Author
Akpan, U. J.
Abstract
Annang, consisting of eight Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State is a sub-group of the Ibibio. The fact of the Ibibio origin of the Annang reflects in the replication of villages, clans, common totems, deities, socio-political organisation and institutions. The sense of common ancestry informed the effective involvement of the Annang in the Ibibio State Union. In the colonial records, Annang was recognised as Western Ibibio. In fact, present-day Akwa Ibom State was divided into six Ibibio districts, viz: Abak, Eket, Itu, Ikot Ekpene, Opobo (Ikot Abasi) and Uyo. However, from 1953, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) led-government in the Eastern Nigeria initiated the process of fragmentation and eventually balkanised Ibibio land into Ibibio and Annang Provinces. (Ibibio Province was later renamed Uyo Province). In recent times, the fragmentation has been given a linguistic dimension by some scholars, such that Annang, a dialect of the Ibibio language has been “elevated” to the rank of a distinct language even when it has been proven that genetically, Annang is a dialect of the Ibibio language, and belongs to the “Ibibiod” language cluster. Using an interdisciplinary methodology, the paper historically affirms the Ibibio origin of the Annang who speak a dialect of the Ibibio language.
Keywords
Ibibio, Annang, Language, Fragmentation, Dialect
Introduction
Linguistics is the scientific study of language as an entity or phenomenon through objective and rigorous analysis. It employs formal, scientific and verifiable principles. This is why its postulates are verifiable. Linguistics examines all aspects of human language from the historical origin to its everyday uses and future. Linguistics is scientific because work on language is done by means of controlled and empirically verifiable observations and with reference to some general theory of language structure (Lyons, 1968; Yel-Ifede, 2001; Essien, 2010). Linguistics does not prescribe what language should be, but describes what language is. It describes how language works and how it should work; it describes what people speak and not what they should speak. Linguistics is objective and not subjective. It draws from various disciplines for an understanding of different aspects of language in its various uses. From Anthropology and Sociology, it gains an understanding of man’s behaviours in his use of language in various contexts and cultures. A total understanding of any sentence also involves some knowledge of the society in which the sentence is produced. The detailed understanding of language thus involves some information from Biology, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, History, etc. It is therefore no wonder that specialists have arisen within linguistics itself with a lot of interaction with scholars in different fields (Yel-Ifode, 2001).
Content
From the above construct, it is obvious that interdisciplinary approach, if integrated in the linguistics studies, can yield more credible answer(s) to critical questions in the discipline. This emerging trend has unfortunately been ignored by the few scholars who have in recent years been involved in the study of one of the dialects of Ibibio language known as “Annang”. Because of the lack of a broad-based methodology and perspective, the dialect has been erroneously elevated to the status of a distinct language. It should be mentioned that Ibibio is both ethnic and linguistic term. All over the world, people who speak the same language regardless of variants believe they are the same people and are united by it. They may be differences in dialects, but the fact that a dialect is not a language and those who speak them do not constitute ethnic groups, is demonstrated by the fact that though the people that now constitute the Igbo nation came from diverse directions to their present abode and now speak not less than 20 dialects; yet, they still consider themselves as constituting one Igbo ethnic group with one Igbo language (Ina, 2017). This paper is a response to series of attempts by some scholars, particularly a few linguists, who have in recent times created an artificial brand of scholarship known as “Annang language”, an intellectual enterprise that is devoid of historical and anthropological backing. It should be reiterated that this error is committed primarily because of the narrow methodology and perspective adopted by the initiators and advocates of the study. The paper shows evidently that Annang is a sub-group of Ibibio known as Western Ibibio, who differentiated from the main Ibibio group somewhere around the Uyo and Abak Government Station (present-day Ikot Oku Ikono area) and dispersed to evolve into its present size (Ibibio State Union, 1956, Jones, 1963). The Ibibio and her sub-groups, including the Annang, occupy a contiguous well demarcated territory, share a common background of culture and cultural heritage, possess a highly common outlook and a common belief in one Supreme Being, called Abasi Ibom.
Conclusion
The analysis has shown that historically and anthropologically, Annang is a sub-group of the Ibibio. The Ibibio represents an ethnic and language group. Annang being a sub-group of the Ibibio people therefore speak a dialect or variant of the Ibibio language. The study has shown that, genetically, there is striking similarities between Ibibio language and Annang dialect. Structurally, the Annang dialect thrives on shared vocabulary of the Ibibio language. The cognates relationship also portrays Annang as a dialect of the Ibibio language. Also, the phonological correspondence and grammatical correspondence speak of a high degree of mutual intelligibility. Based on the above technical and professional correlations, Annang dialect as classified by Essien (1991) belongs to the Ibibio-proto language. However, based on the un-scientific approach devoid of interdisciplinary methodology, adopted by the proponents of the “Annang language project”, Annang dialect has been elevated in recent times to the status of a language purely on the basis of politics and the quest for “self-definition”. As stated by Dr. Isonguyo Ibokette, respectable Annang elite, “Akwa Ibom State is an indivisible entity and those who fan the embers of disunity through the demand for multiple dialects for use as official languages in the state are peoples who possibly lack information on the history of the people”. Ina (2017) also states that all over the world, people who speak the same language regardless of variants believe they are the same people and are united by it. They may be differences in dialects, but the fact that dialects are not language or languages and those who speak to them do not constitute ethnic groups, is demonstrated by the fact that though the Igbo speak not less than 20 dialects, they still consider themselves as constituting one Igbo ethnic group with one language”. The truth is that though the Annang sub-group speaks a dialect of the Ibibio language, the people are not distinct from the Ibibio, but a sub-group of the Ibibio just like the Ika, Abak, Ukanafun, Ikot Ekpene variants of Annang are still considered as Annang people.
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