iyẹn

Yoruba

Etymology

An intralingual borrowing from SEY spoken varieties into NWY and CY. The opposition between the demonstrative pronouns 'this' and 'that' is expressed by èyí and èyinì respectively in NWY and CY. In some SEY spoken varieties, however, it is ìyí and ìyẹn. In some NWY and CY spoken varieties èyinì and ìyẹn are still used side by side, but with ìyẹn gaining ground over èyinì.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ì.jɛ̃̄/
(Ijebu, Ikalẹ) IPA^(key): /ì.jɛ̃̀/

Pronoun

ìyẹn

that thing/person
Synonyms: (NWY, CY) èyinì (“that”), ìyun-ùn

Antonyms: èyí (“this”), (SEY) ìyí (“this”)

Pronoun

ìyẹ̀n

(Ikalẹ, Ijebu) that thing/person

Derived terms

nìyẹn

Related terms

Standard Yorùbá

wọ̀nyẹn (“those”)
wọ̀nyí (“these”)
yẹn (“that”)
yìí (“this”)
èyí (“this”)
ìwọ̀nyẹn (“those”)
ìwọ̀nyí (“these”)

Ìjẹ̀bú

ọ̀wọ̀nwé (“these”)
ọ̀wọ̀nyẹ̀n (“those”)
wọ̀nwé (“these”)
wọ̀nyẹ̀n (“those”)
wèé (“this”)
yẹ̀n (“that”)
ìwé (“this”)

Ìkálẹ̀

ghànyẹ̀n (“those”)
ghànyí (“these”)
yẹ̀n (“this”)
yí (“this”)
ìghànyẹ̀n (“those”)
ìghànyí (“these”)
ìyí (“this”)

References

^ Abiodun, Adetugbọ (1967) “The Yoruba Language in Western Nigeria: Its major dialect areas”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

[1] Abiodun, Adetugbọ (1967) “The Yoruba Language in Western Nigeria: Its major dialect areas”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

[1]