksS63 For cxamplc e for E 'u for 8 o for 3 R for 3 F for e When thc discussions tcndcd lo rcprcscnl denominational bias, the Chairman, Dr. S.E. Onwu, Dcputy Dircctor of Medical Scrviccs, Eastern Rcgion, enjoined thc Committee to regard itself as a group of Igbo considcrcd competent to suggest a compromisc and not Igbo rcprcscnting Missionary opinions.64 Aftcr many mcmbcrs had givcn their individual suggestions as lo what shapes thc lcttcrs would take, thc Committce felt that bcfore taking a final decision and reporting the rcsult ol' its findings to the Regional Minister of education, a sub-Commiltcc of four should be set up to probe into ways and means of rcachinp at a compromise on the lincs recommended by thc Committcc as I'ollows:- a. That as far as possiblc diacritical marks should be done away with. b. That all effort bc niadc LO explorc the possibility of employing, if ncccssary, a combination of lcttcrs ro replacc 811 Lhe swangc lc~~crs.~~ L The Owerri Select Committee Meeting of 28/11/53: The second meeting of the Select Committee was held on , Saturday 28th November, 1953, at the premises of Owerri Secondary School. The Committee read, discussed and took decisions on the report of the sub-committee appointed by the Select Committee which sat at Owerri on the 25b of ~ugust.~~After all deliberations, the following recommendations were made: 1 All diacritic marks were to be done away with and the unwanted new orthography lettcrs replaced by combinations of letters of the old orlhography. 2 The vowcl letters: a e i o u, as in the old orlhography were to stand. 3 The combinations: or, uh and ih respcctivcly to replace the new orthography characters , 0 and e. 4 CH to remain as in the old orthography. 5 GB to remain as in thc new orthography. 6 GN to replace the ncw character ' 7 Igbo alphabet of 36 letters (8 vowels and 28 consonants) was as follows: abgbchdefghghiihjklmngnoor p kpr s sh t u uh v w y z gw kw nw ny. 8 That Govemmcnt gives a time limit to all educational and missionary agencies in thc lgbo country during which

a they would disposc of all books printcd in either the new or the old orthography. 9 That Government givcs financial assistance for losses to be sustained in consequence of the change over to the 'popular' ~rthography.~~ The Committee paid glowing tribute to the Sub- committee 'for their effort in putting forward a real d conpromise in the orthography controversy'.. a / Newspaper Report of the 28th November Conference: On the 10th of June, 1954, the Eastern Outlook and Cameroons Star in an article titled: 'Government Accepts Brand-New Ibo ~rtho~ra~h~'~~,reported fully the recommendations of the Select ommittee meeting of 28th November, 1954. It said in part: The Igbo OrthogiBphy issue has been scttled once and for all. The Regional Government has accepted the recommendations of a Committee which was appointed to probe the erst-while question ... the Committee recommends that 1st January. 1956, should be the time limit when all educational and missionary agencies in the Ibo country will bring the rccommendcd orthography into use. Government has accepted this date at which it will not sponsor or support the publication of Ibo Literature which usesa different alphabet.69 In its very beautiful editorial comment, the OUTLOOK said: ... the Onwu Committee on Ibo Orthography has removed one more cankerworm which was eating into the life of a large proportion of thc people of the Region. It is widely known that the orthography issue was becoming a point of contention which went not only into the religious, tribal and social fabrics of our lives but also to the political and could have done harm to the economic .... This newspaper commends thc orthography to the people of thc Ibo country ... The 'OUTLOOK' congratulates all members of the Onwu Committee for 'their hard work, and the bequest which they have made to posterity...?0 Reactions to the Orthography: Contrary to the wishes and hopes of the Outlook and the generality of the people, thc Orthography as recommended by the Onwu Committee (now referred to as thc 'Old' Onwu Orthography) did not rcceivc thc good will of the Society for the Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture (SPILC)~~lcd by Messrs F.C. Ogbalu and D.C. Erinnc. To Lhcm, the 'r' in 'or' and the 'h' in 'ih' and 'uh' were redundant. They issued in 1955 what they called the 'Compromise' Orthography which, like the 'Union' orthography, did not represent two vowel sounds. The Compromisc script was rejected by the pcoplc, but Ogbalu went on publishing his books in it.72 The Compromise Orthography abgbdeIgghhijk1mnynopkprssht u v w y z (ch) gw kw nw ny. Many other scholars issued thcir own alphabcts but none received the attention of the Government. Government approves the Onwu Committee Orthography: The Governmcnt approved the Onwu Committee Orthography for use in all Igbo schools with cffcct from 1st January, 1956.~~ With its approval, the Adult Education Unit of the Ministry of Education was the first to print a book in it. This was a primer titlcd Dimkpa Muhtu lhguh Na Ide ~kwuhkwor.~~A copy each was Sorwardcd to all the members of the Committee, the Provincial Education Officcrs at Umuahia-Ibcku, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Ogoja (Abakaliki) and Onitsha. Copies were also made available to thc School of Oricntal and African Studies, London; thc University of London Institutc of Education, and to thc Educational Adviscrs of both thc Catholic Mission and thc CMS resident at Onitsha and Lagos rc~pcctivcly.~~ The Reconven tion of the Onwu Commit tee (1961): The Onwu Commi~tecOrthography, cvcn though it was approvcd by thc Government, did not rcccivc thc approval of the pcople. Vcry littlc literature appcarcd in it, and there was public outcry for its change. The govcmmcnt was forced by the circumstanccs to listen to the voicc of thc people. So, in April, 1961, the Ministcr of Education wrote to all the Cornmittec mcmbers reappointing them for another onhography rcf'orm.

I am dircctcd by Lhe Honourablc Ministcr of Education to inform you that ~hcGovernment has dccidcd lo reconvene lhc Onwu Commitlee to reconsider Lhc problcm in the light of rcccnl cxprcssions of public opinion ...76 Thc Commitlee met at thc Womcn's Training College (WTC), Enugu, on 13th September, 1961, with Dr. Onwu as chairman. Thcre wcre ninc members in attendancc, excluding two govemmcnt officials.77 The nddrcss of the Hon. Ministcr to the Committec suggested tha,t the Govcmmcnt had alrcady decidcd on what sh'apc thc final orthography would lakc, but what it did in the reconvention of the Committee was to absolve itself from being accused of imposing an orthography on the people. A part of the minutes read: He warned members against being prejudiced against the use of diacritical marks, for their use, if accepicsl, would not be peculiar to Ibo language as they are uscd in French, German, and other languages ...78 The Ministcr made references to the Ibo Dictionary of Dr. R.C. brah ham^^ whcrc diacritical marks wcrc used, and urged members to consider them. After some discussions thc following dccisions were arrived at: (i) That the use of diacrilical marks to kicilitalc the writing of Igbo language should bc acccptcd. (ii) That dots (.) and not dashes (-) should bc uscd. (iii) That the following vowels should conslitute Igbo vowels, those with dots under thcm being short vowels and those without diacritical marks bcing long vowels: aeiio~uy (iv) That ng suggested by Dr. Abraham should be replaced by f~as in jrty (to drink). (v) That the following combination ol' lctrers be accepted as constituting part of Igbo alphabct: gb gh kp sh ch gw kw nw ny.*O In June, 1962, lhc Governrncnt in a circular letter addressed to all principals of schools, and cnclosing copies of an introduction pamphlct on the approved Orthography for Igbo language as recommended by thc 'Onwu Committee in 1961', said:

All tutors and students who engage in lhe sludy of Ibo language and allicd subjccls... must get ihcrnsclvcs fully acquainted wilh the official orthography and must use it henccforlh in the teaching and sludying of thc ~an~uu~e.~l In the said pamphlct, the alphabct appcarcd thus: a b gb ch d e f g gwgh h j j j k kwkp 1 mn nwny no~prsshtuv w y 2. This was the final orthography that pacified the polemics of several years, and till this time, has been in use. (iii) Evaluation of the Orthography Controversy From thc point of vicw ol the presm time. the Igbo orthography dispute was a storm in a teacc~p.~~eoplemerely dissipated ihcir cncrgy over an issuc which is carried out in other languages with caution and restraint. There was no justification for it but vcstcd intcrest, prejudice, conservatism and ignorancc which brought pcople ar one anohx's throats. Sincc the changc was mcant to be gradual and systematic, it could neithcr havc prescnkd any dificnlty r90i. jeopardized anybody's intcrcst il all and sunclry ;ri:olvcd in it has had genuine minds about il. The CAIS ~:;hich had had an ochography bclorc, was rulcd by passinn. prejudice, conscrvatism and vested interest. Having received its 'decalogue' on 'Mount' Lcpsius' in 1854, ~t saw no need for a change and, thcrcfore, ~ricd to maintain tka status quo. Hence it was prejudiced over the 'Africa Sr~ipt'which it branded, in derogatory terms z; 'ti Adam-Ward To it, accepting and adnpting the new system meant admitting hilurc in its cffc-t 21. ?educing Igbo to writing in thc first instance. Secondly, the CMS and its mei-tors, id~iiv~tcdby vested interest, refuscd to adopt Lhe neiIr orthqpg5y. They had produced a sizablc literature which hsd sc'd in tens of thousands in the old.84 Accepting Lo adopt Lhe new meant an enormous task which would involvc exorbitant costs to rc- writc and re-print those picccs of litcraturc. On its own part the Catholics had nothing as stake, hcncc it rcjoiccd at singing the requiem of the 'Union' Orthography. On thc other hand, thc Catholic equally xiled by passim, did not waste timc in acccpting and adopting the new script because it had no orthography it could call its own. Otherwise, it could havc Sound itself in the position of the CMS. For fivouring the adoption of the ncw script, it camed for itsclf the ownership of an crthography, the so-called 'Catholic Orthography,'. Again it acceptcd the new orthography, bccausc adhcring to the old onc uscd by the CMS, mcrmt acquiescing to the seapefi~rii;: ;P i:s rival. Thc conseguences of the contnovcy \vere obvious. Thc Igbd Language was left with two or!.hnyap\ica cxisling sidc by side, and this, in cffcct, limiicd Lhc dcveloprnent of Lhe literary languagc and Lhe produclbn of lilcralure. ?be perid, 1929-1961, is referred to as 'a blank pcriod in Igbo literary history.'85 This was so bccause many publishcrs refused to publish in Igbo. Writing to F.C. Ogbalu during the orthography controversy, Rev. 'l'.T. Solaru, then the Oxford University Press, .West Afric:111 rep~scntativeobserved: 'As Educational publishers, the 0.1: I)., is interested in qucslions of accepted Orthogtaphy of leu Lringuage until now, wc havc had to REFRAIN from publishing in Ibo until the vexcd question is cleared.86 Wofse than that was that Messes Longmans and Green published Igbo books in the New Orthography but were unable to find cneugh buyers because of the divided loyalties to the ~rrho~ra~hics.~~There is no doubt that the authors of these unsold books had out of anqoyance and frustration, abandoned suck v:crrk which could have helped to enrich Igbo language and i;t-. bratwe. Thc 0rtho)gxpny and dialect polemics of Lhe said pcriod might have scared Igbo riterary gcniuses like Chinua Achebe, , Cyprian Ekwcnsi, Onuora Nzckwu, John Munonye, Flora Nwapa, etc. wim wmld have rendered Lheir masterpieces in Igbo rather t.hi?rk in ~n~;aish.~~ The disputc r-?;red ronsciousness among the adherents of the Catholics :t;ii "Lie Protestants, Lhe two giant missionary ' bodies that participted in it. Because the matter was not settled once and for all, it gave rise to resumed orthography debates of Lhe ::f::;:, wrwh resultcd in the Onwu Orihography ' in 1961. These conferences were as before, plagued with religious bias because the members sided with one missionary , interest or the other. In this situation it was difficult for the cammittee to take any meaningful decision quickly. This led to the protracled nature of its work. It is believed that the Igbo will never again engage in f such a costly exercise of looking for a perfect alphabet. The pnsent Onwu Coinmittee Orthography which has been in use since 1962 is in itself fuhrl? of discrepancies, but they should be allowed to ffossi!izc, for orthographic discrepancies and dissatisfaclion hiwe ecisicd. and still exist in most languages. In fact, no ofi~i~.~i~fii>hyis perfect. On the dialcct issue, it was unfortunate that the Onltlbr 7;. dialect In which lgbo studies in Nigeria started since 1857, wm thrown ovedmard. For lhc Protestants and the Catholics, their first native teachers, Catechists, translators, and, indeed, the first Htente people in lgboland were natives of Onitsha town, yet. fkir dialect did not make its mark on Igbo studies. After the lsuama pcriod, boih thc Protestants and the Catholics uscd the Onilsha dialcct for literary and pastrol purposes. It was thc dialect of trade in many townships in Igboland uniil very recently. Yet, whcnevcr ~hcdialecl issue arose, other dialects were preferred to il. It was no1 known whethcr the problcm lay with the dialccl itsclf, or whelher it was mcrcly hated and dcspised. Perhaps, it will rcquirc an inlcnsivc rcscarch to solvc thc riddle but had Onilsha had the luck of bccoming thc litcrary language of Igbo, Lhe problems of 'invcnting' 'Isuama', 'Union' and 'Central' dialccts could not havc arisen when they did; and Igbo studics could havc madc grcatcr progress than it has donc. . This writer is not in any way bemoaning the non- adoption of Onilsha dialect as thc litcrary dialect of Igbo. He is merely critically analyzing what thc hvourable situation could have been had Lhe lgbo languagc had the 'fortune' of adopting a literary dialecl Srom thc on-scl likc Yoruba, which was equally faced wilh Lhe problcm of a multiplicity of dialects, a problcm lhat was ovcrcomc by ~hcimposition of the Oyo dialect on' Yoruba studics by Bishop Adjai Crowther for literary pu rp0ses.~9 Igbo Literature, 1927-1960: Thc period undcr rcvicw, cspccially during the orthography period (1929-1961) proved to be the darkest era in Igbo studies bul in Lhe cyes or lhc lilcrarily - minded, it proved to be thc agc of upsurgc or lgbo writtcn literature. - This pcriod has bccn cxlcnded backwards to 1927, the year that marked Lhe starling point in a ncw dimcnsion in the execulion of thc chargc given LO the missionaries that succeeded Crowlhcr and mosl of his assislanls on Lhe Niger: to collect lolklore in Lhc indigenous languagc for Lhe purpose of creative lilcralurc. Also, thc rdtionale bchind lhe choicc of the dale 1960 as a culminaling poinl of somc sort is hat it was the year of Nigeria's polilical indcpcndcnce - a datcline marking a historical as well as a literary epoch - 'Pre-Independence Period' and 'Post Independence Period'. This can ease stock- taking for any comparative analysis. Apart from the above, thcre were other factors which facilitated thc growth of Igbo litcraturc at this point in timc. These include: the institution of a Translation Burcau at Umuahia; the idea of awarding scholarships to qualified Igbo students to study at the SOAS; and thc award of annual prizes for books wr;rten in African Innguagcs of which Igbo was among. This award was jointly cstablishcd by the IIALC and the Colonial Officc in London. Thc rcsult of this cffort was lhe emergcncc of thc first rcal lilcrnlurc books writtcn by the Igbo themsclvcs. And finally, thcrc was thc acccplance of the 'Africa' Orthography (1929) ;uld thc approval of the 'Central' dialecl (1944) which gavc impctus to many in gcncral and thc RCM in particular for morc scrious works on school litcrrtturc. The stock that is titkcn hcrc is not an attcmpt to enumerate all :he books wiittcn i~ndpublishcd at this time, but it is LO indicr~cralhcr concisely Lhc cfforts madc by various individuals. oipizations and thc Govcrnmcnt towards the dcvclopmcnt ol Igbo litcra~urc. In 1927, thc CMS rcviscd and cnlnrgcd to 66 pages Crowthcr's 'isounza-lho Primer to include fiftccn cssays on sccular topics, I'ourtccn Christian rcligious topics and cightccn folktales, aparr from scvcral prcliminarics contained in a readcr of thil: sort. This time it was cntitlcd Akwykwp Ogfcgu Ibo, ppularly known as 'Azy Ndu'. About lliis timc also, cilhcr the CMS or tlic Methodist Mission trans1;m.i thc Pilgrims Progress into Igbo for use in schools. It *,viiS also uscd as tcxt for Igbo language examination by Sovcmmcnt Officials in Eastcrn Nigcria. During tl~spcriod, thc RCM was on Lhc ascendancy in thc cffon to p:t forth Igbo literature. Likc hcr cvangclislic crusadc which :wlcd thc othcr dcnominalions that arrived in Nigcria bclorc :::r?0 shc put into print linguistic malcrials in a grcatcr numbt: than thc rest. While thc CMS in particular conccntratcd m~inlyon Akwvkwp Qgygg lgbo (Azy Ndy), Ahamba's AF-N;;ILVC,Qgugi! Mby Nke Igho (Okcke Tara Ose Oji), OmenyR: *,;iIBible Nsq as thc solc litcraturc in usc in hcr schools, thc I:2. publishcd and uscd thc following: Mbido Onu Igho I ;* - Mhido Orlu Igho 11 (1940); Igho Primer I (1952) and lgbo Primer 11 (1953); Akwyyo Ogugu series r (Standard I, 11,111, n.d.); Akwukwp Ogugu: Igbo Kwew series (Standards 1 - 6); Mary Nne Jesu (1944); Oke Ehi and Ndp Dinwenu Anyj to mention but a few. Many of these materials were rendered in both Onitsha and Central Igbo. The Methodist Mission with her base at Uzoakoli Institute made a great effort towards this line. By 1940, she had issued a primer and a series of graded ~eaders.9~By 1947 a 'sct of Ibo Readers were in preparation at Uzoakofi viz. Okwu Igbo Nke Mbg, Nke Abua, Nke Ato, Nke An? and a new Primcr by Mr. ~chinivu.'92 Many individuals contributed a lot towards the publication of Igbo literature. Among the books then wcrc the following:

