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

[Charles Doyle]

Or "Ebo."

Ebo Landing, on the coast of Georgia, has an old and widely-told legend about it: A shipload of Igbo slaves committed mass suicide there, walking into the water in their chains, singing.

I've often wondered whether the apparent change in pronunciation represented by "Igbo" > "Ibo" replicates the process that altered OE "igland" ('island') to "iland."

--Charlie
________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:12:27 -0400
>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: Fiji zigaboo---(role of "Igbo" tribe?)
>
>Is "Igbo" pronounced [igbo] in French? In English, it's pronounced [ibo], whether spelled "Igbo" or "Ibo," in line with the native pronunciation, [ibo]. Of course, there's nothing in either English or French to prevent the spelling pronunciations, [igbo] and [ig at bo].
>
>-Wilson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org