By Dr Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth
The Okun Nation is a mini Yoruba Nation comprising of the Owe, Yagba, Ijumu, Bunu and Oworo Yoruba Sub-groups who speak the Okun Yoruba Dialect.The Okun people yoruba descendants presently spread across six Local Government Areas of Kogi State. These are Kabba-Bunu, Yagba-West, Yagba- East, Mopa-Muro, Ìjùmú and Lokoja Local Government Areas. The Okun people have kiths and kins in Kwara, Ondo and Ekiti States, The people, like the Ekitis, are a fountain of knowledge producing the highest graduates, Phd holders and professors in Nigeria.The Okun dialects which comprise Owé, Ìyàgbà, Ìjùmú, Bùnú and Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀ are spoken in the southern axis of Kogi State The dialects are distinguishable
as individual dialects but they are
mutually intelligible to an extent.
Mutual intelligibility is a test used by
linguists to decide whether two
linguistic communities speak different
languages or different dialects of the
same language (Steinberg, 1999).
A classification of the dialects according to their structural characteristics is
carried out in this study. This study is
divided into various sections
accordingly.
The Okun People
Owé, Ìyàgbà, Ìjùmú, Bùnú and Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀
peoples are referred to as the Okun
people. Okun, which is a form of
greeting, has become the common
identity of the people who largely share some history and linguistic affinity. The people are believed to have migrated from Ile-Ife. According to Otitoju (2002:3) ‘Okun confederation has always been referred to as a collection
of different units who lived
independent of each other with its own social organization though with
bonding similarities.’ In effect, each of
these peoples has a separate history of origin and each group has its particular experiences.
Okun is a dialect of Yorùbá with its own peculiar features. The Okun people understand each other with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility The Nupe wars of the 19th century left an indelible mark on the Okun people and dialects.The interaction with the Hausa especially because of the geopolitical
zone the people have found
themselves has an impact on the
dialects.
The Owé People and Dialect
According to oral tradition, the Owé
people originated from Ile-Ife. Owé
refers to both the people and their
dialect. According to oral tradition, it is
believed that the progenitors of the
Owé people namely; Aro, Reka and
Balaja together with their families left
Ilé-Ifẹ̀ to settle north-wards as a result
of unavailability of farm land. They
found three separate settlemens.
According to Baiyere (1999:3), ‘the
three separate settlements grew until
they merged into one single town,
Kabba, comprising three clans called
Katu, Odolu and Kabba. The Owé
people can also be found in
neighbouring villages like Òtù-Egunbe,
Gbélékò, Kákun, Ẹgbẹ́dá, Òkèdayò,
Apánga etc. The Owé speaking
community is linguistically
homogeneous. The Owé people are
surrounded by the Bunu, Ijumu and
Ebira peoples of Kogi State.
The Ìyàgbà People and Dialect
It is difficult to say precisely which of
the numerous historical towns in
Yoruba land the Iyagbas came from.
The most widely held belief is that they descended from a certain princess known as Iya-agba (old woman) who migrated from Ile-Ife because of the overpopulation there resulting from insufficient land for farming. This woman settled in Akata-Ere. Ìyàgbà is derived from Ìyá-àgbà. The Yagbas are today found in three adjoining Local Government Areas namely Yagba-East, Yagba-West and Mopa-Muro. Towns and villages in Yagba land include Egbe, Isanlu, Mopa, Efo-Amuro, Odo-Ere, Odo-Eri, Ponyan, Ejiba, Oranre,
Ejuku, etc.
The Ìjùmú People and Dialect
The Ìjùmú people, unlike the other
groups who regard themselves as one
and have one history of descent, are
from different towns and villages with
different historical backgrounds. The
term Ìjùmú is an ancient name chosen for a modern administrative unit referred to as Ìjùmú Native Authority which was founded in 1937. Today,that same administrative unit is called Ìjùmú Local Government Area.
About twenty-four towns and villages
speak Ijumu dialect. Some of these
towns are Ife, Ighara, Ogidi, Egbeda-
Ega, Iyamoye, Aduge, Iyah-Gbede and
Okoro-gbede.The Bùnú People and Dialect Bùnú people also migrated from Ile-Ife.It is believed that Ọllẹ Bunu who is the
first settler in Bunuland is a direct
descendant of Oduduwa (Otitoju,
2002:54). He was believed to have left
Ile-Ife in annoyance because of the
misunderstanding with his younger
brother. The Abinu people (Bùnú) are
made up of Kiri, Akumẹrindinlogun,
Okemẹta and Okemẹsan groups. They
are the second group that makes up
Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area.
Some of the villages that make up
Bunuland are Ọllẹ, Akutupa, Okebukun,
Apaa-Bunu, Agbẹdẹ-Bunu, Odo-Apẹ,
Ayede-Ọpa, Aghara-Bunu, etc.
The Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀ Dialect and People
The foundation of Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀ is traceable to
two great hunter brothers who left Ile-
Ife, a Yoruba town to hunt for food. One brother according to history, settled at Ọwọ mi rọ, coined Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀. It is spoken in the North-West of Lokoja in Kogi State, Nigeria. Ọwọrọ is located on a mountainous terrain above thirty-six(36) kilometers to the North-West of Lokoja, the Kogi State capital. Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀ spreads across sixteen (16)communities in Lokoja Local
Government Area of Kogi State These
communities include the following
towns and villages: Agbaja, Emu,
Tajimu, Jakura, Otube, Owara, Igbo-nla,Filele, Ijiho, Akpomo-ba, Obajana,
Akpata, Osokosoko, Banda, Karara and Ogbagbon. Agbaja is the largest Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀ speaking community, hence, it may be said to be the representative of Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀.The major occupation of the Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀s is farming and hunting. However,villages like Filele, Owara, and Banda are surrounded with rivers and as such they do a lot of fishing. Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀ represents one of the many Yoruba set ups in Nigeria. By this set up and physical location, the Ọ̀wọ́rọ̀s form a transitional belt between the north and the south of the country, and a notable link between Northerners and Southerners.
Dr Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages,
University of Ilorin, Ilorin
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