Author ' Name of Book A.I. Udoh !mu Ihe Omumy Mby dj n10gygy Akwykwo (1 932). R.F.G. Adams A Modcm Grammar of Ibo (1932) R.F.G. Adams & T.K. Oguamana Olu Igbo (1933) Pita Nwana Omcnykp (1 933) D.N .Achara Ala Bingo (1933) D.N. Achara Elelja na Ihe 0 mere (1952) LC. Ward . An Introduction to the Ibo Languagc (1936) LC. Ward Ibo Dialccts and the Development of a Common Languagc (1941) 'G.T. Basdcn Nigcr Ibos (1938) S.M. Allamba Akwqkwo Ogugv Mby Nke Ibo (1 939) S.M. Ahamba kkwykwo Ogygu Abuo Nkc Ibo (1961) J.A. Durckc Akwukwy nkc mby maka jly ~tut~!Nwanyj n'ala Igbo (1948) J.A. Durckc Egwu Qnwa (1948) Longmans, Grccn & Co. Okwu Igbo Nkc Mbv (1949) E. Powcl-Princc (S.W. Clliiinakwal;un -Translilcnitor) Nkapj Anya Ukwu (1950) 16 L. Bell-Gam (LA. Amadi- - Transliterator) Ije Odumodu Jere (1952) 17 J.O. Nwafor llu Okwu Igbo (1955) 18 F.C. Ogbalu The School Certificate Igbo (1955) 19 F.C. Ogbalu Ndj Qma (1955) 20 F.C. Ogbalu Ndj Nzoputa Africa (1955) 2 1 'P.C. Ogbalu Omenala Igbo (1955) 22 F.C. Ogbalu Igbo-English Dictionary (1959) 23 K. Achinivu Akwykw~Ogugu Nke Mbu (1 960). About 1940, St. Paul's Training Collegc at Awka had started producing a duplicated Igbo periodical,g3 and in 1947, Miss. MM. Grcen initiated the Igbo News Sheet. Today, these re no more. 2, During this period under discussion, the Oovcmment of i eria paid grcat attention to Adull and Mass Educati~n .r fh ughout tld country. It was hcaded by Mr. A.J. Carpenter, ,%hg rI had had somt expcricnce of mass education in the ar+~.~f,Among the subjecLs sludicd werc 'reading and wmmg in the vernacular,' and for lhc propcr prosccution of the programme, the availabilily of' adcquatc literature was for the dissemination of information to the grass necessa8mots. ne thing remarkable about Lhe programme was that available literature in English or any of Lhe popular Nigerian languages was translated into olhcr languages for the use of participants in such languages. Mass Education programmc a1 this period was of immense benefit to thc formal school system bccause its litemure (See appendix) was rcadily available for the use of teachers and pupils, and they hclped to supplemcnt what school literature were available. Thc conlents of the books, both for schools and mass cducation, wcre choscn to suit the needs of the individual and influence him for thc better. They dealt with the individual, the family, ~hcschool, the village, the city, the nation, the world, chicity, politics, information, science and industry, descriplion of nalurc, health and safety, daily life, art and culturc, moral mcs~a~es,~~adventure, religion and folklore. As was said earlier in this chapter, one of the consequences of the 1926 Education Ordinan~ewas the adoption of the 'Africa' Orthography which in effect sparked off the orthography controversy ever known in IgbO literary circles. The said controversy on its own led to the birth of the Sociery for rhe Promotion of Igbo Language and Culturc as a militant organ to fight the new orthography congidered in some quarters to be vcry inimical to Lhc course of Igbc. It is the history of his Society, ils achicvcmcnts, problems and assessmenl ~halwill cngage our attention in the next chapter.

Notes 1 A.B. Fafunwa, History of Education in Nigeria, London, George Allcn & Unwin, 1974, p.92. 2 M.J. Walsh, Catholic Contribution to Education in Western Nigeria, 183 1- 1926, Unpublished Master's Thesis, 1951, University of London, as cited by Awoniyi, op. cit. 3 Awoniyi, op. cit. p.62. 4 he examinations wcrc to be conducted by the Govemlncnl Inspcctor of Schools. 5 , Fafunwa, op. cil. p.94. 6 Nigeria: CS0126: A Spccial Lisl of Records on the Subject of Educalion. NAI. 7 Awoniyi, op. cit. p.63. 8 ibid., pp.63-4. . 9 Bamgbose (cd) op. cil. p.37. 10 Awoniyi, op, cil. p.65. 11 ibid. 12 Eva Engholm, Education Through English, Cambridge, Cambridgc Univcrsily Press, 1965, p.15 as cilcd by C:E. Okonkwo in Language in Education: The African Ca,(e, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, 1978, University of Ncw York at Buffalo, p.177. 13 Fafunwa, op. cil. p. 102. 14 F.G. Sonia, Government and Mission ducati ion in lNorthern Nigeria: 1900-1919, Ibadan, Ibadan University Press, 1966, p.24. 15 Thc Phclps-Stokes Fund is an American philanthro ic organizalior~ established in 19 1 1 by Miss Carol Ptit IWps-S~i.k:s. It is inin-csted in Ncgro education, both irl Africa arrd Lllc 1JSA. 11 was iicadcd by Thomas Jessr: 82 Jones, an Amcrican sociolggist at the American Negro Col'lege, Harnpton Institute. L.J. Lewis, (cd) Phelps-Stokes Report on Education in Africa Abridged with an Introduction, London, Oxford Univcrsity Press, 1962. ibid., p.63. Memorandum on Educational Policv in British Trouical Africa, Comd 2347 (Her ~ajest~';Stationery office,) (1925). kwoniyi, op. cit. pp.90-1. Education (Colony and Southern Provinces) No. 15 of 1926. NAI. ibid. ibid, Schcdule A ibid, Schcdule B. Sir F.D. Lugard, 'The Intcrnatimal Instilute of African Languagcs and Culture', Africa, 1.1 January 1928, pp.1- 12. IIALC - Mcmorandum I - Prsctical Orthography of African Languages, London, 1927. Ward, op. cit., p.2. C.E. Okonkwo, op. cit. p.79. It was in OF of these competitions that Omenuko won the prize. - , E.R.J. Hussey, 'Mcmorandurn an Educational Policy @ Nigeria', Lagos, Govt. Printer, 193@,pp.13, 20. Awoniyi, op. ci t. pp. 102-103. Ward, op. cit. - Ogbalu, Standard Igbo, op. cit. p.10. Also, Mass Education: Production of Igbo Language Literature, Ed. Office, Eastern Provinces, DDE 9641, NAE. Ward, op. cit. p.7 ibid., sec footnote on p.5. ibid., p.6. 'In Book$ for Africa (Jan. 1939), total publications in all kinds of Ibo are given as 42. Of these 21 are on the Biblc and Christian Faith, 18 School books or on linguistics, and 3 on general literature'. Perhaps, most of the Isuama publications were discountenanccd or had disappeared at this period. ibid., p.12. Obi, ibid., p.19. ibid., ~.2. 38 Eastern Nigeria, Conference for the Production of Ibo Language Literature held at Umuahia, 13/6.44, DDE 9641. 39 Ward, op.cit. p.7. 40 ibid., p.12. . 4 1 ibid., p.24. 42 ibid., p.11. 43 M.M. Green, Letter to the Editorial Manager, OUP. dated 4th February, 1972 as cited by Emenanjo, op. cit., p.13. 44 Adult and Mass ducat ion: Production of Literature, Education Office, Eastern Provinces, DDE 3705 Mined 6/1/123, Vol.1, NAE. 45 Mass Education: DDE 9641, op. cit. 46 ibid. 47 ibid. 48 West Africa Pilot, Lagos, 10/7/44, DDE 9641 op. cit. 49 DDE9641,op.cit. 50 ibid., NigeriaDailyTimes, 10/10/44. 5 1 Ernenanjo, op. cit. p.14. 52 CMS Onitsha District Church, Memo to the Assistant, Director of Education, Enugu. dated 2/11/44, DDE 9641. 53 Emenanjo, op. cit. 54 Ward, op. cit. p.11.

