Introduction
The name Yorùbá applies to a continuum of dialects with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. There are three major geographic dialect areas that are characterized by major differences in pronunciation, and to a lesser degree in grammar and vocabulary: Northwest Yorùbá, Southeast Yorùbá, and Central Yorùbá .

Status
There are 18.8 million first-language speakers of Yorùbá in Nigeria. It is also spoken in Benin, Togo, United Kingdom, and the U.S. The total number of native speakers of Yoruba is estimated at 19.3 million. In addition, there are 2 million second-language speakers of the language (Ethnologue). As a result of the slave trade of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the language has also survived in Cuba (where it is called Lukumi) and in Brazil (where it is called Nago). Nago and Lukumi are still used today in religious rituals.

Even though the official language of Nigeria is English, Yorùbá together with Igbo and Hausa are the quazi- official languages that serve as lingua francas for speakers of the 400 odd languages spoken in Nigeria. In southwest Nigeria where most of Yorùbá speakers are concentrated, Yorùbá, although not an official language, is used in government administration, print and electronic media, at all levels of education, in literature and in film.

Yorùbá was an unwritten language until the early part of the 19th century. It became one of the first African languages to have a written grammar and a dictionary that were published in the mid 1800s. A writing system for Yorùbá based on the Roman alphabet was developed by the Church Missionary Society in Lagos, Nigeria, in the mid 1800s. The alphabet has undergone several changes. By 1920, there was a steady flow of Yorùbá literature which has continued until this day.

Yorùbá is written in the Latin alphabet adapted to represent the sounds of Yorùbá by using the digraph gb and a few diacritics including a vertical line set under the letters e, o, and s. The line is often replaced by a dot in Unicode. The Latin letters c, q, v, x, z are not used.

Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Yorùbá.

1. What observations can about the language from looking at the text?
2. Is there any evidence of consonant clusters in Yorùbá?

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood

Yoruba language and culture study resources
Nigeria's people (Yoruba)
UCLA Language Materials Project (Yoruba Profile)
UCLA Language Materials Listing for the Less Commonly Taught Languages
University of Minnesota Less Commonly Taught Languages Database
Omniglot: A guide to written language (Yoruba)
WorldLanguage.com (Yoruba page)