QUESTION FORMATION IN MERNYANG
ANJORIN OLUWAFISAYO ABIODUN
07/15CB037
A LONG ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT
OF LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES,
FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN,
ILORIN, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR
OF ARTS, B.A. (HONS) IN LINGUISTICS
MAY, 2011
1
CERTIFICATION
This long essay has been read and certified as meeting the requirements of the
Department of Linguistics and Nigeria Languages, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
……………………………………
DR. MRS B.E. AROKOYO
Supervisor
……………………..
Date
……………………………………
PROF ABDUSALAM
Head Of Department
……………………..
Date
……………………………………
EXTERNAL EXAMINER
……………………...
Date
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DEDICATION
This project work is dedicated to GOD ALMIGHTY, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN
AND EARTH. My wonderful parents, Ven & Mrs. P.I. Anjorin, May God bless you richly.
To my Late sister, Olubunmi Anjorin, continue to rest in perfect peace.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My profound gratitude goes to Almighty God, my redeemer, my strength, the author and
the finisher of my faith, you are worthy oh Lord!
The effort of my able Supervisor Dr. (Mrs.) Arokoyo is highly appreciated, may God
continue to strengthen you and continually bless the works of your hand. I appreciate all the
lecturers in the department, Prof Abdusalam, Dr Issa Sanusi, Dr Lere Adeyemi, Dr. Oyebola, Mr
S.A Aje, Mr. J.O. Friday Otun, Mr Rafiu,Mr Ogunlola, Mr Atoyebi, Mr Adeosun, Mrs.
Abubakare, Mrs. Hamzat, you have all blessed my life, may the Lord water your barns.
My gratitude goes to my parents Ven & Mrs. P.I. Anjorin for their support spiritually,
financially, morally and in every aspect of life, you are too much, may you live long to reap the
fruits of your labour. And to my siblings, my late sister who passed away at a tender age, I love
you but Christ loves you more. Ayomide, Ayoola, Ayomiposi, I love you all, may the Lord
bless you.
I appreciate, my one and only partner, Don Babatunde Olaoye you are just too much, may
our relationship bring forth good fruits. The Olaoyes, I appreciate you.
I cannot but appreciate St. Paul’s Anglican Church as a whole, may the Lord bless His
church. Ven Komolafe & his family, God bless you. Rev O.B. Babalola & his family, may the
Lord reward you bountifully, God bless your ministry, Bro. Segun Fadele, Joshua Balogun,
Bunmi Balogun you are all too much.
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Linguist Tunji Salako, Linguist Bose Ajanaku, my friends Ayodele, Omotola, and all my
course mates I appreciate you and will miss you all.
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ABBREVIATIONS
Below are the abbreviations of syntactic terms used in this work
AGR
Agreement
C
Complementizer
CP
Complementizer phrase
DET
Determiner
D-S
Deep structure
S-S
Surface structure
I
Inflection
IP
Inflection Phrase
N
Noun
NP
Noun Phrase
Q –m
Question marker
P
pronoun
Spec
Specifier
VP
verb phase
V
Verb
6
And move alpha (which indicates
transformation)
7
TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT
PAGE
Title Page………………………………………………………………………………..i
Certification………………………………………………………………………….…ii
Dedication………………………………………………………………………………iii
Acknowledgment……………………………………………………………………….iv -v
List of Symbols and Abbreviations……………………………………………………..vi-vii
Table of Content………………………………………………………………………..viii-xiii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0.
General Background……………………………………………………………………1
1.1.
Historical Background………………………………………………………………….1-3
1.2
Geographical Background of Mernyang People……………….……..………………..3
1.2.1 Socio Cultural profile……………………………………………………………………3
1.2.2
Occupation…………………………………………………………………………..….4
1.2.3 Religion…………………………………………………………………..…………..….4
1.2.4 Festivals…………………………………………………………………..…………..…4
1.2.5 Marriages………………………………………………………………………………..4-5
1.3
Genetic Classification………………………………………………………………….5
8
1.4
Scope and Organization of study……………..…………………………..……….6
1.5
Data Collection……………………………………………………..………………6-7
1.5.1
Data Analysis…………………………..…………………………..…….…………7
1.6
Theoretical Framework..……………….…………………………………………..7-9
1.6.1
X-Bar Theory……………………………………………………………………….10
1.6.2
Projection Principle….……..……………………………………………………....10-12
1.6.3
The Principle of Head Parameter…….……………………………………….……12-15
1.6.4
Theta Theory…………………………………………………………………..........15-16
1.6.5 Case Theory………………………………………………………………………….16-17
CHAPTER TWO
Introduction to Mernyang Phonology and syntax
2.0
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………18
2.1
Basic Phonological Concepts in Mernyang……………………..…………………..18-20
2.11.
Mernyang Consonant & vowel sound system………………….……………………20-21
2.12. Distribution of Mernyang Consonant………………………………………………..21-28
2.13. Distribution of Vowels in Mernyang………………………………………………...28-31
2.2.
The syllabic structures of Mernyang………………………………………….……..31-32
2.3.
Phrase structure Rules in Mernyang………….……………………………………..32-33
9
2.3.1 Noun Phrase…………………………………..…………………………………….33
2.3.2 Verb Phrase……………………………………..………………………………….34-35
2.3.3 Prepositional Phrase…………………………………….…………………………..35
2.3.4 Adjectival Phrase……………………………………………..……………………..36
2.4.
Lexical Categories in Mernyang……………………….……..……………………..37
2.4.1 Noun……………………………………………………….…..……………………37-38
2.4.1 Concrete Noun………………………………………..……………………………..38
2.4.1.2 Abstract Noun…………………………………..……………………………………38
2.4.1.3 Common Noun………………………………..……………………………………..39
2.4.1.4 Collective Noun……………………………..……………………………………….39
2.4.1.5 Countable Noun…………………………..………………………………………….39
2.4.1.6 Uncountable Noun……………………..……………….……………………………39-40
2.4.2. Pronoun………………………………..…..……………..…………………………..41-42
2.4.3 Verb…………………………………..………………….…………………………..42
2.4.3.1 Transitive Verb……………………..………………………………………………..42
2.4.3.2 Intransitive Verb……………………………………………………………………..42-43
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2.4.4 Adverbs……………………………………………………………………..………..43
2.4.5 Adjectives……………………………………………………………………..……..43
2.4.6 Preposition…………………………………………………………………………...43-44
2.4.7 Interjections………………………………………………………………………….44
2.4.8 Conjunctions…………………………………………………………………………44
2.5
Basic Word order in Mernyang………………………………………………………45-46
2.6
Sentence Types in Mernyang Language……………………………………………..46
2.6.1 Simple Sentence………………………………………………………………………47
2.6.2 Compound Sentence………………………………………………….……………..47-48
2.6.3 Complex Sentence…………………………………………………..………………48
2.7.0 Functional Classification of sentences in Mernyang…………..…………………….48-49
2.7.1 Declarative Sentence……………..………………………………………………….49
2.7.2 Interrogative Sentence…………..……………………………………………………49-50
2.7.3 Imperative Sentence…………………………………………………………...……..50
2.7.4 Exclamatory Sentences………………………………………………………………50
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CHAPTER THREE
3.0
Question Formation in Mernyang………………………………………………..….51
3.1
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………51
3.2
The WH Question in Mernyang……………………………………………………..51-57
3.3
Yes/No Question in Mernyang…………………………………………………..….58-59
3.4
Echo Question in Mernyang………………………………………………………...60-62
3.5
Alternative Question in Mernyang………………………………………………….62-63
3.6
Tag Question………………………………………………..………………………63-64
3.7
Rhetorical Question………………………………………………………………....64-66
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0
Transformational Processes in Mernyang……………..……………………..………67
4.1
Introduction………………………………………………………………………….67
4.2
Focus Construction……………………………………………………….………….67-70
4.3
Relativization………………………………………………………………………..70-79
4.4
Reflexivization………………………………………………………………………79-83
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CHAPTER FIVE
5.0
Summary and Conclusion……………………………………………………………84
5.1
Summary…………………………………………………………………………….84
5.2
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..85
5.3
Recommendation……………………………………………………..……………..85- 86
References……………………………………………………………..……………87-89
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CHAPTER ONE
1.0
GENERAL BACKGROUND
Linguistics over the years has been defined as the scientific study of language.
However, studying language scientifically entails the study of phonetics, phonology,
morphology, syntax and semantics of a language so as to get empirical and sufficient
facts/data, carry them out, experiment and process them, then formalize a rule to form
linguistically significant generalization about such language.
The above mentioned levels of linguistics are referred to as core linguistics by
YULE in that, they as the level at which the structure of any language whatsoever can be
studied, analysed and determined. Hence in this project work, my main objective is to
examine one of the five attested level of language which deals with the arrangement of
words (phrases) to form sentences (i.e. SYNTAX) and my focus will be on question
formation. An aspect which deals with how questions are formed/asked.
This chapter will introduce the historical background of mernyang people, their
socio-cultural profile and the genetic classification of the language. This chapter also
discusses the scope and organization of the study, the theoretical frame work used for our
analysis and the review of the chosen frame work.
1.1
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Oral tradition and history has it that the mernyang people are descendants of
Kofyar people who lived on the hills in Qua’an pan Local government area of plateau
state.
14
Kofyar people are said to have migrated from Dada village in Kano State and the
settlement was founded by Dofyar and nade his sister who were both great hunters.
