ỤTỤTỤ ỌMA vs UTUTU OMA -by Paul Chika Emekwulu

This article was necessitated by a WhatsApp post from a contact. The post drew my attention because of lack of sense impression throughout the message.

In any language, it is only when you start spelling words the way they should be spelt, writing and pronouncing words the way they should be written and pronounced respectively, that your speech starts getting closer to that of the native speaker and that is when you start being understood by a majority.

I said all that in order to talk about sense impression and how it is determined by the way we write, the way we spell, and the way we prononouce words in Igbo Language.

Let’s look at an example with the word ‘ututu” which according to the poster means “morning”.

You will agree with me that each time we deal with dishonesty it is not only about monetary matters like embezzlement, false witness, doctoring or falsifying of documents etc. Dishonesty can also apply to the use of words in a language.

For example:

How can you write “ututu oma” to stand for “ụtụtụ ọma”?

How can you write “Ekwulobia’ to stand for Ekwulọbịa”?

How can you write “Aguata” to stand for “Agụata”?

All these were written without giving the necessary attention to the vowels.

That is sheer dishonesty for a language that had fallen into a pit, a pit dug by the very those who speak the language and not by non speakers.

That is sheer dishonesty for a language in distress and needs help.

That is dishonesty for a language that is being defaced not by non speakers but by native Igbo speakers.

That is sheer dishonesty, and unfair for a language at the danger of extinction by the year 2050 according to a UN prediction.

Some people in some quarters are busy blaming UNESCO for this prediction. Rather than blaming UN why not divert that energy towards helping Igbo Language take its power back from the enemies of the Igbo Language who happens to be the same speakers of Igbo Language.

This can be done through first, individual effort and second, collective effort.

To me, that is a better option