This paper adopts a descriptive approach in analyzing the counting system of the Yoruba language. It explains the technicalities of its arithmetical involvements which appear to have been contributing to the difficulty often encountered in its learning. The study relies on three major sources in gathering data for the descriptive analysis, namely, compilation of relevant list of Yoruba numerals, the researcher's intuitive knowledge of the language coupled with his training as a linguist, and a search of the relevant literature. The work throws more light on the crucial roles of some affixes in realizing some odd numbers, multiples of twenty, centenary, bicentenary etc in their order of increase. The paper goes much further to examine the linguistic structure of numerals in a bid to bring to light some salient linguistic features that are of significant interest to the teaching of the grammar of the language. Here, we discover that Yoruba numerals derive more of its formation from different aspects of the language structure like sound level (phonology), form/structure level (morphology and syntax), and meaning level (semantics) as evidenced in instances like deletion, assimilation, coalescence, tonal changes, ambiguity, affixation, linguistic typology to mention a few. We also discover that unlike in English, the direction of counting in Yoruba is done from right-to-left. Not only this, it adopts base five, decimal (base ten) and vigesimal systems of counting. This is because the language employs a numeral structure where counting is done mostly in multiples of ogún (twenty). We therefore hope that the detail analysis given in this work will not only fill a gap in the study of the Yoruba language in particular but will also lead to the expansion of Yoruba linguistic database in general. We admit the views of the scholars that linguistic documentation such as this is necessary not only for the study of the language but for the record-keeping of its norm and values which are fast giving way for the impact of technology and domineering influence of the world languages.
The obligatory contour principle forbids identical consecutive features in the underlying representation. This work undertakes a description of the Anaang tonal structure, the tonal behaviour of compounds and reduplicates in the language, bearing in mind their sensitivity to the OCP and the environments that trigger the adherence. An adapted Ibadan wordlist of 400 Basic Items (Trial) English version was used via interview for data collection from six men and six women within Abak Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State. The data were analysed using optimality theoretical framework. The analysis shows that Anaang compounds as well as reduplicates exhibit cases of tonal modifications in line with OCP. For compounds, the tone of the second noun changes depending on the tonal sequence. In the HH noun base, the second-high tone of the second noun changes to a low tone, in the LH noun base, the tone of the second noun is raised to a down-stepped high tone, the LL noun base sees the tone of the second noun being raised to a high tone. For reduplication, the tone of the L verb base changes when the redup lication is partial. When the reduplication is complete, the high tone of the second noun is down-stepped.
This work examines the componential analysis of the gbá verbal complex in Igbo. It investigates the complex verb gbá in order to find out the basic components of the verb in Igbo thereby arriving at its lexical meaning. The paper adopts the theory of componential analysis for the analysis of data. The data used for the study were elicited through informal interview and the researchers’ intuitive knowledge as native speakers. The study found out that ‘gbá’ is a verb of movement or motion which results into change of position. This is applicable to all the words that bear the verb root. The distinguishing features that exist among them are equally observed. It is found out that different meanings associated with the word bearing the verb root ‘gbá’ is based on the verb that selects the complement thus the word gbá-égwú means ‘dance’, gbá mgbá ‘wrestle’ and gbá oso ‘run’. It will bring clarity among the meanings of lexemes in the same semantic domain. These findings will be beneficial to curriculum designers by giving them the insight on areas to stress more in teaching second language learners and for documentation.
The study examines two dialects of the Igbo language, namely Aro and Mgbo, and analyses the acoustic structure of its obstruents as spoken by native speakers. This study sets out to, among other things, identify the obstruents which occur in the dialects, characterise these obstruents, analyse the acoustic properties, and find out the manner of relatedness of the obstruents in the two dialects. Four adult respondents (two for each dialect) aged between 60-80 years who are native speakers of the dialects were randomly selected. The data were recorded electronically using a high precision Sony ICD-UX560 recorder and transferred into the computer via Praat speech analyzer software. The data analysis was carried out with the SIL Speech Analyzer version 3.0.1 (1996-2007) and Praat. These were used in transcribing recorded tokens, cutting portions of tokens and analyzing the data. The measurement of the pitch, intensity and duration reveal some significant differences within the two dialects. In most Northern Igbo (Waawa) dialects, back rounded vowels are weakened as is evinced in [nɣɔkə] and [ŋkɔ]. Although the vowels are evident in the syllable structure, the final vowels are so weak that they are not phonetically interpretable.
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