IBO

Ibo: see Igbo.

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Igbo

 or Ibo

People of southeastern Nigeria. The Igbo speak dialects of Igbo, a Benue-Congo language of the Niger-Congo family (see Niger-Congo languages). Before European colonization the Igbo lived in autonomous local communities, but by the mid 20th century they had developed a strong sense of ethnic identity. During conflicts in 1966 many Igbo in northern Nigeria were killed or forced into their traditional homelands in the east. In 1967 the Eastern region tried to secede from Nigeria as the independent nation of Biafra; hundreds of thousands of Igbo were killed or died of starvation. Today they number some 20 million. Many are farmers, but trading, crafts, and wage labour are also important, and many have become civil servants and business entrepreneurs.

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Ibo, Igbo

1. a member of a Negroid people of W Africa, living chiefly in S Nigeria

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family: one of the chief literary and cultural languages of S Nigeria

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IBO 

Igbo, a people in Eastern Nigeria. Population, approximately 12 million (1972, estimate). The Ibo speak the Ibo language. Some Ibo still retain local traditional beliefs, while the remainder are Christians (chiefly Catholics). The chief occupation of the Ibo is farming (yam, cassava, rice, and vegetables). The fruits of the African oil palm are exported. New social relationships, associated with the development of the capitalist mode of production, are taking shape among the Ibo. The Ibo took an active part in the national liberation movement of Nigerian peoples. The proclamation in May 1967 of the so-called Republic of Biafra in the territory inhabited by the Ibo led to a civil war in Nigeria that ended in defeat for the separatists in January 1970.

REFERENCES

Ismagilova, R. N. Narody Nigerii. Moscow, 1963.
Forde, D., and G. Y. Jones. The Ibo and Ibibio-speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria. London, 1950. (In the series Ethnographic Survey of Africa, part 3.)
Basden, G. T. Niger Ibos. London, 1938.

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IBO 

Igbo, the language of the Ibo people of Eastern Nigeria, which belongs to the Kwa group of the Congo-Kordofanian language family. Ibo speakers number approximately 10.7 million (1967, estimate). The rich consonant system of Ibo includes the bifocal obstruents kp and gb, palatalized, labialized, and aspirated consonants (voiced and voiceless), and nasal fricatives. Vowel harmony, based on the openness and closedness of vowels, operates within the word. Ibo has five phonologic tones. Case relations are signified by word order, a single preposition of place, and partly by tones in the noun. In the verb, the person and number of the subject are expressed in some forms by a pronominal prefix (“inseparable pronoun”) and in other forms by a pronoun (“separable pronoun”). Verbs are marked for aspectual-temporal forms, negation, and moods by prefixes and tones. Word formation is primarily prefixal. Ibo is a written language and is taught in schools.

REFERENCE

Green, M., and G. Igwe. A Descriptive Grammar of Igbo. London-Berlin, 1963.