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THE LANGUAGE OF OZA-NOGOGO

THE LANGUAGE OF OZA-NOGOGO
Today, the people of Oza-nogogo speak a language called “Oza”. Oza-nogogo is one of the communities in Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State in Nigeria. The origin of the language “Oza” is more recent than the history of the Oza-nogogo people.
Earlier in history, the people of Oza-nogogo spoke Edo –the language of the Benin people. As they continued to interact with other neighbouring communities in the Agbor Kingdom, certain serious linguistic changes took place. The language ”Oza” emerged. Oza is a hybrid of two languages –Edo and Ika. Edo is the language of the Benin people,while Ika is the language of Agbor and Ika people.
Sometimes, people refer to Oza as a dialect of Edo. Although there is no gainsaying the fact that Oza is “Edoic”, it is also true that it is “Ikaic”. See for example, the word “person”. The Oza word for “person” is a hybrid of Edo and Ika.
English- person
Edo- ovwan
Ika- ihian
Oza- ovwan-ihian(now rendered avwinhian)
From the above, it becomes very clear that Oza is a hybrid of two languages, and not a dialect of any language. To enrich its vocabulary, however, it draws from Edo and Ika languages. For example, Oza-nogogo people bear Edo names like: Otabor, Aigboje, Aigbogun, Edobor and so on. They also bear Ika names like: Uche, Ebonka, Dumbiri, Chukwuma, to mention but a few.

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