Many readers weighed in on my last column with the above title . See a sample of their thoughts and insights below: Good observation, P...
Many readers weighed in on my last column with the above title. See a sample of their thoughts and insights below:
Good
observation, Prof. My observation and contribution on this is the way
non-native Hausa speakers use such words like Dan'Iyan. Like you rightly
stated, the word is Hausa and not Fulani. But native Hausa speakers normally
pronounce the word as "Dan'Iya" and not Dan'Iyan, if it is used as a
stand-alone word. But it is only when the word is used as a compound word that
you add the suffix 'n' to the word, as in Dan'Iyan Katsina (Dan'Iyan-Katsina).
And it is used as a stand-alone word usually as a name in itself. But where it
appears as a compound name, it is usually a traditional title, like
Dan'Iyan-Katsina. The suffix shows possession, meaning, Dan'Iya of Katsina.
Ahmed Abdulkadir, Sokoto
I
had always thought "Igbira" was an alternative spelling form for
"Ebira". It is not surprising if the professor of fiction fails to
get some facts right! Now, we can go ahead and make our share of mistakes which
should be much bigger than Soyinka's. The Nobel laureate once wrote that
Muslims fast for "forty" days during Ramadan. There are mistakes he
should be excused for, excluding misuse of "tribe" and muddling up
tenses.
The
letter "n" after such traditional titles as "Turaki",
"Dan Iya", "Jagaba" should not be added unless the name of
the place where the title is held is mentioned, but many of our southern
compatriots routinely add "n" to such titles. For examples, Atiku is
wrongly called Turakin, Tinubu is Jagaban, etc. The "n" is a
suffix" that is equivalent to the English "of". It shows
possession, ownership, affiliation, etc. Sarkin Kano can be called
"Sarki" alone but not Sarkin". If you must add "n",
you must add the place name or subject name, e.g. Farooq Kperogi Sarkin
Turanci!!!
Abdulrahman Muhammad, India
It’s
simply amazing that you wrote an entire article based on just one sentence from
Professor Soyinka’s book. I agree with you that the prof., whom I’m a great fan
of, erred in accusing someone of self-hatred just because he added an
apostrophe and a capital letter to the same name. You hinted at this but didn’t
quite nail it: Daniyan is itself a borrowed name in Ebira. It is borrowed from
Yoruba. So if bearing the name of another ethnic group is self-hatred, the
self-hatred actually came before the person changed the spelling of his name to
look like a “Fulani aristocratic” name. Maybe Professor Soyinka was angry that
the man changed a Yoruba name to a “Fulani” name!
Abdullahi Mustapha, Lokoja
We
learn every day, and no man, no matter how highly read, is an
all-encompassing-fountain of knowledge.
(1)
You have just taught me that it is "Ebira" and not "Igbira"
which most people from the South West call others from that part of the
country. I don't think Soyinka can be castigated on that account.
(2)
In the world of political science, there is still an argument ongoing on
whether it is ethnic group or tribe. That argument has not been laid to rest
even though most people now use "ethnic group" on the basis of the
argument that tribes has been derogatorily used to describe us in Africa in
comparison to similar social formations in the western world that are referred
to as ethnic groups.
(3)
Soyinka obviously had an issue with a particular individual to have made that
comment. And that comment as I read and interpreted it when I bought that book
5 years back, has to do with that specific individual, and not the ethnic
group.
My
dear friend, Soyinka may have erred by calling Ebira "Igbira" (just
like many of us also called the Igbo "Ibo"). But for once, you may be
guilty of hasty generalisation (as my then logic lecturer would say), by
extrapolating Soyinka's assessment of one individual to mean reference to 1
million Ebira people.
Kunle Ojeleye, Canada
Iya
was a very powerful princess of Kano during the reign of Muhammadu Kutumbi I. It
was as a result of her influential political position that her son was
appointed a traditional ruler with a title to immortalised her as "Dan
iya" (son of iya). It is common in the history of Hausa land to have such
immortalised titles like: Danmaje, (Maje was a head of smiths during the time
of Barbushe) , Dan akasan, Dan Darman, among others. Kano Chronicle is the authoritative reference I can give you.
Fatuhu Mustapha, Abuja
Thank
you for another pleasurable read. Firstly, a disclaimer: I am one of Professor
Soyinka’s greatest fans. He amuses as
well as inspires me—so you may read my comment as that of a biased fan. But
I'll be as honest as I can.
I'll
be a lot kinder to Professor Soyinka and excuse his "ignorance," if
that's really what it is, not because I'm not a Nigerian and may not understand
the cultural nuances and significance of these different appellations. I wonder
if it has the same minor subtleties as in the words "Ibo, Igbo and
Ndigbo," -- which to a foreigner still means the same place or peoples.
Sometimes, place-names are translated, to accommodate the natural proclivities
of the practised tongue. I can therefore see a Yoruba native like Prof. Soyinka
favouring the Yoruba orthography of that name “Igbira,” and a Fulani man like
You-Know-who, taking the other route—“Ebira”. Other times, a difference in
language simply means that some names like “The Bay of Biscay to the English”
is translated as Golfo de Vizcaya to the Spaniard or la Golfe de Gascogne for a
Frenchman. In other instances, war makes people change the name completely;
like between Britain and Argentina, the Falkland Islands to the Brit is
stubbornly called Isla Malvinas to the Spanish favouring Argentinians.
Samira Edi, London
Phew!
Farooq picking holes in Soyinka's grammar!? This is novel but not Nobel. I
can't afford to miss the likely hysteric reactions from Soyinka and his
intellectual family to this below the belt hit by a young KPerogi. This will
definitely bite more than the Mazrui's coinage of "strange case of Nobel
schizophrenia". The Jekyll and Hyde prescription! The floor is now open.
Let the debate start.
Ibrahim Musa, Texas, USA
Definitely
Soyinka's foot soldiers will come for you. It's an interesting analysis. Hope
it'll generate a healthy debate and more analysis.
Waziri Garba Dahiru, Abuja
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