ABSTRACT
Igbo is usually assigned to the Kwa group of Niger-Congo languages, though certain affinities with the Bantu language Efik have been pointed out. It is spoken by around 10 million people, in a variety of dialects spread over southern Nigeria, from Onitsha and Owerri to Calabar. ‘Central Igbo’ is a compromise standard based on the Onitsha-Owerri dialect. Writing in Igbo, as distinct from Bible translation, dates from 1932 when Pita Nwana’s story Omenuko won a prize in a competition run by the International African Institute. From the 1970s on there has been a steady growth in the output of Igbo novels, plays, and verse. Igbo writers have also been prolific in English.
