The Yoruba Nationalist Movements, Ethnic Politics and Violence: A ...

Many arguments have been provided for the creation of the Yoruba as a nation, but it is still
doubtful if the Yoruba community in South-western Nigeria can fit into the context of a
nation yet. It could be said rather that the Yoruba people in Nigeria are a cultural group that
has over the years, especially when the conceived and perceived sense of marginalization is
high, imagined themselve as a nation. Since the people are not entirely culturally
homogenous, it is doubtful if certain elements of a nation exist among them. The Yoruba are
made up of about 23 sub-groups which use about eight distinct versions (dialects) of Yoruba
languages that are not entirely mutually intelligible. While these dialects are often referred to
as the Yoruba dialects, some of them that are really mutually intelligible may be referred to as
different languages. While it is agreed that all of them belong to the same language group –
Kwa division of Niger-Kordofanian-- some of them like Igbomina, Oyo, Egba, Ilorin, Ibolo;
Ijebu and Remo among others that have higher degree of mutual intelligibility may be
regarded as dialects. But some others such as Ijesha, Owo, Ondo, Ilaje, Awori among others
that are not mutually intelligible may not be regarded as dialects 16 . The eight distinct
languages used in the Yoruba territory are:
1. Oyo with Igbomina, Egba, Ilorin, O’kun and Oke-ogun derivations, mostly used in the
North, West, East and Central regions;
2. Ife spoken in the Central region;
3. Ijesa spoken in the Central-eastern region;
4. Ilaje with Ikale, mostly used in the South-eastern region;
5. Ondo with Akoko and Owo derivations spoken in the Eastern regions;
6. Ekiti spoken in the East-western region;
7. Ijebu spoken in the East-southern region;
8. Egun with Awori derivation spoken in the Southern region.
Each of these language groups remains largely incomprehensible to the other, suggesting the
absence of mutual intelligibility.
On a similar note, it is improbable that the different ethnic sub-groups in the Yoruba
land share the same ancestry, although as the creation of a nation became necessary as a
16
This position is subject to further linguistic analysis.
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