Eggon
Taken from the introduction to "A dictionary of Eggon", edited by Roger
Blench (in preparation)
The Eggon language is spoken by a large number of people in Nassarawa State
in Central Nigeria. These represent the modern Local Government Areas of
Akwanga, Lafia and Nassarawa-Eggon. The main towns of the Eggon people
are Akwanga, Nassarawa-Eggon, Kagbu and Wana. They stretch as far south
as Lafia and west of Akwanga as far as the railway line. They are bordered
on the north by the Mada and to the south by the Migili and the Doma.
In much of the colonial literature, the Eggon were known as the 'Hill
Mada' in contrast to the 'Plains Mada', the people known as Mada today.
The Eggon lived in the Mada hills south of Akwanga in the pre-colonial
period, but there is no connection between the groups that would justify
these terms and they have now been discarded.
The exact number of speakers is unknown but it is unlikely to be less
than the estimate of 200,000 given by Sibomana (1985). Ames (1934) gave
a figure of 41,276 for the 1920s, but this is likely to have been substantially
underestimated. Welmers (1971) estimated 52,000 although this may have
been only a projection from Ames. Very little has been written about Eggon
society and Temple (1922) and Ames (1934) are the only sources that contain
any descriptions of Eggon social organisation.
Eggon Dialects
Eggon is conventionally divided into twenty-five mutually comprehensible
dialects and a twenty-sixth, Madantara said to be impossible to understand
without special learning. The only author to discuss dialects is Sibomana
(1985) whose discussion focuses on Kagbu, which he states is the main dialect.
He also cites data from the Nassarawa-Eggon dialect. The Benue-Congo Comparative
Wordlist (1969, 1972) also gives data from two dialects.
A so far unsolved problem of Eggon dialects is the language of the 'Madantara'.
Spoken by a group of Eggon east of Nassarawa-Eggon it is sufficiently different
from other lects as to be effectively a new language. Only further research
will resolve its status and origin.
A history of attempts to write the Eggon language
The earliest written material in Eggon appears to be scripture portions
from 1937, probably prepared by I.D. Hepburn. The dialect chosen for bible
translation is based on the Wana dialect, although it is supplemented by
forms from other dialects and so is a sort of synthetic Eggon not based
on the speech of a particular group. A hymnbook and 2 readers were prepared,
and the translation of the New Testament was completed in 1974. The orthography
of the New Testament is somewhat different from the earlier publications.
Eggon is apparently in use in churches only in remoter regions and it
has been displaced by Hausa in all establishments along the main road.
However, there is apparently a move to revive the use of Eggon. Some evidence
of this is the recent publication of new material in Eggon, a book of history
and customs and a women's magazine which is intended to make a regular
appearance.
A problem with this is that there is no established writing system and
so such publications are not as easy to read as they might be. Still, it
is clear evidence that Eggon is emerging again as a major language for
literary development.
How is Eggon related to other languages?
The exact classification of the Eggon language has been in dispute and
it can be said that this issue remains unresolved. Eggon was first classified
by Greenberg (1963) as a Plateau language in his group 5, together with
Nungu and Yeskwa. In the revision prepared by Carl Hoffman published in
Hansford et al. (1976) a Benue group was set up that combined Greenberg's
Plateau 5 and 7 with Jukunoid. The new subgrouping classified Eggon together
with Nungu, Ake and Jidda-Abu. This concept of a Benue grouping came from
the lexicostatistical studies of Shimizu (1975) who argued against the
unity of Greenberg's Plateau and proposed the Benue group. However, in
1983, Gerhardt published a convincing rebuttal of Shimizu's arguments.
The latest version of classification of Plateau languages in Gerhardt (1989)
adds Yashi to the Eggon subgroup but removes the links with 'Benue' i.e.
Tarok and the Jukunoid languages.
The non-specialist can deduce from these debates that the matter is
by no means settled. Much of the reason for this uncertainty is the poor
quality of data on so many of the languages in question. All writers seem
to agree on the nearest affiliated languages but to dispute the broader
connections. The Eggon group therefore seems to consist of
Eggon
Nungu
Yashi
Ake
Jidda-Abu
These languages all border on the Eggon-speaking region so this is generally
unsurprising. All the other languages are spoken in extremely small communities
and indeed, in some cases, no new data has been published since Meek recorded
wordlists in the 1920s.
Bibliography
The following are the main things that have been written about Eggon. Some
have not been published and are only available in mimeo.
Ames, C.G. (1934 new ed. 1972) 'Gazetteer of The Plateau Province (Nigeria)'
Jos Native Administration.
Gerhardt, L. (1983) 'The classification of Eggon: Plateau or Benue group?'
JWAL, 13:37-50.
Ludzi, T. (1981) 'The syntax of Eggon' B.A. Essay, Department of English,
University of Jos.
Maddieson, I. (1972) 'The Benue-Congo languages of Nigeria. Mimeo, Ibadan.
Maddieson, I. (n.d.) 'Verb-nominal contraction in Eggon' Mimeo, Ibadan.
Maddieson, I. (n.d.) 'The Noun-class system of Eggon' Mimeo, Ibadan.
Maddieson, I. (1982) 'Unusual consonant cluster and complex segments in
Eggon' Studies in African Linguistics, Supplement 8:89-92.
Sibomana, L. (1985) 'A phonological and grammatical outline of Eggon' Afrika
und Übersee, 68:43-68.
Welmers, W.E. (1971) 'Checklist of African Language and Dialect Names'
in CTL7:759-900. Ed. T.A. Sebeok. Mouton, The Hague.
Dr. Uwe Seibert
Department of Languages and Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
University of Jos
Email address: seibertu@unijos.edu.ng
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