Hausa Is ‘Looser,’ Igbo ‘More Tortuous’ – Wole Soyinka Ranks Nigeria’s Three Major Languages

Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka

Hausa Is ‘Looser,’ Igbo ‘More Tortuous’ – Wole Soyinka Ranks Nigeria’s Three Major Languages

A resurfaced Oxford University video featuring Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has reignited global conversation about the complexity and beauty of Nigeria’s indigenous languages. In the clip, filmed during a media session with filmmaker Tunde Kelani, Soyinka delivers a characteristically witty yet authoritative take: Yoruba is a very difficult tonal language that he “wouldn’t recommend for my favourite scholar at all.” Far from dismissing the language, however, Soyinka praises its unmatched musicality—placing it above Hausa and Igbo in melodic richness—while warning that its three distinct tones can turn a simple butcher into a royal ruler with one slip of the tongue.

Drawing on his academic background in linguistics, Soyinka offered a comparative breakdown of Nigeria’s three major languages. He described Hausa as “looser” in its tonal demands, making it relatively more straightforward for learners. On Igbo, he noted that while it carries its own complexities, it occupies a middle ground. “Igbo, I think I would say, is a little bit more tortuous than Yoruba,” Soyinka stated. Yoruba, he concluded, is the most challenging due to its three tones (high, mid, and low), but also the most musical. “Nothing compares with the musicality of Yoruba,” Soyinka emphasized. “Yoruba sings, and some people are tone-deaf. It’s not their fault.” This musical quality is not metaphorical. Linguistic scholars confirm that Yoruba’s tonal system is so precise that talking drums (dùndún) can accurately replicate human speech patterns—a phenomenon rare among world languages. One academic study notes that the do-re-mi sol-fa heuristic is the preferred method for teaching Yoruba tones because “in a culture where drums can speak, it is unsurprising that a musical model filled a void” in Western linguistic concepts.

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To illustrate the real-world consequences of tonal errors, Soyinka referenced his own 2011 satirical play, Alápàtà Àpáta. The plot hinges on a single tonal slip. A retired butcher named Alaba commissions a signboard reading “Alápàtà Àpáta” (Butcher of the Rock). However, due to a sign painter’s error and subsequent mispronunciation, the community reads it as “Alápàtá” —a title implying a royal or authoritative status, interpreted as “Ruler of Apata.” “A seemingly minor linguistic shift triggers a chain of comedic misunderstandings,” one analysis notes. The butcher, seeking only quiet retirement, suddenly finds his community attributing political power to him. Through this narrative, Soyinka explores how tone can be misinterpreted to create false authority, social hierarchy, and public distortion of reality—a sharp satire on corruption and perception in society. What began as a simple professional identifier evolves into rumors of political power, demonstrating the ease with which perception can be manipulated.

The resurfaced Oxford clip has sparked lively debate across social media platforms. Among Yoruba speakers, there is widespread pride in the language’s tonal complexity. Many describe their mother tongue as inherently “singing,” with accents that rise and fall like melody. Yoruba doesn’t just communicate meaning—it carries emotion, attitude, and cultural nuance in every syllable, aligning perfectly with Soyinka’s characterization. Some non-native speakers argue that exposure to Afrobeats and Nigerian music provides an accessible entry point to understanding Yoruba tonality. Global stars like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido incorporate tonal phrasing into their lyrics, offering passive learning opportunities for international fans. Others acknowledge the steep learning curve, sharing anecdotes of embarrassing tonal mix-ups, from ordering the wrong food to accidentally complimenting someone’s livestock instead of their appearance. Linguists and language educators have also weighed in, noting that tonal languages require a different cognitive framework than non-tonal languages like English. One Cambridge-published study confirms that “the representation of tone has consequences for coarticulation”—meaning tones fundamentally shape how consonants and vowels are produced. This structural interdependence is what makes Yoruba both beautiful and demanding. Many commenters across ethnic lines have noted that all Nigerian languages arguably “outshine English in simplicity” when it comes to logical consistency. English, with its irregular spellings and arbitrary exceptions, presents a different kind of challenge—one that native English speakers rarely acknowledge when critiquing African languages.

Soyinka’s comments, delivered with humor, reflect a lifelong engagement with language as both artistic medium and philosophical subject. His works frequently draw on Yoruba oral traditions, proverbs, and tonal wordplay. The Alápàtà Àpáta example demonstrates how a purely linguistic observation can become a full theatrical exploration of power, perception, and truth. The video, originally from an Oxford University media session in collaboration with Tunde Kelani, has been widely shared on Instagram, X (Twitter), and other platforms, reintroducing Soyinka’s linguistic insights to a new generation of Nigerians and global audiences. As of this report, the clip continues to generate thousands of comments, shares, and reactions, proving that Soyinka’s observations remain as relevant and provocative as ever.