ASPECTS OF MIGILI VERB PHRASE
ABOLURIN SHERIFFDEEN AYODEJI
07/15CB008
A LONG ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF
ILORIN, ILORIN, NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
FOR BACHELOR OF ARTS (HONS) LINGUISTICS
MAY, 2011.
1
CERTIFICATION
This essay has been read and approved as meeting the requirements of
the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin,
Nigeria.
__________________________
MR. M. A. OYEBOLA
_________________________
DATE
__________________________
PROF. A. S. ABDUSSALAM
_________________________
DATE
__________________________
EXTERNAL EXAMINER
_________________________
DATE
Project Supervisor
Head of Department
2
DEDICATION
This project is dedicated to Almighty Allah, the Abolurin’s family, who has
been my help in ages past.
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All glory and honour be to Almighty Allah, the most beneficient and the
most merciful.
My sincere appreciation goes to my parents, Alhaji and Mrs. G. O. Abolurin
for their love and support morally, financially and spiritually. You are the best in
the world.
I am very grateful to my supervisor, MR. M. A. OYEBOLA for his care,
patience and useful advice. May Almighty God be with you now and forever.
(Amen).
I will like to appreciate the effort of my informants Mr. Ayuba for creating
time out of his schedules. May Almighty God bless you abundantly (Amen).
I cannot forget to acknowledge those who impact knowledge of linguistics
who gave me sound, moral and academic support, Mr. Oyebola, Prof
Abdussalam, Prof. Fakuade, Dr. Sanusi, Dr. Omoloso, Mr. Rafiu, Mr. Friday, Mrs.
Abubakre, Mr. Aje, Dr. Adeyemi, Mr. Atoyebi, Mr. Ogunlola, Mr. Adeosun, Mrs.
Arokoyo and Mrs. Hamzat, I am grateful to you all.
I also want to appreciate the support and co-operation of my siblings,
Kafilat, Rofiat and Mohamudul Quasim. I love you all.
4
I am exceptionally grateful to all friends, Afeeze, Ayobanji, Jubril, Dapo,
Sami, Feyi, Wayne, Sunkanmi, Kenny, Balogun, Tosin, Dare, Wale, Akeem,
Mayowa, Laitan, Rashidat, Kadijat, Ganiat, Bukky, Kanyinsola, Beeky, Kafayat
and to all 400 level linguistics student of 10/11 session. I love you all.
Finally, I will like to show my appreciation to the following families: The
Abolurin’s and Taiwo’s. You are all wonderful.
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgements
iv
Table of Contents
vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.0
General Background of the Study
1
1.1
Historical Background of Migili
2
1.2
Socio-Cultural Profile
3
1.2.11 Occupation
3
1.2.2 Religion
3
1.2.3 Festival
4
1.2.4 Mode of Dressing
4
1.2.5 Marriage
5
1.3
Genetic Classification
5
1.4
Scope and Organization of Study
7
1.5
Theoretical Framework
8
1.6
Data Collection
8
6
1.7
Data Analysis
9
1.8
Review of the Chosen Framework
9
1.8.1 Sub-Theories of Government and Binding
10
1.9
Case Theory
13
1.10
Theta Ө Theory
15
1.11
Binding Theory
16
1.12
Government Theory
19
1.13
Bounding Theory
20
1.14
Control Theory
21
CHAPTER TWO: BASIC PHONOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTICAL CONCEPT
2.0
Introduction
22
2.1
Consonant Sound in Migili Language
22
2.2
Sentence Types
25
2.2.1 Simple Sentence
25
2.3
Basic Word Order
28
2.4
Phrase Structure Rule
29
2.4.1 The Phrase Marker
30
2.4.2 Verb Phrase
38
2.4.3 Adjectival Phrase
42
2.4.4 Prepositional Phrase
44
7
2.5
Lexical Categories
47
2.5.1 Noun
47
CHAPTER THREE: THE VERB PHRASE OF MIGILI
3.0
Introduction
67
3.1
The Verb Phrase
67
3.2
The Verb Phrase and the Principle of Head Parameter
68
3.3
The Structure of Verb Phrase
69
3.4
The Functions of Verb Phrase I n Migili
107
CHAPTER FOUR: TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES IN MIGILI
4.0
Introduction
111
4.1
Transformational Processes Defined
111
4.1.1 Focus Construction
114
4.1.1.1 Subject NP Focusing
115
4.1.1.12Diret Object NP Focusing
121
4.1.2 Relativization
127
4.1.2.1 Subject NP Relativization
128
4.1.2.2 Object NP Relativization
134
4.1.3 Reflexivization
138
4.1.4 Question Formation
143
4.1.4.1 Yes/No Questions in Migili
8
145
4.1.4.2
WH-Questions
148
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0
Introduction
153
5.1
Summary
153
5.2
Conclusion
154
5.3
Recommendations
155
References
156
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0
General Background of the Study
Language is the fabrics that ties every member of the society together,
which serves as an instrument used by man for specific and distinguishable
purposes. Indeed, the focus of this research is to shed light on how verb phrases
are formed in Migili language. Therefore, the first chapter of this research is
focused on the genetic classification of Migili language. As an introductory
chapter, attempts shall be made to trace the origin, socio-cultural profile,
administrative system, religion, geographical location, topography (life zone)
economy, marriage rites, map, genetic classification of Migili. Effort shall also be
extended to the organization of the study, theoretical framework together with a
9
review of the chosen theory, data collection and analysis and some syntactic
concept.
According to Crystal (1994: 420) syntax is the study of the rules governing
the way words are combined to form grammatical sentences in contrast with
morphology that studies word structure. This branch of linguistics is concerned
with how words are combined to form phrases are sentences in a rule governed
manner. In a nutshell, words are not together in a random order, they follow
certain observable patterns in any language.
1.1
Historical Background of Migili
Migili refers to the name of a language and also a group of people. The
Migili people constitute about 96% of the total population of Agyaraoju Obi Local
Government, Nasarawa State in Nigeria; with a total population of about 18,000.
History has it that different tribes including Migili, Alago, Eggon all settled
at Korofa Kingdom in Taraba state. It was said that a man named Akuka was
denied the right to the throne and as a result had to leave Kororofa together
with some other members of the Migili tribe to a place called Ukari and later to
Lafia region. Some of them moved to Abuja, Minna in Niger State, Kubacha in
Kaduna state.
10
The Eggon tribe are also neighbours of the Migilis with some of them
having the knowledge of Migili language.
Today, Migili language has various alternate names such as: Higili, Migili,
Koro of Lafia.
1.2
Socio-Cultural Profile
Like most communities around them, the socio-cultural background of the
people of Migili include: Occupation, Religion, Festival, Mode of Dressing,
Marriage.
1.2.1 Occupation
The Migilis are farmers to the core. Yam is the major cash crop that is
being produced in the area. Some other agricultural produce include guinea corn,
maize, millet, groundnut, and beans. However, they also engage in wearing and
artistic works. The land has varying proportion of nitrogen and phosphorus, it is
sandy on the up land, it makes plant grow well, agricultural product are sold in
the market called Migili market once in a week.
1.2.2 Religion
The Migili people are predominantly Christians. Before the coming of the
missionaries, the Migilis’ were traditional worshippers who had belief in ancestral
11
gods. By the coming of Christianity, a lot of people who were traditional
worshippers became converts and embraced Christianity.
12
1.2.3 Festival
One major festival in Migili land is the Odu masquerade festival. The Odu
masquerade is dressed in colourful masks and displays great dancing skills with
spectacular dancing skills and beautiful dance steps. According to the people,
Odu was the god of war and it is believed that he helped the people win battles,
equipping them with magical and spiritual powers which made them
unconquerable. In every village in Migili, there is a small building built for the
Odu masquerade around which he will dance for three (3) days.
1.2.4 Mode of Dressing
The people of Migili are fashionable people. These are people who still
preserve the tradition of their ancestors and their rich culture. In the olden days,
both male and female were usually seen wearing bracelet, cowries, beads.
Another distinguishing feature of the Migilis’ was the plaiting of head by both
men and women.
Nowadays, civilization plays a significant role in the mode of dressing of
the people as most of them especially the younger ones now dress into western
manner.
1.2.5 Marriage
13
Before the coming of the missionaries into the Migili society marriage was
done by the father of the boy approaching the mother of the girl (from birth) and
paying a token amount of money to her parents. Once this has been done the
girl was said to be betrothed and will continue to live with her parents until she
gets about fifteen (15) years of age. The boy pays his first installment of her
dowry and farms for the father-in-law once every year.
Today marriage are done in churches and unlike before women are free to
choose their groom and are not mandated to marry from their society alone.
1.3
Genetic Classification
According to Greenberg (1966: 8) African languages belong to various
families, and there are four main groups. These groups are: Niger Kordofania,
Nilo Sahara, Afro-Asiatic and Khoisan.
14
DIAGRAMATIC REPRESENTATION OF GENETIC CLASSIFICATION OF IJAKORO LANGUAGE
AFRICAN LANGUAGE
AFRO ASIATIC
NIGER KORDOFONAIN
KHOISAN
NIGER CONGO
KORDOFONIAN
MANDE
ATLANTIC CONGO
ATLANTIC
KRU
IJOID
KWA
AKPO DEFOID
NORTH
EDOFOID
VOLTA CONGO
VOLTA
PLATOID
CONGO
NUPOID
BENUE CONGO
IDOMOID
JUKUMOID IGBOID CORSS RIVER
TAROKOID
BEROMIC
SOUTHERN ADUNIC
YESKWA
AYONGIE
KOROZUBA KURODIJA JIJILIC
ALUMIC
KORO HYAME
KORO-MAKAMA
Adopted from Roger Blench (2006).
15
WEST NINZIC
JJU
EAST NORTH
TYAP IRIGWE
KORO-MIJILI
KORO-LAFIYA
1.4
Scope and Organization of Study
This research is aimed at discussing the general overview of verb phrase in
Migili language. This research work is divided into five chapters which are
relevant aspects of the theory of syntax.
Chapter one which is the introductory part includes the historical
background, socio-cultural profile, the scope and organization of study as well
the theoretical framework, the data collection method and data analysis and
lastly, a brief review of the chosen framework.
Chapter two shall focus on sound inventory, the basic syntactic concept
such as phrase structure rule, lexical categories, basic word order and the
sentence types.
Chapter three contains the main aspect of the study which is the verb
phrase. In this chapter the nature of verb phrase in Migili language and the
processes that are attested will be discussed.
Chapter four will examine the transformational processes such as focusing,
relativization, relfexivization, passivisation and question formation.
Chapter five which is the last chapter will present a brief summary of the
whole research and also the conclusion and recommendation based on such
finding.
1.5
Theoretical Framework
The theory to be adopted in this research is the government and binding
theory in the analysis of Verb Phrase in Migili language.
1.6
Data Collection
This research is made possible through the bi-lingual language helper.
However, the Ibadan four hundred word list and some sentence constructions
are used to extract necessary information from the language helpers
(informants) The method of collection was through direct translation from
English to Migili language. The language helper speaks Migili, English, Hausa,
and Eggon.
Mr. Ayuba Osibi Haruna one of the language helper is a typist in the local
government secretariat, Agyaragu Obilocal government. Also, Revered Albert, a
man of God in Agyaragu.
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1.7
Data Analysis
Statistically, about one hundred and fifty sentences were collected from
the native speaker. In order to have accurate analysis for this research, the
Ibadan four hundred wordlist with an equivalent meaning of the item in Migili
language was used.
Also, the frame technique used in his research is by framing of sentences
in English language and the translation of these sentences into Migili language
by the informant. This enables the researcher to determine the actual underlying
form of a word, constituent and possible syntactic classes to which each word
belongs to in Migili language.
1.8
Review of the Chosen Framework
The theory to be used in the analysis of Verb Phrase in Migili language is
the Government and Binding theory (GB). This theory is a modular deductive
theory of universal grammar which posits multiple level of representation related
by the transformational rule. However, it is a more advanced theory of universal
grammar. Sanusi (1996:19-21).
Again, Sanusi (1996: 21) explained that government and binding theory
greatly eliminates proliferation of transformational rules like passive, affix, hoping
xviii
verb-number
agreement,
question
formation,
equi-NP
deletion,
raising
permutation, insertion etc.
Hegman (1991: 13) defined government and binding theory as a theory of
universal grammar which is the system of all the principles that are common to
all human languages. Government and binding theory is otherwise known as
principle and parameter theory.
In government and binding theory, the grammar is a continuous
interaction between component and sub-theories embodying different principle
and parameters.
Government and binding theory operate through the modules of grammar
like government, case, theta control, binding, bounding, and X-bar theory.
1.8.1 Sub-Theories of Government and Binding
Horrock (1987: 29) stated that, the core grammar of a given language is
derived from the interaction of sub-theories of universal grammar. These subtheories are inter-related that each of them can account for grammaticality or
ungrammaticality of any sentence. These sub-theories are: X-bar theory, case
theory, government theory, control theory, binding theory, bounding theory and
the theta theory.
xix
The above listed sub-theories are diagrammatically represented below to
show the inter-relationship among them.
MODULAR THEORY OF GRAMMAR
X-BAR Theory
D-STRUCTURE
PROJECTION
PRINCIPLE
LEXICON
Move-a
(Bounding)
Ө-THEORY
(Ө-CRITERION)
CASE-THEORY
(CASE FILTER)
S- STRUCTURE
ECP
Control
Binding
PHONETIC FORM
LOGICAL FORM
(Adapted from Cook (1988: 33).
xx
X-bar Theory
Based on appropriate analysis, for this research work, X-bar is the theory
to be adopted for comprehensive analysis.
According to Chomsky (1981) “the X-bar theory is the central module of
the principles and paramenters approach in syntax”.
Also, Haegeman (1994) says that the X-bar theory is the part of grammar
regulating the structure of a phrase.
The core of X-bar theory is the recognition of the fact that phrasal
constituents have ‘head’ upon which the other elements of the constituents in
question are dependent. (Horrocks 1987: 63) He submits that items which are
involved in sub-categorization and which are in most cases interrupted as
arguments of the head, appear with the head X in a phrasal category X-bar. Xbar is called a phrasal ‘projection’ of head, in this case the smallest constituent X
as a sub-constituent (Horrocks, 1987: 64).
From the above, the cover symbol ‘X’ stands for the set of lexical
categories which head phrases, as in V (for verb), N (for noun), Adj (for
adjective), P (for preposition), Adv (for adverb), such that N heads NP, V heads
VP, P heads PP, Adj heads Adjp and Adv heads Advp. This implies that phrasal
xxi
categories e.g. VP, PP, NP, AP all have heads that belong to the same category
as the phrasal category (Akmajian, 2001: 215).
Again, Horrocks (1987) explains that X-theory periods principles for the
projection of phrasal categories from lexical categories and imposes conditions of
hierarchical organization of categories in the form of general schemata. Thus,
the general phrase structure rule schema for phrasal categories would be: XP

