Yoruba Language Research Articles

Investigating multilingual contexts in the Nigerian advertising space: A domain of intellectual stimulation

This study examined advertising, exhibiting multilingual structures to reach the Nigerian audience. Halliday’s mood system and morphological processes served as the theoretical configurations for analyzing textual elements of advertisements. These contextual terminologies permitted quantitative and qualitative approaches to thrive in order to culminate the investigation. Thus, the analysis showed political motifs, religious spheres, royal domains, musical settings, and friendship environment, as the fascinating panaceas to motivate readers. English, Yoruba, and Hausa languages were functional facilities to mesmerize consumers. However, the advertisements displayed textual interruptions: FEBUHARI, FELABRATION, OBIdiently, and ATIKUlating, being strong prerequisites in persuasive designs. Creativity indicates the logically-minded behavior of publicists in blending grammatical structures of different languages together, yielding a unified whole, generating novel semantic values for regurgitation. It seems indisputable that such textual constructs have the capability to influence lexicographers, increase word-stock(s) of languages, and projecting the advertising industry as possessing cerebral proficiency in linguistics’ advancement.

Factors Influencing Contraceptive Use Among Rural Women in Ijero – Local Government Area of Ekiti - State, Nigeria

This study was designed to essentially determine the relationship between socio-demographic factors and contraceptive use. This was with the view of identifying existing barriers to contraceptive use in the county. The study adopted a community-based, descriptive cross-sectional study. The target population was women of reproductive age, 15 to 49 years living in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State. Using the sample size calculation formula, a sample of 250 women was randomly selected for the study. Data was collected using questionnaires translated and back-translated between the English and the local Yoruba language. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20 to generate descriptive and inferential statistics such as contingency tables and bar charts. Chi square was used to find relationship between non parametric variables by testing for association at 5% (p=0, 05) level of significance. Key findings of the study reveals that respondents were young adults and largely in their reproductive age span, more than three-quarters were Christian, more than two-fifths have secondary school education; 76.8% of the sample were working; nine out of every ten women have heard about contraceptives, many respondents have used at least one type of conceptive method, Injections method was the most popular conceptive method among the respondents, and more than 30.4% of the respondents heard about contraceptives through television. Results further show that: women have considerable knowledge on different aspects of the modern contraceptives, 89.6% of women were of the view that modern contraceptive prevents unwanted pregnancy; 39.2% perceived modern contraceptive as something that can boost husband fidelity (39.2%); the most common negative effect of modern contraceptives reported is irregular menstruation among the users; and women in the study area have used injections (22%) and condoms (20.8%) more than any other modern contraceptive methods.

Evaluation of the Implementation of the Universal Basic Education Yoruba Language Curriculum in South Western Nigeria

The study evaluated the implementation of the Universal Basic Education Yoruba Language Curriculum in South Western States of Nigeria. The purpose is to determine the extent of the coverage of the Curriculum. It is also meant to determine whether the objectives of the Yoruba Language Curriculum are achieved. Also, it is meant to ascertain the attitude of the students towards the learning of Yoruba Language. The study is a descriptive research of the survey design. The population consists of all students and teachers that are teaching Yoruba Language in all upper Basic Schools in South Western Nigeria. A sample of 1500 respondents which consists of 1200 students and 300 teachers that are teaching Yoruba Language in upper Basic Schools was selected through the use of multistage sampling techniques. Three (3) Research questions and (2) Two Hypotheses were used and tested at 0.5 level of significance. Four instruments were used to elicit information. They are, Teachers’ Questionnaire on implementation of the Universal Basic Education Yoruba Language Curriculum, Questionnaire on students’ attitude towards learning of Yoruba language and Students achievement test. The students’ class notes were also used to know the extent of the work done. The data generated were subjected to descriptive analysis and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that, there was a low positive relationship between the Universal Basic Education Yoruba Language Curriculum and its implementation.

