IgboFocus

The first thing about learning a language would be the alphabets of such a language. Some alphabets of some languages are in many ways unique and in Igbo language’s own case, it is no exception. Even though, Igbo language alphabet may exceed some well-known language characters as some are 26 or more. In Igbo language, the characters are 36 in number.

See below:  

In Igbo alphabets:
[ a  ]   sounds like annual, apple
[ b  ]   sounds like bee, become, behave
[ ch ]  sounds like church, chapel, chalk
[ d  ]   sounds like deed, dig, diego
[ e  ]   sounds like ate, egg, effort
[ f  ]    sounds like field, fish, finish
[ g ]    sounds like gear, girl, give
[ gb ]  sounds like Igbo, fargboo
[ gh ]  sounds like neighbour, cough, ghetto,
[ gw ]  sounds like gwent, quash,
[ h ]    sounds like hen, hair, hear
[ i ]     sounds like ear, either, eaglet
[ ị ]     sounds like information, ignorant, ignition
[ j ]     sounds like jail, jam, jack
[ k ]    sounds like caught, colour, clutch, cough, kernel
[ kp ]  sounds like repute, catapult, markup
[ kw ]  sounds like quote, quick, question
[ l ]     sounds like leg, late, live
[ m ]   sounds like more, mad, male
[ n ]    sounds like no, note, nil
[ ń ]    sounds like rung, gong, song
[ nw ]  sounds like went, wench, wept
[ ny ]  sounds like pony, funny, Ronny
[ o ]    sounds like orange, owe, oat
[ ọ ]    sounds like Austin, augment, automatic
[ p ]    sounds like pay, peas, pocket
[ r ]     sounds like report, reproduce, research
[ s ]     sounds like send, said, sue
[ sh ]   sounds like ship, sure, shall
[ t ]      sounds like tea, till, tee, thief
[ u ]     sounds like push, shoe, spoon, woof
[ ụ ]     sounds like talk, pork, rock, pouf
[ v ]     sounds like victor, Vicky, vehicle
[ w ]    sounds like welt, way, width
[ y ]     sounds like year, yell, yeast
[ z ]     sounds like zero, zoo, zone

Why Igbo Has 36 Letters 
Explaining the Igbo Alphabet and Its Uniqueness  
  
By Amarachi Attamah

 Many people are surprised to learn that the Igbo alphabet has 36 letters, not 26 like English.
This is because Igbo sounds are different, and the writing system had to capture those unique sounds that don’t exist in English.
The Igbo writing system is known as the ‘Ọnwụ orthography’, standardized in 1961 by scholars and linguists to unify spelling across dialects.

 It includes all the vowels and consonants of Igbo speech, as well as special double consonants called ‘digraphs that represent single sounds.

What makes this alphabet unique is:

1. Tonal language – Igbo words change meaning based on tone (high or low pitch). For example, ‘akwa’ can mean “cloth,” “cry,” “egg,” or “bed,” depending on tone. Though tone is not marked in everyday writing, it is always present in speech.

Also... Igbo is a tonal language, so what you hear is what you write, and that is why its alphabet expanded to 36 letters to capture every distinct sound.

2. Distinct vowels – Igbo has 8 vowels, not just 5. These are divided into two groups:

ụdaarọ (advanced tongue root): e, i, o, u
ụdamfe (retracted tongue root): a, ị, ọ, ụ

This difference changes the meaning of words completely.

3. Digraphs as letters – combinations like gb, kp, ch, nw, ny are not just two letters put together; each represents a unique sound. For instance, ‘gb’ is a voiced bilabial-velar stop, a sound English speakers struggle to pronounce. This brought about the represtation of ‘Igbo’ as ‘Ibo’ by many.

4. Cultural depth– the alphabet is not just a tool for reading; it encodes the worldview of a people.

The precision with which Igbo represents sounds shows the richness of the language and its insistence that no sound, no meaning, should be lost. Sometimes i even think it should have been 37 with an addition of “ẹ” 

ÁSỤ̀SỤ́ Igbo amaka.