Igala

Igala is spoken by the Igala people mainly in Kogi State, particularly around Idah and the area historically associated with the Igala Kingdom, with smaller communities of speakers in parts of Anambra, Enugu, Delta and Benue States. Linguistically, Igala is classified within the Yoruboid group of Volta-Niger languages and is closely related to Yorùbá, sharing significant vocabulary and structural features, though the two are distinct and not generally mutually intelligible without exposure. Igala is used in everyday community life, local radio broadcasting, church and traditional religious ceremonies, and in the rich oral tradition associated with the Igala Kingdom, including praise poetry and royal chants tied to the Atta Igala, the traditional ruler. It is taught informally and, in some schools, as a subject, though English remains dominant in formal education. Dialect variation exists across the Igala-speaking area, with some vocabulary and pronunciation differences between communities, but a broadly shared variety supports communication across the language area. The language remains actively spoken across generations, particularly in rural Kogi State.

Igala is written in a Latin-based orthography with subdots marking distinct vowel qualities, giving letters such as ẹ and ọ, similar in principle to the orthographic conventions used for Yorùbá given the languages' close relationship. Tone is phonemically significant but is often not consistently marked in everyday writing. Documentation and standardisation of Igala spelling have been developed through the work of linguists and Igala scholars over the twentieth century, though the language has a smaller body of standardised published material than Yorùbá, and spelling practice varies somewhat between sources.