Development of a Machine Translation System for Date Referencing in Yoruba Language

Development of a Machine Translation System for Date Referencing in Yoruba Language

Adoption of Electronic Techniques in Teaching English-Yoruba Bilingual Youths the Semantic Expansion and Etymology of Yoruba Words and Statements

Yoruba is one of the Nigeria’s four hundred languages linguistically threatened with extinction considering the language attitude of its native speakers especially the youths. The youths’ flair for English is making them lose interest in the use of Yoruba. This study was designed to introduce and teach the Yoruba youths the origin of some Yoruba words and statements using electronic devices like video tape recorder, phones, and power points presentation. Twenty Yoruba words, phrases, clauses, and statements were dramatized, recorded in CDrom and practically demonstrated in the classroom setting. We elicited our data through various Yoruba discourses with their historical origin traced to past happenings. The major sources of data collection for this study include records of discourses in Yoruba, waxed musical records and conversations among Yoruba natives especially in Urban areas in Nigeria. Twenty of the collated words, phrases, clauses and statement were also linguistically analyzed. The study encourages the use of electronic gadgets in teaching Yoruba. It is also a valuable attempt among others in saving Yoruba language from going to extinction as a result of its native youth speakers’ lack of interest and knowledge of the origin of many of its words, clauses, phrases, statements and usage.

A Case for Nominalised Focus in Yorùbá

This article examines the syntactic and semantic components of the nominalised elements in Yoruba focus construction. It is motivated by the observation that previous scholars on focus construction in the Yoru bá language have regarded the nominalised version of the Yoru bá verbs as “verbal focus”. However, my knowledge as a native speaker of Yoruba language and a scholar of linguistics suggests that there is an error in this conclusion. With this doubt on the analysis, I set out to comprehensively examine the categorial status of the nominalised constituents in a Yoruba focus construction to resolve the evident dual word categories (noun and verb) associated with a nominalised element in Yoruba. The study adopts the Principles and Parameters Framework to explore an alternative analysis of the focus construction in the Yoru bá language. The analysis, along this framework, shows that the focus in the Yoruba focus construction is on nominal elements rather than verbs as earlier established. Consequently, the paper recommends a change of the nomenclature of the elements from “verbal focus” to “nominalised focus. ” The change will ensure the perfect description of a situation where a nominalised constituent is focused.

Language Borrowing between Arabic and Yoruba Language

Arabic Language is characterized by a great deal of influence that has made a profound impact on the rest of the world's languages, whether socially, culturally, religiously or economically. This language is specific to the Holy Quran, which has a higher constitution that Muslim takes from the laws of religion. Islam does not solve a place except it takes with language of its Arabic provisions. This article sheds light on some of the words borrowed by Yorba from Arabic in its various forms, of which there is no change in the image of pronunciation and what has undergone some change and distortion. The approach envisaged in this article is inductive, thus contributing in one way or another to supporting some scientific and historical facts in this area of borrowing. The results of this article is that language of the world is estimated relative to the world's speakers by 6.6% and the largest languages that borrow some others words in the corridors of life. Yorba, the language of southern Nigeria, and one of the three most famous tribal languages (Hausa, Yorba, Ibo) and which also has many of the speakers borrows many from Arabic.

A contrastive analysis of language, culture and meaning in the Yoruba and English languages: a modern approach and new perspective

Some a spects of language use and cultural practices across the English and Yoruba languages are contrastively discussed. These include patterns and forms of greetings determined by spatio-temporal circumstances such as greetings and naming traditions, among other norms, to ascertain the aspects in which the two languages are alike and in which they differ. Illustrations are provided and differential descriptions offered through interlingual comparison. It was discovered that effective teaching and learning of a language will necessarily have to go beyond the boundary of symbols and language code to a fair knowledge of non-linguistic aspects of language. The paper concludes that learning a target language will be greatly enhanced and yield valuable results in terms of competence, proficiency, and most importantly, language pedagogy if the language and culture of the first and target languages are simultaneously studied.

Effects of English and Yoruba interpreted biology picture label as an advanced organiser on students’ learning outcomes in senior secondary schools in Ife East local government area

The study assessed the effect of English and Yoruba interpreted biology picture labels as an advance organiser on the achievement of senior secondary school biology students in Ile-Ife. It also investigated the effect of the labels on students’ attitude toward biology. The study adopted the non-equivalent pre-test-post-test control group research design. The population for the study consisted of senior secondary school students in Ife-East Local Government Area of Osun state. The study sample comprised 128 senior secondary school II biology students in three intact classes selected using simple random sampling technique. The three classes were randomly assigned to two experimental and one control group, namely: Picture labels in English advance organiser group, picture labels interpreted into Yoruba advance organiser group and the conventional teaching method group. Two research instruments were used for the study, namely: Students’ achievement test in biology and students’ attitudinal questionnaire. Data were analysed using analysis of covariance. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant effect in the achievement of students in the experimental and control groups. There was also a significant effect in the attitude of students in experimental and control groups, with Yoruba interpreted picture labels having a better effect on the learning outcomes of biology students than picture labels in English and the conventional teaching method. The study concluded that picture labels interpreted into Yoruba as advance organiser was a better strategy in improving students’ learning outcomes in biology.Keywords: Achievement; advance organiser; attitude; picture; Yoruba language