X
Comp.
Where ‘comp’ which stands for complement could be a ‘PP’ or an ‘NP’ with ‘X’
standing for a lexical category e.g. P. N, V etc. This implies that when ‘X’
represents ‘N’, it means that ‘XP’ is an ‘NP’, when ‘X’ represents ‘V’, then ‘XP’ is a
‘VP’ and so on.
In summary, the major concern of the X-bar theory is to describe the
syntactic
and
formal
structures
of
phrases
and
the
inherent
general
characteristics they have in common.
1.9
Case Theory
According to Horrocks (1987: 102), “case theory deals with the principle of
case assignment to constituents”.
xxii
Yusuf (1998: 26) defines case theory as a theory that deals with the forms
that NPs take in different syntactic environments.
Basically, the assignment of case is done under government theory in
which the choice of case is determined by the governor.
Yusuf went further to say that adjacency is required for case assignment.
This means, case assignees and the assignors must be contiguous with no
barrier blocking the discharge of the (Abstract) case.
He also makes it clear that, case assignor are always head of their phrases
and are adjacent to the complements that receive the case (pg. 28).
The implication is that, a verb cannot assign any case to prepositional
phrase as there is an NP barrier. That blocks such a transfer.
The three common case under Government and Binding theory are:
-
Nominative case assigned by tensed INFL
-
Accusative case assigned by verb
-
Oblique case assigned by prepositions
xxiii
1.10 Theta Ө Theory
Another module under GB theory is theta theory. The submission of this
theory is that a lexical category will have Ө attributes either as assigner or
assignee.
Horrocks (1987: 101-107) says Ө-theory is concerned with the assignment
of what Chomsky called ‘thematic’ roles to sentential constituents. By thematic
roles, Chomsky means thematic assignment called semantic roles such as agent,
patient, etc. It is assumed that these are assigned to the complements of lexical
items as a lexical property.
For example:
Play the ball on the pitch
The NP complement “the ball” is assigned the role of patient or theme
while the PP complement is assigned the role of location.
In all, the fundamental task of Ө-theory is to determine the circumstances
(i.e. the syntactic position) occupied by an NP as well as the governor of such
position in the sentence.
Examples:
The goalkeeper threw the ball to the opponent
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The goalkeeper