On the account of their settlement in Kofyar, Dofyar and Nade are said to engage
in hunting expendition when they found themselves on the hills in the northern plateau.
Due to the beauty and attractiveness of the hills, Dofyar and Nade decided not to go back
to Dada (Kano-State) which was their original hometown, but stayed back and made an
abode for themselves on the hills.
After many years, the offsprings of those great hunters grew into a large
community and saw reasons for them to engage in farming to complement their original
and major occupation of hunting. Due to the nature of the hills, some of the people had
to come down from the hills to create a better abode for themselves on the plain surface.
As a result of the height of the hills from the ground, and the hardship
encountered by the people when climbing the hills, some of them decided to stay and
provided shelter for themselves while those that had the going up and down easy decided
to make the top of the hills their permanent abode. Those that decided to stay and live on
the plain surface are today known as THE MERNYANG PEOPLE and the settlement is
named Kwa(or pan) while those on the hills remain as “Kofyar” people. However,
inspite of this, the Kofyar and the Kwa people (Mernyang speakers) still see themselves
as one and they have a mutual relationship.
15
Of many communities and villages in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of
Plateau State, the Kwa chiefdom i.e. the mernyang speakers remain the major and the
dominant group. They are known and called “the pan chiefdom by their neighboring
villages and towns, and according to the 2005 census, they can boast of 10,000 people
within the community and about 95,000 speakers of the language, they are scattered
around the nooks and crannies of Plateau State.
Educational development, the expansion of settlement and the volume of trade,
agricultural practices and population increase among others have today contributed to
making (Kwa pan) chiefdom enjoy rapid growth and development.
1.2
Geographical Background of Mernyang people
The mernyang speaking people are found in the northern part of Qua’anpan local
government area of plateau state. In the state, they are located as the southern east of the
state
1.2.1 Socio Cultural Profile
The mernyang speaking people have a diverse culture and they distinct from one
another depending on the districts because there are four districts of the mernyang
speaking people. They are: Kwa, which is the mernyang people, Doemak, Dokankasuwa,
Kwang and the Kwalla people.
16
1.2.2 Occupation
As fore mentioned, the main occupation of the mernyang speaking people is
farming. They also engage themselves in trading and hunting and for those close to the
rivers incase of Kwang and Dokan Kasuwa they engage in fishing too.
1.2.3 Religion
Before the coming of the colonial masters, mernyang people were all animist, but
with the coming of Islamic and the Catholic missionaries who settled at Kwa and Kofyar,
some embraced Islam and others Christianity. Today we have Christians and Muslims
and also some of the animist cohibiting together. In regards to Christianity, catholic is the
dominant church because the missionaries that came are from Island and are catholic
missioners.
1.2.4 Festivals
The mernyang speaking people have different festivals depending on the time,
place and district, but there is one general festival been celebrated yearly called Shika’am
where all sons and daughters of mernyang converge to attain and celebrate the festival.
Several talents are displayed to add more beauty and shape to the event. The people also
dance, display magic and the likes. This is done by the youth while elders watch.
1.2.5 Marriages
Marriage in mernyang land differs from district to district, from clan to clan and
religion to religion. In case of Kwa, sometimes a lady is betrothed few days after birth in
which she has to marry the person she is betrothed to or if she refuses she then pay back
what the family of the husband already brought on her behalf even when she was young.
17
Payment of bride price depends on the families and clans.
1.3
GENETIC CLASSIFICATION
AFRO – ASIATIC
Ancient Egyptian
Semitic
chadic
North chadic
West chadic
East chadic
A2
Berber
Cushitic
South chadic
A3 (Angas-Gerka)
1
Cak-fem mushere
Jorlo Kofyar
Bwal Doemak
Goran Jepal
2
Mislup
mwayhand
Kofyar Kwalla
Source adapted from w.w.w ethnologue com/shows= language asp- ?
Code = kwl
18
nyks
MERNYANG
1.4
SCOPE AND ORGANIZATION OF STUDY
This research will focus its attention on question formation. This work aims at
giving a detailed syntactic analysis of the question formation in Mernyang language.
The work attempt to discuss WH question, The Yes or No question, Tag question,
Alternative question, Rhetorical question in mernyang language. This description will
also focus on some of the peculiar features of the language.
This research work consists of five chapters.
Chapter one deals with the
introductory aspect of the work, that is the sociolinguistics profiles of the dialect, its
historical background, socio cultural profile, genetic classification, scope and
organization of the study, theoretic framework. The second chapter centers on the basic
syntactic concept, where we intend to analyze the phrase structure rules as well as the
lexical categories and sentence types based on Government and binding theory.
The third chapter will examine the question formation of mernyang language
while chapter four introduces us to transformational process like focus construction,
reflexivization and relativization. Chapter five summarizes and concludes the work
1.5.
DATA COLLECTION
The method employed for data collection is the bilingual elicitation approach
involving English and mernyang. The data were elicited with the use of the Ibadan four
hundred word list, which consist of basic list of simple words. Apart from the 400 word
19
lists, questions and sentences in English were translated to mernyang by mernyang native
speakers. The data collected were subjected to analysis.
Oral interviews were
questions
conducted in English language and answers to the
were given in Mernyang by my informant. The answers to these questions
were used in the syntactic analysis of mernyang.
Below are the full details of my informant
Name: MICHAEL DAMAN NA’ANKAM
Age:
50 YEARS OLD
My informant is a native speaker of mernyang language. My informant speaks
the following languages; English, Hausa and Mernyang.
1.5.1 Data Analysis
In this research work, the data was collected from my informant both in writing
and recording in an audio cassette then the analysis of the data collected was carried out
using Government and Binding theory of syntax as proposed by Chomsky (1986). This
research work will be limited to the aspect of question formation of Mernyang.
The informants used are fluent in the language, their fluently and competence
formed the basis of choice of them as my informants.
1.6
Theoretical Framework
20
The theoretical framework to be employed in this research work is Government and
Binding Theory (GB). G.B theory is a model of grammar propounded and developed by Noam
Chomsky. This is done with the aim of covering universal Grammar (UG) that is, the system or
principles, conditions and rules that are elements or properties of all human languages. It was
also done as a reaction to transformational Generative grammar to account for all and only the
representations that underline the grammatical sentence in a language.
Government and Binding theory is a modular deductive theory of grammar. Proponents
of G.B. often maintained that there’s no such thing as roles of language but the principles and
parameters whose values can vary from one language to the other do exist with specified units.
Chomsky (1995:15-16) remarks as follows, “The principles and parameter approach held
that language have to rule in anything like familiar sense of transformation and no theoretically
significant grammatical construction, except taxonomic artifacts”.
There are universal
principles and finite array of options as to how such principles apply (parameter) but no language
particular roles.
It is also worthy to note that though Government and Binding theory is a common label
for this model or syntax, it is misleading because it gives undue prominence to the two elements
of government and Binding, whose status was not fundamentally superior to the other subtheories like X-bar, theta, case etc. Hence, the ‘principles and parameters theory’ has come to be
seen as closer to essence.
G.B has two levels of representation related by transformational rule called Move alpha.
Move alpha is stipulated by movement that is the syntactic level is elaborated by the concept of
21
movement (Cook 1988:30) G.B requires two levels of syntactic representation.
The deep
structure (D-structure) which is the level at which we obtain all information on the words and
their combination, it consists of base rules, lexical rules, strict sub categorization, selectional
restrictions, phrase structure rules (Yusuf 19971:68) It is the level at which all the elements in
the sentence are in their original location (cook 1988:30)
We also have the surface structure level (s-structure) which is the level at which some
components in the sentence have been moved. The s-structure is clearly generated from the Dstructure by the application of movement rules. There is a relationship between the deep
structure and the surface structure they are related by movement.
THE SUB-THEORUS OF G.B.
Chomsky postulates a set of interacting sub-theories each of which deals with some
control area of grammatical enquiry. Each of these theories comprises a principle or set of
principles, and each of these may be subject to parametric variation. That is to say, it is assumed
that the grammar of languages vary in only finitely =. Many ways with respect to the domain
covered by a given sub-theory.
All these sub-theories of G.B. theory operates in a modular form, this theory itself is
referred to as a modular deductive theory of grammar. The sub-theory assured are the following:
i.
X-bar theory
ii.
Theta theory
iii.
Case theory
22
iv.
Binding theory
v.
Bounding theory
vi.
Control theory
vii.
Government theory
1.6.1 X-bar Theory
X – Bar syntax replaces large numbers of idiosyncratic rules with general
principles. It captures properties of all phrases and its bases on lexicon. The principle is
that a phrase always contains a head of the same type.
It defines the possible phrase structure configuration of language in general. The
control notion is that each of the major lexical categories (Noun, Verb, Prepositions and
Adjectives) is the head of a structure is dominated by a (phrase, verb, verb phrase, Noun
phrase (NP), preposition: pp and Adjective – AP) it comes after other possible
constituents in the example below.
NP
Spec
N
N1
Det
That
1.6.2
house
Projection Principle
23
Chomsky (1981:29) states that (representation at each syntactic level is projected from
the lexicon) in that they observe the sub categorization properties of lexical items; projection
principles requires lexical properties to be projected to all levels of syntactic representation i.e. a
lexical item projects from its zero bar level to one (single) bar level, which is optional, then to
double bar level. The zero bar level is referred to as the core projection level, the single bar level
is referred to as the intermediate projection level and the double bar level is referred to as the
maximal projection level.