Translating the Hebrew Name יהוה into the Yoruba language of Nigeria in the Yoruba Bible

Scholars are not unanimous about the correct pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, YHWH. The exact origin and meaning of the name have also been a subject of debate among scholars. Since translation is also interpretation, no one can give a correct translation of any word without knowing the actual meaning. While the Septuagint (LXX) translates the Hebrew word יהוה into Kurios, an English translation (New Revised Standard Version – NRSV) translates it as LORD. The translation of יהוה into the Yoruba language in the Yoruba Bible is Oluwa which I consider unacceptable. The purpose of this article is to propose the translation of the Hebrew יהוה to the most appropriate Yoruba name for the supreme God ( Olodumare instead of Oluwa ) which cannot be misunderstood by any Yoruba reader.

Translation, cultural adaptation, and psychometric testing of the Yoruba version of Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire in patients with low-back pain

Purpose To translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire into Yoruba language. Materials and Methods Translation and cultural adaptation of the Yoruba version of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire was carried out following the Guillemin criteria. One hundred and thirty-one individuals with chronic low-back pain participated in the psychometric evaluation of the Yoruba language translation. Cronbach’s alpha (α), principal component analysis, intra-class correlation, Bland–Altman analysis, Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and minimal detectable difference were used for the analysis. Alpha level was set at p < 0.05. Results and Conclusion The mean age of the respondents was 53.6 ± 11.6 years. The internal consistency of the Yoruba language version of the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.9. Principal component analysis yielded a three-factor structure including the “work”, “beliefs related to work”, and “physical activity” which accounted for 61.6% of variance in the Yoruba translation. Test–retest reliability of the Yoruba translation yielded an Intra class correlation coefficient 0.97 (0.95–0.98). The Yoruba Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire was poorly correlated with the Visual Analog Scale (r = 0.01) and Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (r = 0.3). The minimal detectable difference of the Yoruba translation was 7.0. The Yoruba Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire demonstrated excellent psychometric properties similar to existing versions and is appropriate for clinical use among Yoruba-speaking patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire is a culturally sensitive psychosocial outcome measure, necessitating its existence, and adaptation into different languages. The instrument was translated and culturally adapted into the Yoruba language following the Guillemin criteria. The Yoruba translation demonstrated excellent internal consistency, test–retest reliability and weak correlations with the Visual analog scale and Roland–Morris Disability Scale. The Yoruba version of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire can be used to assess fear-avoidance beliefs among Yoruba speaking patients with low-back pain.

Effectiveness of the Use of Indigenous Language in Disseminating Climate Change Information for Sustainable Environmental Development in Nigeria

Climate change has undoubtedly brought with it many seemingly intractable challenges and is already having significant impacts in Nigeria, and these impacts are expected to increase in the future. Rural dwellers environmental behaviour is not all that positive, because the language used in disseminating environmental issues, is mostly English and not the indigenous language. Information disseminated in English Language in most cases is not easily comprehended, because most of the rural dwellers are not literate in it. The instrument used is a self-constructed test. The study adopted the quasi experimental method. Purposeful sample was used to select two groups, with twenty people in each group. The two groups were taught the causes and effects of climate change, one group was taught using English Language and the other group using Yoruba. A test was administered to each group to determine their level of comprehension. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation. Yoruba group are more in-depth in their knowledge of climate change than English group. The use of mother tongue is germane in the dissemination of information regarding environmental sustainability, however climate change messages will be most effective if there is mix of English Language and Yoruba Language as there is no segment of the society that will be left out. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3376478

METHODS OF QUESTIONING IN ARABIC AND YORUBA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY/ أساليب الاستفهام في العربية ويوربا: دراسة تقابلية

