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Language is dynamic...

I have seen many social media posts lately comparing and asserting the unique place and sometimes the ingenious of our forefathers that reflects in our numbering, alphabet and language... These are good to know but needs to be made more believable... I think our Yoruba culture and language scientists need to do more...

In the context of science components of Yoruba education that reflects in some Yoruba proverbs, we need the etymology of Yoruba proverbs to know how they originate... were they curated when Western education has already enlightened on us on certain facts and science or do they predate European influence? The English spoken before 11th century is gibberish compared to the English spoken today... almost completely different (REF: https://www.medievalists.net/2023/08/the-differences-between-old-english-middle-english-and-modern-english/ ). Yoruba language spoken two centuries ago is different from what we speak today..Those of us born in the 1960s and 1970s will remember when Lagosians use the phrase "miti, mide, ntiti so, etc.." - you do not hear such again in Lagos dialect - the Oyo Yoruba that most of in Southwest speak has involved over the years as well. Our Yoruba linguists need to do more in interpreting and comparing our language to others by finding out when the words, phrases and proverbs were first used... We see Igbo, Tapa, Hausa, Egun, and other languages influence in Yoruba language today... same goes for other languages spoken around Yoruba... There are 60 - 70% similarities between Yoruba words and Igala words - they are both among what is called the Yoruboid language subgroup...

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