The illustration is shown below:
XII
Maximal projection level
XI
Intermediate projection level
Xo
Core projection level
Horrocks (1987:99) states that X-bar theory tells us that a lexical head (X) and its
complements form a constituent (XI) and that any specifier of this form with a high level of
constituent (XII) Thus:
XII
Spec
XI
XO
Comp
24
The lexical entry projects onto the structure of the sentence, and its influence ceases at
the double bar level. Another feature that makes generalization rule possible in x – bar theory is
the concept of head. The notion of head of a phrase is called the principle of head parameter.
1.6.3 The Principle of Head Parameter
The principle of head parameter specifies the order of elements in a language. The basic
assumption of head parameter is that sentences may be broken into constituent phrase and
structural grouping of words. Stock well (181:70) says that the parametric variation between
language according to whether the position of the head is first or last with respect to its
complement is called head parameter. In other words, all phrases have heads of a related and
possible complement along with some others like its specifiers.
Lamidi (2000:105) says that the head is the keyword in a phrase and the word can be pre
or post modified. In essence, the head of a phrase is very important in x-bar theory and the head
of the phrase to the right or left of the hand is known as head parameter. That is, head first.
X
XO Complement
XI
XO
Comp
Or head last
XI
Complement X
XI
Comp
XO
25
To accommodate specifiers, it requires second level of structure putting the levels of
specifier and complements together, the order of the head and specifier could be set separately
from the order of the head and complement. Thus
XII
spec x
XI
XO comp
Spec
XI
Xo
Comp
All we have been discussing on X-bar (phrase structure) are lexical phrases and the type
of head in lexical phrases is related to word classes. Lexical phrases invariably have heads that
are lexical categories linked to lexical entries.
Another type of phrase is the functional phrase. Functional phrases are the phrase that
are built around functional heads – Functional phrases are the phrases that are built around
functional heads.
Functional phrases invariably have heads that are linked to functional
elements. The functional phrases include inflection phrases (IP).
Cook (1996: 150) says that, inflection phrases are built around functional heads which
may contain lexical materials such as morphological endings but are not required to contain
lexical materials such as morphological endings but are not required to contain lexical materials.
The top levels of the sentence have been unified with the rest of X-bar theory.
26
The maximal
level of a sentence is called inflection phrase (IP) in x-bar theory. IP consists of specifier and II,
II in turn consists of I and a complement thus:
IP
spec
I
I comp
II
IP
II
Spec
I
Comp
Other functional phrases includes complementizer phrase (CP)
CP
spec CI
CI
C
IP
CP
CI
Spec
C
IP
Determinant phrase (DP)
DP
spec
D
DI
D
NP
27
DP
DI
Spec
D
NP
1.6.4 Theta (θ) Theory
Kirsten (1991:493) states that θ theory deals with the functional relationship between a predicate
and its arguments: a predicate is said to assign theta-role to each of its arguments.
It is
concerned with the assignment of what Chomsky calls. ‘Thematic roles’ such as agent, patient
(or theme) beneficiary etc. It is assumed that theta-roles are assigned to the complements of
lexical items as a lexical property. The NP complements (direct object) is assigned to the role of
patient, the PP complement is assigned the role of locative while the subject NP or the sentence
is assigned the agent role.
The main principle of θ theory is the ‘θ-CRITERION’ which requires each thematic role to be
uniquely assigned i.e. each constituent denoting an argument is assigned just one θ role and each
θ role is assigned to just one argument denoting constituent. For example:
Ahmed went to the market by car.
28
IP
II
Spec
NP
I
N1 TNS
(Past)
AGENT NO
VP
AGR
spec
VI
V
NP
PP
N1
PI
NP
PO
NI
Location NO
NO
Ahmed
go
market
by
car
In the illustration above, verb phrase assigns agent role to the subject NP.
Verb assigns patient role to the object of the verb and preposition assigns locative role to its NP
1.6.5 CASE THEORY
Kristen (1991:496) states that ‘case theory regulates the distribution of phonetically
realized NPs by assigning abstract case to them. It deals with the principle of case assignment to
constituents. Chomsky assures that all NPs with lexical contents are assigned (abstract) case.
Case is assigned by a set of case assigners to the governed. Horrocks (1987) says the basic idea
is that case is assigned under government i.e. the choice of case is determined by the governor in
any sentence. For instance, a lexical head X may be said to govern its sisters in X-bar and
certain lexical heads also have the power to case mark certain of their complements. Thus
29
NP subject is assigned normative by INFL; verb assigns accusative case to object of the verb
while preposition assigns oblique case to its object. Let’s use this English sentence as an
example.
Seun bought a land for Biodun
IP
II
Spec
NP
I
NI TN
(past)
NP
AGR
spec
NO
VI
V
VO
PP
NP
PI
Spec
NI
PO
NI
buy
NO
Seun
NP
for
land
NO
Biodun
One of the most important principles of case theory is CASE FILTER, which states that
any s-structure that contains an NP with lexical context but no case is ungrammatical.
30
CHAPTER TWO
Introduction to Mernyang Phonology and Syntax
2
Introduction
This chapter introduces us to the phonological and syntactic concepts of mernyang
language. It focuses on phonological issues like the sound system, syllable structures and
syntactic issues like phrase structure rules, lexical categories, basic word order and
sentence types.
2.1
Basic phonological concepts in mernyang
Mernyang language has thirty-two phonemic consonant sounds and ten vowels. The
description of those sounds is shown below
2.11
/p/:
Voiceless bilabial plosives
/b/:
Voiced bilabial plosive
/m/:
bilabial Nasal
/t/:
Voiceless alveolar stop
/d/:
Voiced alveolar stop
/n/:
Alveolar Nasal
/s/:
Voiceless Alveolar Fricative
/z/:
Voiced alveolar fricative
/L/:
Alveolar lateral
/r/:
Voiced alveolar trill
31
/∫/:
/t∫/:
Voiceless Palato Alveolar Fricative
Voiceless Palato alveolar affricate
/ј/:
Voiced Palatal Approximant
/k/:
Voiceless palatalized velar stop
/g’/:
Voiced palatalized velar stop
/k/:
Voiceless velar stop
/g/:
voiced velar stop
/ŋ/:
velar Nasal
/f’/
Voiceless palatalized labiodental fricative
/d’/:
voiced palatalized alveolar stop
/f/:
voiceless labiodental fricative
/v/:
voiced Labio dental fricative
/Б/:
voiced bilabial implosives
/δ/:
voiced alveolar implosives
/dz/:
voiced palate alveolar affricate
/Y/:
voiced palate alveolar roll
/kw/:
Voiceless labialized velar stop
/gw/:
Voice labialized velat stop
/w/:
Voiced labiovelar Approximant
32
Implosives
Fricatives
Б
j
F
Δ
S
z
F,V
N
L
R
Central
ŋ
Y
back
u:
i
Mid low
e:
Low
u
e
∂
ε
o
ɔ
a
Unrounded
Rounded
33
glottal
?