55 R.A. Njoku. The Advent of the Catholic Church in a Nigeria: Its growth in Owerri Diocese, Owerri, Assumpta Press, 1980, p.182. 563 K. Achinivu reporling at thc Umuahia Conference. b. Ward, op.cit. p.12. 57 M.M. Grecn, Igbo Spelling: An Explanatory Statement, London, Cambridge University Press, 1949, p. 1. 58 ibid. 59 Ministry of Education, Eastcm Region, Enugu, Ibo ' Orthography, No. EREXC0/9005/28/1. '60 Minutes of the Select Committee Meeting held at Oweni, .- 25/8/53. 61 ibid. *62 Ibo Orthography: Minutes of the Select Committee Meeting of 25/8/53, No. A.E.O. 163R. 63 ibid. 64 ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibo Onhgraphy: Sclcct Committee Meeting, Minutes of 28/11/53, No. A.E.O. 163J55. ibid. Contained in a Circular Lcttcr to thc mcmbcrs of the Committee. Adult Educalion Oflice, E/R., Aba. No. A.E.O. 163185, datcd 21/6/54. The recommended date by the Cornmittce as reported by the newspaper is nowhcre containcd in the Minutcs of 2811 1/53 rnccting, but communicated to the membcrs by the Secretary, Orthography Committce and Ag. Adult Education Officer, Mr. L.A. Amadi, in a Circular Lcttcr, dated 10/2/55, No. A.E.O. l63/IO9 A.E.O. 163185, op. cil. S.I. Nwakuna Duruoshimcrc, Ccucr to SPILC, dntcd 26/9/73. Chicl' Nwakuna scrvcd in the Onwp Commiltcc and was onc of thc four mcmbcrs of the Sub-Commiltcc. Ogbalu & Emcniinjo (cds) op. cit. pp.144-145. Adult Education Officc, E/R, Owcrri, circulitr Lcttcr No. A.E.O. 163/109, datcd 10/2/55. L.A. Amadi, Dimkpa Muhta lhguh Na Ide Akwuhkwor, Zaria, Gaskiya Corporation, 1956. The primcr, originally publishcd in 1950 was rcprintcd in (hc new orthography which bccarne opcritive in 1956. A.E.O. 163/109. op. cit. M.O.E. Enugu, Nigcria, Circular Leltc'r No. IN: 964 111 182 dalcd 281416 1. Minulcs of the Mceting of thc Onwu Commiltpe on Igbo Orthography, W.T.C. Envgu, 13F!/61. ibid. R.C. Abraham had, bcfore his dcath in 1963 bcgun work on an Igbo-English dictionary. Thc large amount of material he collcctcd an: dcpositcd wilh the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadrm. Minutes, WTC, Enugu, op. cit. . M.O.E., E/N Enugu, 'Thc Oll'icial Igbo Orthography', Lettcr No. IN:9641/1372, dritcd 25/6/62. I.U. Nwadikc, 'Illuslralivc List ol' thc Problcm Arcas in Igbo Orthography,' 1077, p. I. F.C. Ogbalu, 'Rcminisccnccs', op. cil. p.3. Argument put up by Mr. Chiwuzic at the Onitsha Conference. Ogbalu, Standard. Igbo, op. cit. p.10. F.C. Ogbalu & D.C. Erinne, An Investigation into the New lgbo Orthography (SPILC), Port Harcourt. Goodwill Press, 1952, p.8. Nwadike, Igbo Language In Education, op. cit. p.12. Ogbalu, op. cit. p.11. Awoniyi, op. cit, p.21. Njoku, op. cit. pp.29-30. Ward, op. cit. p.18. Production of Igbo Language Literature, op. cit. Ward, op. cit. p.19. Adult and Mass Education, op. cit. Okonkwo, PhD. Thesis, op. cit. p. 115. 4 The Society For The Promotion of rgbo Language and Culture (SPILC) The history of Igbo studics cannot be complcte without mentioning 'thd 'noble rolc of thc SPILC. In this chapter, a sketch history of' the Society will be given, proving it as a child born of cifcumslances but which has come to live for the perpetuation of Igbo sludies and practices. History: The SPILC came into cxislence Lhrough the single effort of its faundcr and life Prcsidenl, Maazi F.C. Ogbalu. Today, the SPILC is synonymous with Chief F.C. Ogbalu, the Oba Odezulumba I of Abagana. SPILC's littlc beginning can be traced, first, to Dennis Mcmorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha, and later lo St. Auguslinc's Grammar School (SAGS) Nkwcrre. At DM&, Mr,. N.E.I. Ohiacri had founded the Society for Promoting African Culture (SPAC), and Ogbalu as a student, had always won thc firs1 prize offcred by his Principal, Rev. E.D.C. Clark, on Igbo Culturc. In 1948, when he was on the staff of DMGS, Ogbalu wrote a very lengthy article in the Onitsha-bascd ncwspaper, The Nigerian Spokesman, ovcr the orlhography controvcrsy of the forties. But hc was laken to task ovcr thc issuc by his Principal who 'was bittcrly annoycd Lhrtl a Mission tcachcr should write an articla wilh a nalionalist flavour'.l Hc challcngcd Ogbalu 'to produce books in Igbo lo convincc pcople that thc orthography for which he stood was thc bed2 instcad of criticising the accepted orthography. When transfcrrcd Lo SAGS, Ogbalu started the Society for Promoting Afri~an~Hcritage(SPAH), a counterpart of the DMGS SPAC in 1949. This school society which engaged in ,cultural danccs, debatcs, excursions and lectures 'formcd the basls,fDr the formation of the SPILC' in 1949.3 The objectives of the SPILC Lhen were to: Ti) meet the challenge posed by Rev. E.D.C. Clark; (ii) produce Igba. books and collect Igbo traditional oral li teraturc: (iii) fight thc ncw orlhography usually referred to as Ada- Adam-Ward Orthography. (iv) popularize Igbo as a medium of Communication. The SPILC and thc SPAH were two distinct bodics. Whilc thc formcr was public and open to all who so desired throughout Nigeria and beyond, the latter 'was a purely school socicty whose membership was limited to only students and staff of thc scho01.'~ Although foundcd in 1949, the SPILC was not inaugurated unlil 1950 in a mecting held at the DMGS Chemistry Laboratory. Mcssrs D.C. Erinnc and F.C. Ogbalu were elected the first Chairman and the first Secretary respectively. Dr. Akanu Ibinm was appointed the first President whilc Dr. S.E. Onwu and Bishop J.C. Anyogu became the first and Lhc second Vice-Presidents resp~ctively.~ With the elcction of a high manpower officers, the Society dre* up a document which included seven objeciivcs;6 these obiectivcs wcrc law ii~crcascdto twelve:-' TO-demonstrate thc capability of Igbo Language to serve 'as a language of com~nunicationand transaction at all levels of Govcrnmenlal, Educational and Commercial concern; To show Lhc dcsirabilily of encouraging the usc of oral and wnttcn Igbo in daily afhirs; To removc any obstacles to the development of a Standard Igbo capable of bcing understood cvcrywhcfe wilhin and outsidc Igbo land; To encouragc lhc Leaching and study of Igbo in Schools, Colleges and Universilies in Nigeria, e.g. by organizing Seminars on Igbo Language and Culture; giving prizes and awards to authors, students and pupils who show excellence in the language as a means of encouraging thein; To bring Igbo Language into popular everyday use to a wider body of people through publication; To organisc Igbo Language and Culture festivals in a way to bring the language and the culture of Igbo people into favouruble light; To encourage and assemble study materials with reference to Igbo Language and Culture - colloction of - Igbo oral histories, folkbre, songs, art, sculpture, carvings, etc. 8 To revive desirable Igbo way of life which might have suffered a set back through contact with other civilizations e.g. Igbo traditional hair stylcs, wrcstling competitions, art and craftsmanship, etc. 9 To establish and build an Institute for Language and Culture and cultural centres in rhc towns. 10 To cstablish and cffcctively maintain the Chair of Igbo Language and Culturc at the University of Nigcria. 11 To scrve as a clearing house and coordinator of studies being carried out on Igbo Language and Culture throughout the world by organising international Seminars and Workshops, and by organising and providing forums where Igbo scholars could often meet to exchanae ideas: 12 To sct ufa high powered committec of intcllcctuals to produce a Standard Igbo Dictionary and Encyclopacdia. SPILC's Mode of Work: Apart from the key ofkm and patrons, the SPILC in its role to preserve and promote Igbo Language and Culture, works through cornmittccs which are charged with one function or the other. It has two of such committees: 1 TheFinanceCommittce 2 The Standardization Committoe 1 The Finance Committee: The Financc Committee consists of 7 clocted mombcrs, with the Chairman and the Treasuror of the Society as ex-officio membcrs. The Committec is rcsponsiblc for the linanccs of thc Socicty. It has not becn wanting in this rcgard. 2 The Standardization Committee: This is an umbrella Committee sct up in 1972 aftcr the annual SPILC scminar held at Nsukka. In this seminar, somc thirty papers werc read or presented by Igbo scholars of different works of life, and because of the uscful ideas emanating from those papers, it was unanimously agrced at the plenary session of the seminar to organize a Standardization Committee to look into all the problems facing the languagc, creative literature and various aspccts of Igbo culture in this jet age.lc In order to facilitate and simplify its task, the Comqittcc was splil inlo a number of sub-Commil~eesto take char c of various subjects like: Spelling; Pu.blications gnd Publis ing; . Igbo national dress; Culiural affairs, Almanacs and CalmE qr.

The Spelling Committee: 'I ,, This is the most virile sub-Commirtee ofslbe Sraqdardization Committee (S.C.), and as such, in the minds of many, il is synonymous with lhe S.C. '11s compasilion is mainly of linguists but it is not 'a closed group'. Everyonc is wclcome. In its work, it invites 'all and sundFy ro scnd rhcir vicws and suggestions on various aspecls of Igbo spellihg, ncologisms, technical vocabulaty, numerals: cardinal and ordinal, etc. to the secretariat of ~hc~ornmillcc.'9 Thcsc are dclibc~,?lcdon, far-reaching dccisions Lakcn and ptcscnlcd lo the gcncral housc of Lhc annual scminars for approval. This sub-Committee has dpnc a lot of work in. thc way of slandardizing spclling rulcS, ind coming up with teclinical vocabularies which arc Loday in us^ in Igbo languagc. Th~c arc now availablc in ils Sird lwo volumcs of Vhe', Rccommcndalions of Lhe Slandardlzalion Committee o'f lhe SPILC. Publications and Publisliing (Editorial) Committee: This sub-Commillce was set up in 1978, and chargcd with the cditing of thc Socicty's pub11ications, assisting budding authors in thcir produelion bf litcrary wbrks, publication of Igbo Newsleuer and hagazines. 11 did not sit, and in 1979, it was reorganized and its mcmbcrship reduccd ro six to enablc it work cffcctivcly and avoid the piLPdlls of its prcdecessor whosc mcinbcrship was unwieldily. It is hepdcd by Prof. E.N. Emcnanjo, thc Editor-in-Chicf and Secretary of -the S.C.1° Thc Commiucc is yct lo bcgin irs work.

Igbo National Dress Committee: " Evcn though Lhc Igbo can be distinguished from other clhnic groups by his dress, his manncr of drcss cannot be said t~ bc pan-Igbo. Bccause of lhis, 1hc Igbo National Drcss sub- Commitlcc was sct up LO rcmcdy thc situation. Pcopk having idcas about what should constllulc Igbb nalional dresS for National occ.ctsions wcrc, and arc askcd to scnd Lhcir

90 suggcslions, to ~hcComillcc thbrough ils Sccrctary. The Commiltcc is onc ol' thc indolent oncs. Cultural Aff:~irs Committee (CAC): ILwas scl up to iidvisc on Igbo customs including their revival and projection. Alniapac and Calendars Committee: This Corrlmittcc sccs lo LIlc year lo yciir production of Lhe Socicty's nlm;i~iacand ciilcndiir. The Achievements of the SPILC: A numbcr of achicvcmctits arc lo thc crcdit of the SPILC. Among thcm, onc finds Lhc following: 1 The Evolution of a Stanclard Igbo (Igbo Izugbe): Thc SPlLC has cvolvcd i\ slandard Igbo which has been clusivc for so many ycars. This standard diiilccl is 'binding a11 lhc Igbo dialccls togctlicr iitld tllcrcby facilitating communicalion both oral and litcrnry'.ll Tlic Standard Igbo Pcriod stnrtcd informiilly in 1966 during Lhc mass rclurn ol' Igbo pcoplc from various parts of Nigcria whcn thc Nigcria/Riaf'rii War clouds wcrc gathering. From thal period many lgbo rcl'ugccs pcnctratcd various paits of Igboland for purposcs of u-adc. In tlic proccss, thcrc was a cross-I'crtilization and a difl'usion of dinlccls. In 1972, with the appointmcnt of lhe Standardiznlion Commiucc, (hc SPlLC camc out with ~hcdccision 10 ~bsorbor borrow vocabularies from all pnrls of' Igboland irrcspcclivc of thc so-callcd Ccntral dialcct areas for thc solc purposc of enriching thc languiigc, vis-a-vis Igbo litcraturc. So, St;indard lgbo is cnrichcd lgbo capablc of bcing spokcn, undcrslood and writtcn by cvcry lgbo man in all parts of Igboland. In othcr words, standard Igbo is Ccntral dialect cnhanccd. For instance, in Lhc Ccntril dialcct, groundnut is Ahyckerc, but in Lhc Standard Igbo othcr synonyms - Ashjboko, Ukpa ala, and Opapa iirc acccptcd. 2 Orthography Reforms of the Fifties: On its formation, SPlLC participated activcly in thc orthographic reforms of thc liliics, and was instrumcnlal lo the emergcncc of thc pacifying Onwu Commitlcc Orthography of 1961. . 3 Creation of an Awareness: It has crcalcd iin awarcncss 'within and oulsidc Igbolmd about thc existcncc, iirsl as a human language, and sccondly as a major languagc in Nigeria.12 It has succcssfully arouscd thc pcoplc, 'md madc a rcsounding impnct in changing thcir attitude and disposition towards things that wcre Igbo'. Thcsc wcrc bcautiful aspccls of customs and tradition which wcrc thrown into thc limbo durin!: thc colonii~l and missionary rivalry crs in Igboland. 4 Organization of Annu:rl Scminurs: Sincc 1071, thc SPILC has conduclcd its annual scminirrs which ilrc wcll attcndcd by pcoplc ol' vitrying walks of life, both from within and outsiclc Nigcrii~.Through thcsc scminars ihc SPILC has kcpt Lhc torch of the growth of lgbo languagc, litcralurc and cullurc burning brighily. Scholitrs in Igbo sludics prcscnt no1 only acitdcmic mittcrials for consumption but also idcntify pmblcm arcns which ~nilitittcagainst Iybo sludics, and makc down-to-cwth rccommcndations towards thcir soluliuus. Thc i~ppoinlmcntof Lhc Standardizalion Conmitlcc in 1972 was ils iI rcsult of the thought-provoking papcrs prcscnkd and rcacl in thi~tyear's SCIII~II~I~. 5 Igbo in the School System: Igbo had bccn 011 Lhc curriculum ol' thc school syslcm in Igbolnnd bcforc thc birth of the SPILC, but SPILC has cncouragcd its systematic lcaching and study. Throu h thc SPILC's appeal to makc Igbo an examination subjcct for the award of thc First School Lcaving Ccrlilicatc in Igboland, thc Anmbra Statc Govcrnmcnt madc it a compulsory subjcct for lhat cxamination with cffcct from Junc 1979.14 Thc socicty has lcd scvcral delegations to the Anambra and Imo Statcs' Minislrics of Education to discuss ways of improving thc teaching of Igbo in their rcspcctive schools and colleges. On ~hcsciichicvcmcnt, Ogbalu declared: I1 is Lo ihc elernal credit of Lhc SPILC Lhal Igbo is, today, sludicd seriously in a number of our educutio~linsliNtions from thc kindcrgurlcn LO thc ~nivcrsil~.l 6 Delegations to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN): If the UNN had fullillcd ils promisc ol atablishing h Depament of Igbo Language and Litcrdturc in thc 1980/81 acadcmic session, it was at he instancc of thc SPILC which lcd seyeral delegations and wroic many memoranda to thc University in ordcr to convince it to begin a dcgi'cc course in Igbo. It is a perplexing issue that thc UNN silual~din Igboland and run mainly by Igbo peoplc pvc ~hcSociety a precondition - that of endowing a cha~rat thc cosl of N30, 000 annually for the first 10 ycars. Thc pcrlincnt qucstion then is: How many 'chairs' wcrc cndowcd by Igbo people when in 1972, and 1974, thc Univcrsitics of Ibadan and Lagos, all in Yorubaland, respcctivcly slarlcd Igbo studics in the degree courses? To satisly one othcr psc-condition: that of donation of books, the SPILC, during thc 1980 Scminar donatcd a large quantity of lgbo books Lo Lhc University, and promised to donatc morc. 7 Contact with Exuminution Bodies: 'A number of important examinations in Igbo is as a result of the $?]LC prmisu~r;qng. i~ijiutive:.~~The SPILC. through delegations and memoranda had contacts with examination bodics which resulted in the inclusion ol Igbo in such examinations. The mosl reccnt Lhnt comes Lo mind was the delegation to the West African Examinations Council, Ynba. Lagos in 1978. On this, Ogbalu said:

Our dclegalion led by one of our Nutionnl Patrons, Chicf R.B.K.Okafor ro the West African Examinations Council, Yab,on the 141h of Augusl, 1978, wus a huge success for Lhe discussions were cordial and a11 the contents of our memo were warmly and grulefully acceplcd by the ~ounci1.1~ The immediate outcome of that delegation was the inalusion of lgbo among the subjccts for (he Advanced Level examination from 1979. 8 Igbometrics, Scientific and Technologichl '- Terminologies: The Society has evolved a workable m~dernnumeration system - Igbometrics, i.e., the decimalization of I bo coupting- system. Before 'the 1972 seminar, Igbo,-r~mf 6 urn of a traditional system which was cumbersome, inadequate, time- consuming and complitated when large numbers were involved. The old systcm had 6th (onc) 6gg (twcnty) and fin9 (four hundrcd) as thc only landmarks, and any numbcr that ran into thousands was dividcd up by nnu to gct so many rnultiplcs. This was rigorous and conf'using. In thc 1972 scminar, it was agrccd to adopt thc decimalization system which is countcd in multiplcs of ten. It has six land-marks: 6th (one) id (ten> nil rj (hundred) p6k6 (thousand) 'nd6 (million) ijkrl (bill ion) Thc ncw systcm is easy, having simplified and facilitatcd numcration. To mcct the dcmands of thc modcrn tcclinological agc, thc Standardization Committee has also eomc out with scientific and tcclinical Lermi~iologics. This is aimed at hclping the tcsching of' scicncc subjccts in Igbo languagc in institutions of' learning. Meanwhile, tcclinical Lcrms for thc tcaching of science subjccts in primary schools llavc becn published in a mimeograph by thc Fcdcr~il Ministry of education.18 Also, liom thc 21st - 26th Scptcmbcr, 1981 ,thc SPILC in collaboration with the Nigcria Educlilion Rcscarch Council (NERC) cmicd out a MEI'ALANGUAGE Workshop at thc Oguta Motcl ncar Owerri, altcndcd by solnc forty-two Igbo schr)lars to producc litcrary tcrlns in thc Language. At tlx cnd of' thc fivc day cxcrcisc, Lhc group cmc out with about 1 SO0 ncw words. 9 Publications: This is onc of Ihc grciikst ;~chicvcmcntsof' tlic SPILC. Apart from thc pub1ic;ltions miidc by tlic Socicty itse'l?', it has gingcrcd up many publishing houscs wliicli had Iiitlicrto bccn rcluctiint in publishing in Igbo. Thc cnd rcsull is that thc pas1

