a language cluster that constitutes a subbranch of the Benue-Congo branch (Benue-Congo languages) of the Niger-Congo language family. There are nearly 20 million speakers of Igboid languages in southeastern Nigeria. In the early years of the 20th century an attempt to develop an artificial form of Igbo called Union-Igbo, based on four Igbo dialects, was not successful. Later a standard literary form developed based on the Owerri and Umuahia dialects. There is a growing body of literature in Igbo, and such Igbo writers as Chinua Achebe (Achebe, Chinua), Cyprian Ekwensi (Ekwensi, Cyprian), and Christopher Okigbo (Okigbo, Christopher) are internationally known. Igbo also is used as a second language by others who live in this area of Nigeria.