dz
High
Mid high
Kw
gw
h
J
Front
kg
∫
t∫
Affricate
Nasal
M
Lateral
Trill
Roll
Approximant
Kj gj
Labio
Velar
t,d
Labialized
velar
dj
velar
P,b
Labio
Dental
Bilabial
Stop
Palatalized
velar
voiced velar fricative
Palatal
/ /:
Palato
alveolar
Voiceless glottal fricative
alvelolar
/h/:
Palatilized
Alveolar
Voiceless glottal stop
Palatalized
labio
dental
/?/:
w
The phonemic oral vowel chart of Mernyang
High
ĩ
ũ
Mid high
ê
Midlow
∂
ε
Low
õ
ɔ
ã
The phomemic Nasal vowel chart of mernyang
Distribution of consonant sounds in mernyang
/p/: voiceless bilabial stop
Word initially
[pá]
‘stone’
[pã]
‘ram’
[pà?àt]
‘five’
Word medially
[g∂pãŋ]
‘house’
[kàkàpt∂̃ŋ]
‘bark’
[dàpìt]
‘monkey’
Word finally
[dìp]
‘hair’
[pìέp]
‘beard’
[d∂p]
‘penis’
/b:/
voiced bilabial stop
Word initially
[bàrb]
‘arm’
[biàt]
‘cloth’
[b∂s∂̃ŋ]
‘horse’
Word medially
[m̃bɔ̃m]
‘palm wine’
[jàbà]
‘banana’
[bìubã]
‘rubbish heap’
34
Word finally
[bàrb]
‘arm’
/m:/ Bilabial Nasal
Word initially
[mùɔ̀s]
‘wine’
[mòòr]
‘oil’
[m∂̀̀g∂̀Y]
‘fat’
Word medially
[nàmús]
‘cat’
[n∂̀múàt]
‘toad’
[n∂̀m̀аt]
‘woman’
/t/ voiceless alveolar stop
Word initially
[t ɔ̀ɔ̀ k]
‘neck’
[t ∂m]
‘sheep’
[tàgàm]
‘blood’
Word medially
[k ɔ̀mt∂ǵ]
‘leaf’
[l ∂̀fúk]
‘market’
[àmt∂]
‘thirst’
Word –finally
[fú?út]
‘vomit’
[urεpέt]
‘good’
[miεt]
‘enter’
/d/ voiced alveolar stop
word initially
[d∂p]
‘penis’
[d∂g∂̃l∂ ]
‘room’
[d∂gũŋ]
‘ he goat’
Word – medially
[ndũŋ]
‘that’
[g∂dεt]
‘soon’
[dàd∂̃]
‘bat’
/n/ Alveolar Nasal
35
Word initially
[ndiejεt]
‘smoke’
[niаli]
‘needle’
[n∂̀g∂̀m∂̀m]
‘sea’
Word medially
[g∂̀nɔ̀k]
‘back’
/s/ voiceless Alveolar Fricative
Word initially
[sáY]
‘hand’
[ss∂̀]
‘food’
[súãКωа]
‘maize’
Word medially
[Fu?usbã]
‘sunshine’
[b∂s∂̃ŋ]
‘ horse’
[b∂sĩŋ]
‘house’
Word finally
[àgàs]
‘teeth’
[Lìís]
‘tongue’
[ὲs]
‘bore’
/Z/ voiced alveolar fricative (word initially)
[zὲl]
‘saliva’
[zùgúm]
‘cold’
[zɔgɔp]
‘ pound’
Word medially
[m∂̀z∂̀p]
‘guest’
[dijg∂ɔ∂̃n]
‘urinate’
/L/ alveolar lateral
Word initially
[l ∂gṹ]
‘ dry season’
[lúωà]
‘ meat;
[l̀ὲmú]
‘orange’
Word medially
[dílà̃ŋ]
‘swallow’
[bàldɔ̀gɔ̀l]
‘hard’
[flàk]
‘heart’
Word finally
36
[d∂̀Бdεl]
[dàkаbál]
[lаb∂l]
‘ lizard’
‘crab’
‘ bird’
/r/ voiced alveolar trill
Word medially
[t∫irεp]
‘fish’
[górɔh]
‘kolanut’
[mɔrbã]
‘oil palm’
Word –finally
[jugor]
‘breast’
[nεr]
‘vagina’
[nàr]
‘skin’
/∫/ voiceless palato alveolar-fricative
Word initially
[∫i∫ik]
‘body’
[∫ep]
‘firewood’
[∫аgàl]
‘money’
Word medially
[∫i∫ik]
‘body
[n∂∫аm]
‘ louse’
[nd∂kg∂∫аk] ‘ gather’
/t∫/ voiceless palato alveolar affricate
Word initially
[t∫ig∂n]
‘nail’
[t∫ì]
‘thigh’
[t∫ínì]
‘day’
Word medially
[nt∫ugur]
‘duck’
[nàkùpt∫ís]
‘snail’
/j/ voiced palato approximant
Word initially
[jugur]
‘breast’
[jаbа]
‘banana’
[jil]
‘ground’
Word medially
37
[àjit]
[ndiεjєl]
[g∂̀̀jíl]
‘eye’
‘smoke’
‘earth’
/Kw/ voiceless palatalized velar stop
Word initially
[kjãŋ]
‘hoe’
/gj/ Voiced palatalized velar stop
[gjаrà]
‘hawk’
[gjàiá]
‘dance’
/K/ voiceless velar stop
Word Initially
[kà?àh]
‘head’
[kùm]
‘navel’
[kɔmt∂g]
‘leaf’
Word Medially
[dàkór]
‘tortoise’
[dàkábál]
‘crab’
[nàkùpt∫ìs]
‘snail’
Word Finally
[Ilàk]
‘heart’
[g∂ɔK]
‘back’
[kwаk]
‘leg’
/g/ Voiced Velar Stop
Word Initially
[g∂n]
‘chin’
[gɔ̃ŋ]
‘nose’
[g∂̃nɔk]
‘back’
Word Medially
[tаgаm]
‘blood’
[kugor]
‘Charcoal’
[jаkg∂s∂]
‘men’
Word Finally
[kɔmt∂ g]
‘leaf’
[Бùgàt∂g]
‘tie rope’
/ŋ/ Velar Nasal
38
Word Initially
[ŋkià]
‘vulture’
Word Medially
[bàŋ∂wus]
‘hot’
[nãŋpєh]
‘greet’
[jɔ̃ŋpєh]
‘call’
Word Finally
[gɔ̃ŋ]
‘nose’
[mɔYБã ŋ]
‘oil palm’
[gãŋ]
‘mat’
/FJ/ voiceless palatalized labiodental fricative
Word Initially
[fju]
‘cotton’
/dj/ voiced palatalized alveolar stop
Word Initially
[djip]
‘feather’
j
[d id∂Y]
‘remember’
Word Medially
[ndjik]
‘build’
[peidje]
‘dawn’
/f/ voiceless labio dental fricative
Word Initially
[fù?uh]
‘mouth’
[flàk]
’heart’
[f∂l∂m]
‘knee’
Word medially
[g∂for]
‘town’
[l∂fù]
‘word’
[ùf∂]
‘new’
/V/ voiced labiodental fricative
Word Initially
[vúgúm]
‘hat’
[v∂l]
‘two’
[vãŋ]
‘wash’
Word Medially
39
[pɔgɔu∂l]
‘seven’
/Б/ voiceless bilabial implosives
[Б∂t]
‘belly’
[Б∂lãŋ]
‘work’
[Ба?ãŋ]
‘red’
Word Medially
[d∂g∂̃át]
‘stomach’
[d∂bel]
‘lizard’
/δ/ voiced alveolar implosive
Word Initially
[δɔ̃ŋ]
‘well’/dz/ voiced palato alveolar affricate
[dzàgám]
‘jaw’
[dzέm]
‘matchet’
[dzέp]
‘children’
/Y/ voiced palato alveolar roll
Word initially
[w∂Y∂ʹ ]
‘arrive’
Word Finally
[wаY]
‘road’
[mаY]
‘farm’
[pɔgɔfаY]
‘nine’
/Kw/ voiceless labialized velar stop
Word Initially
[KwаK]
‘leg’
[Kwаkаptõŋ] ‘bark’
Word Initially
[Wukwа? аt] ‘hunter’
[suãkwа]
‘maize’
/gw/ voiced labialized velar stop
Word Initially
[gwui]
‘donkey’
/w/ voiced labiovelar Approximant
Word Initially
40
[wààk]
[wũŋ]
[wus]
‘seed’
‘grass’
‘fire’
Word Initially
[luà? àwàŋ] ‘animal’
[swύm]
‘name’
[bãg∂wus]
‘hot’
/?/ voiceless glottal stop
Word Medially
[pа? аt]
‘five’
[kа?аh]
‘head’
[li?it]
‘elephant’
/h/ voiceless glottal fricative
Word medially
{kahtεp}
‘plant’
Word finally
{ka?ah}
‘head’
{fù?uh}
‘mouth’
{Yógòh}
‘cassava
2.1.3 Distribution of vowels in mernyang
/i//:
high front unrounded vowel
Word medially
[∫ìŋ]
‘motar’
{kæmbì}
‘basket’
{niah}
‘needle’
Word finally
[t∫ì]
‘thigh’
{niali}
‘needle’
[t∫ím]
‘day’
/e/:
Front mid high unrounded vowel
Word midially
[fiew]
‘spin’
[ndemándé] ‘surpass’
[peid’e]
‘dawn’
41
Word finally
[ndèmáńdè] ‘surpass’
[pe;d’e]
‘dawn’
/e:/: front mid high unrounded vowel
Word medially
[pe:d`e]
‘dawn’
/ε/: front low unrounded vowel
Word initially
[ὲs]
‘bone’
[ὲs]
‘feaces’
Word medially
[nεr]
‘vagina’
[t∫εt]
‘cooking’
[dzέm]
‘matchet’
Word Finally
[síε]
‘learn’
[àgàspε]
‘abase’
/∂/: central mid low vowel
Word initially
[∂k]
‘goat’
Word medially
[d∂ba]
‘tobbacco’
[g`∂nɔk]
‘back’
[iahk∂n∂]
‘say’
Word finally
[wupinl∂]
‘husband’
[pem∂]
‘six’
[wàY∂]
‘arrive’
/u:/ : back high rounded vowel
Word medially
[fu:sbã]
‘sunshine’
[fu:s]
‘sun’
/u/ : back mid-high rounded vowel
42
[ùfó]
‘new’
Word medially
[fu?uh]
‘mouth’
[jugur]
‘breast’
[kúm]
‘navel’
Word finally
[lέmú]
‘orange’
[lì?ú]
‘snow’
[lau]
‘bag’
[o] back mid low rounded vowel
Word medially
[lógòh]
‘cassava’
[goóɔh]
‘kolanut’
[dàgó]
‘man’
Word finally
[mũgò]
‘person’
[ũfo]
‘new’
/ɔ/: back low rounded vowel
Word initially
[ɔrũŋ]
‘dust’
Word medially
[kɔʹ m]
‘ear’
[g`∂n`ɔnk]
‘back’
[ńbɔm]
‘palm wine’
/a/ : back low unrounded vowel
[ajit]
‘eye’
[àgàs]
‘teeth’
[àm]
‘water’
Word medially
[jàp]
‘divide’
[lat]
‘finish’
[nàr]
‘skin’
Word finally
43
‘child’
‘father’
‘son’
[làlà]
[ńda]
[là]
2.2
The syllabic structure of mernyang
Ladefoged (1976:26) defines a syllable in terms of the inherent sonority of each sound.
The sonority of a sound is relative to that of other sounds with the same length, stress and pitch.
A syllable has been defined as a peak of prominence which is usually associated with the
occurrence of one vowel or syllabic consonant (Hyman 1975:189). A close syllable ends with a
consonant, while an open syllable ends with a vowel.