subject
The ball

Direct object
The opponent

Indirect object
The main principle of Ө-theory is Ө criterion which requires each thematic
role to be uniquely assigned. Each argument bears one and only one Ө-role and
Ө-role is assigned to one and only one argument. Yusuf (1998: 124).
The commonly expressed roles are agents, theme, instrument, locative
(goal, source, direction) and a few more.
Yusuf stresses further that, participants are assigned these roles in the Dstructure, whatever it is, the V or P assigned Ө-roles to their governed
complement while the VP assigns a role to be subject NP.
The thrust of Ө-criterion is that every argument (be it subject, direct or
indirect object) must have a Ө-role.
1.11 Binding Theory
Madjaer (1991: 46) refers to binding theory as a theory that is concerned
with the systematic domain in which NP can and cannot be constructed as coreferential.
xxv
Yusuf (1998: 45) in his own view states that binding theory is concerned
with the relationships of NP participants in the sentence. Precisely, binding
theory shows how NP can be related to another NP.
Chomsky (1988: 520) submits that binding theory deals with the
connection among Noun Phrases that have to do with such semantic properties
as dependence or reference, including the connection between the pronouns and
its antecedents.
The implication of the above definition is that, binding theory deals with
the co-referential relationship among NPs in the same sentence. That is, how
NPs co-referred or co-indexes one another in a simple sentence.
NPs that are argument are assumed to fall into one of these three
categories:
-
Anaphors
-
Pronominal
-
Referential expressions
xxvi
Anaphors
These are NP types that must have antecedents they depend on one for
existence in some definite place in the sentence. Reciprocals and reflexive
pronouns fall under this class e.g.
Ade hurts himself
“Himself” in the above sentence refers back to Ade, therefore Ade is the
antecedent which licensed its existence.
Pronominal
These are NPs that lack specific lexical content and have only the features;
person, number, gender and case they either refer to individuals independently
or co-refer to the individuals already mentioned in a given sentence. E.g.
Bola greeted her mother.
“Her” may refer to the individual denoted by Bola, or another individual not
mentioned in the sentence.
Referential Expression
These are NPs lexical heads which potentially refer to something.
A
referential expression is also known as R-expression and they are NPs with
xxvii
lexical ability to refer to something without necessarily having any antecedent to
license their existence.
Bola says Kunle should be flogged
“Bola and Kunle” in the above example denote 2 different persons. That is
they are not co-referring each other.
1.12 Government Theory
Madjaer (1991: 495) says government theory is concerned with the
relationship between a head and its complements, and defines relationship in
other sub-theories.
Yusuf (1998: 140) says government theory is a principle theory in that, it
is a long known fact of grammar that a verb governs its object (where the object
could be NP, PP,CP) while the pre/postposition governs its object also.
The implication of this is that, a verb will govern the NP object that directly
followed it, while a preposition governs its own NP object. According to Chris
(2000: 140) the theory is concerned with the relationship between a head and its
complements. It also defines the relationship in other sub-theories.
Government theory
is extended through the
government which nonlexical categories do not.
xxviii
principle of proper
According to Chomsky (1986) cited in Yusuf (1998: 47) the principle of
proper government profers that:
Β is properly governed by  if it is governed by  and a certain kind of
connection holds between  ad β.
1.13 Bounding Theory
This theory aimed at limiting the displacement of constituents by
transformational rule of move .
According to Horrocks (1987) it is a way of constraining the movement
rule move . Movement rule within the GB theory is assumed to following:
-
An extraction site i.e. where an element is being removed
-
A landing site i.e. where the element moved to
-
An intervening gap i.e. the space between the extraction site and the
landing site of an element.
Bounding theory does not only monitor the extraction and the landing site for an
element, but it also placed a constraint and limit on the element that can be
moved, where it can be moved to and how far the element can be moved.
1.14 Control Theory
xxix
Horrocks (1987: 31), in his description of control theory, says that, it is
one in which verbs take infinitival complements that have null subject. They are
understood as being co-referential with an NP in the main clauses which is not
overtly stated but is represented by PRO. The obvious property of PRO can be
explained by saying it must only occur when it not governed.
Chomsky (1986: 183) describes this notion of PRO as ungoverned.
Consequently, PRO can never have case (since it has no governor). Let us
consider the following examples to explain the above theory.
1a.
Ade promised his father he would buy the bag
1b.
Tade promised his father [PRO to buy the bag]
PRO in the above example is controlled by ‘TADE’ which is the subject of the
man clause.
2a.
Akin persuaded his wife that she should drop the divorce suit
2b.
Akin persuade his wife [PRO to drop the divorce suit]
PRO in this sentence is controlled by the object of the main clause which is ‘the
divorce suit’.
CHAPTER TWO
BASIC PHONOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTICAL CONCEPT
2.0
Introduction
xxx
This chapter focuses on basic phonological and syntactic concepts. It
captures some phonological phenomena like the sound inventory; tonal system,
syllable structure, lexical categories basic word order and sentence types.
What is Phonology?
According to Yule (1996: 54) phonology is essentially the description of the
systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. It is in effect, based on a
theory of what every speaker of a language unconsciously knows about the
sound patterns of that language. Because of this theoretical status, phonology is
concerned with the abstract or mental aspect of the sounds in a language rather
than with the actual physical articulation of speech sound.
2.1
Consonant Sound in Migili Language
Yusuf (1992: 18) described consonants as sounds produced by obstructing
the air flow totally or partially at some point in the tract.
Migili language has twenty three consonants, eight oral vowels and seven
nasal vowels.
Following the International Phonetic Association (IPA) chart, the Migili
consonant sounds are arranged in the chart form below. The places of
articulation are shown in the cross top of the chart, starting from the most
xxxi
forward articulation (bilabial and going towards the sounds made in the back of
the mouth glottis). The manner of articulation are shown on the vertical axis of
the chart. By convention the voiced-voiceless distinction is shown by putting the
Nasal
Fricative
Affricates
b
m
d
n
f v
s z
k g
Kp gb
ŋ

