Fiji zigaboo---(role of "Igbo" tribe?)

[Laurence Horn]

>I know it only from hearing it spoken by I(g)bo friends. Of course,
>they were speaking English and, no doubt, used the English
>pronunciation.

Precisément:  one labiovelar stop, hold the velar.

>So, I concede your point, Larry.

Graciously done, Wilson.  And I'm sure you're
right about "bourgeois" > "buzhwa" as dialect
borrowing for Leadbelly et al.  (And huzzahs to
Charlie for those affricate-Americans.)

LH

>
>Interesting story, Charlie.
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 3/30/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Fiji zigaboo---(role of "Igbo" tribe?)
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>At 10:12 AM -0400 3/30/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>Is "Igbo" pronounced [igbo] in French? In English, it's pronounced
>>>[ibo], whether spelled "Igbo" or "Ibo," in line with the native
>>>pronunciation, [ibo].
>>
>>Really?  At UCLA they taught us it was indeed [i (gb)o], or whatever
>>you have to do to denote a voiced labiovelar stop (*not* a cluster or
>>sequence of g+b), with the syllable break as indicated above.
>>
>>LH
>>
>>>   Of course, there's nothing in either English or
>>>French to prevent the spelling pronunciations, [igbo] and [ig at bo].
>>>
>>>-Wilson
>>>
>>>On 3/30/07, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
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>>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>>>>Subject:      Re: Fiji zigaboo---(role of "Igbo" tribe?)
>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>      Still in full speculative mode: One of the tribes in Nigeria is
>>>>the "Igbo." For the French they would be "les Igbo," which might be
>>>>misinterpreted slightly as "les Zigbo." Then with the insertion of
>>>>schwa (as in U.S. variant "athuhlete" = athlete): Zigabo.  For
>>>>French influence in Nigeria see
>>>>
>>>>      http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/history_in_africa/v032/32.1okafor.html
>>>>
>>>>      "Fiji" has nothing to do with Africa but was viewed popularly
>>>>by Americans as a primitive, exotic place with a dark-skinned
>>>>population, and I suppose that's why "Fiji" was linked to "zigaboo."
>>>>
>>>>     If at all possible, I'd like to avoid the etymology of
>>>>"zigaboo/jigaboo" being invented as nonsense syllables. Hence the
>>>>present search for alternatives.
>>>>
>>>>      Also, I note the following website on Google
>>>>http://www.termpapergenie.com/Thingsfallapart.html
>>>>
>>>>and what interests me is the mention there that the African Igbo
>>>>tribe had been regarded as savages or mindless tribals. That
>>>>misperception is all that would be needed to propel "les Igbo" into
>>>>an ethnic slur in the early 20th century. The full statement on the
>>>>website is::
>>>>
>>>>     'Chinua Achebe has penned the book "Things Fall Apart" as
>>>>retaliation against the Western books portraying African cultures
>>>>and tribal religions as brutal, savage and animalistic. He attempts
>>>>to portray through his book that the people of the African Igbo
>>>>tribe are not savages or mindless tribals, they are a people with a
>>>>history and a culture and a well thought out way of life. He also
>>>>tries to give a realistic portrayal of the Igbo tribe`s traditions,
>>>>festivals, social hierarchy and religious activities, along with
>>>>the effect of Imperialism on the tribe and its people, with special
>>>>reference to the hero of the book, Okonkwo, drawing a parallel
>>>>between his fall and the tribe`s fall in the face of colonialism.'
>>>>
>>>>Gerald Cohen
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>  >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>>-----
>>>                                                       -Sam'l Clemens
>>>
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>>>you through times of no dope.
>>>-----
>>>                                          -Free-Wheeling Franklin
>>>
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>>
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>
>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                                      -Sam'l Clemens
>
>Dope wil get you through times of no money better than money will get
>you through times of no dope.
>-----
>                                         -Free-Wheeling Franklin
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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