Mernyang language exhibits open and close syllable structures. The syllable structures in
mernyang are described as CV, VC, CVC, CVCV, CVCVC, VCVC, CVCVCVC. Syllables
examples of words in the language with their syllables structures are given below:
2.2.1 Mono-Syllabic Structures
These are words that have a single syllable. Examples include:
[t∫ã]
‘hoe’
[tєp] ‘tear’
[nàs] ‘beat’ [person]
[wút] ‘untie’
Di syllabic
These are words that have two syllables.
Examples in mernyang are:
[tú/gũ] ‘push’
[tá/kát] ‘pull’
[Бú/gát] ‘tie rope’
[yu/gur] ‘ breast’
[djа/gám] ‘ jaw’
Poly syllabic
44
In polysyllabic, the words contain more than two syllables. For example
[nа/kùp/dùs] ‘snail’
CV CVC
CVC
[mаt/dz∂/dik] ‘wife’
CVC CV CVC
[Jаbаu/dɔ/gɔ/l] ‘ hard’
CVCVV CVCVC
2.3
PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES IN MERNYANG LANGUAGE
As pointed out by Yusuf (1997:6), a phrase structure rule is a set of rules which generate
the constituents of a phrase or clausal category. Lamidi (2000:66) refers to it as the rule of the
base component which inserts words into their logical positions in a structure
Horrocks, (1987:31) defines phrase structure rules as the basic component to syntax,
which are simply a formal device for representing the distribution of phrase within sentences.
Using the basic syntactic structures, then noun-phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase,
and adjectival phrase in mernyang language will be examined. Employing the Government and
Binding theory, the phrase structure rule of Mernyang can be exemplified using the schema
below:
CP
Spec CI
CI
CIP
IP
Spec I
II
I VP
I
Tns Agr
VP
Spec V
45
VI
V (NP) (PP)
NP
VI Spec
NI
N (Det)
2.3.1 NOUN PHRASE
According to Yusuf (1997:8); the noun phrase (NP) is the category that codes the
participants in the event or state described by the Verb. The Noun Phrase is headed by the noun
or pronoun (when it is called Noun). The head of a phrase is the single word that can stand for
the whole construction i.e. the single lexical item that can replace the whole phrase.
Mernyang language operates the head first i.e. the head of the sentence comes before
other satellites.
NP LEXICON AND SATELITES
Chíe
àmm
The
boat
NP
46
Det
Spec
NP
Chíe
NI
N
àmm
The
boat
2.3.2 VERB PHRASE
According to Yusuf (1997:21) verb phrase is traditionally called the ‘predicate’ because it
has the sentence predication namely, the verb. The verb is the head of the verb phrase (VP). It is
the lexical category that tells us what the participatory roles of the nominal’s are in the sentence
i.e. the roles of the AGENT, PATIENT, LOCATIVE, EXPERIENCER etc. The verb will also
indicate the role of such of nominal, syntactically either as subjects or objects. As the head of
the VP, it is obligatorily present with or without its satellites.
complements or adjuncts.
The formal notation for verb phrase is VP
V (NP) (PP)
Below are examples of Verb phrase in Mernyang language
Chíet com
lariem
Slap
ear
girl
Slap
the
girl
VP
47
Verb Satellites could be
VI
V
Spec
NP
Chíet
Det
NI
Com
N
Láriem
Slap
ear
girl
2.3.3 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
Jowitt and Nnamonis (1985:228) observe that prepositions are frequently used to form
idiomatic phrases, which function as adverbial of time, place or manner. The prepositional
phrase is headed by a preposition, which comes before a noun in mernyang.
Examples of PP in mernyang
bé’shée
Góe
Péy
At
Place School
At
the
school
PP
PI
48
P
NP
NI
Det
N
Goé
Péy
bé’shée
At
place
school
2.3.4 ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
An adjectival phrase, as pointed out by Awolaja (2002:27) does the work of an
adjective. It usually qualifies or modifies a particular noun. Lamidi (2002:73) defines it
as a phrase having an adjective as its head which can be premodified by adverbials
The phrases given below are examples of adjectival phrases in mernyang
language.
Adong’a
Very beautiful
Very beautiful
2.4.
Bìs
dógól
Bad
much
Too
bad
Lexical Categories in Mernyang
49
Lexical categories are what were referred to as the parts of speech in classical
grammar. The grouping of words in a language is based on function. Technically
speaking, a word does not belong to any class until it is used in a particular context. This
is because one word can perform more than one function.
For convenience, however, words are traditionally grouped into eight parts of
speech, i.e. the eight lexical categories are as follows
i.
Nouns
ii.
Pronouns
iii.
Verbs
iv.
Adverbs
v.
Adjectives
vi.
Prepositions
vii.
Conjunctions
viii.
Exclamation Interjection
These eight lexical categories will be described in respect to Mernyang language.
2.4.1.0 NOUN
Darbyshire (1967:124), A noun is a lexeme which functions typically as the head of a
nominal segment. Traditionally, a noun can be denied as a part of speech that identifies people,
places, objects, actions, qualities and ideas. From the point of view of syntactic function, we can
say that a noun is a word functioning as the subject or object of a verb e.g Tolu ate pawpaw.
These are different types of noun in Mernyang language among which are:
50
i.
Concrete noun
ii. Abstract noun
iii. Common noun
iv. Collective noun
v. Countable noun
vi. Uncountable noun
2.4.1.1 Concrete nouns
Concrete nouns are nouns that can be seen, touched & measured. Examples of concrete
noun in Mernyang are:
Lá’u
-
Bag
Mátò -
Car
Cogup -
shoe
Shiem -
Yam
2.4.1.2 Abstract Noun
Abstract noun refers to Intangible things i.e. things that cannot be seen or touched. It has
to do with feelings, emotion etc. Examples of Abstract noun in Mernyang are:
Fus
-
sun
Dàgàr -
star
Kóù
darkness
-
Dèfíl -
Anger
Ndèmpé-
Love
2.4.1.3 Common Noun
51
Common noun denote general category of things i.e. occupation or trade names of animal
Mato -
Car
2.4.1.4 Collective Noun
Nouns in this class express many members of a group in one name. they are also
sometimes called “Class Nouns’. Examples of collective nouns in Mernyang include
Béshìé -
school
2.4.1.5 Countable Noun
These are nouns that can be counted i.e. the determiner ‘a’ or ‘an’ can be used with it and
plural maker can easily be added to their singular forms. Examples in Mernyang are:
Eók
-
goat
Ļóu
-
house
A’ás
-
Egg
Jáng
-
cup
2.4.1.6 Uncountable Nouns
These are nouns that cannot be counted. They cannot be qualified by numerals or other
qualifiers. They can also not take or be used in plural. Examples in Mernyang are:
Ámp
water
Éss
sand
Píép
Air
52
Úrúng
Dust
2.4.2 Pronoun
According to Darbyshire (1967:137) A pronoun is a word which can correlate with a
noun or nominal segment. A pronoun refers to a word acting for a noun, or that can be used
instead of a noun.
Pronouns can be classified according to their use into the following types:
53
Singular
Independent
Object
Subject
Possessive
1st Person
I
Me
I
Mine
Án
án
án
ma’ án
You
You
You
Yours
Gòe
Gòe
Gòe
Gòe
He/she/it
He/she/It
He/she/It
Ńyí
Ńyí
Ńyí
Ńyí
Plural
Independent
Object
Subject
Possessive
1st Person
We
us
We
ours
Móen
Móen
Móen
Móemùn
You
You
You
Yours
Mùendúk
Mùendúk
Mùendúk
nòemak
they
their
they
theirs
móup
móup
móup
móup
2nd Person
3rd Person
2nd Person
3rd Person
Interrogative Pronouns
Amèéh
‘What’
Ámeeh uńida
‘Which’
Áwúdá
‘Who’
Ánsàbèmìé
‘Why’
Áńié
‘Where’
Ápènàá
‘When’
Áńdagánà
‘how’
54
His/hers/His
2.4.3 Verbs
The word verb can be used as a general name for the head of verbal groups. Verbs play
an important role in a sentence by linking the action that has taken place between the subject and
object i.e the one that is taking an action (Agent) and the receiver of an action (patient). We
have two classes of verbs transitive and the intransitive verb.
2.4.3.1 Transitive Verbs
Transitive verb is one that has an NP object (Yusuf, 1997:21) Examples of transitive verb
in English language.
I want the biro
‘hit’
‘kick’ etc
2.4.3.2 Intransitive Verbs
Intransitive is a type of verb that has no object NP. Examples in English are:
rise etc
Examples of verb in Menyang are:
Wágúéjí
‘come’
Sa’am
‘sleep’
Gòk
‘sick’
Spe
‘sing’
55
weep,
Mú’ań
‘go’
Líèng
‘swim’
2.4.4 Adverbs
Adegbija (1987:103) describes an adverb as a word or group of words that describes or
adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a whole sentence. Examples of
adverbs in mernyang are:
Borbor
‘quickly’
Túpfíl
‘Angrily’
Lélé
‘slowly’
2.4.5 Adjectives
Adjectives belong to the part of speech whose members qualify nouns (Adegbija,
1987:100)
Examples in mernyang language include
Mùgà’àl
‘sat’
Kwàsí
‘old’
U’fáo
‘New’
2.4.6 Preposition
56
Preposition relates a noun to a verb in terms of location, direction, state, condition etc. (Yusuf,
1997:97). Examples in Mernyang language are shown below:
Gòe-pé
‘at’
Gòenùk
‘behind’
Ndíng
‘before’
Bùdér
‘under’
Ńdígúen
‘inside’
2.4.7. Interjections
An interjection, according to Adegbija (1987:108), is a word that expresses emotion.