&lt;p&gt;Interrogative methods is a fundamental part of a language that is common in all human conversation and speeches in their corporate lives, comparative analysis between languages of the same origin and those of different sources have been carried out to fully identify the likely challenges that might be encountered by learners of linguistics and probable lasting solution to those problems, thus, the research aims to study the contrasting between the two languages with specific attempts at reviewing the interrogational methods and in a bid to draw on the differences. The methodology adopted is an analytical and contrastive method, and the major findings of the thesis include: (1) the interrogative methods in both languages are similar, and as such, the student will not encounter many challenges in the course of learning both languages. (2) There are significant differences in the use of the interrogational particles and adaptations in the studied languages. For instance, all of the interrogative elements of Arabic language are generally placed at the beginning of sentences while in the Yoruba language, it varies between the beginning and terminal positions; and (3) Arabic language possess the quality of being composed of the variable and fixed elements but the Yoruba language is mainly composed of fixed elements, and this can pose a big challenge to students.&lt;/p&gt;The study concluded that there are no such gaps in interrogative methods of both languages, except in some cases of fixed and non-fixed elements in Arabic, the study therefore, recommended that curriculum designers should consider areas of similarities and dissimilarities while designing curriculum in order to have suitable curriculum for students of Arabic among the Yoruba and the necessity that teachers should familiarize themselves with linguistic contrasts; which would enable them to perform their professional assignment and task in the easiest and most efficient.

Types and Functions of Interjections in Wole Soyinka�s Ala?pata? A?pa?ta and Yoruba Speech Community

Interjections are universal means of communication among human beings which pass across different emotions and information in different cultures and languages. However, while some are found in nearly all languages but with varied meanings and functions according to context, some are peculiar to specific languages and cultures. This work, therefore, investigates the functions and meanings of both universal interjections (specifically Oh and Ah) and the Yoruba language specific interjections found in Wole Soyinkas Ala?pata? A?pa?ta. The work also discusses two other significant Yoruba language specific interjections although they are not found in the analyzed text. The authors chose the text because it is replete with interjections Oh and Ah which carry various meanings and perform various functions (few of which have not been discussed in the literature) and also because it contains the Yoruba language specific interjections which probably have not been investigated in the literature, thereby contributing to knowledge.Keywords: universal interjections, Yoruba language specific interjections, Ala?pata?

Adaptation and translation of the menopause-specific Utian Quality of Life (UQOL) scale to Yoruba language using middle-aged women attending a clinic in Nigeria.

The main objective of the study is to translate and adapt the menopause-specific Utian Quality of Life (UQOL) scale to Yoruba, an indigenous Nigerian language, using middle-aged women attending a Family Medicine clinic in Nigeria. A total of 322 middle-aged Nigerian women at various menopausal stages were recruited for the study. Their menopausal status was categorized using the Monash Women's Health Program Menopausal Staging Algorithm into pre-, peri-, and postmenopausal groups. The UQOL Yoruba version (YUQOL), Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), and a semistructured sociodemographic questionnaire were interviewer-administered to the women. The collected data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21 software. The overall scale and the four subscales of YUQOL all had acceptable internal consistency scores; they also demonstrated good construct and criterion validities, except the YUQOL sexual subscale had poor convergent validity (average variance extracted = 0.23). This study has validated the YUQOL as a psychometrically sound research instrument for measuring menopause-specific QOL among women undergoing menopausal transition. Its sexual subscale would, however, need to be further tested, preferably in sexually active menopausal women to fully confirm its true psychometric property.

Investigating the Phonological Processes Involved When Yoruba Personal Names Are Anglicized

Personal names, in African context, are not arbitrary. They are like signposts that convey a wide range of invaluable information about the bearers. Also, they are like a &amp;lsquo;social DNA&amp;rsquo; that discloses the identity, family background, family history, family vocation and family deity of the bearer (Onadipe, 2012). Sadly however, studies, which are mostly sociolinguistic in perspective, abound to show that some of these given personal names are being anglicized among the younger generation of bearers (Soneye, 2008; Faleye &amp;amp; Adegoju, 2012; Raheem, 2013; Filani &amp;amp; Melefa, 2014). From the standpoint of socio-phonology and using Knobelauch&amp;rsquo;s (2008) Phonological Awareness as our theoretical framework, this paper investigates the phonological changes that Yoruba personal names undergo when they are anglicized; and their implication for the endangerment of Yoruba language. Perceptual and acoustic analyses of the data sourced from the written and verbalized (as well as recorded) anglicized names of 50 informants from a Nigerian University show &amp;ldquo;stress-shift&amp;rdquo; as the major prosodic strategy used by speakers to anglicize Yoruba personal names. Other phonological processes identified include re-syllabification, contraction, elision and substitution; but bearers are not overtly aware of these processes. Findings reveal further that though the &amp;ldquo;new names&amp;rdquo; are structurally more English than Yoruba, they are nevertheless pronounced with Yoruba tone by some bearers.