з
h
ts dz
Approximant
r
Lateral
l
Glottal
Palatal
Palatal
alveolar
Avolear
t
Labio
velar
P
Velar
Plosive
Labio
dental
Bilabial
voiceless sounds to the left of the voiced symbols.
w
xxxii
Oral Vowel Chart
Front
High
Central
i
Mid-high
Back
u
e
o

ε

Mid-low
Low
a
Nasal Vowel Chart
Front
High
Central
ῖ
Mid-high
Back
ũ
ề
ồ
ε

Mid-low
Low
ã
xxxiii
2.2
Sentence Types
Sentence is described classical grammarians as a group of words, which
makes a statement, a command, expresses a wish ask a question or makes an
exclamation (Yusuf 1998: 101).
Pink and Thomas (1970: 81) state that a sentence is a group of words that
makes a complete sentence with at least a finite verb or main verb.
Winterowd and Murray (1985: 512) say that traditional grammarian
classified sentence into three types viz, of simple, compound and complex
sentences.
2.2.1 Simple Sentence
Simple sentence contains one independent clause and no subordinate. It is
also made up of one NP subject and predicate.
Pink and Thomas (1970: 12) defined simple sentence as just those active
declarative sentence as containing only one finite verb.
xxxiv
Compound Sentence
Winterowd and Murray (1985: 513) defined a compound sentence as what
is made up of two or more independent clauses but no subordinate clause.
Yusuf (1997: 129) defined compound sentence as a kind of sentence
recursion. The same clausal category re-occur over and are all linked by
conjunction e.g. ‘but’ or ‘and’. Example of compound sentence are:
Tolu shouted and sang a song’
‘she ran and wounded herself’
Complex Sentence
According to Yusuf (1977: 63) a complex sentence is a sentence
embedded in one of the phrase categories NP or VP, complex sentences are
those sentences that can be analyzed as consisting of a number of simple
sentence with WH-structures such as who, which that and where.
Examples of complex sentence are:
‘the boy who stole the pen has arrived’
‘the time when I came was late’
xxxv
Functional Classification of Sentence
Sentence can be classified according to function so we have sentences
that make statements or deny them, sentence that ask question and that
command them, sentence can be functionally classified below:
Declarative sentences
Interrogative sentences
Imperative sentences
Declarative sentences
‘God is good’
‘Life is good’
Interrogative Sentence
An interrogative sentence is used to ask question, which demands
response.
‘when did you arrive?’
‘what is your name’
‘who are you’
Imperative Sentence
This gives command or makes request
‘drop the book’
‘kill the goat’
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2.3
Basic Word Order
Just as language can be classified in terms of their genetic relationships,
they can equally be classified with reference to their typological classes and
orders.
Crystal (1985: 389) describes word orders as the sequential arrangement
of words in a sentence. Greenberg (1966) explains that word order is the
manner the subject verb and object co-occur in any simple declarative sentence.
Migili language operates SVO i.e. subject verb object word order pattern.
The subject occupies the initial position indicating the first reference in the
sentence while verb is the element that assigns functional roles to the subject
and object in a construction. The object comes after the verb that assigns role to
both of them.
This clearly means that there are six different possible forms of basic word
orders in human language.
According to Tomlin (1986: 102) 45 percent of language are SOV, 42
percent are SVO 3 percent are VOS, a percent VSO and less than 1 percent are
OVS and OSV.
Subject
Verb
Object
xxxvii
(SVO)
Subject
Object
Verb
(SOV)
Object
Subject
Verb
(OSV)
Object
Verb
Subject
(OVS)
Verb
Subject
Object
(VSO)
Verb
Object
Subject
(VOS)
2.4
Phrase Structure Rule
Phrase structure rule are rules that describe what a grammatical sentence
in a language looks like Cook (1986: 86). Phrase structure rule of a sentence is a
hierarchy that proceeds from the largest constituent in the sentence downward,
each constituent, until only single items are left.
Tomori (1977: 67), defined phrase structure grammar as the one that
analyses utterances in terms of its syntactic constituent.
Yusuf (1997: 6) phrase structure rule is a re-write expansion rules, which
displays the content of a phrase or sentence.
Horrocks (1987: 31) defines the phrase structure rules as simply formal
devices for representing the distribution of the phrase within sentences.
The following set of rules indicates that all the categories on the left
dominate all the categories in the right.
xxxviii
Cp
-
Spec C
C’
-
C
IP
-
Spec I
I’
-
I VP
I
-
Tens Agr
VP
-
Spec V
V’
-
V (NP) (PP) (ADVP)
NP
-
Spec N
N’
-
(Det) N/ADJP) (PP) (S’)
IP
ADJC -
Spec A’
A’
-
DEG A
PP
-
Spec P’
P’
-
P
NP
2.4.1 The Phrase Marker
According to Lamidi (2000: 33) phrase makers are also called three
diagram. Like other method of analysis, they break down structures into their
major constituents which are further broken down into smaller constituents until
the analysis get to the terminal nodes or strings.
xxxix
The above phrase structure rule can be diagrammatically represented as in
the phrase marker or tree diagram below.
xl
CP
Spec
C’
C
IP
Spec
I’
I
VP
Nii
Spec
Spec
Det
N
N’
Adj
PP
Spec
P’
P
xli
NP
‘Ade drinks water’
IP
Spec
I’
I
Tns
+ Prest
Ade
VP
Agr
Spec
V’
V
NP
drink
water
MINIMUM OR BASIC NOUN PHRASE
‘bag’
‘boy’
‘room’
‘bed’
‘child’
xlii
NP LEXICON WITH A PREPOSITIONAL SATELITES
‘the bag in the room’
NP
N’
D
N
PP
P’
P
the
bag in
NP
Det
N
the
room
‘the bag in the room’
xliii
the book on the chair
NP