Examples of interjections in mernyang include:
Bóù!
‘Ah!’
Awufó’à!
‘eh!’
2.4.8. Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that joins words, phrases, clauses or sentences (Adegbija,
1987:106). Below are some examples of conjunction in Mernyang Language.
Góè
‘and’
57
2.5.
BASIC WORD ORDER IN MERNYANG
Ayodele (1999:51) describes basic word-order as the permissible sequence or
arrangement of lexical items to form meaningful and grammatical sentences in a language. The
idea of basic word-order stemmed from the fact that languages need to be classified on the basis
of how syntactic constituents, such as subject, verb and object, are structured in a simple,
declarative active basic sentence. Universally, six syntactic types have been identified to be
employed by languages. They are (Yusuf, 1998:35):
Subject
-
Verb
-
Object (SVO)
Subject
-
Object
-
Verb
Object
-
Verb
-
Subject (OVS)
Verb
-
Subject
-
Object (VSO)
Verb
-
Object
-
Subject (VOS)
Object
-
Subject
-
Verb
(SOV)
(OSV)
Mernyang language is an SVO language, that is in Mernyang simple declarative sentence,
the subject comes first, followed by the verb and the object.
S
V
O
Sumnóe
a’
shehu
My name
is
shehu
My name
is
shehu
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Mariam
tát
ball
Mariam
kick
ball
Mariam
kicked the ball
2.6.
Sentence Types in Mernyang language
A sentence is the largest grammatical or syntactic unit onto which rules apply (Adegbija,
1987:87). A sentence has also been described as a group of word which make a statement a
command expresses a wish, ask a question, or make an exclamation (Yusuf, 1998: 101)
A sentence is defined as a group that begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, a
group of words which makes a single complete statement and contains a verb (Akere; 1990:65).
In the conventional treatment of sentence, (Yusuf 1998:66), says there is favoring of sentence
types; hence there are structural types and semantic types.
The semantic types are: Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative and Exclamatory. Along
the structural dimension, we have simple, compound and complex sentences.
Three sentence types were identified in Mernyang language. These are simple, compound and
complex sentences.
59
2.6.1 Simple Sentence
A simple sentence is a sentence that containing only one finite verb (Adegbija, 1987:89).
It is made up of one NP – subject and a predicate. Below are examples of the simple sentence in
Mernyang language.
S
N
O
Sumnóe
a’
shehu
My name
is
shehu
My name
is
shehu
Nàpá
Tóe
kúng
She
kill
leopard
She
killed
the leopard
2.6.2 Compound sentence
As pointed out by Yusuf (1997:61) a compound sentence is formed when two or more
simple sentences are conjoined by a coordinating conjunction. A compound sentence can also be
described as the combination of either two or more verb phrases (VPS) or sentences through the
use of a lexical category called conjunction. Examples of compound sentence in Mernyang
language is shown below:
Abu
Tòngná’á gírgì yíl,
ńsà m’bes wil m’o’u
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Abu
waiting train,
but
late
Abu waited for the train, but the train was late
Musa Síé dàshùk góe to’ok compée
Musa eat pounded yam with soup vegetable
Musa ate pounded yam with vegetable soup
2.6.3 Complex sentence
According to Yusuf (1997:63) a complex sentence has a sentence embedded in one of the
phrasal categories VP or NP as the main clause and a number of surbodinate clauses. Examples
from Meryang are:
Habu móp góe Ali Múwak gòè pang gòènùk béshìé
Habu them Ali
go
home back
school
Habu and Ali went home after they finished studying
Dapo síe beshie/ góèfé ńsa shíé-bèshìé góeńát
Dapo pass exam his because he read well
Dapo passed his exam because he read well
2.7.
Functional classification of sentences in Mernyang
This section examines the functions that sentences perform in Mernyang language. On
the basis of this, Meryang sentences can functionally be classified as:
61
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Declarative Sentence
Imperative Sentence
Interrogative sentence
Exclamatory sentence
2.7.1. Declarative Sentence
Declarative sentences are statements.
They normally assert the truth of a thing.
(Adedimeji and Alabi, 2003:55). In Mernyang their subjects precede their respective predicates.
Examples in Mernyang language include.
Mope á
Wát
Mope is thief
‘Mope is a thief’
A máàn
mó’u
I know don’t
I don’t know
Zuberu á wú már
Zuberu is farmer
Zuberu is a farmer
2.7.2 Interrogative Sentence
An interrogative sentence is used to make an enquiry or ask questions which demand
some sort of response from the addressee. However, it could be rhetorical (Adedimeji and Alabi,
2003:55). Example in mernyang is shown below:
62
Goè ánèe
You where
Where are you?
2.7.3 Imperative sentence
This is used to express a command or make a request (Adedimeji and Alabi, 2003:56)
Example in meryang is shown below:
Wágòéjè!
‘Come!’
Mù’án
‘go!’
2.7.4 Exclamatory sentence
Exclamatory sentences express strong feelings of surprise
2003:54) Example in mernyang are:
Áwúdà!
‘Who !’
Ápènáà !
‘When !’
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(Adedimeji and Alabi,
CHAPTER THREE
3
3.1
QUESTION FORMATION IN MERNYANG
INTRODUCTION
Having gone through the syntactic concepts of the language under study, the next thing is
to examine the various ways in which questions can be formed in Mernyang language.
Questions are primarily used to express lack of information on a specific point and to
request the listener to supply this information. Naturally, a question is asked in order to get more
facts about a particular thing.
(Radford1981:46) explains further that questions in national languages can be classified into a
number of types.
(Dillon 1986:136) defines question formation as a verbal form from which the question in mind
is crushed generally with language. According to him, the person who forms or ask question
emphasizes and communicates some attitudes.
Various types of questions will be discussed in this chapter. They are WH question, Yes or No
question, Echo question, Alternative question and Tag question.
3.2
The WH question in Mernyang
WH-question is also called content – word question that is, one is requiring for particular
information about a particular thing, unlike the Yes/No question which only requires a Yes/No
64
answer. The WH question starts with “WH” word like – What, Where, Who, When, Which,
What etc.
Any part of the sentence constituent can be questioned ‘who’ will ask for information about the
particular identity of a person, ‘what’ will question the verb i.e. action, ‘why’ will question the
reason for an action, “which” will question the present option, ‘where’ will question the time of
occurrence.
The WH-question makers in mernyang are:
Ámie
‘What’
Awuda
‘Who’
Anśa bèmìe
‘why’
Amie wuda
‘which’
Ánìé
‘where’
Ańdagánà
‘how’
Ápènáà
‘when’
Ánìé
Ánìé ‘where’ is one of the WH question maker that seeks to know ‘location’. It questions the
object NP of a sentence e.g. The boy is in the class
Where is the boy?
Example in mernyang
2.a)
Habu mù’án njos
Habu go jos
Habu travelled to Jos
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2.b)
Habu mù’án
Ánìé
Habu go where
Where did Abu travel to
Awuda
Awuda “who’ is a WH question maker, which seeks to know the doer of an action .i.e. it
questions the subject NP of a sentence. E.g.
The boy ate the food
Who ate the food?
In mernyang “Awuda”, also seeks to know the doer of an action in a sentence. Example in
mernyang
1.a
Sherima chiet síe nánie
Sherima cook food (Det)
Shemia cooked the food
1.b
Awuda chiet sié nanìé
Who cook food (Det)
Who cooked the food?
Ámìé Wúdà
Ámìé Wúdà ‘why’ wants to know the ‘reason’ for an action performed in a sentence i.e. it
questions the verb in a sentence e.g. I travelled by air
Why did you travel by air?
Ámìé
Ámìé ‘What’ asks for a particular thing in the sentence. It usually question the object Np in the
sentence e.g. I hate houseflies
What do you hate?
In mernyang, it also functions as asking for a particular thing. Examples of Ámìé in
Mernyang are
66
1a.
Musa wát biyat
Musa steal cloth
Musa stole clothe
1b.
Musa wát á bémiè’é
Musa steal what
What did Musa steal?
Ápènáà
Ápènáà
‘When’, as a WH-question maker, questions the ‘time’ an event too place in a sentence, for
example
I travelled yesterday
When did you travel?
In mernyang language, Ápènáà ‘when’ is used to ask/denote when a particular event took
place. Examples in mernyang
1a.
Habu goe wul/chínee
Habu will come today
Habu will arrive today
1b.
Habu goé wul apèná’à
Habu will come whenQM(AGR)
When will Habu come
Amíe wúdà
Given options, Amíe wúdà ‘which’, seeks to know a particular thing or person in a sentence i.e
.specification. It questions the subject NP of a sentence. For example
The girls are my friends
Which of them is your friend?
67
IP
II
Spec
NP
I
NI
VP
Spec
Habu
VI
V
NP
Mu’an njos
IP
II
Spec
NP
NI
I
VP
Spec
VI
N
V
NP
Habu
Mu’an NI
Habu
go
N
CP
CI
C
Anie
Where
68
IP
II
Spec
NP
I
NI
VP
VI
Spec
N
V
NP
sherima
N
Det
chiet síe
naníè
cook food det
CP
CI
Spec
C
QM
IP
I
VP
awuda Tns agr Spec
Who (past)
VI
V
NP
chíet N
sie
cook food
Who cook the food?
