Yoruba (èdè Yorùbá)

[księżycowy]

I guess I didn't read that far. Whoops.

[Trebor]

I'd like to acquire a Yoruba dictionary or two, but before making any purchases hope to verify the quality of what's on the market. If anyone has seen or used this work, what did you think of it?

http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Yoruba ... 9780307605

"Based upon the nineteenth century standard work on the Yoruba language, and first ever English-Yoruba, Yoruba-English dictionary, this new edition has been revised and enlarged considerably. The dictionary contains about 50,000 references and translations; Yoruba pronunciation guidance; examples of how words are used; contemporary meanings and interpretations; and reference to grammatical usage and parts of speech. There is also an extensive list of commonly occurring birds, plants and trees, translated from Yoruba into English alongside their botanical equivalents."

I guess I didn't read that far. Whoops.

No problem.

[księżycowy]

I don't have a copy, but I have to admit I've been eying that one for quite a while myself.

[Trebor]

I don't have a copy, but I have to admit I've been eying that one for quite a while myself.

Cool. Let me know what you make of it if you ever order the book.

What other Yoruba dictionaries do you know of (I may very well have missed something), and how would you rate them?

[eddeux]

[eddeux]

Ara by Brymo....Love this song although I don't understand Yoruba..

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1_bq1F9hV8g

[Rivaldo]

Techno macumba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd4OXsjJXFI&hd=1

Marisa Monte

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbyfzWxSU6A&hd=1

[Rivaldo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNTEy9mvjrI&hd=1

[Trebor]

I've got a few questions for Unilang's Yoruba students. Has anyone heard of or used the works of Abraham Ajibade Adeleke Ph.D., author of "Introduction to Yoruba" and "Intermediate Yoruba"? If so, what did you think of them? If not, should one take it as a sign to go to other learning materials?

[księżycowy]

I have the first book, Introduction to Yoruba. I'm not at the house at the moment, but when I am I'd be happy to give you my impressions on the book.

[księżycowy]

Ok, it turns out I've mixed up the book you're asking about with the book by Schleicher, Jé K' Á Sọ Yorùbá. How I managed to do that I'm not sure.

[Trebor]

Ok, it turns out I've mixed up the book you're asking about with the book by Schleicher, Jé K' Á Sọ Yorùbá. How I managed to do that I'm not sure.

Haha. Well, I'm interested in that book as well. What are your impressions of it?

Joseph Ajayi Fashagba, author of "New Yoruba : grammar standard textbook", is someone else I forgot to ask about earlier. Do you happen to own that or other works by Fashagba or know something about anything the author has published?

[Ífaradà]

Yup. African languages are just as fascinating as the rest of 'em!

And thanks for the corrections. I'll post some more this weekend.
I figured most of the corrections would be with the tones.
Though I'm curious about this correction:

s'ọ́jà lánàá

Of course I understand that my book is a bit old, and uses the old orthography, but it does represent lánàá as both lánàá (in pronunciation) and ni àná (in spelling). Is that to be written more phonetically now?
Also, is that an apostrophe there in sọ́jà? Is it for the contraction?

I'm thinking about getting Colloquial Yoruba, so I don't have to worry about the orthography changes, but that probably won't be for a few weeks.

Ní àná is the unelisioned form of lánàá. Ní changes to an "L" in front of a vowel, and also changes the tone of the first vowel from low to high.

If you were to start a sentence, you'd write: Àná, mo lọ s'ọ́jà. If you change the word order it goes like this: Mo lọ s'ọ́jà lánàá. You can still write ní àná, but it doesn't sound as natural.

S'ọ́jà is also elisioned from sí ọjà. The rule here is to add an atostrophe when sí is elisioned.

Feel free to ask more questions. Hoping to revive this thread.

I'd like to acquire a Yoruba dictionary or two, but before making any purchases hope to verify the quality of what's on the market. If anyone has seen or used this work, what did you think of it?

http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Yoruba ... 9780307605

It seems like a solid dictionary. Please let me know if you decide to purchase it.

[Trebor]

Ífaradà--I'll report back here if I get a copy.

Also, as someone hoping to learn Yoruba probably in a few years, I'd like to ask if you could talk about that phenomenon of elision: when it appears and when it doesn't, and how to cope with it in listening and reading comprehension.

[Ífaradà]

Ífaradà--I'll report back here if I get a copy.

Also, as someone hoping to learn Yoruba probably in a few years, I'd like to ask if you could talk about that phenomenon of elision: when it appears and when it doesn't, and how to cope with it in listening and reading comprehension.

Káalẹ́! (Good evening).

Elision is a bit tricky, and in many cases it's just something you'll have to learn by heart.

Elision occurs in the forming of more complex words and certain other cases such as prepositions, i.e author - ònkọ̀wé from (oní - posessor, kọ - write, ìwé - book). It's all very logical.

But you also have the case of consonant deletion (which is especially frequent in speech). Take for example fine/well - dáadáa (from dáradára). This change is not necessarily predictable, but it does occur often in longer words. This is also logical, although it's something that you'll just have to learn, as it is not particularly easy to explain.

Then there's the case of prepositions and some verbs, which have the following rules:

Ni (v. to be) - turns into an l' in front of a noun or pronoun, i.e Kúnlé l'ọkọ Sọ́lá - Kunle is Sola's husband.

Ní (v. to say) - turns into l' in front of a word that starts with a vowel, i.e ó l'ọ́jọ́ ẹwà ni - he/she said it's a beautifuyl day. If the word starts with i, it turns into n', i.e wọ́n n'íjọba mi ni - they said the kingdom is mine.

Ní (prep. at) - turns into an l' in front of a noun that starts with a vowel other than i, i.e ọ̀rẹ́ mi rí ìyá mi l'ọ́jà - my friends saw my mother at the market. In front of an i it turns into an n and keeps one of the i's, i.e Ayọ̀ wà nílé - Ayo is at home.

Ní (v. to have) - turns into an l in front of a noun that starts with a vowel, i.e ó lọ́mọ - he/she has children.

Sí (prep. to) - turns into an s' in front of a noun that starts with a vowel other than i, i.e mo lọ s'ọ́jà - I went to the market. In front of an i it turns into s' and keeps one of the i's, i.e a lọ s'ílé-ìwé - we went to school.

Fi (v. to take) - turns into f' in front of a word that starts with a vowel, i.e a f'ajèjì pe àlejò - we take the stranger as a guest.

Fún (v. to give) - turns into f'in front of a word that starts with a vowel, i.e Fémi f'álágbe omi díẹ̀ - Femi gave the beggar some water.

Hope that was a plausible explanation!:) Ó dìgbóṣe - see you later.