94 twelve ycars have wjlncsse$ an enormous increase in publica~ions in Igbo ranging Prom normal school texts to books in prose, drama and poelry: A publishcr had this to say:

I m glad m nole tha lhc society as a body and individuals within thc society haw "wokcn us to our responsibilities towards publivhidg in Igbo language ...I8 ,, 10 The Conduct of Refresher Courses for Igbo Language Teachers: In Deccmbcr, 1976, thc Society, at the request of the Ministry of Education, Anambra Statc, ran a Refreshcr Course in Igbo Languagc for Igbo Language teachers iri the Statc. It, took place In the Auditorium of Alvan Ikoku College of Ed'ucation, Owcrri, wherc Micro-Teaching facilities were avai~ablc.~~ Before that, the Sociely had on its own, conducted similar courses on divisional and dislricl basis. Today, the Field- Sccrctary of the Society is doing thc same thing in Anambra and Imo Statcs. 11 The Appoiptment of a full-time paid Field-Secretary: Thc Sociely hainlains a full-time paid field-secrctary to the tunc of N6.000 annually. His functions includc visiting primary and posl-primary schools and colleges, organizing branchcs of lhc Sociely at school and villagc Icvels, and running refrcshcr courses for Igbo Languagc teachers somctimcs. 12 Instituting ILCEF: The Society in a bid tn execute its numerous projects launched on August 27, 1973, a one-million naira Igbo Language and Culture Endowment Fund throughout the country.21 Thc appcal was ill-fated as the response was very dfsappointing. However, some @40;000.00 was raised with a nop-Igbo spcaker, Alhaji Ibtahim Waziri, as the highest donor. Hc donated thc sum of W10,00U,00.22 13 Institutes of Igbo Studies: The SPILC has gDne a long way in ils lan to build Institutes of Igbo Languagc and Culturc, one in 1nambra and the other in Imo State. An Institute when completed will hold a ' museum, a library, a recreation hall. SPILC offices and other facilities to make it a clearing house for scholars conducting rcsearches in Igbo .language and culture within and outside Nigeria. The Imo State Government has allocated 1.09 acn: land for the building of Institute and has donated a total of N4,500.00 while its Pinambra countefpart htts donated the sum of H4,920.W, but has made no response what ever towards land allocation. The poor response towards the ILCEF has prevented the embarking on thc building of thc Institutes. 14 .Standard Igbo Dictionary Project: The SPILC has cmbarkcd on the compilation of Igbo Dictionary which is hcadcd by Professor M.C.J. Echcruo. An initial sum of N5.008.00 has bccn spcnt on the project, M the acceleration of compilation is king hindcrcd by lack of funds. 15 Award of Academic Prizes: Thc SPILC has instituted four acade ic prizcs: 1 The Isaac Iwekanuno Me ttorial Prize; 2 The Mark Anywgbunam &bmorial Priw: 3 The Spencer Memorial Prize; and 4 The Osita Okekc Trophy Prize. The first Lhree prizes are for the West African,%iool Ccrtificatc Examinations and arc based on the best students in Igbo, thc school that rccords the bcst result in Igbo, and the school that presents the highcst number of candidatcs for the examination in Igbo in any given year. The fourth is for the bcst published works in Igbo drama. It is envisaged that pt-izcs for prose and poetry will be cstablishcd soon. 16 Instituting Igbo Sunday: Beginning from 1980, thc SPlLC has designated the last Sunday of September as Igbo Sunday. Thc cssence of this spccial Sunday is Lo conduct church scrviccs in Igbo, and the offertory collectcd channeled to Lhc coffcrsbf thc Society in ordcr to help il in its commitments. It is hoped that thc last Sunday ol Scptembcr will be changed as it is also thc Sunday on which spccial prayers are said in commcmoralion or Nigcria's Indcpendcnce. Should it - not be changed, there is the, tendemby~s@filr~kga€hgthe " boclty.*saffair to the bcltgrow.nb. 'd r ; i., ie L; 1"i:'i'r lk'

>.)gc'k!ji: ; '\, r ,,I 1 *t * 7: ,' 't 2i+)*,l fths";$\j; dl, .$&p, ,., l* :##@l~lms Fa$n$, the SFIEa: *>:.;.p/ !E ?',I (t*,l:ii f,"i 4 a 'B8 ' !?r:

; i Discipline I I hl'~ 1' . ", 1, .,.;

",a .Wrily% Igbo has made ttcmen tcdsg in~lhcbtudy of Qjbo its h"schoa1 subjcct. The fo brbf highlights 'are A it$' ;iichie"lr&nci~~s:'' :L ,.,,r ,?

: ".drst%p:it hits not only made IgW ~f mediumrx40f irlhriiclion' dnd n subjca oS study in lhe sch0ol9 but'll 3ws alS@ ma& it a living Iimgllng~. A liill@dgc 11v'cs~~nUcriduri%:dnlyf whcYI it 'is'spdkcll as well its writlch, 'titugh1 iWkarncb, not only 'idl'stl"ldols, but i'n higher institutions UT IUhnkiPrg WhCW iE' is rcscarchcd into Sor purposcs or enrichment :and cn,hanccmcnr . ' ' f&obd&y .'illik fielptd lhe lileriilu~roto grbw: ' Withour' thc pu~t~~lg01 tllc lati uagc inlo wriling, most of th~IgM oral litcralurc rdconlcdiLdaY Chid haw bucn lost lb' Fslarity. ' ' Ttiiidly:' mithy lgbb customs and trltlitidns which.:h8d bccw I'orb;nt'lcn bcenusi: thcy had bccn out' bf use, have Men: rcsI1&idli~tithrough illc nicdium oS writing, and. prc~ctuc&~for; pos1ciity. 8 I ; :, ,,.! I(; : Fo~~ihly,wiahoul the wrillcn ilSpCCt of tho lan$uagp ho naawallouk Gosks bcing donc loday on lgba grammar eauid; not have bcrrn il possibilily. #I ,3iril , 3s

.: f

' ,I z, TRENDS $, , ll2',,;#. I '$it t , 'I ,.! a:i !-At the Primury!Scllool Level: f'5 Tho mludy od' lgbo sliirlcd at thc primary school lcvcl in Sktfii Uonc but flourished Smm 1857 whan lhc Missionurics Soundtrd scthoolrl in Igboland. It scwcd its a bmcdSum of instruclion tts well :IS as it subjcct Tor sludy. This L (IN'vcry position today. But dcspitc ~hchcl lhal Igbo has bccn .in,thc curriculum, and dcspitc tllc rcvolutionury impacl of lhc 1926 Etiu~ittio~ICodc, il ncvcr Sormcd an cxamini~lionyubjcq for: lhc First School Lcaving CcrtiTicat~(FSLQ, for over onc mnlury. tlowvcr, in 1978, tho Anambra Slatc Goyemrncn~ ~rn;~lc'il;I wmpulsory subjccl for the awitrd of ~hcFU+C.I i , 3, .... Plcasc Lakc note Lhal Igbo Languagc shall bccomc a Compulsory Firs1 School Leaving Ccrlificalc Examinalion --_ 'subject wilh clTccl Srorn June, 1979....2 - - Thc Lcaching of Igbo a1 thc primary-ahool Icvcl lcavcs much LO bc dcsircd. Many Lcachcrs who lcach il do not know it, and somc of ~hoscwho know iL havc no inlcrcsl in tcaching it. In many placcs, ~hcpcriod for Igbo is a story-Lclling timc. In many plilccs also, only lhc rcading aspccl is donc; ihc grammar, composition and cullural aspccls arc vcry ncglccicd. Many of ~hclcachcrs do no1 givc Lhoughl Lo Lhc usc of Leaching aids in ~hcdclivcry of [he Icssons. It is.cxpcctcd that things will change for Lhc bcllcr with ~hcproduc~i~~norc Igbo icachcrs and Llic co-opcr~lionof thc govcmmcnl. '1 b. At The Secondary School and the Grade I1 Teacher's College: From 1931 lhc provision had bccn made by ~lic Univosily of Cambridgc Local Examinalions Syndicalc lo offcr vernacular languages ol' lhc colonies in llic Scnior Cambridgc ~xaniinalion.~Bul bccausc of ~hcscl-back I@o suffc~cdduring ~hcliisl phase ol' Isuama SLudics and iln: orthogrihic conlrovcrsics Llial cnsucd, iL was no1 possiblc for Igb to slarl al lhc sccondiirg school lcvcl bcforc 1940. Aboul lhjs kfMc, Igbo was included in LIK curriculum of somc scconilh-y scliools, such as Dennis Memorial Gramm;~r School, Onilsha, and Lhc Mclliodisl College, Uzuakoli. . In 1942, Igbo was lirsl Lakcn as an cxami~lalionsubjcct for lhc Scriior Cambridgc Ccr1il'ic;llc. T1iis.cantinucd until 1954 whcn llic Syndicalc ~ransli.rrcd lhc rcsponsi.bilily for ~hc cxamin;llion lo 1he Wcsl African Examinalio~ls Council (WAEG'). In 1955, llic WcsI A ('l'ic:in School Ccrlilicalc (WASC) was awarded for lhc I'irsl Lime by ~llcSyndicalc in coll;~boriition will? lllc Council. From 1963, Igbo was cxilmincd undcr LIx namc 'Thc Join1 Eximinalion for lhc WASCIOCE'.~ Likc al LIE Primary Schtrdl lcvcl, Igbo is not rcccivinp Lhc iitlcnlion il dcscrvcs. In mosl schools, Igbo is no1 Laugh1 in Lhc first thrcc ycars of Lhc secondary school. 11 slarls in Iimi IV whcrc sludcnls sludy if for only two acadcnlic ycars 10 cn:tblc tlicm lakc il in ~ht! WASC Examina~ion. ThC rcsull is that most of 1hc Limc, lhj; rcsulls arc no1 vcry encouraging. At thc Gradc 11, Tcachcrs' Collcge levcl, Igbo was introduccd latcr, pcrha~ps,in lhc mid-forties. Hcrc thc coursc work cxcludc litcralurc which is an imponant aspecl of Igbo study. It is howcvcr bolicvcd that thc SPILC's rcqucsl for lhc rcclilicaiion of Lhis inadcnuacv will surclv reccive atlcntion by lhc Minislrics of ~ducalicini~;~nambn ind Imo Stntcs. c. Instilulions of Iliglier Learning: Igbo has not only bccomc a ~ncdiumof inslruction and a subjccl for study :~ntlexaminations a1 111c lowcr and middlc rungs of cducalionnl Iatldcr, but Ilns formcd onc of thc corc subjcc~for 1l1c nwanl ol' tlcgrccs ant1 NCE ccrlilicales a1 thc highcr lc~cls.~ lgbo studies starlcd in inslilulions oS highcr lcaming Sirs1 in LIIC University of London's Scllool of Oriental and African Sludics (SOAS) Ibsmally opcncd in February, 1917.~In Lhc words of Hewctt, L~KSchool W;~Smcnnl

Lo providc iI pIacc whcrc our yout~gmcn who will possibly bc cngagcd in governing or garrisoning lhc Oricnul ant1 African parts of the Enipirc may Icnrn lhc lang~iagcsand study lhc litcralurc, religions, and cuslorns o lhc pcbplc with whom they will soon be broughl inlo conla $L....~ Although thc SOAS was originally founded to bc a training ground for colonial ;idn~i~~islraLors,it cvcntu:illy bccamc a ccntrc for lho ~riiinit~gof Africans in language study;. an intcnsivc coursc in gcncral linguj&x including ptlonctics, lbc thcory and praclicc of grammar, bascd on lhc study of thcir own 1:inguagcs and English, Lhc principle of mcaning, ~ransl5\ion,lhc,6ociology of languagc c~c.~ Undcr G6vcrnmcnt and Mission scholarships, sotnc Igbo sch~larssludicd a1 lhc SOAS. Thc first batch to do so wcre S.A. Ahamh, Lalc I<. Achinivu, and J.A. Durckc. That was in 1946. From 1947 olhcrs wcrc lule L.A. Amadi, Rcv. J.O. Imaganaclii, S.W. Chianakwalam (now Justice), Rev. Dr. G.E. Igwe Nzcbunachi Oji, Dr. P.A. Nwachukwu, and rcccnlly (1979), Prof. E.N. Emcnanjo for his Doctoral rcsearcl~.~All " , 0 . i my@fpr UK B;lch@m of MU(Hoolfi) r rr I Degree, .in, HiFry 9( tty WU,fliversityof London during Lhof ; I sixtics was that a canditlatc had to do a Language papa involving translation of,:,pusmgas in; TWO,foreign P languages into English. As an Igbo candidate for that examina~iyn:in 1968 with~,qnlyLatin aqd English as forci n,Ifr@ya&$<, jl w~gossiblcLor mc t do wanslations frotn!I gbq ~ntoEp&h i$id Ilicrc$y [qlfill, tl\c ,qpircmcnq, Thc piisp IP qucshn will b~ found in thc ,Language Papcr 'or t9, ~'1968Bachelor ol Arts D;#cc in History Examini~tionof thc University ol' London.

b f 'It is of:&$i ,'i&xcsl,lo noie ih;lL ~m~ric&sar9 bing . taught Igbo in 'ihc Uniycssily of Calil%rnia, Los Angclqs, usIA.1'1 I I ,r .I Back homc in ~i~cri;i,'iiic~nivcssii~ of Ibadnn, founded in 1948, was ~&cfirs1 ,!o ,s~;iriIgbo siudics. Alib~~gh the Department d f 'Lipyjstii.s and Nigcriiln L+nguages was established iti 1062, ' gbb' Iitpguilgc cqutd no1 bc offcrcd wtil 1972. Frdh ,i(iis.iim", Igb, was ol'Scr;cd up to 200 lcvcl as a subsidiaty"$ut$'ect' f'jr 'Arp siudcnis as wcll as Edq~alion students who 1nl's8"siu~lc& Igbo ~cihodsup to 300 icvcl. From the 1974/90 a~;~dpmicscssion, the dcgrcc programmq for "the B&h#dr, 'fir' ,Ark (Hons) bcgan, Post-graduqte progdn~ck,tipv~'?jcc6 ~qounlcd 3s wcll. I t (I 1n1.1974;,{hi. @~ivcrsil~of Lagos 'siarlcd Igbo as, a,. , profibiet$,$ ind fuMUpiia1 language. In 1475, it was stepped up to -1w level coui.sc's, ?rid from 1979/$0 scssi~n,the actuql degrec pr6y ramnic Mgan. Thc uliivcrsity started post- ' graduate courscs in Igbo studics saon alfcr thc undcrgraduntc programmes had takcn'roo~s. At thc univdrsity ol' Nigcria, Nsukkn, tl'lc lcoching O[ ?s bccn part ol' thc academic, , ivcrsily sincc its ind~plion. In lllc cprlyt ,,; c WIS tiiught in ihc D~piirthCnL df, , t'CnownCd lgbo linguisiics as Rcv.".l?~ ", / *