Det N
PP
Det 
the
N

book
PP

on the chair
PP

P
NP
NP

the chair
NP
N’
Det
N
PP
P’
P
NP
N’
Det
the
book on
the
N
chair
‘the book on the chair’
xliv
NOUN PHRASE WITH ADJECTIVE SATELITES
a black bird
NP

Det
Adj
N
NP
Det
Adjp
a
black
N
bird
‘the black bird’
EMBEDDED NOUN PHRASE
The shop where I bought the dog
NP
N’
CP
Spec
NP
C’






N’
Det
Spec
NP
Pro.
C
CP
N
C’
IP
I’
V’
IP
xlv



Spec I’
I
VP
V
NP
NP
N’
Det
CP
N
Spec
C’
Wh- C

IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
P
VP
TNS
V’
past V
NP
N’
-ed buy
the shop where
I
bought
Det
the
‘the shop where I bough the dog’
xlvi
N
dog
2.4.2 Verb Phrase
Verb phrase is a cluster of words in surface strings that have a verb as it
head.
Yusuf (1997: 21) explained that, verb phrase is traditionally called the
‘predicate’ because it has the sentence predicator namely verb.
The verb phrase is headed by a verb called the predicate. It tells us the
roles of the nominal in the sentence. Such as agent, patient, locative experience
etc. by syntactically indicate the role as either subject or object. However verb
satellites are called complement.
These are example of verb phrase:
Basic VP
‘kill’
‘cook’
‘dance’
‘slap’
xlvii
VP Lexicon with NP Satelites
VP
V’
V
Cook
NP
Det
N
the
food
‘cook the food’
xlviii
VP Lexicon with PP satellites
‘dance on the table’
VP
V’
V
PP
P
dance
on
NP
Det
N
the
table
‘dance on the table’
xlix
VP Lexicon with Adverbial Satelites
‘slap the girl slowly’
VP

V
V

slap
NP

the girl
Advp 
NP
Advp
slowly
VP
V
V
slap
NP
Advp
Det
N
the
girl
slowly
‘slap the girl slowly’
l
VP LEXICON WITH AN NP AND PP AS SATELITES
‘jump the river with a boat’
VP
V
NP
Det
N
PP
P
NP
Det
jump the
river with
N
a
boat
‘jump the river with a boat’
Other examples of verb phrase include:
‘pick the clothe’
‘sell the food in the room’
‘kick the ball with your leg’
2.4.3 Adjectival Phrase
Winterowd and Murray (1985: 490) define adjective as prepositional
phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
li
Greenberg (1966: 115) states that an adjectival phrase is a phrase with an
adjective as it had it functions syntactically as an adjectival phrase. Adjective is
the constituent of the adjectival phrase and serve as modifier for the noun or
noun phrase.
These are example of adjectival phrase:
‘very pretty’
Adjp
Adj’
Adv
Advp
Adv
very
‘very pretty’
pretty
lii
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE WITH ADVERBIAL AND NOUN PHRASE SATELITES
‘dirty like a pig’
Adjp
Adj’
Adj
Advp
NP
Adv’
N’
Adv
dirty like a
Det
N
pig
‘dirty like a pig’
2.4.4 Prepositional Phrase
Jowit and Nnamonu (1985: 228) observe that prepositions are frequently
used form idiomatic phrases, which function as adverbial of time, place or
manner. Lamidi (2000: 73) observes that the PP is closely related to the NP
liii
because it contains a preposition and an NP complement. In this case, the
preposition is the head and it precedes the NP in the PP. The prepositional
phrase has been characterized below:
PP
P
NP
Prepositional
N
PP
Prepositional

