ON THE

GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION

OF THE

YORUBA LANGUAGE.

PRONUNCIATION.

Among the purest Yoruba speakers, there are no less than three modes of pronouncing some words; namely, the Capital—or Ọyọ—pronunciation, and two Provincial dialects—the Ibapá and the Ibọllọ. People from all parts of Yoruba are now together in the Colony of Sierra Leone, and each party contends for the superiority of its mode of utterance. I shall give an example of the principal difference.

	Ọyọ.	IBAPÁ.	IBỌLLỌ.
"To open,"	ṣí	tsi	sí
"To work,"	ṣisé	tsitsé	sisé
"To do,"	ṣe	tse	se

I have taken the pronunciation of the Capital as the standard, as it appears to me to be the medium between the other two.

I have assigned to each word its own sound, as near as possible. Some words will appear strange to a native in whose hearing they may be first pronounced; and, if separately mentioned, he may be inclined to doubt the correctness of the word. This arises from his not being accustomed to use it separately, but only in