Who cooked the food
69
Det
nanìé
(det)
IP
II
Spec
NP
NI
I
VP
Tns Agr Spec
VI
N (Past)
V
NP
Musa
w’at
NI
Steal
N
Biyat
Cloth
Musa steal cloth
Musa stole cloth
IP
II
Spec
NP
NI
I
Tns Agr Spec
VP
VI
N
V
Musa
w’at
Steal
NP
NI
N
CP
CI
C
Bemie’e
Musa steal what?
What did Musa steal?
70
3.3
Yes/No Question in Mernyang
A yes-no question formally known as a polar question is a question whose expected
answer is either, “Yes” “No”. Formally, they present an exclusive disjunction, a pair of which
only one is acceptable in the English language such questions can be formed in both positive and
negative forms. E.g. Will you be here tomorrow’ and
“Won’t you be here tomorrow”
Yes/No questions are in contrast with non-polar WH questions, with the five WS. Which
do not necessarily present a range of alternative answers, or necessarily restrict that range to two
alternatives.
In some languages, a yes/no question is formally distinguished by features, such as:
 Rising sentence – final intonation
 A sentence – initial or sentence – final particle
 Verb morphology
 A difference of word order, such as the placement of the verb closer to the beginning of
the sentence than in the declarative sentence and
 An Interrogative clitic that attaches to the item in the sentence that is being questioned.
Examples of Yes/No question in Mernyang
1. Nde góegoe kogup a’a
Do you have shoe QM (AGR)
Do you have a shoe?
2. Gòe dém Solomon a’a
You love Solomon QM (AGR)
Do you love Solomon?
71
3. Dè dém síe à’à
Does he like food QM
Does he like Food?
4. Ndé Stephen Yágóe wúl a’a
Will Stephen AGR come QM (AGR)
Will Stephen Come?
CP
CI
Spec
C
IP
II
Spec
I VP
Nde
Do
NP
Spec
PRN
V
V
goe
NP
goe
you
N
spec
have shoe
QM
aa
Do you have a shoe?
IP
II
Spec
NP
PRON
Góe
I
VP
Spec VI
V
NP
dem N
spec
Solomon
QM
aa
Do you love Solomon?
72
3.4
ECHO QUESTION IN MERNYANG
According to Radford (1988:463) “echo questions are so called because, they involve one person
echoing the speech of another person in a dialogue’’. Echo question involves what has been said.
It also involves echoing the speech of someone i.e. a reaction of someone’s speech. Echo
question can be classified into WH-echo question, which involves the use of WH marker e.g.
The boy lives where? And Yes –no-echo question, which requires a Yes/No answer, and there is
no re-ordering.
e.g
I bought a house
You bought a house?
Haegman (1991:302) says, echo question is used as a reaction to a sentence by a speaker who
wishes the interlocutor to repeat the sentence or part of it. It is simply formed by substituting a
question word for constituents.
Generally, if the hearer does not quite catch all of a speaker’s utterance, the hearer may ‘echo’
the speaker’s utterance replacing the unclear portion(s) with an interrogative.
Thus, ‘Did John see what?
might be a response to ‘Did John see (unclear) .i.e. the sentence is
not clear. Examples of echo question in mernyang are:
1a.
Speaker
Á
síét
mátò
I
buy
car
I
1b.
A
bought a Car
Speaker
Gòe
You
B
Síet mátò ‘àà
buy Car
QM
73
You bought a car?
2a.
2b.
Á
síet
mátò
I
buy
Car
I
bought a car
Gòe síet á bé mìé
You
buy what?
You bought what?
3a.
Die Góe síet mátò, àà
Will you buy car QM
Will you buy a car?
3b.
Díe yágà síet mátò àà
Will (he/she) buy car QM
Will I buy a car?
4a.
Gòe swá’á àm gòe nòe mó’u
You drink water mine no
Don’t drink my water
4b.
Goe yoúng á swá’á á mìé goé goe mó’u’é
You said
drink
what your no
Don’t drink your water?
IP
Spec
NP
II
Tns (pst)
NI
VP
VI
PRON
V
NP
A
siét
NI
I
buy
N
Mátò
Car
I bought a Car
74
IP
II
Spec
NP
I
VP
PRN
Tns (pst) VI
Góe
V
You
siét
NP
NI
Buy N
Mato
Car
CP
Spec
aa
QM
You bought a car?
3.5
ALTERNATIVE QUESTION IN MERNYANG
In alternative questions, conjunction ‘or’ is used to link up the proferred alternative(s) in the
sentence. This type of question, gives the listener options from which he/she makes a choice.
Qurik (1972:399) defined alternative questions as the pre or two or more alternative(s)
mentioned in the question for example, will you take cake or bread?
Dillion (1986: 139) defined alternative question as a generic form that specifies ideas of
two alternative words to choose from.
Another example in English is”will you like black or white?’’ This question contains a
separate nucleus for each alternatives; arise that the list is complete. The listener is then left to
make his choice.
75
Examples in mernyang
Díe mú máng á mátò, à,à búsíng yánge’e
QM we carry
car
or a
bicycle
Shall we take car or bicycle?
Goe síe síe mie wùdá góe síe moon kappa á’á trémí a’a shem’e
Food which you
Tuwo
rice
or beans or yam
Which food will you eat, would you eat Tuwo, Beans or Yam?
Yagóe múan Ogechi beshie a’a sa’am
Will go
Ogechi School or sleep
Will Ogechi go to school or sleep?
3.6
TAG QUESTION IN MERNYANG
A further type of question, which involves positive/negative orientation is the ‘tag question’
attached to a statement e.g . (1) The boat has already left, hasn’t it?
(2) You are not throwing these books away, are you?
According to crystal (1987:423), “a tag question is a way of confirmation of a statement, which
has the fore exclamation than genuine question?
Tag question is a string usually consisting of an auxiliary and a pronoun, which is added at the
end of a sentence. Tag question is used to ask for confirmation whether something is true, or
not, by making a statement in a delightful mind.
76
Thus, the expression could be negative/positive. There must be a definite pronoun in the tag, and
this pronoun, must agree with the subject of the main clause. Examples in mernyang are:
Dęm, làlà múp, Áa dęm mó’u’é
Like child his like, no yes?
He likes his child, doesn’t he?
Àn jééta na’a góe mòue, àa a’na’a
goe’è
I never see you no or have I seen you
I have never seen you before, have I?
Ùgòun neogèon mòu, Ùgòun neogèùn à’á
Hot
there is no
hot there is Qm?
It is hot, is it?
3.7
RHETORICAL QUESTION IN MERNYANG
Rhetorical question is the last question that would be discussed in this chapter.
Rhetorical question is interrogative instructor, and has the force of a strong assertion and does
not require any answer.
Crystal (1987:212) says, rhetorical question is a type of question, which has normal rising
information of yes/no question, but is chiefly distinguished by the range of pitch movement. It
functions as a forceful statement. More precisely, a positive rhetorical question is like a strong
positive one.
77
Baker (1989:``112) states that rhetorical question is a question which does not expect an answer.
Since it really assets something which is known to be expressed cannot be denied.
Quirk (1972:829) says rhetorical question is interrogative in structure but has the force of a
strong assertion. It generally does not expect an answer.
POSITIVE
:
Is that a reason for despair?
(Surely not ……………………….)
NEGATIVE
Is no one going to define me?
(Surely someone will
There is also a rhetorical WH question which is equivalent to a statement in which the question
element is replaced by a negative element e.g. nobody cares. One fact about the rhetorical
question is that it does not require a concrete response.
surprising situation.
Examples in Mernyang
Àwúdà wúl már góe mú’e
Who come farm ours
Who came to our farm?
Gòe má’án bìe wú níe góe wá’à
You know what he become QM
Do you know what he can become?
78
The question is controlled by a
Àwùdá má’an píe wú yíl gòe mù’án’e
Who know place where world go?
Who knows where the world is going to?
Àwùdá góe e’ep bout mùgó góe wálla gòe yílèé
Who will deliver someone from suffering world?
Who will deliver someone from the suffering of this world?
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CHAPTER FOUR
4.0
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES IN MERNYANG
4.1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter will treat various transformational processes attested in Mernyang
language. These transformational processes include Focus construction, relativization
and reflexivization. In the course of the analysis of the study, these processes will be
discussed with relevant examples as illustrations as it is attested in the language of
study.
Radford (1988:401) asserts that, the two levels of (D-structure and S-structure)
are inter-related by a set of movement rules known technologically as move-alpha).
This is simplified below to exemplify the relationship between the two levels.
Base
D-structure
Move alpha (transformation)
S-structure
4.2
Focus Construction
According to stockwell (1997:157) focus sentences are derived from basic
sentences. Focus introduces special marking into surface to set off some element(s)
as important.
Focusing is a universal syntactic process among human language which entails
definiteness and emphasize. A speaker pragmatically assigns prominence to a part of
80
his/her message that he/she wishes or want to emphasize without necessarily
changing the substance of the message. Focus sentences are derived from basic
sentence. Examples of focus construction in mernyang include the following?
