约鲁巴语

约鲁巴语（èdè Yorùbá）是西非超过4500万人使用的语言，是约鲁巴人的母语。其通行地区横跨了尼日利亚、贝宁、多哥、塞拉利昂、北加纳，形成一个方言连续体。在巴西和古巴也有使用约鲁巴语的移民族群。
约鲁巴语为孤立声调语言，意即它没有词形变化，且以声调辨义。约鲁巴语的句法结构为SVO。
音系.
约鲁巴语有三种可能的音节：单独母音(V)、子音+母音(CV)和母音化鼻音(N)。且每个音节都有三种声调：高‹´›、中 ‹› (一般可不标明)和低‹`›。由"(意即「我不去」)这个句子可知约鲁巴语的声调结构：
母音.
标准的约鲁巴语具有七个非鼻化母音及五个鼻化母音。约鲁巴语没有双母音，而多个并排的母音中，每个单独的母音都为独立音节，并以此发音。其他方言的母音数可能会有不同。
第五个鼻化母音的状态是具争议性的。虽然此音出现于交谈中，但一些作者认为此音不与其他音素对立；而此音也常常是的自由变体在书写上，除非是在碰到做为同位异音的(见「子音」一节)出现在鼻化母音前的状况，例如"inú"这个表「内部、度子」的字，它在事实上的发音是。，不然一般常借由在母音符号后加‹n›来表鼻化母音(i.e., ‹in›, ‹un›, ‹ẹn›, ‹ọn›)
rí 'see' aṣọ 'clothing' → ráṣọ 'see clothing', contrasted with rí 'see' ọ̀bẹ 'knife' → rọ́!bẹ 'see a knife'In the first example, the final vowel of the verb "rí" is deleted but its high tone easily attaches to the first syllable of "aṣọ", the mid tone of which disappears without a trace. In the second example, the Low tone of the first syllable of "ọ̀bẹ" is not as easily deleted; it causes a downstep (marked by ‹!›, i.e., a lowering of subsequent tones. The ease with which the Mid tone gives way is attributed to it not being specified underlyingly. Cf. Bamgboṣe 1966:9 (who calls the downstep effect 'the assimilated low tone').</ref>.) Every syllable must have at least one tone; a syllable containing a long vowel can have two tones. Contour tones (i.e. rising or falling tone melodies) are usually analysed as separate tones occurring on adjacent tone bearing units (morae) and thus have no phonemic status. Tones are marked by use of the acute accent for high tone (‹á›, ‹ń›), the grave accent for low tone (‹à›, ‹ǹ›); Mid is unmarked, except on syllabic nasals where it is indicated using a macron (‹a›, ‹n̄›); see below). Examples:
Assimilation and elision.
When a word precedes another word beginning with a vowel, assimilation or deletion ('elision') of one of the vowels often takes place. In fact, since syllables in Yoruba normally end in a vowel, and most nouns start with one, this is a very common phenomenon, and indeed only is absent in very slow, unnatural speech. The orthography here follows speech in that word divisions are normally not indicated in words that are contracted as a result of assimilation or elision: "ra ẹja" → "rẹja" 'buy fish'. Sometimes however, authors may choose to use an inverted comma to indicate an elided vowel as in "ní ilé" → "n’ílé" 'in the house'. 
Long vowels within words usually signal that a consonant has been elided word-internally. In such cases, the tone of the elided vowel is retained, e.g. "àdìrò" → "ààrò" 'hearth'; "koríko" → "koóko" 'grass'; "òtító" → "òótó" 'truth'.
语法.
语序.
约鲁巴语的语序如下：
约鲁巴语语序示例如下：
此句直译为：他、买、椅子
此句直译为：他、打、Adé（Adé为一人名）
概览.
约鲁巴语是种高度孤立的语言。其基本语序，如上所述，为主词─动词─受词(SVO)。
尽管约鲁巴语的名词在语法上没有性的区别，但它在指人名词和非指人名词上是有分别的。做为原尼日尔-刚果语名词类别系统的遗迹，约鲁巴语的这种区别只在疑问代词上是显著的，其中tani(意即「谁？」)用于人；而kini(意即「什么？」)用于人以外的事物。
代词.
约鲁巴语不是一种代词脱落语，通常在主词的位置必须有东西，也就是说，像*ra aga这样的句子通常是不能接受的；然而，在第三人称单数代词出现于否定词kò或未来时标明yóò前时，主词是可省略的，因此像Kò lọ(意即「(他)不去」)和yóò lo(意即「(他)将会去」)这样的句子是可接受的。
动词.
约鲁巴语的动词多半是单音节的，但亦有少部份有多个音节，且不随人称做变化；另外，约鲁巴语的一些动词词素是可拆开的，像fihàn(意即「介绍」)和bàjẹ́(意即「弄坏」)等动词即为其例。如下所示(以下以粗体表示的部份为动词词素拆开后的各部份)：
约鲁巴语有连动结构，它和汉语一样，可在一个句子中将多个动词并列。如下所示：
此句中sáré和lọ皆为动词，其中sáré之意为「跑」，lọ之意为「去」。
动词词干单独出现时表一个已完成的动作；时态与体会藉"ń"(此为现在进行式/非完成体标明)、"ti"(此为过去时标明)等来标明。另外约鲁巴语透过加于动词前的质词"kò"来表示否定。