Yoruba

Yoruba is natively spoken by about 41 million people, primarily in Nigeria, where it is one of the official languages, and among Yoruba communities in Benin and Togo. It is integral to Yoruba cultural identity, known for its vibrant traditions in art (such as beadwork and pottery), religion (including Ifá divination), and festivals like the Osun-Osogbo festival. Written in the Latin alphabet with diacritics, Yoruba grammar features a subject-verb-object (SVO) word order, extensive use of noun classes (similar to other Niger-Congo languages), and a system of verb conjugations that indicate tense, aspect, and mood.