Igbo is a language cluster belonging to many people around the Southern Nigeria region. Depending on the technical distinction between “language” and “dialect,” Igbo may be considered to be a collection of some 15 to 30 languages, which are not all mutually intelligible. The precise roots of Igbo are still in debate today, but it has grown to constitute one of the largest languages of West Africa nonetheless.
The large number of variations of Igbo has made standardization attempts difficult and relatively unsuccessful, making the development of a standard written Igbo particularly difficult as well. Standard Igbo is at the center of these attempts, crossing Central Igbo with words from other variations, but these efforts have been famously and passionately rejected by many, including Nigerian poet Chinua Achebe.