The aim of this study is to investigate how Bible translation has contributed to the elaboration of the Igbo language. The term “elaboration” is used here in two senses. On the one hand, it refers to the expansion of the functions of Igbo by making it the vehicle for expressing a foreign religion. On the other hand, it is used for the expansion of the Igbo lexicon to enable the language effectively express ideas in the new domain. Both forms of elaboration are complementary because the functional elaboration of Igbo created the need to expand the Igbo lexicon to express the new concepts encountered. The lexical and
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conceptual expansions were achieved mainly by utilizing existing Igbo lexical items and concepts. In some cases, however, the lexical expansion involves the borrowing of terms from English. In the end, the innovated lexical forms and meanings are spread through regular and prolonged reading of the Bible and, over time, some of them get integrated into the Igbo language.
This study is guided by the following questions:
1. What lexical processes were adopted in creating new terms in Bible translation into Igbo? Focus here is on the lexeme and how the translators manipulated existing Igbo terms to give new meanings as well as how foreign terms were borrowed during the Bible translations.
2. What strategies were employed in representing Christian concepts in the Igbo Bible translations (IBTs)? Emphasis here is on the semantic level. This question is concerned with how existing terms for traditional Igbo concepts were adapted to (also) represent the Christian concepts.
3. How have these lexical and conceptual innovations evolved across the different IBTs? Interest here is in exploring whether later translations of the Bible into Igbo retained or replaced the lexical and conceptual innovations of the earlier translations, and what insight these choices provide on the Igbo experience of elaboration.
4. How have the Biblical lexical and conceptual innovations spread among Igbo speakers? This question explores whether Igbo speakers are aware of these lexical and conceptual innovations and whether they understand and use them in the same way as the Bible translations.
0.4 Methodology
To provide answers to these research questions (RQs), two types of analysis are carried out: a textual analysis and an analysis of a survey. Data for the textual analysis were
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collected from the eight IBTs under study, namely – Isuama Igbo Bible4 (1860/1866), Niger Igbo Bible5 (1900), Union Igbo Bible (New Testament,1908), Union Igbo Bible (1913), Igbo Living Bible (1988), Igbo Catholic Bible (2000), Igbo Revised Edition (2007), and Igbo New World Translation (2007). From these Bible translations, a corpus of lexical items and concepts that have been elaborated or introduced into the Igbo language and spread through the Bible translations was created. The majority of these are lexical items and concepts that are not native to the Igbo language and culture or items that are distinctly Christian in nature, which means that there were no words for them in Igbo. However, there are also lexical items for which Igbo has existing cultural equivalents. It could have been expected that, following Nida’s (1964) functional equivalence, the Igbo terms would have been used to represent the items in the IBTs. However, these functional equivalents were ignored, and novel lexical items were created instead. For illustration, the Igbo concepts of eze mmụọ “chief priest” and dibịa “doctor/priest” are fitting functional equivalents for the Biblical priest. However, apart from the Isuama Igbo Bible (IIB) which represents priest as dibịa, all the other IBTs use onye-nchụ-aja for priest, which literally means a person that offers sacrifices. The research corpus also includes such new terms created despite the existence of functional equivalent terms in Igbo.
This corpus forms the basis for the descriptive linguistic analysis carried out in order to provide answers to RQ1 (Chapter 4), RQ2 (Chapter 5), and RQ3 (Chapter 6). The analysis involves identifying the different components (morphemes, words) of the lexical items and reconstructing the meanings they had before their use in the Bible. The reconstructions are based on several sources: 1) dictionary entries for the terms and concepts, 2) academic publications on the terms and concepts, 3) uses of the terms and concepts in oral and written Igbo folklore, 4) interviews with Igbo native speakers, and 5) observed Igbo cultural practices. For one, when there is a difference in the usage of given lexical items in Christian contexts and in traditional Igbo religious practices, it is taken that the Christian
4 This refers to J. C. Taylor’s translation of portions of the New Testament into the Isuama dialect of Igbo. The portions translated include: Oku Omma nke Owu Matia: The Gospel according to St Mathew (1860) and Ma Oru nke Apostili: The Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians (1866).
The choice of title –Isuama Igbo Bible – is based on the dialect of Igbo into which the translations were made.
5 Like the Isuama Igbo Bible, this choice of name is based on the dialect of this translation. The full title of the translation is Agba Ofu nke Dinwenu-Ayi na Onye-Nzoputa-Ayi Jesu Kristi n’Asusu Ibo [New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Igbo Language].
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interpretation evolved from the traditional Igbo usage and not the other way around because the Igbo traditional practices pre-date the Igbo encounter with Christianity.
To complement the textual analysis, I administered a questionnaire in February 2017 to Igbo native speakers in Nsukka. Chapter 7 presents detailed information on the design and administration of the questionnaire, especially the study area, respondents and the questions. The quantitative analysis of the data from the responses to the questionnaire shows whether Igbo speakers are aware of the lexical and conceptual innovations in the IBTs and whether they use the innovated terms with the same meanings as in the IBTs. The analysis also shows the distribution of this awareness and usage across different age ranges and religious denominations. It further highlights nuanced interpretations of the lexical and conceptual innovations in relation to the meanings used in the IBTs.
Having presented the aim of this study, the research questions and the methodology, the next section provides a synopsis of each chapter.