liv
Example of prepositional phrase:
‘in the big bowl’
PP
P
P
in
NP
Det
Adj
the
big
N
bowl
‘in the big bowl’
lv
2.5
LEXICAL CATEGORIES
Haegeman (1991: 41) states that in the current government and binding
theory, we can distinguish between two types of categories in syntax, these are:
(i)
Lexical categories
(ii)
Functional categories
Lexical Categories in any natural language are the following:
(i)
Noun
(ii)
Pronoun
(iii)
Verb
(iv)
Adverb
(v)
Adjective
(vi)
Preposition
(vii)
Interjection
2.5.1 Noun
According to Yusuf (1992) “A noun is the name of a person, animal place
or thing. Traditionally, a noun is defined as a part of speech that identifies
people, places, objects, actions, ideas and qualities.
lvi
Nouns are words that name people, places, animals, things state of mind,
qualities and actions in a sentence.
Adegbija (1998) says “a noun may function as subject and complement
but also function as an adjunct”.
There are different type of noun:
Common noun
Proper noun
Concrete noun
Abstract noun
Collective noun
Animate noun
Inanimate noun
Common Noun
These are the general category of nouns, that do not refer uniquely to a
specific subject, place or things. They are the direct opposite of proper nouns.
They do not start with capital letter except at the beginning of sentence.
Example of countable nouns in English language
‘fan’
lvii
‘bucket’
‘car’
‘mat’
Example of uncountable nouns in English language:
‘sand’
‘salt’
‘water’
‘rice’
‘oil’
Proper Noun
Proper nouns specify people, places, animals etc. They are examples of
referring expressions. This is because they are uttered in a particular context
which uniquely refer to one individual or place or object in the word of discourse.
They are names of specific people, animals, places things, etc. Examples of
proper noun are:
‘Nigeria’
‘Monday’
‘Bola’
lviii
‘Kaduna’
Concrete Noun
Concrete nouns are nouns that refer to tangible object discovered with any
of the five senses. That is, they are thing accessible to the sense; things that can
be seen, smelt, touched, tasted, observed, and measured etc.
Examples of concrete noun:
‘orange’
‘salt’
‘car’
‘calabash’
‘pen’
Abstract Noun
Abstract noun or nouns are that relate to ideas that have only emotional
manifestation as opposed to concrete object. They are nouns that can be felt,
they cannot be seen and touched. Abstract noun denote qualities abstracted
from material nouns, they refer to notions such as a quality, state or action.
Example of abstract noun:
‘wisdom’
lix
‘air’
‘darkness’
‘fear’
Collective Noun
Collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of similar object or people
in similar circumstances. They are also called “class noun” it is made up of a
collection of more than one entry. Examples of collective noun:
‘audience’
‘family’
‘cutlery’
‘congregation’
‘police’
Animate Noun
Animate noun are living nouns. They are nouns that refer to living things
be it human or animal. Example of animate nouns are;
‘dog’
lx
‘pig’
‘goat’
‘lizard’
‘lion’
Inanimate Noun
Inanimate are non-living nouns, they are nouns that refer to non-living
things like objects or items. Example of inanimate:
‘pen’
‘car’
‘book’
‘bag’
‘shirt’
Pronouns
Akande (2004) defines pronoun as word used instead of a noun to avoid
repetition of the noun. Since pronouns are used in place of nouns, they perform
the same function as nouns.
lxi
Adegbija (1998) defines pronoun as a word used in place of noun.
Adedimeji and Alabi (2003) defines pronoun as words that are used to
represent nouns and as such they function as noun. The various types of
pronouns are:
(i)
Personal pronoun
(ii)
Possessive pronoun
(iii)
Reflexive pronouns
(iv)
Relative pronouns
(v)
Interrogative pronouns
(vi)
Demonstrative pronouns
(vii)
Indefinite pronouns
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns are used to refer to the first person the speaker (I) or
speaker (we), the second person (“you” for both singular and plural) and the
third person (singular “fe for male, “she” for female, “it” for non-living things and
animals and “they” all fall under for all gender. Examples are:
‘I’
‘you’
lxii
‘we’
‘they’
‘she’
‘her’
‘he’
‘my’
POSSESIVE PRONOUNS
Possessive pronouns are used to indicate what belongs to a person or
thing. They show possession. Examples of possessive pronouns are:
‘mine’
‘ours’
‘his’
‘theirs’
‘yours’
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that have identical subject and direct
object. They have ending ‘-self- in their singular form and ending ‘-selves’ in their
lxiii
plural form. These pronouns reflect another nominal element. Examples of
reflexive pronouns are:
‘myself’
‘yourself’
‘himself’
‘ourselves’
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Relative pronouns are used to introduce relative subordinate clause. They
play dual roles both as pronouns and as connectives. Examples of relative
pronouns are:
‘which’
‘who’
‘why’
‘what’
‘whose’
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
Interrogative pronouns are pronouns that are used in asking questions.
Examples are:
lxiv
‘where’
‘what’
‘who’
‘which’
‘whose’
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point out a particular person,
place or thing. They out specific person, place or thing. They have number
contrast (singular and plural) and can function both as determiners and
pronouns. examples of demonstrative pronouns are:
‘this’
‘that’
‘these’
INDEFINITE PRONOUN
Indefinite pronouns are used to make references that are unspecific.
Examples are:
‘everybody’
lxv
‘anybody’
‘few’
‘little’
‘many’
VERBS
Adedimeji and Alabi (2003: 49) defines a verb as a word that tells what a
subject does or expresses a state of being.
According to Yusuf (1992: 117) ‘A verb is a doing’. A verb tells us what the
subject of a sentence does, that is, it tells what somebody or something does. It
enables the speaker to say something about somebody or something. Verb can
be divided into two major kinds. They are:
(i)
Transitive verb
(ii)
Intransitive verb
lxvi
Transitive verb
A verb is transitive when the action proceeds from the subject through the
verb to an object which receives the action.
Yusuf (1997) says “A transitive verb is the one that has an NP object”.
Examples are:
‘I eat food’
‘I ate food’
‘Ganiyat drank water’
‘He/she fought Ganiyat’
‘He/she cooked food’
‘sell the house’
A transitive verb is therefore one that has a direct object expressed or
implied.
Intransitive Verb
An intransitive verb has no direct object because the action does not go
beyond the person or object performing it.
Yusuf (1997) defines an intransitive verb that has no object noun phrase
(NP). Examples are:
lxvii
‘Ade wept’
‘the boy died’
‘rain fell’
‘the witch died’
‘I slept’
Adjectives
According to Yusuf (1997: 26) “Adjectives are qualifiers of noun or
pronoun they are words that qualify or tells us more about nouns or pronouns in
a sentence.
According to Adegbija (1998) “an adjective is a word that names a quality
or attribute, defines, limits or modifies a noun. The various types of adjectives
we have are:
(i)
Possessive adjectives
(ii)
Demonstratives adjective
(iii)
Interrogative adjectives
(iv)
Quantitative adjectives
lxviii
Possessive Adjective
These are adjectives that show possession. Examples of possessive
adjectives in are:
‘my friend’
‘my money’
‘my car’
‘my son’
‘my father’
Demonstrative Adjective
These are adjectives that show or point out people or things. Examples
are:
‘this car’
‘that boy’
‘that money’
‘that car’
‘this boy’
lxix
Interrogative Adjectives
Interrogative pronouns are identical with WH-series in some languages like
English, but they are functionally different. They possess the attributive or
determiner function and at times, they perform a nominal function. They are also
used for personal references and case distinctions. They are used for asking
questions Ukamaka (2010: 178) e.g. what, where, which.
These are adjective that are used to ask question. Examples are:
‘who ate the food?’
‘what is your name?’
‘why are you crying?’
‘who is singing?’
‘where are you?’
Quantitative Adjective
These are adjectives which tell us how many things or persons are. There
are types of quantitative adjectives and they are:
(i)
Definite adjective
(ii)
Indefinite adjective
Definite Adjective
lxx
Definite adjective are numerals. Examples are:
‘four’
‘six’
‘ten’
‘five’
‘three’
Indefinite Adjective
These are adjectives that show collection of person or things. Examples
are:
‘few’
‘little’
‘all’
‘several’
Adverbs
According to Yusuff (1992) “An adverb is a word that is used to modify a
very”. An adverb is a word that modifies or tells us more about a verb or any
other word class. There are three types of adverbs and they are:
(i)
Adjuncts
lxxi
(ii)
Disjunctions
(iii)
Conjuncts
Adjuncts
Adjunct usually expresss an attitude or view point often of the speaker.
Henry Waldo (2007) defines an adjunct “as a part of a sentence that modifies
the verb to show time, manner, place, frequency and degree. Examples are:
‘slowly
‘quickly’
‘fast’
Disjunct
Henry Waldo (2007) defines a disjunct as a type of adverbial that
expresses information that is not considered essential to the sentence it appears
in but which is considered to be the speakers or writers attitude towards or
descriptive statement of the propositional content of the sentence.
Richard Nordquist (1993) defines a disjunct as a type of sentence adverb
that comments on the content or manner of what is being said or written.
Disjuncts usually express an attitude or view point often of the speakers.
Examples are:
lxxii
‘honestly! I went’
‘frankly! I ate’
‘fortunately! I saw him’
Conjuncts
“Conjuncts relate what is said in a sentence to another sentence as such, it
is not part of the structure of the sentence in which is used Richard Nordquist
(1993)”. Conjuncts perform a connective function. They are used to connect or
join sentences and clauses. Examples are:
‘however’
‘then’
‘besides’
Preposition
The word “preposition” comes from the Latin language means something
placed by a Noun Preposition shows the relationship between a noun or a
pronoun in a sentence.
According to Yusuf (1992) “preposition relates a noun to a verb in terms of
location, direction, state, condition, etc. Examples of preposition are:
‘in’
lxxiii
‘on’
‘up’
‘of’
‘under’
‘above’
Interjection
Interjections are words or sounds with which strong emotions of joy,
sadness, disgust, anxiety, etc. are expressed. It expresses some emotion or
sudden feeling. It is an exclamation of surprise, eager, delight, grief,
independent element without grammatical relation to the other parts of the
sentence.
Yusuf (1992) says “an interjection is a word that expresses sudden
emotion”. Examples of interjection are:
‘help!’
‘no!’
‘ah!’
lxxiv
CHAPTER THREE
THE VERB PHRASE OF MIGILI
3.0
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we shall investigate the nature and structure of verb
phrase in Migili language. The syntactic position of verb within its phrase as well
as the logical possible satellites which can co-occur with verb to form a phrase
shall be examined as well. In addition, the functions of verb phrase in Migili shall
be discussed with appropriate examples.
3.1
THE VERB PHRASE
Following the position of McGregor (2009: 113), verb phrases are groups
of words and morphemes containing a lexical verb, which conveys the most
important lexical information, usually along with other morphemes, grammatical
and/or lexical, bound and/or free. He stresses further that, verb phrases refer to
the events in which entities are involved; and they are specified by the central
item, the lexical verb. In his own account of verb phrase, Lamidi (2008: 166)
says that the verb is the head of a verb phrase, which contains optional specifier
and complement or adjunct. He continues by claiming that, the aspect marker
serves as the specifier while other phrasal categories like NP, PP, AP etc. serve
lxxv
as its complement or adjunct. In a similar perspective, Yusuf (1998: 46) submits
that the verb phrase has been rendered in the phrase structure rules as head
verb, its complement and any number of adjuncts.
From the above views on verb phrase, it can be deduced that it is a type
of phrase that is headed by a lexical verb and it is the obligatory constituent
upon which other syntactic satellites are dependent. The verb names the verb
phrase such that without it, the phrase is incomplete.
3.2
THE VERB PHRASE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF HEAD PARAMETER
The principle of head parameter is one of the universals of human
languages and it operates on all the phrasal categories attested in all natural
human languages. According to Cook (1988: 9), the head parameter is “a
principle of syntax concerning the position of heads within phrases, e.g. nouns in
NPs, verbs in VPs etc.”. Likewise, Chomsky (1970) suggested that the position of
heads could be specified once for all the phrases in a given language. According
to him, rather than a long list of individual rules specifying the position of the
head in each phrase type, a single generalization suffices: ‘heads are last in the
phrasal’ or ‘heads are first in the phrase’. From this submission, it is obvious that,
“there are two possibilities for phrases: head-left or head-right” (Cook, 1988: 7)
lxxvi
Cook (1988) maintains further that, a language has the heads on the same side
in all its phrases. Therefore, it is pertinent to state that Migili language is not an
exception of this fact.
Thus, in Migili language, the head of the verb phrase comes at the left side
of the phrase with other possible modifiers. On this premise, it is worthwhile
establishing a syntactic rule which stipulates that: heads are first in the phrases
of Migili language. In other words, following the head parameter principle, which
specifies the order of element in a language, Migili verb phrase has its lexical
head-verb coming at the beginning of the verb phrase which may or not be
followed by other syntactic constituents such as NP, PP, CP and so on.
3.3
THE STRUCTURE OF VERB PHRASE
Structurally, the lexical verb which is an obligatory element forms the verb
phrase in Migili language, and could be present with or without its satellites.
These satellites can be either complements (obligatory modifiers) or adjuncts
(optional modifiers). As said earlier, the lexical head of the phrase, which is a
verb, comes first before other satellites are attached to it to form a full verb
phrase. On this note, verb phrase in Migili language has different structures
which are examined as follows, using the phrase structure rules:
lxxvii
i.
VP  V
ii.
VP  VNP
iii.
VP  V PP
iv.
VP  V S’
v.
VP  V NP PP
vi.
VP  V NP S’
vii.
VP  V PP S’
viii.
VP  V Advp
The above rules can be collapsed into a general phrase structure rule
which describes the overall structure of verb phrase in the language.
VP

