ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the historic role of early Christian missionaries in the development of Igbo orthography which not only made Igbo written literature possible but also facilitated the emergence of the novel in the Igbo language. It also underscores the validity of the statement by Emmanuel Obiechina that the need for Christian missions to spread Christianity as well as a civilization was of immense significance to the growth of written literature in West Africa. The missionaries, by adapting the West African vernaculars to the Western script and through the use of diacritics to mark tonal inflexions, have made a permanent contribution of the greatest importance to the study of African linguistics.