104 Igwbbandu,Dr.30.0; Okoeaffia. Shoe then' there hw :been penistent>representation by tfae. Sooiety forrPmow8 ;Igbo :'

Lamwake md i(lu\tU= and individual Schola&-b& +Within,.md; 'A ou&de~.the country for the. os'tablishmew 6f a sclpa.rat& A deo;zPtmcmf dcvoted to: teaching >and rc~carcht~ln.Inbo and othr ~i~errianLangungcs. ~h$oropresentalians a&e as a'. result gf tho., g~owingndcd for Igbd tttachers and . the ." devdopment' of Igbo sludids, ,This nldd became man5stbrlgly , felt .afisii J@ dvil war and 'rcsul~edin1 lhc craationi of .the .sub; J. : dcpabtnient ;of. LinguistiaslNigoricrn tan uajp .'in lhs :I: Departmefit oll$Languages in t 1974, The 8ub43apArtmcnt. tumd !outli&fifirst swof @adualc$ in Linguislics/Iybo in 1978. " .* Mealawlail@I The Watibplak*Policy on Eddcatidh '(1981) 2 which.madc the: teauhihg of ac least Wo of the lrhree major . Nigerian languages, slipulatcd in the 1979 Consritution of the Fedcral Republic of Nigeria, compulsory in evcry Secondary School of the Fcdcration was formulatedc .4nJresponsemithis and to

"" " +! , 8 1 , 1% I As you arc awarc, thc 1979 Cons~ilatlonof lhc Fcdcral Rcpublic of Nigcria rccoynixcs Igbo as one of thc thrcc major languages of Miyeriu, br 'usazin $koicondu& of, j busincss of Lho Lhcn Nptionnl Assembly, hence tho Ntnictnal Policy ol Gduclution, 1981, raiuiros hut ovcry 'sr~cohdwy school studcnl in Niyaria should lourn ul lcuq two 6f ;the . said three major langugcs. Tho Govcrnment pf Anambra Stntcti$, thcr~lore,ymvcly couccrnod ahollt ,it$ iaabilily, asbg la lack of suilably qualified man-pawor, :LO cffwtivdy Implcmenl this policy in iu schools~ndt tb talk . . of.sonding. qualified leacl~crsof Igbo io serve in thc schdol systems of'non-1gbo speaking Stales of thc Federation. In the lighl of lhc Govcmmcnl's grave conccm over the lack of qualified man-powcr to tcach lgbo in our secondary schools in both lgbo and non-Igbo speaking parts of the Fcdcralion, lhc Dcpartmcnl of Linguistics/Nigerian Languages is vestcd wilh thc rcsponsibilily of meeting lhe challenge .of staffing sccondary schools ~hroughoutthe Fcdcration with qualificd tcachers of Igbo to ,leach lhe Igbo language as slipulatcd by Lhe Nalional Policy on Educalion (1981). This Dcpartmcnt has consislcnlly receivcd support and patronage from govemmcntal organizalions and agencics at both the SLatc and Fcdcral levcls. Only recently, Lhe National Languagc Ccntre of lhc Federal Ministry of Education designalcd lhc Dcp:~rlmcnl as Lhe Coordinating centrc for Zonc V1 (covering Anambra, Bcnuc and Imo) of thc National Languagc Survcy Projcct. Academic Programmes Thc Dcpartmcnl curl-ently opcratcs thc following Academic Programmes which havc bccn carefully designed to mccl lhc nccds ol' Igbo spc;iking communilies in particular and the nalion in gcncral. Current Academic I'rogranimes Undergraduate Programmes i. Slrh-L)clgrcc Progrumnies a. 2-year (4 Long Vacations) Diploma (Sandwich Progrltm~ncin Igbo) b. 2-Ycar (4 Long Vacation) Diploma (Sandwich) Programme Transla~ionsand Interpreting in Nigcrian Languages. Undergraduate Degree Prograninies a. B.A. Igbo/LinguisLics (3 Ycar programrnc) B.A. Igbo/Linguistics (4 Ycar programrnc) b. B.A. Linguistics (3 Ycar programme) B.A. Linguistics (4 Ycar programmc) c. B.A. lgbo (Lmguagc Slrcss) (3 Ycar programmc) B.A. Igbo (Languagc Slrcss) (4 Ycar programme) d. B.A. lgbo Lilcratu~Strcss) (3 Ycar programme) B.A. lgbo (Litcril~urcStrcssr (4 Ycar prpgnmme)

100 -I The undcrgraduate prograqmcs arc designcd to produce suitably qualificd manpowcr Tor thc following national demands: (i) teachcrs for Igbo (ii) Igbo lranslators and intcrprcters (iii) Media practitioners (radio, television and the print media). (iv) Editors in mcdia and publishing (v) Creative wrirers in Igbo (vi) Cultural officers, informalion officers and ethnographic oficcrs including muscum curators. Note: In addition to getting employmcnt in Govcrnment establishments, graduates of this Dcpartrnent are known to be self-employcd in such arcas as trilnslaling, editing, wriling and publishing. Postgrilduate Programmes i. Postgraduate D~plomaProgrammes (a) 1-Ycar (2 Long Vacations) Postgradualc Diploma in Igbo (Sandwich) ii. Postgraduate Degree Programmes a. 1-Ycar (12 Calcndnr Months) M.A. Degree Programme in Linguistics (1 8 Calendar Months for Part-time studenls; b. 1-Year (12 Calcndcr Month) M.A. Degree Programme in Nigcrian Language Studies (18 Calendar hlonlhs for Parl-lime students; 2 long ? vacations for Sandwich Studenls). (i) Option A: / Litcrature (ii) Option B: Nigcrian Languagcs c. 2-Year (6 terms) Ph.D. Dcgrcc Programme in Linguislics, Nigcrian Languages or Literatures in Nigerian Languagcs (3 Ycars or 9 terms or more for part-time Studenls). Bcsides the above acadcmic programmes, the Departmcnt, since the 1985186 academic session, has started running the 4-ycar and the 5-year Sandwich programmcs in collaboration wilh thc lnstitutc of Education of the -University of Nigeria, Nsukka during long vacalions for thc award of ) B.Ed/Igbo dcgrce. It also, since 1988, runs a 2-ycar ACE Sandwich prograrnmc in Igbo. In addition lo this, the Department coordinalcs 1hc B.Ed and thc NC$ 107 -

'+ Plcase will/ you pcrrnit me lo takc my Language Exam in Ibo in Juqk1949. I havc alrcady ukcn a shoq course in Ibo at lhc School of Oricnlal and African Studies, and I am Laking ICssons in it now. If permission is granlcd I should much appreciale it if you would let mc havc a fcw copics of previous exarninalion papers, l2 'The written aspect of thc examination had two parts: Lowcr and fiigher Ibo. and cach par1 had thrce papers: 1 Papcr I 1 hours; 1 '2 Papcr I1 2 hours; 1 Papcr 111 1- hours; 2 Thc third par1 was oral. By 102413 and 192714, pcople like Caplain J.N. Hill and R.F.G. Adams respeclively, had passed their Languagc Examinalions. From 1931 to 1951 when lhc London Matriculalion was held overseas, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba wcrc offered,15 and from 1951, whcn London GCE cxarninations replaced the Matriculation, it was possibIc Tor private candidates to enter for Igbo at thc Ordinary Lcvcl. Before 1967, Igbo was examincd on the basis of one papcr of three paris for Lhe WASCJGCE Examination: Part I - Composition, TransIations, froin Igbo into English and lhc vice versa; .Part I1 - Grammar and Par1 111 - customs, institutions, proverbs, idioms.16 In 1967, the syllabus Tor Igbo was rcviscd. The examinalion camc Lo consist of Lwo separalc papers: Pan I - Composition, ,Comprchcnsion, and Grammar; Part I1 - 3 set books, Translation, Customs and ~nslitutions.~~But wilh the evolution of 6-3-3-4 educalion systcm in Nigcria, Igbo at the Secondary ,school levcl has slarlcd making a marvellous progrcss, and becoming much inore popular than hitl~crtohad bcen the case.Thc study and examinations are in two levels - the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and the Scnior Secondary School (SSS). This does not indicatc the stratification of thc subject into cach scction, ralher, the syllabus of the JSS is "a steady progression inlo the SSS. Beginning from the 1948 academic session, Igbo, like Hausa and Yoruba split into two indepcndent subjccts of Igbo Liinguagc and Igbo Literature. Prior to this, the two arehs combined to make up Lhe subjcct, having bcen examined as Paper I and Paper 11. The Scnior Secondary Examinalions Syllabus as designed by thc West African Examinations Council, slipulalcs the following for ~hcfinal cxaminalions: IGBO LANGUAGE: This subjcct is madc up of two papcrs: Paper I - compriscd oT: Essay Sound Syslcm Grar$mar and Translalion. Thc timc allocalcd 1 to il is 27 hours. L Paper I1 - Objcclivc (1 00 mulliple choicc qucstions covcring Papcr I). Timc - 1 hour. IGBO LITERATURE: Likc Igbo Languagc, il is madc up of two papcrs: Papcr I - This papcr consisls of two scclions: Scclion A: Oral Lilcra~urc,Customs and . InsliLulions. Scclion B: Wrillcn Lilcralurc madc up of 1 Prosc, Poclry and Drama. Timc 2-2 hours. Papcr I1 - 'Objcclivc - consisling of 100 mulliplc choice qucslions dislribulcd as follows: Oral prosc narralivc Oral dramalic forms Oral poclic forms W rillcn prosc Wrillcn poclry Wriucn drama Cuslon~sand inslilulions Basic principles of lilcrary apprccialion. The dcsigning of ~hcncw syllabuscs has nrouscd authors and publishers alike LO produce adcqualc readcrs and crcadve works for ~hcvarious classcs al each Icvcl. During lhc Civil War years (1967 - 70) howcvcr, thc examinalions in lgbo, boll1 for 1hc WASC and \hc GCE were suspended. In 1970, only 20 ciindidalcs cnlcrcd for the suQjc~1throughoul Wcsl Africa. Bul wilh rchabililalion, it &~ncdpromincncc. (Scc Appendix) who cnlcrcd SO $978 , , ;1 980; alpliabcl lgbo pcoplc rclrirdcd lhc growl11 ol' Illcir Iii11g~;igeby scvcril ycars. This has cosr tOlc languagc its cnvi;tblc posilion among two o~hcrleading Nigerian 1;inguagcs - H;iusa and Yoruba. I1 now conics lhird in llic ralitig of Nigcrilan Imguagcs. Thc orlhograpliy days arc gone bul Lhc harm cannot bc rcmcdicd. 3 The Attitude of Igbo People: Thc grcalcsl problcm lhal Iiiis hccd Igbo from all linics is Lllc apathy of llic Igbolnan Lowards 1hc languagc. Hc prefers lo cxprcss himself morc in English than in Igbo, and niorc olicn than nol, hc idcntilics himself in other pcoplc's naliollal drcss. This vcry group liiil lo realize 1ha1 no tniItIcr how llucnl llicy may bc in English. and no matlcr how llicy may ape the cultutcs of olhcr pcoplcs, Lhcy ciin ncvcr become rlic pcoplcs whosc languagc lhcy speak iind whosc ntlirc Lhcy pul on. llis atliludc Lowards wrilrcn malcrials in Igbo ;irc negative. This rcsullcd in llic disconlinuiilion of lhc Ogenc21,' llic only ncwspapcr in Igbo language. On this. Ogbalu remarked llius: 'Wc rcscnl Lhc closure of 'Ogcnc', llic only viable Igbo ncwspijpcr and call for ils immcdialc rc~usciliilion'.2~Thcrc was no olhcr cause for its closure but for lack of pnlroniigc which rcsullcd in Llic publislicrs running at a loss. Thc siimc lhiflg affcclcd Utlokti when il was in circularion. 111 many schools ill Igboland, 11ic iiulhorilics debar llicir sludcnls from speaking Llicir molhcr tonguc cvcn up lo rhc lunc of paying fines ranging from 5 kobo lo 20 kobo. Ollicrs do not rcckon will1 Igbo on the lhlsc prclcxl lhal ii lacks ccnnin kinds or lccl~niciilvoc;ibul;iry, cilhcr bcciiusc of ils inl~crcnllinguislic poverty or bccausc as il is not uscd for ccnain kinds of discoursc, ils words will no1 iissumc rcchnical signilicancc in lhosc discourses. But lhcsc arc lhc lypc Paltayiinak condcmns for llicir myopic vicw when tlc noted that it is common knowledge among linguists lhiil cvcry languagc is inhcrcntly ii pcrfcclly adcqualc inslrumcnl for all fo~msof aclivily - social, cullurnl, polilical, and cduciilional. Hc cmpliiisizcd lhal 'llicrc is no such a lliing as a languagc morc suilcd, by its vcry nature, to science and icchnology, and i~nolhcr,say, lo So, lo drive il home inlo llic heads of' [his group, for Igbo to dcvclop spccialixcd vocabulary quickly and cffc'cclivcly , is by using il :rs ihc media of instruclion in inslilulions of Icarning as wcll ils Sor oll~crpurposes. Tllc Slandasdizalion Cor~irnillcchas cmbaskcd on Lhis, a~idalrcady, a Scl~ool Ccrlil'icalc Physics book - Nghora E~~LUWU~~- has been wrillcn in Igbo lo juslil'y Lhc suilabilily of Igbo I'or iill purposcs.

4 Lack of Governnient Patronage: Individual Lcachcrs, Lllc SPILC and analysls in Igbo sludics havc Limc wilhoul nunibcr made invcs~igalions inlo lhc problcms Siicing ;111c language, and pscscsibcd rcmcdics, bul lhcsc do no1 rcccivc ol'licial allenlion. For inslancc, sincc Lhc calI was miidc many ycars ago lo mkc Igbo compulsory for a1 Icasl, a1 lhc primasy school level, il was only in 1979 1h;il thc Aniunbra Slalc Govcrnmcnl hccdcd and implcmcnlcd il whilc lhc Irno Sliilc Govcnimcnl did so many ycars lalcr. Exccpl Lllc GovcrnmcnLs which own lhc scl~oolsin which Igbo is Laughl. and which dclcsminc and conlrol cducalional policies can apply 1hc rcnlcdics ~ncani~lgf'ull~,~~nolhing vcsy subs~ar~lial may bc achieved. 5 Paucity of 1iir11ia11:ind 111;~terialresoiIrces: For Igbo lo makc its mark as an iidcqualc scllool subjccl, il rcquircs ;I lo1 or manpower. As ol' now Lllcsc arc no1 cnough lraincd Lciiclicn lo lcach it. I1 is lsuc lllcsc is conslanl call for making llic subjccl a compulsory oric in all sccondary schools and lcachcr raining collcgcs, bul thc insul'l'icicncy ol' lraincd lcachcrs ol' Igbo will mar ~hcproposal il' il is implcmcnlcd. In his opening speech LO lhc SPILC'b seminar ol' 1974, lhc Llicn Commissioner for Educiilion in lhc Easl Ccntsnl Slalc, Mr. Ifcanyi Il'cbigli, poinlcd oul his Ilandicap:

