Yoruba language
Yoruba (US: /ˈjɒrəbə/ YORR-əb-ə, UK: /ˈjɒrʊbə/ YORR-uub-ə; Yor. Èdè Yorùbá, IPA: [jōrùbá]; Ajami: عِدعِ يوْرُبا) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 44 million, plus about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
| Yoruba | |
|---|---|
| Èdè Yorùbá | |
| Native to | Benin · Nigeria · Togo |
| Region | Yorubaland |
| Ethnicity | Yoruba |
Native speakers | L1: 44 million (2020) L2: 2.0 million (no date) |
Early form | |
| Latin (Nigerian Yoruba alphabet, Beninese Yoruba alphabet) Yoruba Braille Arabic script (Ajami) Oduduwa script | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Nigeria |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | yo |
| ISO 639-2 | yor |
| ISO 639-3 | yor |
| Glottolog | yoru1245 |
| Linguasphere | 98-AAA-a |
| People | Ọmọ Yorùbá |
|---|---|
| Language | Èdè Yorùbá |
| Country | Ilẹ̀ Yorùbá |
Yoruba vocabulary is also used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomblé, in the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language and in various Afro-American religions of North America. Most modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas do not actually speak or understand the Yoruba language, rather they use Yoruba words and phrases for songs that for them are incomprehensible. Usage of a lexicon of Yoruba words and short phrases during ritual is also common, but they have gone through changes due to the fact that Yoruba is no longer a vernacular for them and fluency is not required.
As the principal Yoruboid language, Yoruba is most closely related to the languages Itsekiri (spoken in the Niger Delta), and Igala (spoken in central Nigeria).