V
(NP) (PP) (S’) (Advp)
From the above general rule, since the obligatory constituent in a verb
phrase is the verb, the other constituents (Satellites) have been enclosed with
parentheses indicating that they may be present or not, hence, an evidence
which justifies the fact that the lexical head word (verb) is the most integral part
of a phrase (VP) in which all other attached syntactic constituents are optional.
Therefore, we shall cite examples using Migili language to illustrate the
above structures that a verb phrase can assume in the language.
lxxviii
(i)
VP  V
The above structure says that the verb phrase is made up of a single word
which is the lexical head word known as the verb which obligatorily heads the
verb phrase. Examples of this are provided below:
a.
tutro
‘laughs’
b.
dakutro
‘dances’
c.
ni
‘see’
d.
gbo
‘play’
e.
tà
‘eat’
In the above case, the verb phrase does not have any modifier, hence, it is
non-branching in the tree diagram:
VP
|
V’
|
V
|
lxxix
tutro
dakutro
gbo etc.
ii.
VP  V NP
The verb phrase in the above case contains the lexical head word (verb)
which is followed by a complement, a noun phrase (NP). In this case, the verb
phrase is branching in the phrase marker. To describe this structure, examples
are given below:
a.
yi
aklod³i
steal money
‘steal the money’
b.
tà
rije
eat
food
‘eat the food’
c.
gbo
ira
ne
play game the
‘play the game’
d.
tsi
bolo ne
lxxx
kick
ball
the
‘kicked the ball’
e.
wo
vo
ne
kill
goat the
‘killed the goat’
lxxxi
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
yi
aklod³i
steal
money
‘steal the money’
lxxxii
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
tà
rije
eat
food
‘eat the food’
lxxxiii
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
gbo
ira
ne
play
game
the
‘play the game’
lxxxiv
d.
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
tsi
bolo
ne
kick
ball
the
lxxxv
e.
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
wo
vo
ne
kill
goat
the
‘killed the goat’
iii.
VP  V PP
In the structure of the above verb phrase, there is the obligatory lexical
category, the verb, linearly co-occurring with an optional category-a prepositional
phrase (PP). Examples are:
lxxxvi
a.
skutro
lukpe koyoduwa
ne
sing
in
the
church
‘sand in the church’
b.
adwua
rut
amuza
ne
pray
beside
river
the
‘pray beside the river’
c.
dakutro
s d³azhe
dance
with prince the
ne
‘danced with the prince’
d.
nyerina
nà
koyo ne
walk
into
room the
‘walked into the room’
e.
niwe
lukpe koyo ne
write
in
class the
‘write in the class’
lxxxvii
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
Spec
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
skutro
lukpe koyoduwa
ne
sing
in
the
church
‘sang in the church’
lxxxviii
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
Spec
P’
P
adwua
pray
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
rut amuza
ne
beside river
the
‘pray beside the river’
lxxxix
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
Spec
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
dakutr
so d³azhe
ne
dance
with prince
the
‘danced with the prince’
xc
d.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
Spec
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
Nyerina
nà
koyo
ne
walk
into
room
the
‘walked into the room’
xci
e.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
Spec
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
niwe
lukpe koyo
ne
write
in
the
class
‘write in the class’
(N)
VP

