Yoruba language

Yoruba (; Yor. Èdè Yorùbá [èdè jōɾùbá]) is an Atlantic–Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West Nigeria, Benin, and parts of Togo. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 50 million, including around 2 million second-language or L2 speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Gambia. Yoruba vocabulary is also used in African diaspora religions such as the Afro-Brazilian religions of Candomblé and Umbanda, the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language, and various Afro-American religions of North America. Among modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas, Yorùbá-derived lexicon is used as a liturgical language, as almost all practitioners of these Diaspora manifestations are not fluent in it, yet they still use Yorùbá words and phrases for songs or chants, which are rooted in cultural traditions. For such practitioners, the Yorùbá-derived lexicon is especially common for ritual purposes, and these modern manifestations have taken new forms that do not depend on vernacular fluency. As the principal Yoruboid language, Yoruba is most closely related to Itsekiri (spoken in the Niger Delta) and Igala (spoken in central Nigeria).