BASIC FORM
Musa sìet léu èn shehu
Musa buy house for shehu
Musa bought house for Shehu
Subject – NP focus
Á Musa siet léu shén shehu
Is Musa buy house for Shehu
It is Musa that bought house for shehu
Direct Object -NP focus
A léu Musa síét shén Shehu
Foc is house Musa buy give Shehu
It is house that Musa bought for shehu
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IP
Spec
I̒
I
VP
NP
TNs
Spec
NI
PRSNT
ǿ
VI
ASP Spec
V
N
NP
NI
Spec
Musa
N
Siet
ǿ
PP
PI
spec
léu
P
Q
en
NP
spec
ǿ
NI
N
shehu
Musa sìet leúèn shuhu
Musa buy house for Shehu
Musa bought house for Shehu
Basic Form
Funmi ásíe ásskòó
Funmi eat egg
Funmi ate egg
82
Direct object – NP focusing
Á ásskòó funmi
síé
Its egg funmi eat
It is egg that Funmi ate
Subject NP focusing
A Funmi síè àsskòó
Is Funmi eat egg
It is Funmi that ate the egg
4.3
Relativization
A relative clause could be a sentence embedded in surface structures as modifier
of an NP, the embedded in sentence having within WH pronominal replacement for a
deep structure.
Relativization is a syntactic process which is used to show and make a sentence
more apt and more meaningful. It prevents unnecessary repetition, which can bring
about confusion, through the introduction of the relative marker (who, which, that
etc.) The relative marker have antecedent that is related to the NP head.
According to Yusuf, (1997:100), relative embedded sentence modifying an NP
(noun phrase) as added (adjuncts) information. In Mernyang, relativization is an
important aspect of transformational process because it makes reference to certain
phenomenon for the purpose of clarification, therefore in Mernyang ‘’Awúdà’,
‘wudung’, which means ‘who’ and ‘which respectively are some of the relative
markers in Mernyang language.
83
Subject NP Relativization
Subject-NP relativization is a syntactic process whereby a relative clause is embedded
in the subject NP of a sentence. Example in Mernyang include:
1. Yunusa wudùńg lèo
Èk wúl
Yunusa rel kill goat come
Yunusa who kill the goat has come
2. Dàgíò wùdúng tòe wòo kreem
The man rel kill snake brave
The man who killed the snake is brave
3. Hadiza wùdúny Mùa’ń lùtúk wàwúl
Hadiza rel go market come
Hadiza who went to the market has come
84
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
Spec
I’
Spec NI
N
Yunusa
I
TNs
VP
AGR
VI
Spec
V
VP
NI
spec
N
IP
Q
spec
Èk
P
ø I
TNS AGR Spec
VI
VI
N
Yunusa Wudùńg tèo Èk wúl
wúl
85
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
Spec
Spec
NI
NP
N
Dágbò
I’
I
VP
TNs
AGR
PAST
Spec
VI
V
VP
NI
téo spec
N
woo
Adjp
spec
Adj
Adj
Kreem
Dàgíò wùdúng tòe wòo kreem
86
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
Spec
Spec
I’
NI
N
TNS AGR VP
Hadiza
PAST
VI
Spec
V
NP
mùàń spec
NI
N
woo
VP
spec
VI
V
wàwúl
Hadiza wùdúny Mùa’ń lùtúk wàwúl
Object-NP Relativization
Lúo wùdúng Musa mú’ań wúslap
House rel Musa go burn
‘The house which Musa went has burnt’
Àsskó wùdúng Solomon àr
87
Egg
Rel
Solomon eat
The egg which Solomon ate
Indent-Object NP relativizaation
Dorcas wùdúng à Emnaegòen Mútat
Dorcas Rel is sister short
Dorcas which is my sister is short
Dàgóo wùdúng a chiep níe wúbál
Man Rel dark strong
The man who is dark is strong
Dàgóo wùdúng wát chuck gòenóóe
Man rel stole knife my
The man who stole my knife
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
Spec
Spec
NI
N
Lúo
II
NP
Spec NI I
ø
VP
N TNS AGR
Musa PAST Spec
V
VI
V
mùàń wúsláp
Lúo wùdúng Musa mú’ań wúslap
88
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
Spec
Spec Asskó
II
NP
Spec NI I
ø
VP
N TNS AGR
Solomon PAST Spec
ø
VI
V
Ar
Àsskó wùdúng Solomon àr
89
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
II
Spec
Spec
NI
ø
N
NP
I
TNS
Dorcas
VP
AGR
VI
PRSENT Spec
V
a
NP
NI
Spec
N
Emnaegoen
Adjp
Adj
Adj
Mu’tat
Dorcas wùdúng à Emnaegòen Mútat
90
CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
II
Spec
Spec
NI
ø
N
NP
I
TNS
Dagio
VP
AGR
PRSENT
VI
Spec
ø
V
NP
NI
Spec
N
Chiep
Adjp
AdjI
Adj
Níe wúbált
The man who is dark is strong
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CP
CI
Spec
CI
NP
IP
Wudúńg
II
Spec
Spec N I
ø
who
NP
N
I
TNS
Dagio
PAST
Man
VP
AGR
VI
Spec
V
NP
Wát NI
stole N
Spec
Chuck
Knife my
The man who stole my knife
4.4
Reflexivization
This is one of the syntactic process that is universally attested among natural
languages. The fact is that, many languages do not normally repeat the subject in the
object position, whenever a reflexive notion is expressed in a grammatical sentence, a
reflexive pronoun that is co referential with the subject is always preferred in object
position. In other words, the subject NP (Noun phrase) must be in agreement with the
antecedent object pronoun.
92
Reflexive Pronoun has the same referent with the subject NP in the object
position, this is indicated by Co-indexation, that is attaching subscript letter called
indices to the subject and object NP.
The distribution of reflexive pronoun was formally know as ‘reflexivization’
smith et al (1977:286) describe “A pronoun marked by ‘self’ or ‘selves’ which is co
referential with some antecedent of NP in the same sentence as a reflexive pronoun
shows numerous properties with noun phrase, their distribution is somewhat limited
i.e there are positions within the sentence where reflective pronoun cannot appear
without making the sentence unavailable (wicover 1979:168).
According to Huddleston (1984:291), type of transformational processes, two
identical nouns are co-referential.
Basic form
Ade tóe Ade
Ade kill Ade
Ade killed Ade
Derived form
Ade tóe kàshiék Múp
Ade kill self
Ade killed himself
Basic form
Mú gàp múp
They divide they
They divided they
Derived form
Mú gàp shack
They divide themselves
They divided themselves
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Basic form
Esther kwál Esther
Esther fight Esther
Esther fought Esther
Derived form
Esther kwál sá’át
Esther fight herself
Esther fought herself
IP
II
Spec
I
NP TNS
Spec
ø
N I Past
N
VP
AGR
Spec
VI
ø
V
NP
toé
Ade
Spec
NI
N
Ade
Ade Kill Ade
Ade killed Ade
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IP
II
Spec
I
NP TNS
VP
AGR
Spec
VI
Spec N I Past
ø
N
V
NP
toé
Ade
Spec
NI
N
Ka shiek múp
Ade Kill himself
Ade killed himself
IP
II
Spec
I
NP
VP
TNS AGR
Spec
VI
Spec N I Past
N
V
NP
Mú
gáp
NI
They
divide
N
They
They divide they
They divided they
95
IP
II
Spec
I
NP
VP
TNS AGR
Spec
Spec N I Past
ø
VI
ø
N
V
NP
gap
Mú
Spec
NI
Shack
They divide themselves
They divided themselves
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CHAPTER FIVE
5.0
SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1
SUMMARY
This research work contains five chapters, chapter one centers on the general
introduction of the topic.
We examined the background of the study and the historical background
Mernyang people.
The sociolinguistics background was also discussed.
The
geographical location and the genetic classification of the language were discussed.
Also, the method of data collection and Analysis, as well as the theoretical framework
adopted for the study were studied.
Chapter two examined the sound system of Mernyang as well as some
phonological and syntactic concepts, such as tones, syllable structure, basic word-orders,
phrase- structure rules, sentence types and functions.
Chapter three discussed various forms of questions in the language, such as the
Yes-No question, Echo question, WH-question, Alternative question, Tag questions and
Rhetorical question.
In Chapter four, illustrative analysis of the transformational process involved in
deriving questions in Mernyang language was given. Hence, transformational processes
like Focus construction,relativization and reflexivization were discussed. Chapter five of
the project is the summary and conclusion.
97
5.2
Conclusion
Mernyang is a distinct language based on the field method and investigation
carried out by the researcher, very few linguistic work has been done on the
language in the department, but this research will serve as an eye opener for other
linguists that will like to carry out research in the language in question
5.3
RECOMMENDATION
For further researches on this language, recommendation s will be made to
the Government and Policy makers, the teachers and the students.
GOVERNMENT AND POLICY MAKERS
Government should try to pay attention to the minority languages in which
Mernyang is one.
Nigeria is a multi-lingual society with close to seven hundred
languages, so the minority languages should not be allowed to go in extinction.
Government and policy makers should assign roles to these languages, even if it will
be taught in the primary schools of the native speakers and where the languages are
spoken, in other to have more speakers of the languages. With these, the minority
languages will gradually be developed.
98
LANGUAGE TEACHER
Language teachers should be given adequate training to teach the languages
and they should be equipped with the necessary materials needed to teach the
languages.
STUDENTS
Students should be interested in learning their indigenous languages. And if
the language (indigenous) is taught in schools, the students will be enforced to learn
and speak their languages. Language and culture are closely related, so if a native
speaker of a language embraces his/her language, he/she will also appreciate his/her
culture.
It is my wish therefore, that, this project will serve as a relevant material for
further research on question information in Mernyang language
99
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