Text to Speech Synthesis System in Yoruba Language

Previous and existing studies convert texts to speech (English Language) without consideration for indigenous languages. This project work is an effort to design a speech extension that can convert the highlighted text displayed by a web browser to speech considering the indigenous Yoruba language through a designed software tool specifically attached to Mozilla internet as a plug-in. This software tool allows the user to highlight the text on the web page with the mouse. The selected text provides an input to the speech program that runs in the back end. The objective of this project work is to design a program that will help people with weak eyesight, those that lack in pronunciation skills and those learning the Yoruba language as an additional language skill; it is also designed to solve problems that exist when using the manual system which include difficulty in reading and misinterpretation of information. The methodology used to convert the text to speech are the API (Google-translate, speech’.org and ttsyoruba.com) and the programming language used for the web is JavaScript. A text to speech extension is an application that converts the highlighted texts into spoken words by analyzing and processing the text in the Yoruba language. The use of the text to speech is to read out the highlighted text to the user in the Yoruba language which can be saved as an audio file.

A mobile game-based learning system for diacritic insertion

This work reports the development of a mobile game-based learning system for Yoruba diacritics with a motive to provide an interesting means of learning its diacritics insertion procedure for effective reading and writing in the language. Data were gathered from Yoruba language texts, interview and internet sources and grouped into levels of difficulty based on the number of syllables contained in each word. Two and three syllable words, four syllable words, five and six syllable words were categorised as easy, intermediate and hard levels respectively. The corpus was formed into a JSON object. The system was designed and implemented using the unified modelling language and JavaScript framework, ReactNative applications for iOS and Android. A randomly selected sample of 85 students was used for the evaluation of the system. Questionnaire containing twenty items, which was drawn based on the heuristics evaluation components, was used to measure its effectiveness as a tool for learning and skill acquisition. All the students who were given questionnaires indicated that they strongly agreed to keep using the game for play and learning purposes. The research concludes that the resource makes learning the language practical, fun, interesting and can be used anywhere in relation to the facilities owned by the students.

Implementation of Yorùbá Language Multimedia Learning System

The use of multimedia learning system has been widely accepted as a useful and effective tool in the field of human language. Many students and researchers have examined multimedia learning’s effectiveness from a number of aspects, including four skills of learning: listening, speaking, reading (including vocabulary comprehensive) and writing. However, the effectiveness of multimedia in human language hasn’t been well explained. The goal of this study was to develop a multimedia learning system for a fresh learner of Yoruba language by introducing the Yoruba alphabets and their respective words. In particular, this study investigates the relative efficiency of three different modes used in teaching Yoruba language alphabets, directional complements: text only, text with a still picture and text with audio clips. In other to develop the system, many traditional textbooks, and written theses on Yoruba alphabets are consulted for effective study of the alphabets and their possible words. Java programming language was used for the implementation of the multimedia platform. After the implementation of this study, the platform will enable users to interact with a desktop and web-based Yoruba alphabets multimedia environment where easy and effective identification of Yoruba language alphabets. The platform will teaches on how to pronounce words from Yoruba language alphabets. In conclusion, Yoruba alphabet multimedia learning system provides efficient means of writing, reading and speaking Yoruba language.

The àwàdà phenomenon: Exploring humour in Wole Soyinka’s Alápatà Apátà

This article explores the deployment of humour in Wole Soyinka’s new and full-length play Alápatà Apátà. The emergence of Moses Olaiya (otherwise known as Baba Sala) on the Nigerian theatre scene at a time it was dominated by such colossuses as Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, and Kola Ogunmola, as a popular jester and comic actor has elevated the phenomenon called áwàdà to a popular form of art. The idea of serious theatre involving mostly tragedy had dominated the Nigerian theatrical scene to an extent that little attention is devoted to the less popular form of comedy until it was given impetus by the dexterity of Moses Olaiya. In the dramatic literary circle, Wole Soyinka bestrides the Nigerian space with his biting and humorous satire in such plays as The Lion and the Jewel, The Jero Plays, Childe International amongst others. With a great mastery of satire and humour, in his most recent play Alápatà Apátà, we witnessed a reincarnation of Moses Olaiya. However, Soyinka does not focus only on the character of Moses Olaiya (whom he dedicates the play to), he explores the misapplication of Yoruba language’s accent resulting in semantic oddity. The incongruity that can arise from the misunderstanding of language and its nuances is brought to the fore in our understanding of the theoretical exploration of the phenomenon called áwàdà. This article thus situates Wole Soyinka’s Alápatà Apátà within the literary and theatrical explication of humour in the Nigerian context showing that ‘that which is comic’ resonates as a universal human phenomenon irrespective of language.