My Minislry ... will no1 subscribe to making Igbo compirlsory in lhc sccondary schools whcn wc know Lhal no1 less lllm 2,800 lraincd tcachcrs of Igbo would bc - rcquircd lor jusl lhc first tllrcc ycars of our sccondary ' schools mi lhc lcxhcrs arc [rot yct avai~ablc.~~ As of' now, miiny sccondary schools and collcgcs havc no Igbo lcachcrs a1 all, imi il is only Icfl Lo imaginnlion whal thc position will bc sliould Lhis qucsl for conipulsory Lcnching of Igbo bc cf'fcclcd in thcsc ins~ilu~ions. Similarly, tlicrc i1I.c- no adcqualc malerials for Lhc succcssl'ul lcaclii~igof lhc language. Many of lhc availablc lcxls bcing uscd now arc no1 graded lo suil ~hcvarious Icvcls. Thc prcscnl posilion is 'anylhilig goes'. Various olhcr Lcaching aids i~rcpoorly ulilizcd. Languages likc English and French havc l;~bora~oricsfor lhc lcacliilig of somc aspccls of lhc I:lnguagc work; bul his is ye1 lo be rcaliscd in Igbo. In most cascs llic curriculum is inadcqualc. Somclimcs, Lhc coursc conlcnl ih cilllcr ~oosi~liplc or loo advancud for thc Icvcls, and many 3 Lillie, LIICSC is ilisul'('icicn~guide lo Lhc ~cachcr.~~In niany places, llic syllabuscs oil Igbo havc 11o slalcd objcclivcs lo bc allailled. 'I'lic Wcsl Al'ricnn Examinalions Council (WAEC) syllitbu~is a lypical cxamplc. Ubahakwc exposes ~hcsyllabus in 111c Sollowing rcmarks: 'The WAEC syll;tbus on Igbo (lhc only available ol'ficial doculncnl ol' ils kind on Lhc subjccl) merely lislcd Lhc topics Lo bc ~rcalcd.~~'The rcsull 01' lhc abscucc 01' slalcd or implied goals of Lcaching Igbo Icavcs lhc lcachcrs, cspccially Lhc young and incxpcricnccd ones ;I[ cross-roads, no1 knowing whcrc lo go. Many 01' llicsc slalcnicnls havc howcvcr, bccn ovcrlakcn by Lhe currcnl lrcnd in igbo studics. Following lhc inlroduclion of lhc 0-3-3-4 cduc;~lionsyslcln in Nigcria. Thc Nolional Educnlion Rcscarcli Council (NERC) for cxamplc, has dcsigncd much improvcd syllabuscs lor Igbo a1 lhc primi~ryand sccondnry school Icvcls, and which thc WAEC has adoplcd (Secondary School Lcvcl). 6 Insufficiency of Teaching: In mmy schools, the praclicc is Lo begin Igbo in thc fourth form. This mciltls [hat il is only L;~ughlSor Lwo years yc1 this is a coursc Lhal is mciInL lbr l'ivc ycm. Thc rcsull of this practicc is Lhat bolh Lhc tcachcr illid his sludc~llstcwh and lcnm for examin:ltion purposes - jusl lo cover 111.c sy1l;lbus - and no1 to sludy for lhc purposc ol knowing lhc subjcct. Wilh ~hc illtroduction Of Lhc 6-3-3-1 cducalion syslcm, lhc bvc-ycar .%condary school carccr comes to ;III end in 1988, and thc qucslion of beginning lo sludy Igbo in lhc fourth class will no longcr arise. Whi11 pricks lhc CiIS is Lhai Igbo is allocated only thrcc periods a wcck on lhc Lime-table wliilc English has six. Thc disturbing qucslions then will be: Arc lllc colonial masters still around with us'! Who arc lhc neocolonialists that arc supprcssing Igbo? 7 Teaching Igbo in English: In many institutions, Igbo is taught through thc medium of English when in hct, the lcamers are Igbo pcople. Ubahakwe put the embarrassing situation in the following words: .... Thus, in preparing the lesson notcs for teaching Igbo, the teacher engagcs in an intricatc psycho-linguistic sca- saw. An idea is conceivcd in Igbo, it is then codcd in English and delivered in English in the class. The bewildered children begin from he opposite end of the see saw. They hear the conccpt in English, decode it into Igbo andihen code it back inlo English in thcir no~es!~~ The practice whcrcby the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (up till 1988) Leaches Igbo in the medium of English Language is an evil omcn for Igbo. This practice will not give the students and future lcachers of Igbo the scope orwhat they will teach in the school systems. PROSPECR3: IGBO FACES THE FUTURE For Igbo to assumc Lhc significant role expcctcd of it as a subject for study on the school curriculum, thc amelioration of the foregoing problcms and other futuristic projectidns are necessary: 1 Teachers, students and thc entire Igbo alike should be encouraged 'to take self-pride in, and to identify themsclvcs with thc Igbo language and cul~urc'.~~ 2 The syllabus should bc madc appropriate to suit every levcl, and thc coursc work should have thc following four components: a. Oral activity b. Reading activity c. Languagc work d; Project component.31 3 The SPILC or any-other similar organization that might spring up in the ruture should try to resist any other reforms, bc thcy orthography, dialectal or otherwise which will tend to qxat thc havoc Igbo studies witnessed for thrce decadc~.1929 to 1961. 4 At the primary school levcl thc IFE EXPERIMENT^^ should tat adoptcd whcrcby nothing but Igbo will be the .'. medium of instruction In all subjccts except English which should be studied on its own merit. Igbo should be made compulsory as a subject for study and examination for the award of the West Afiican School and the Grade Two Teachers' Certificates:This measure will ensure that every Igbo child knows how to read and write it, and finally bccomes competent in it. Bursary awards and scholarships to tcachers and stildcnts . of Igbo for higher education will be a booster for the language. Language laboratories and other allied teaching aids hithcrto exclusivc for the teaching of English and French, should bc extcnded to Igbo. Seminars, workshops and refresher courses frequently organized for Igbo tcachers will go a long yay to making Igbo a language and a subject for study at a respectable level. As one of Nigeria's National Languages, it is envisaged that institutions of learning where Igbo is not studied at present will include it in thcir curricular to cnable those whose mothcr tongue is not Igbo study it, at least, at the functional level. It is envisagcd that sooncr or later, school debates. quizzes, teaching by radio and television will become a common fcature in Igbo as is the case with English. Thew is the expectation that diploma, certificate and higher degree courses in Igbo will be started for the training of enough cornpetcnt teachers of Igbo. At present there is a dearth of publishing houses in Igboland. This does not augur well for the growth of the language. Businessmen and women are therefore implored to take to publishing in order to satisfy the zeal of budding authors in Igbo who are looking for avenues where their works will receive promp$rzlttegtia It is believcd that if these projettions rna[.tf$?to, Tition. Igbo studies will havc amvdd. . \' .. -: - . . NOTES 1 Anambra State: Oficial ~azek,op. cit. 2 ibid. . .. 3 L.I. Lewis, 'The place of African Languages in the School Curriculum', West African Journal of Education (WAJE), 1.1., 1957, pp. 20 - 22. WAEC: Annual Report, 1954. Nwadikc: 'Thc Role of Igbo Language in Education', op.cit., p.15 Awoniyi. op, cil. p. 124. P.U. Hartog, 'Thc Origins of Lhe School, 191,7-20' Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, 1:5-22, 1928, as cited by Awoniyi, op. cit. Ward, op. cit. p. 22. Interviews held with Messrs J. Iroaganachi, S.A. Ahamba. A.O. Igwe, E.N. Emenanjo and Chicf J.K. Nm-em. Interview hcld with Mrs. O.R. Kanu, Lecturer. A.I.C.E., Owcrri. Ogbalu and Emcnanjo, eds. op. cil. p.117. Nigeria: Soulhcrn Provinccs, Nativc Language Examinalions. 1948-53. 1E 242. NAE. Nigeria: The Nigeria Gazette, 12.1., Thursday January, 1925, p.7. Nigcria: The Nigeria Gazette, 14.24, Thursday May 5, 1927, p. 214. Igbo did not take off at the same time with Hausa and Yoruba, but was taken during the last two years of the Matriculation's cxislcnce. This was made known to me by Chief Nwakuna Duruashimere who took the examination in 195 1. WAEC Regulations and Syllabuses for Nigerfa, WASCIGCE 1966, pp. 104-105. ibid., 1980; pp.253-255. ibid. ibid. JAMB: Office of the Registrar, JAMB/EXAM/S.3/6. Ogene, a weekly newspaper published by the Star Printing and Publishing Company Ltd., Enugu made its debut in 1976. It has since ben resuscitated. Udoka was .also a weekly. Ogbalu, 'Chairman's Welcome Addrcss', op. cit. p.6. Verma, 'English in Indian Education': in A. Singh and Altach (cds), The Higher Learning in India. Delhi, Vikas Publishing House, PVT Ltd., 1974, pp.260-87. 0.Obinanbo, Nghota Enuuwa Fiziik WAEC na Odinari Levul GCE, 1965. Afigbo, op.cit. p.70. 26 Ifeanyi Ifebigh, Commissioner for Education, East Central Stalc, in his opening address at the 1974 Seminar of the SPILC. 27 R.O. Ukeje and E.C. Okoke, 'How adequate is the prcscnt Primary School Igbo Curriculum', Odenigbo, Vo1.2, op:cit., p.3. 28 Ubahakwe, 'Igbo Languagc Studies', Odenigbo, op. cit., p.8. 29 ibid., p.9. 30 ibid., p. 10. 3 1 ibid., p. 1 I. 32 The 'IFE EXPERIMENT' is a 6-year primary educatiofl project developed in 1970 at the University of Ife, Nigcda'whcreby Yoruba is used as the only medium of instruc&m, in order to demonstrate that primary education is morc effective and meaningful when it is given in thc child's mother tongue rather than in a foreign language. Mother Tongue Education, op. cit., pp. 113-300. Before the Igbo had any contact with Western civilization, their language and a rich corpus of their literatwe were by and large orally and verbally tran~rnitted.~Even when the contact was made at about 1500, information is not available as to whether it was put into writing. 'Hair (1967) thus remarked: Scientific study of the language of Nigeria - whose number is well over one hundred - only began in the 19th century. Though these languages appear to have been spoken, in developing forms, for hundreds and perhaps in some cases thousands of years, in or near the territory where they are spoken today. the vast majority had not been put into , and none had been analysed in writing before . W"tinf1800. Afigbo (1975) writing in the same vein. observed that:

The Igbo language is probably 6,000 years old - at least glottochmnologists tell us that the languages of the Kwa sub-family, of which Igbo is a member stlulcd diverging or assuming their distinct forms about 6,000 years ago .... ~nfBkunatel~,we do not havc any documentary or other dim&evidence regarding the fortunes of the Igbo language during thc five millcnia or so before the imposition of EuQxp rulc2 Igbo was finally reduced inlo writing, and as such had many favourable consequences. This is evidenced by this attestation by Hair (1967):

The study of Nigerian languages since 1800 has had four main results. (a) The outside world has been shown that thm languages, like all other human languages, are hensive and expressive, while their structures are subtle. (b) Comparison of the languages each to

t tside languages, has thrown much light on their hen= on the history of the peoplcs who Loday speak them. (c) Thc languages have been put into writing (or in a few cases, given %ore efficient orthographies) and have acquircd written, (that is, printed) literatures. most of them very brief but a few fairly extensive. (d) Publication of studies of the language has enabled persons who do not speak a particular language as their mother-tongue to gain a knowledge of that language more easily than otherwise. occasionally for academic purposes but more often in order to speak thc language, and to prepare written material in it, more correcllyP Since the 18th century to the present time, Igbo studies have taken various phases. They started with wordlists collection, to translations. and to serious academic works. Emenanjo (1980) categorized such studies into four main historical epochs: The 'Isuama' Period (1700 -1900) The 'Union' Period (1901 - 1929) The 'Central' Period (1929 - 1961) The 'Standard' Period (1966 to the pre~ent).~ These epoches are based on what form of Igbo that was or is in vogue in the literary circles at any particular time. The dates are somehow altered from the point of view of research for this work. Igbo language studies started first in far-away West Indies in the second-half of the 18th century, and from there to Freetown in Sierra Leone, in the first-half of the 19th century. When the studies left the shores of Sierra Leone for Onitsha and its environs in Nigeria, they made very great progress at the hands of the Christian missionaries who championed the cause. Even though the primary assignment of the missionaries was evangelism and 'westernization, they discovered that, to do their work effect!vely, they had to reach the hearts of their converts through the medium of their own e. Is order to prepare adequately for this onerous but t task, Emenyonu (1979) had this to say:

German Rev. J.F. Schon and an ex-Yoruba slave- v. S.A. Crowther were both required n languages that would be relevant to sm on the Niger. They chose Hausa and Igbo. Schon began to study Igbo seriously with the help of freed slaves of Igbo origin in Sicrra ~eone...5 During its' formative years in Igboland, Igbo made giant strides. But like any other Nigerian 'vernacular', it faced the buffeting of British prejudice which saw nothing good in the indigenous languages towards the education of the British- governed Nigerian child. It regarded all indigenous languages as uncivilized. Both the 1882 Education Ordinance7 and pronouncements made by British colonials justified the issue. The ordinance clearly stated that 'the subjects for teaching shall be the reading and writing of English ~anguage'~ Deriding Igbo in favour of English as a means of winning children converts for the Roman Catholic schools, a veteran missionary and educationist in Igboland, Bishop Joseph Shanahan argued: Why was thc Europcan D.O. in-charge of tens of ~housands . of Ibos? Was it bccause he had more money or more wives or more influence? No, the answer was that hc was more educated. Why was the interpeter so conlemptuous of local views and so insistent on heavy bribcs before hc would explain a case propcrly? ~ecause-hekncw English which he had learnt at school and because no local man knew enough English to follow what hc was saying. And look at the Court Clerk and Court Messengers, the most influential and the most feared men in the disuict. Why were thcy chosen for their jobs? simply because they had been to school and understand English ... ? What all these meant in effect was that Igbo was to be gagged and muzzled, and therefore could not be studied for examination purposes as other subjects on the curriculum.

Voices of protests against the Colonial Office and the ta> monster Ordinance of 1882 rent the air. This came from"<.,*, various organizations and individuals. First to launch the attach were the missionaries.

