Yorùbá Loan Words: How Languages Evolve.
The relationship between languages has been in existence for hundreds of years. An illustration of this symbiotic relationship is the borrowing of the word Restaurant from the French language into the English language. Over time, the word has found its place in the speech and writing of the English people and other speakers of the language.
This could be attributed to immigration, commerce, and trade in the early times. The people were exposed to a different ethnolinguistic environment and participated in different commercial activities; hence, interactions between people of different linguistic backgrounds took place.
The Yorùbá case is no exception; it has been greatly influenced by the language of the country’s colonial masters. More than half of the words borrowed into the Yoruba language are from English. Examples include ‘Cup’ which was domesticated as Kó̩ò̩pù, ‘Phone’ as Fóònù, ‘Ball’ as Bó̩ò̩lù, ‘Television’ as Te̩lifís̩ó̩ò̩nù, among others. The words that were loaned into the language have not only added to the number of words available for usage but have also contributed to its uses in different communicative situations. Also, there are instances of loaning from the Hausa language, which is itself influenced by the Arabic language, examples include Àlùbáríkà, Àlùbó̩sà, Wàhálà and so on.
The beauty of Yorùbá loan words is that speakers now use them in their day-to-day conversations as those words are now native to the language. It is not uncommon to hear people say, Bá o̩mo̩ ye̩n mú bó̩ò̩lu è̩. Although the underlined word is not native to the Yorùbá language, but we have managed to make it fit into our language by loaning it.
One of the challenges with the Yorùbá language with regards to loan words is that its native speakers tend to colonise its words by ‘forcing’ translations on them rather than allow other speakers of various languages of the world to loan such words as they are. An example is the word Àkàrà which most Yoruba speakers would translate as bean-cake when they use English as a medium of interaction — especially with foreigners.
Furthermore, using our words in their original forms is one of the ways to grow our culture and make sure our language is used by natives of other languages as if it is theirs. For instance, no one calls Sushi by any other name, Sushi is ‘Sushi’. If this was the case for many Yorùbá words too, our language and culture would be propagated remarkably. One of the famous Yorùbá food, even in the diaspora, Àmàlà, is an example of a word which would easily find its way into the lexicon of other languages. Translating it as Yam Flour would further reduce the status of its linguistic root — its ‘Yorubaness’.
I was glad when I saw an anglicised Yorùbá word. The word Fanimó̩ra in Yorùbá which means appealing was anglicised as fanimorious. This could be a result of phono-morphological importance: Yorùbá language does not allow final word consonant and consonant clusters. As a result, the English suffix -ious was added to the Yorùbá root word. However, the fact remains that the word stems from the Yoruba language. This, I think, is good for the language.
The Yorùbá language will make giant strides only if its speakers contribute to its growth; its usage in the media is also important as the world is going digital rapidly. With events such as the ones aforementioned in this paper, the language will gain more attention that it deserves. Consequently, this will spur further research on the Niger-Congo language.