The "Mknt4,rialist$1s they wcre called by the Colonial . Officc, argued that he mother tongue should form the bmis of a child's education. In fact, they argucd that the 'vernacular' should take precedence over thc English language b being the foundation and the ladder for English teaching. lb At this time when African mother tongues were seething under colonial debasement, an international organization appeared on the scene for their cmancipation. This was the African Educadon Commission. At the instance of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, the Foreign Missions Conference of Norih America approached the Trustees of thc Phelp-stokes Fund, a voluntary philanthropic American Organization, cslablishcd in 191 1 by Miss Caroline' Phelps-SLokes for support for a sludy of education in Africa. In 1920-1 the Fund financed two commissions to Africa. The a first report published in 1922 - Report on Education in , Africa: A Study of West, South and Equatorial Africa, contributed to the nullil'icalion of the 1882 Code. I The 1882 Education Ordinance was superseded by the ' 1926 Education Ordinance. This ordinance became the live- p wire for the devclopmcnt of many Nigerian languages, the a leading ones of.which includes Igbo. From that time onwards i the role of Igbo language in education was.vcry clearly defined. Among the consequences of the Ordinance on Igbo were the development of a sound orlhography and the adoption of a literary dialect for the dcvelopment of Igbo lixerature. But rather than being a blessing, the result was a curse to the langvage as a result of conservatism and human machinations. Many people in some quarters did not welcome the innovations. They saw Lliem as rclrogressive steps in Igbo studies. Br~odinyovcr lhc issue, a Famous scholar in Igbo studies has this to say: ... Thcy recommcndcd and implcmcntcd Lhc usc of phonetic symb~lsto rclnedy what thcy considcrcd dcficicncies in the orthography of the languagc .... Almost simuluneously, thcy invoduccd what thcy called thc Ccntral Dialect to rcplace the Union Igbo of thc Igbo Biblo,und sct up a Translation Bureau at Umuahia to propagate it and the New (Adam-Ward) Orthography. Thc rcsult was that the period 1929 to 1961 was a black period in Igbo litorary history. The people dissipated thcir energy in a most celebrated literary controversy of thc age and thereby set the hands of thc clock back. Evcn after thc settlement of 1961, both the - \. L- people and the publishers werc still suspicious and were not convinced until recently that the final settlement had been re8ched.12 , During the onhogra hy impasse, there emerged in 1949 an organization - The 8ociety for the Promotion of Igbo Languages and Culture (SPILC). Among its objectives then. was 'to fight the new orthography usually referred to as Adam-Ward 0rthography',13 The SPILC as its name indicates, has been all out fighting for the survival and development of Igbo in all its ramifications. The greatest thing that has happened to Igbo language is its adoption for studies in institutions ~f higher learning. In Nigeria, the establishment of the University College, 1badan14 in 1948 had its origin in the ~squithl~and ~lliotl Commission reports published by the British Government in June, 1945. The reports touched upon the issue of the mother tongue. The Asquith Commission specified: 'The study of well-established 'vernacular languages' should not present difficulty in planning suitable courses of university study leading ... even to an honours degree.'17 But the teaching of Igbo in any Nigerian University did not start until 1972 in the University of Ibadan. Even though Igbo is now studied in the highest institutions of .learning both at home and abroad, yet all is not well with it. It has its set-backs. Ubahakwe (1977) has marshalled out some reasons for the set-backs:

Many factors have been responsible for the slow development of Igbo as a language for modem education. The factors which feature most prominently in the literature on this subject are the paucity of human and material resources, the thirty years of orthographic controversy and the general apathy among the Igbo as a people.18 Professor Afigbo (1975) has his own fears on the issue and even suggests a way out:

The future of the Igbo language has recently come to be a matter for concern to many people, Igbo and non-Igbo alike, and from many unofficial circles one is beginning to 'hear anxious voices calling for rescue action. Whether anything positive and effective will be done remains to be seen. Meanwhile the analysts have ;o go on investigating what is wrong with the language and prescribing remedies - on paper for there can be no doubt that only official action can ensure success. Only the Government which owns the schools in which the language is taught and which determines and controls educational policy can apply the remedies m~aningfully.~9 Also contributing ideas towards the amelioration of this malady. Nwadike (1980) suggests among other things that

Igbo should be made compulsory as a subject for study and examination for thc award of the First School Leaving, the West African School and the Grade I1 Teachers' Certificates. This is a measure lhal will makc evcrv Iabo child know how to read and write it, and finally b∨;e competent in it.20 And finally, it is to be noted that

language is the key to lhc hatof a people. If we lose thc key, we lose the people. II we treasure the key and keep it safe, it will unlock the door to untold riches, riches which cannot be guessed at from Lhe other side of the door.21. Notes 1 E.N. Emenanjo, 'The Rise of Literary Standard Igbo', (Mimeo), 1960, p.2. 2 P.E.H. Hair, The Early Study of Nigerian Languages. London, Cambridge University Press, 1967, p.1. / 3 A.E. Afigbo, 'The place of the Igbo Language in our Schools: A Historical Approach' in F.C. Ogbalu and E.N. Emenanjo, eds., lgbo Language and Culture, Oxford University Press (OUP), 1975, p.71. 4 Hair, op. cit. 5 Emenanjo, op. cit., p.3 1. 6 E.N. Emenyonu, The Rise of the Igbo Novel, Ibadan, OUP, 1978,p.20. 7 The Education Ordinance for the Gold Coast Colony, 1882. This Ordinance based on the British Education Act of 1844 was the first British legislation for her West African Colonies, aimed at the promotion, assistance and control of education by we Government. ibid. Holy Ghost Fathers, Short Life of Bishop Shanahan. Onitsha Diocese, pp. 50-5 1. T.A. Awoniyi, in Education, Ibadan, OUP, 1978, pp.63-4. L.J. Lewis (ed), Phelps-Stokes Report on Education in Africa, London, OUP, 1962, p.2. F.C. Ogbalu, Standard Igbo-Path to its Development, Onitsha, University Publishing Company Ltd., 1974, p. 10 F.C. Ogbalu, 'Reminiscences of St. Augustine's Grammar School, Nkwerre: Text of After-Dinner Speech as Guest of Honour of thc Old Boys Association', 8/12/7 8. In 1962, The University Collcge, Ibadan, ceased to be a campus of the University ol' London and became known as the University of Ibadan. Asquith Commission: Report of the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies, CMD, 6647, HMSO, 1945. Elliot Commission: Report of the Commission on Higher Education in West Africa. CMD 6655, 'HMSO, 1945. Asquith Commission: op. cit., p.91. Ebo Ubahakwe, 'Igbo Language Studies: A Re- assessment of the Secondary School Curriculum', Odenigbo, Vo1.2, 1977, p.7. Afigbo, op.cit., p.70. I.U. Nwadike, 'The Role of Igbo Language in Education* (Mimeo) 1980, p.18. Eva Engholm, Education Through English, Cambridge University Press, 1965, p. 15. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1965. Ajayi, J.F.A. Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1841-1891. London: Longmans, 1969. Amadi, L.A. Dimkpa Muhta Iguh nu Ide Akwuhkwor. Zaria: Gaskiya Corporation, 1956 Awoniyi, T.A. Yoruba Language In Education, 1846-1974. Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1978. Baikie, W.B. Narrative of an Exploring Voyage. London: 1865. Barngbose, Ayo, ed. Mother Tongue ducati ion: The West African Experience. London: Hodder apd Stoughton, 1976. Basden, G.T. Niger Ibos. London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd., 1966. Benzies, D. Learning Our Language. London: Longmans, Grecn & Co. Ltd., 1940. CMS Akwukwo Ogugu Ibo. London: James Townsend, 1927. Crowther, S.A. Isoama-Ibo Primer. London: 1857. Crowther, S.A. and Taylor, J.C. The Gospel on the Banks of the Niger. London, 1859. Dike, K. Onwuka. Origins of the Niger Mission, 1841-1891. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1962. Dobinson, H.H. Letters of Henry Hughes Dobinson. London: 1899. Ekechi, F.k. Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland, 1857-191 4. London: Frank Cass, 1971. Emenyonu, E.N. The Rise of the Igbo Novel. Ibadan: Oxford University Prcss, 1978. Engholm, Eva. Education Through English: The Use of English in African Schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965 Fafui~wa,A.B. History of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1974. Green, M.M. Igbo Spelling: An Explanatory Statement. London: Cambridge University Press, 1949. Hair, P.E.H. The Early Study of Nigerian Languages. Cambridge University Prcss, 1967. 127 Ilogu, Edmund. Christianity and Igbo Cult'ure. New York: ' Nok Publishers Ltd., 1974. Isichei, Elizabeth. The Ibo People and the Europeans. London: Macmillan, 1973. A' A' History of Igbo People. London: Macmillan, 1976. 1 Jordan, J.P. Bishop Shanahan of Southern Nigeria. Dublin: Clonmore and Reynolds, 1949. Kilharn, Hannah. Specimens of African Languages Spoke)&k the Colony of Sierra Leone. London: 1828. Koelle, S.W. Grammar of the Bornu or Kanuri Language. London: 1854. Lewis, L.J., ed. Phelps-Stokes Report on ~ducatbnin Africa. London: Oxford Univcrsity Press, 1962. Ministry of Information. Ahiajioku Lecture. Owem: Culture Division, 1979. Njoku, R.A. The Advent of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. Owem: Assumpta Press, 1980. Nwana, Pita, Omenuko. London: Longmans, 1933. Ogbalu, F.C. Standard Igbo-Path to its Development. Onitsha: University Publishing Company Ltd., 1974. Ogbalu, F.C., and Emenanjo, E.N., eds. Igbo Language and Culture. Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1975. Ogbalu, F.C., and Erinne, D.C. An Investigation into the New Igbo Orthography. Port Harcourt: Goodwill Press, 1952. Ogbu, Kalu, ed. African Culturd Development. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing Cb. ~Ltd.1978. Olaudah, Equiano. The Interesting Narrative of the LIfe of Olaudah Equiano. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1967. Oruchalu, S.U. The Fundamentals of Igbo Spelling. Ihiala: Deo Gratias Press, 1979. Schon, J.F. Oku Ibo. London: 1861. Dictionary of the Hausa Language. London: 1876. Singh, A., and Altbach, P.G., cds. The Higher Learning In India. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, PVT Ltd., 1974. . Smart, F.W. An Ibo Primer. London: 1870. Sonia, F.G. Government and Mission Education in Northern Nigeria, 1900-1919 Ibadan: Ibadan University Press. 1966. m SPILC. Recommerrdationr qf,the Standardfzatdon Commlaee. Vol.1, 1977. Thomas, N.W. Anthropologfcal Report on the lbo - Speaking Peoples of Nigeria. London: Harrison and Sons, 1913 - 1914. Uchendu, V.C. The lgbo of Southeast Nigeria. London: Holt, Rinehart 81: Winston, 1965. Ward, Ida C. lgbo Dialects and the Development (4 a Common Language. Cambridge: Heffer & Sans Ltd. 1941. ARTICLES, LETTERS. THESES ADDRESSES, REPORTS, ETC. Achebe, Chinua, 'The Bane of Union.' Anu. Vol.1, No.1, (1979). Adams, R.F.G., and Ward, I.C. 'Arochukwu Dialect of Ibo*. Africa. Vol. 11, (1929). Asquith Commission, 'Report of the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies.' Cmd 6647. HMSO' 1945. Duruoshimere, S.I.N. Letter to the SPILC. 26th Se 1973. Elliot Commission. 'Report of the Commission on Higher Education in West Africa.' Card 6655. HMSO 1945. Emenanjo. E.N. 'The Rise of Literary Standard ~~.*1980. 'Language Modcmizorlion from the grass J.oQts: The Case in Igbo.' 1980. Evans Brothers Ltd. 'Short Speech by the M01nig5ng Director.' 1980. ' Great Britain. 'Memorandum of Educational Policy in British Tropical Africa.' Cmd 2347: HMSO 1925, Green, M.M. Letter to the Edimrial Manager 0AJ.P. 4rkApri1, 1952. Greenberg, J.N. 'Studies in African Unguistic Classification.' Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. Ybl. v, N0.2 (1949). Hartog, P.U. 'The Origins of the School, 1917-20.' Bulbtin of the School of Oriental Studies, Vol.1, (1928). Hussey, E.R.J. 'Memorandum on Educational Policy in Nigeria.' Lagos, Government Printer, 1930. Ifebigh, Ifeanyi. 'Opening Address.' SPILC Seminar, 1974. IIALC. 'Memorandum: Practical Orthography of African Languages.' London: 1927. JAMB: Office o'f tbe Registrar, JAMBlEXAMlS.316 L Kalu, 0.U. 'Wring in Pre-Colonial Africa: A Case Study of Nsibidi'. African Cultural Dtvelopment. Enugu: Fourth Dimension. 1978. Lewis, L.J. 'The PIaoe of African Languages in the School Curriculum.' West African Journal of Education. Vo1. 1, No.1, (1057). Lugard, F.D. 'The International Institute of African Languages and Culture.' Africa. Vol. 1. Macgregw, J.K. 'Some Notes on Nsibidi'. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Vol. xxxix,

a (1909). Nwadike, I.U. 'Illustrative List of Problem Areas in Igbo Orthography.' 1977. 'The Role of Igbo Language in Education.' 1980. W,S.U. 'Igbo Language Studies: A Historical Survey.' Odenigbo. Vol. 1, (1976). Obinabo, 0. 'Nghola Enuuwa.' Mimeograph 1965. OgLne. (Enugu),. 1976 - 1979. Ogbalu, F.C. Lettcr to all Principals. 15th October, 1976. . ... 'Reminiscences of St. Augustine's Grammar School, Nkwerre.' 8th December, 1978. 'An Address by the Chairman of the SPILC.' Seminar. 1978. '~haikan'sAddress at the Year Conference of the SBIW. ' 1979. * , 'Chairman's zWelcome Address. ' SPILC Seminar 1980. OkiWo, C.E. 'Language In Education: The African case.' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. State University of

k 6 New Yodc at Buffalo, 1978. Oraka, L.N. 'The Impact of the Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture on the Evolurion of Igbo Studies in Nigeria.' Unpublished M.Ed. Thesis. State Univessity of New York at Buffalo, 1981. Othmberg, Simon. 'The Present State of Ibo Studies.' Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. Vol.11, (1961). SPILC. $The Constitution.' (PostbWar Copy) n.d. ,'National Appeal: Endowment Fund.' 1977. UbnhPkwe, Ebo. 'Igb Language Studies: A Re-assessment of secondary Sohool Curriculum.' Odepigbo. Vol. 11, (1977) Ukeje. R.O.. and Okeke, E.C. 'How adequate is *the present primary School Igbo Curriculum,' Odenigbo.. Vol.11. (1977). Walsh, M.J. 'catholic contribution to Education in Western Nigeria, 1831-1926.' Unpublished Master's Thesis. University of London, 1951. WAEC. 'Annual Report.' 1954. Re ylations and Syllabuses. 1966. Regulations and Syllabuses. 1980. GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL RECORDS Anambra State of Nigcria. OITicial Gazette. Vol.111, No.2, January 19, 1978. Eastern Nigeria M.O.E. Lctter to the Members of the Select Committee. 28th April, 1961, No. IN: 964111182. Minutes of the Mecting on Onwu Committee. 13th September, 1961. Letter to all Principals and Headmasters. 25th June, 1962, No. IN: 9641/1372. Eastern Provinces. Education Office. Adult and Mass Education: Production of Literature. DDE 3705. Mined 6111123. NAB Adult and Mass Education: Production of Literature. DDE 964 1. NAE. Eastern Region. Adult Education Office. Lettcr for a Representative Meeting on Orthography. 2nd August, 1952, No. EREXCO 19005/2Ul. Minutes of the Select Committee Meeting. 25th August, 1953. , Minutes of the Selcct Committee Meeting. 28th November, 1953. Letter to Members of the Select Committee. 21st June, 1954, No. A.E.O. 163185. Lctter to Members of the Select Committee. 10th February, 1955, No. A.E.O. 1631109. Nigeria. CSO/26: A spccial List ol' Records on the Subject of Education. NAI. (Education Colony and Southern Provinces) Ordinances No. 15 of 1926. NAI. The Nigeria Gazctte. vol. xii, No. 1, Janutary 1, 1925. NAE. The Nigeria Gazettee. Vol. xiv, No. 24, May 5, 1927. NAE. , Fed. Ministry of Education. k~tionaiPolicy on Bducatlon. 19g I. wmbvinceg. M.O.E. 'Native Language Exmi~tions, 1948-1953.' IE 242. NAE. Appendix I A table showing wine titles of Igbo Literature on Igbo translations

Translator/Antlt.r Printer hblisber . E DrPueke, JA. GaskiyaZaria 1950 EducationDept 3E Durueke, J.A. IfeOlu, Lagos 1947 . II 4E Adrariv~,K. I .I C 5 + 4 5E Duwlet 6E Ackirrivu n w w

8E T.F. LPtrey & &is I m(au-) n I w 9EhmKk w 1948 w 10E Achinivri CMS Niger Res, P.H.1943 0 11E AdriRivu IfeOtu 1948 w 12E Ekoehe w 1947 w 13E Aichara, DN. I 1948 w 14E w~a KMJ w KiE S.C ~~ -1 CMS 1950 w 17E A.Epelk&M Philip,son& 0 (-1 (-1- CL Name d kdt Translator/Author Printer Publisher 15 Wa)iplonl~~a+nq 18EVa.Dept.+ P - t .< Mrrivu@uthor) Gakiya 195 1 16 ' 1% kdnlt Education Ife-Olu 19% Native Admin. -, Okigwe Okigwe 17 Ng-Ugbq 20E Co-operative Gaskiya 1952 Education Dept. Dept+ Achinivu 18 M&@ ugw~ 21E J.O. Imganchi n Marketing Ed. 1951 Enugu and Education Dept. 19 Ri-&Niru si bido n4AgbajaUdi ?- CMS n.d. Education Dept 20 lknarlknar-N1ime~gwpfta 2E ? Ife-Oh n.d. n 21 ~~Vol.1,No.l Durueke ? n 1947. 22 --I* Quarterly Magazine P.R.O. Enugu Gaskiya from 1951 n 23 m: Akw&wp Ogugu nke Abp E Dere n'Okwu Igbo n'ihi mmyta n4Okenye by L. A. Amadi, 1955 *AMthhrvlerewritten in theAfricadmgqhy. $owce: NAE, Mass Education: Production of Lit. 1E (P) 23 Vol V Appendix I1 Joint Examinith for SC/GCE (WA subje - - 7 No. tha No. tes ob :h grad eaeeaed -that sat -5 -7 20 18 4 % 20.0 11954 11,491 1,134 1,983 % 737 - 703 50 140 % 6.8 19.0 7948 6,75 1 311 2,646 % 3.9 33.3 10204 6,701 694 1,544 46 6.8 15.1 374 266 26 79 % 6.9 21.1 17,076 16,087 324 4,69 1 % 2.0 29.2 30,538 28,742 1,600 533 1 Q 5.6 18.3 w,.5.599 291 -986 - Q -5.7 -17.6

A 'Azy Nd$, viii, 34.44.79 Aba Confcrence, 70-7 I Aboh, 29, 33 B Abraham, R.C., 75 Basdcn, G.T. (Rev), 2.22, 8Q Achara, D.N., 133 Bassa Script, 16 Achck C., 51, 55, 77 Bell-Gam, L., 81 Achinivu, K., 80, 103, 133, Bini, 4 134 Bonny, 35, 39. 45, 46 Adams, F.R.G., 62, 64, 66- 67, 68, 76, 80, 110 C Adult and Mass Education, Catholic Mission, 74 66, 74, 81, 84, 134 Catholic Missionarics, 48 Afigbo, A.E., 17, 22, 24, Carpenter, A.J., 81 120, 124-125 Central' Dialcct, 95 -67, 68, 'Africa' Orthography/Script, 78, 79, 123 61, 62, 76, 79, 82 Central Dialcct and Ahamba, S.A., 79, 80, 103, Orthography 118 Controversy, 65-76 AICE vii, 108, 109 Ccnlral Igbo, Scc Cenlraj Akvkq Ala Obosi, 49 Dialect Akwykwp Qgugu Ibo, 44 54, Central Igbo Period, 65 82, 7 9 12 1 Ajayi, J.F.A, 12, 23, 50 Charlotte Villagc, 2 X Ala Bingo, 80 ' Christian mission:^^ IPS, 25- Almanac and Calendars 51, 56, 101, l"1 Committee, 91 Clark, E.D.C, (Rcv), 87 Amadi, L.A., 134 Clarke, J., 29, 30 An Elementary Grammar of CMS, 28, 31, 32, '$4, 38, 39, the Ibo Language, 37. 44, 45, 46, b0, 68, 69, 49 70; 74, 76, 79 An Investigation Into the Code 1882, See Education New Igbo Orthography, Ordinance 1 882 8 5 Colonial Olficc, 57, 58, SO, Anambra Valley, 4 61 79, 122 Anthvopolo lcal Report on Cornpromiso lybo, 43 the 1! o - Speaking Counpromtse Orthogr ~hy, Pcoplc,~of Nlprla, 49 73 Anyogu, J,C. (Bishop), 88 Cross River Basir: 1 ,a archacolo iciil finds, 4 Crowtt~er,S.A. .1iti(11, 25, Asquilh 8ommission, 124 28, 30, 3 I 11-35, Awoniyi, T.A., 23, 82, 126 37.41, 52.53, rrr, 121 Cultural Affairs Committee, - English- - Ibo and French Dictionary, 48 Enugu Conference, 68-69 D Equiano, Olaudah, 3, 28, 52 Daryell, E., 14, 15, 17, 18 Esperanto, 25. 50 Dennis Memorial Grammar Erinne, D.C., 73, 88 School, Onitsha. 87. 88, 102 F Dennis, T.J. (Archd.), 37, 43, Fafunwa, A. B. 82 44-48, 49 Fernando Po, 27. 29 diacritic marks. 63 Field Secretary, 95 Dumeke, J. A,, 133, 134 Financc Committee, 89 Duruoshimerc. Nwakuna First School Leaving S.I., xi, 85, 118 Certificate, 92, 101: 102. 125 E folklore, 9-10, 42, 45, 78, 81, Early Missionary Period, 33- 8 0 4 3 Fourah Bay Institute, 33, 42 Early Missionary Pcriod: Freetown, 25, 27, 29, 30-31, dccline of, 38-4 1 32, 121 Eastern NigcriaIRcgion, 62, 70 71.79, 84, 109, 131 G Eastern Outlook and Ganot, A. (Rev. Fr.). 48.54 Cameroons Star, 72 GCE, 66, 102, 110 111, 112, Educ;ltion Ordinancc 1882. 135 Govcrnmcnt College, Umuahia, 7 Education Ordinance 1926. Gradc Two Tcachcrs 39-62, 82. 101 Certificatc, 117, 125 Education Ordinancc 1926: Grade Two Teachcrs Consequcnccs, 6 1-62 Collcge, 102, 103 Elik, 2. 26. 58, 61 grants-in-aid, 56 Egbu, 46-47 Grcen, M.M., 65, 70, 81. 84 Ekechi, F.K.. 53 Govcrnmcni Collcge, Ekoi, 4 Umuahia, 7 Elelia na Ihe 0 Mere. 80 guidance and counselling, Elliot Commission, 124 11-12

90,99,'103, 1,18,125 . Flair, P.E.H.,38, 51, 52, 53, Emcn onu, E.N., 31,52, 55, 120, 125 r21, 125 I-ltlusa, x, 2, 21). 20, 30, 58, 60, 61, 110, 135-137 History or Education in Igbo traditional Nigcria, 8 education 9- 19 Holy Ghqat Fathers, 126 Igbo: institutions of higher Hope Waddel Training learning, 103- 109 Institute, Calabar, 14 Igbo: primayy school level, 101-102 I Igbo: public examinalions Ibiam, Akanu (Ezeogo system, 109-110 Uwana), 55, 58 Igbo: secondary school and Ibibio, 2,4, 27 Grade II Teachers Ibo Dialect and the levcls, 162- I Q3, 135- Developnlent of a 137 Common Language, 66, Igbo Ukwu, 4 6 7 Ijaw, 4 Ifc Expcrimenl, 116, 119 ije Odumodu .It re, 8 1 Igala, 4, 7, 34 Ilogu, E. (Cann:,),3, 24 Igbebc, 33 industrial cduc;lLion. 50 Igbo: origin, 2-7, 15 lntcrnational Inslitutc of lgbo Biblc, 46 African I-.in~:uagespnd Igbo Culturc, 9-19 Culturcs, ..n,bl, 79, 83 Igbo Culturc Area, 6-7 Iroaganachi, .I Ci (Rev), viii, Igbo dictionary, 28, 45, 48, x, 103, 11'7, 134 75, 89, 96 Isichci, E, 3, 2? '"1,24 Igbo Languagc, viii, ix, xi, 8- Isoama-lbo l"i,!vw-,31, 32 9, 13, 25-51, 44, 101- 34, 35 44 J!) 119, 121 Isuama: a del~c'iion,25 Igbo Language: Problcms, Isuama dialc.!:~ viil, 25 38, 112~116 46, 78 Igbo 'Languagc: Prospects, lsuama Period, .25-43, 44, 116-117 51. 78. 121 Igbo Language Isuama . Sludics, 27-43, 44, Translation Commitlce, 47, 56 45,47 Isuama Studics: Assessment, Igbo Literature, 29, 33, 4 1-43 50, 58, 68, 73, 78-82, Iwekanuno, Isaac (Obi), 49, 86, 111, 133-134 54,96 Igbome~rlui,94 Igbo National Dross J Commiuce, 90-91 JAMB, 112, 118 Igbo Newslcttcr, 90 Jewish origin, 3-4 Igbo News Sheet, 81 - JSS, 110 lgbo Studies, x, 25,' 27, '29, 31,43, 87, 102, 109 K Northcote W. Thomas, 49, Kilham, H. (Mrs), 28,52 " -54 Koellc, S.W., 30, 32 Nsibidi Script, 14-22 Nsukka escarpment, 6 L Nwadike, I.U., i, ii, viii, xi, Latcr Missionary Period, 44- 84, 86, 118, 125 51 London, 3, 34, 35, 61, 79 0 Oberi Okaime Script, 16 M Ogbalu, F.C. (Chief), iv, Macgregbr, J.K. (Rev.) 14, 53, 54, 74, 77, 81, $"3: 15, 16, 17, 24 85, 87, 88, 92, 93, 97, Mary Nnr? Jesu, 79 99, 126 Maxwell, T.D., 14 Ogene, 113, 118 Mba, Isaac Okechukwu Oku Ibo, 42 (Catechist), 38, 40, 54 Oldendorp, O.C.A. (Rev), Meir, P., 48 26-27 Mcmorialisls, 57, 122 Omenvk~,50,55,79, 80 metalanguage, 94 Onitsha, 25, 27, 31, 32, 33, Methodist ~oll@ge,Uzoakoli, 35, 39, 45, 46, 47, 49, 102 51, 65,78 Methodist Mission, 64, 68, Onitsha Conference, 67-68 79 Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, 69 N Onitsha Studics, 32-35 National Policy on Onwu, S.E., 71.74, 88 Educution, 105, 132 Onwu Committee, 71-73, 92 Ndg( Dinwenu AnyC, 79 .Onwu Committee: Nghqta Enuuwa, 114, 118 rcconvention of. 74-76 Niger - Congo family, 8 Onwu Orthography, .35, 71- Niger Expedition, 28-29, 30- 76, 77 31, 32 Onwu Orthography: Nigw Mission, 32-42,44, 58 approval of, 74 Nigeria - Biafra War, 91, 98 Onwucjeogwu, M.A., 6.23 Nigeria Certificate in Oraka, L.N., 83, 100 Education, 107, 108 Onhographic Reform: First, Nigeria Education Research 62-65 and Development Orthography Controversy. Courlr il (NERDC), 94, 56-78, 102, 112-113 115 Orthography Controversy: Nigerian Spokesman, The, evalualion of, 76-78 8 7 Orthography Meetings: rcsumcd, 69-72 -- Orthography: reactions to, School of Oriental and 73-74 African Studies, x, 74, Oruchalu, S.U., 160 79, 103, 109, 110 Outlook, 73 sccrct societies, 13. 17 Owcrri Selcct Committec Scnior Cambridge Mcetings. 7 1-72 Examinations, 102 , Senior Secondary School. P 102, 110, 111 Pcpplc, William (King), 34 Shanahan, Joseph (Bishop), Phelps - Stokes Fund, 59, 82, 122 123 Sierra Lconc Studies, 27-32 physical training, 11 Sicrra Lconc, viii,'25, 29, 30- Pilgrim's Progress. 79 31, 32, 33, 101, 121 Pita Nwana, 50, 55, 80 Simon Jonas (Catechist) 30. Polyglottu Africanu, 30 31, 32, 33 post graduate programmcs, slave tradc, 7, 26, 27 ' 107 socialization, 10 Prcsb'ytcrian Mission, 41 socio-political education, 11 Protestant Mission, 64 Solaru, T.T. (Rev.), 77 Publications and Publishing Spclling Committce. 90 /Editorial Committcc, SPILC, X, 62.73, 82, 87-100, 9 0 114, 116, 124 SPILC:'objcctivcs, 88-89 Q SPILC: modc of work, 89-91 Quinn Young, C.T., 68 SPILC: achicvcmcnts, 9 1497 SPILC: problems, 97-98 R SPILC: assessment of, 98-99 RCM, 44,64,68,69,79 St. Augustinc's Grammar rcfresher courscs, 95 School, Nkwcrrc, 87 rcsumcd orthography Standard Alphabet, 32, 35. mcctings, 69-73 4 7 Romaine (Mr.), 34 Standardizcilion Committee, Rornan Script, I 8 89-90. 91, 94, 114 Royal Asiatic Socicty, 28 Standard dialcct, 25 Standard lgbo 65, 69, 91, 116, 124 Sandwich progrirmmcs, 106, Standard Igbo: evolution, 91 1 07 SLi~ndardIgbo Pcriod, 91 -99, Scttbn, J.F. (Rcv.), 28-29, 30, 12 1 31, 37, 41, 42, 53, 121, Stonc Agc, 6 . 122 , Sunday Schools, 49-50 Sunlcr, Mctcalfc (Rcv.), 57 T uzoakoli, 79 taboos, 11 Uzoma, R.I., 70 Tayldr, J.C. (Rev). 33, 34, 35, 36, 37,40,42 v language, 8 Vai Script, 17 'hahslalion Bureau, 64, 79, Venn, Henry (Rev), 34 123 Vocabulary of the Ibo Language, 37 u voluntary agency, 56-57 Ubatiakwe, E., 115, 116, 119, 124 Ifchendu, V.C., 3, 22,23 WAEC, 93, 102, 103, 111, Udoka, 113, 118 115, 118, 135, 137 UlhuaHia Conference, 66-67 Ward, Ida C., 2, 22, 45, 50, Umbleri Script, 16 62, 65, 66, 67, 71, 76, undetgraduate programmes, 80, 83 f 06 Waziri, Ibrahim (Alhaji), 95 Union Hymrtal, 45,48 West African Colonies, 56, Unibn Igbo: a definition, 45 5 7 Union lgbo Bible, viii, 45, West African School 47, 48 Certificate, 110, 102, Union lgbo dialect, 44, 45- 111. 117. 125 51, 65, 78, 123 West ~frhanPilot, 68 Union Igbo: assessment of, Westermann, 61,62 50-5 1 West Indies, 26,29, 121 Union Igbo Period, 44-51, 121 bnion Reader, 45,48 I~dversity of Cambridge Local Examinations Syrldicate, 102 Yoruba, x, 2, 28, 30, 33, 40, Jnivcrsity of Ibadan, 104, 41, 43, 58, 60, 61, 64, 124 78, 110, 135-137 t irrivcrsity of Lggos, 104 t ;ntvcrsily or London, 103 z l)nlvcrsity of Nigeria, 6, 89, Zappa, P.C (Rev. Fr.) 48.54 03, 104, 107, 116