V
CP/S’
xcii
What constitutes the above structure is the obligatory constituent (which is
the verb) and a complementizer phrase or sentential complement which will be
introduced by a complementizer usually a Wh-word. Examples are:
a.
ípe
kon
yi
baro ne
know who steal pen
the
‘know who stole the pen’
b.
ózà
kon
n
arrive when I
be
come
‘arrived when I came’
c.
kíléle aza
n
dream what I
wuso
hear
‘dreamt what I heard’
xciii
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
CP
Spec
C’
C
IP
WHSpec
I’
I
VP
TNS AGR Spec
V’
V
ípe kon
know who
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
yi
baro
steal pen
‘know who stole the pen’
xciv
ne
the
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
CP
Spec
C’
C
IP
WHSpec
NP
I’
I
VP
TNS AGR Spec
V’
N’
V
Pron
ózà kon
arrive when
n
I
‘arrived when I came’
xcv
be
come
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
CP
Spec
C’
C
IP
WHSpec
NP
I’
I
VP
TNS AGR Spec
V’
N’
V
Pron
kíléle aza
dream what
n
I
‘dreamt what I heard’
xcvi
wuso
hear
(V)
VP

V
NP
PP
In the above structure of verb phrase, it contains the verb, followed by its
obligatory modifier – the Noun Phrase (NP), and then structurally followed by an
optional modifier which is a prepositional phrase (PP). Examples are given as
follows:
a.
yi
baro ne
steal pen
the
lukpe íti
in
ne
house the
‘stole the pen in the room’
b.
wo
òva
ne
s mba
kill
dog
the
with knife
‘killed the dog with aknife’
c.
maro kaba
nà
koyo ne
carry monkey
into
room the
‘carry a monkey into the room’
d.
ìchè
yénvèlè
salute man
ne
rut
ndá
ino
the
beside
father
her
‘saluted the man beside her father’
xcvii
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
yi
PP
NP
Spec
N’
Spec
N
Det
baro
steal pen
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
ne
lukpe íti
ne
the
in
the
house
‘stole the pen in the room’
xcviii
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
NP
Spec
N’
Spec
N
Det
P’
P
NP
N’
N
wo
òva
ne
s
mba
kill
dog
the
with
knife
‘killed the dog with a knife’
xcix
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
PP
NP
Spec
N’
Spec
N
Det
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
maro kaba
ne
nà
koyo
ne
carry monkey
the
into
room
the
‘carry the monkey into the room’
c
d.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
ìchè
PP
NP
Spec
N’
Spec
N
Det
yénvèlè
salute man
P’
P
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
ne
rut ndá
ino
the
beside father
her
‘salute the man beside her father’
ci
(VI)
VP
V

NP
CP
In the above case, the verb phrase contains the verb, a noun phrase (NP)
and an optional complementizer phrase (CP) which modifiers the complement NP
of
a.
the
ìchè
nmá ino
verb.
kon
ino
greet mother her when she
Examples
ózà
arrive
‘greeted her mother when she arrived’
b.
maro dze
ne
carry king the
kon
súwé múdíkpalaba
who drink beer
‘carry the king who drank some beer’
c.
chuwo
oka
kon
n
remember
story which I
wuso
hear
‘remembered a story which I heard’
cii
are:
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
CP
NP
Spec
C’
Spec Wh- C
N’
IP
Spec
Spec
NP
N
Det
I’
I
N’ TNS
VP
Agr
V’
Pron
V
ìchè
nmá
ino
greet
mother her
kon
ino
ózà
when
she
arrive
‘greeted her mother when she arrived’
ciii
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
CP
NP
Spec
C’
Spec Wh- C
N’
IP
Spec
Spec
NP
N
Det
I’
I
N’ TNS
VP
Agr
V’
Pron
V
maro
dze
ne
kon
súwé
carry
king
the
who
drink
múdíkpalaba
‘carry the king who drank some beer’
civ
beer
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V
CP
NP
Spec
C’
Spec Wh- C
IP
N’
Spec
NP
N
I’
I
N’ TNS
VP
Agr
V’
Pron
V
chuwo
oka
remember
story
kon
n
wuso
which
I
hear
‘remembered a story which I heard’
(VII) VP

V
PP
CP
This is an instance whereby a verb phrase has the following constituents:
an obligatory head word (verb) and two adjuncts i.e. optional modifiers which
cv
are prepositional phrase (PP) and complementizer phrase (CP). To illustrate this
syntactic structure of verb phrase, the following sets of data shall be used:
a.
yimiyi lukpe mijírìti
steal in
kon
n
ípe
compound which I
know
‘stole in a compound which I know’
b.
kúlò s dza
ne
fight with child the
kon
be
who come
‘fought with the child who came’
c.
tà
rut
íti
ne
eat
beside
house the
kon
ba
gbe
which they buy
‘ate beside the house which they bought’
cvi
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V’
V
CP
PP
Spec
Spec
P’
P
Wh
C’
C
IP
NP
Spec
I’
N’
NP
N
N’ TNS
I
VP
AGR V’
Pron
yimiyi
lukpe mijírìti kon
steal
in
V
n
compound which I
‘stole in a compound which I know’
cvii
ípe
know
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V’
V
CP
PP
Spec
Spec
P’
P
C’
Wh C
IP
NP
Spec
N’
Spec
N
Det
I’
I
TNS
VP
AGR V’
V
kúlò
s dza
fight
with child the who
ne kon
be
‘fought with the child who came’
cviii
come
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
V’
V
CP
PP
Spec
Spec
P’
P
C’
Wh C
IP
NP
Spec
N’
Spec
N
Det
NP
TNS
I’
I
VP
AGR V’
N’
V
Pron
tà
rut íti
ne kon
ba
eat
beside house the which they
‘ate beside the house which they bought’
cix
gbe
buy
(VIII) VP

V
AdvP
In the structure of the above verb phrase, what is contained therein is a
verb and a adverbial phrase (Advp) which modifies the head word in terms of
manner, degree, concession, time, place, reason etc. The following examples
from Migili language will illustrate this syntactic phenomenon:
a.
nini
sisere
see
clearly
‘see clearly’
b.
daka linyelinye
speak carelessly
‘speak carelessly’
c.
noiwe zuzwa
write legibly
‘write legibly’
d.
nyerina
ss
walk
gently
‘walk gently’
e.
sonula
tsù
cx
sleep heavily
‘sleep soundly’
a.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
Advp
V
Adv’
Adv
nini
sisere
see
clearly
‘see clearly’
cxi
b.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
Advp
V
Adv’
Adv
daka
linyelinye
speak
carelessly
‘speak carelessly’
cxii
c.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
Advp
V
Adv’
Adv
noiwe
zuzwa
write
legibly
‘write legibly’
cxiii
d.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
Advp
V
Adv’
Adv
nyerina
ss
walk
gently
‘walk gently’
cxiv
e.
VP
Spec
V’
V’
Advp
V
Adv’
Adv
sonula
tsù
sleep
heavily
‘sleep soundly’
3.4
THE FUNCTIONS OF VERB PHRASE IN MIGILI
From a semantic perspective, the verb phrase of Migili happens to perform
two principal functions which are: assigning an agent role to a subject NP and a
patient role to an object NP in a given sentence. By agent role, we are referring
to the role played by the initiator or doer of an action; on the other hand, the
patient role deals with the role played by the receiver of an action. These two
cxv
semantic roles are assigned by the verb to the subject NP and object NP
respectively in Migili language. This syntactic phenomenon shall be exemplified
as follows:
1.
Agent Role
In this case, the verb determines the doer of an action. For example:
a.
Ayuba tsi
ballo ne
Ayuba kick
ball
the
‘Ayuba kicked the ball’
b.
dza
ne
child the
zrnyi
nmà ino
loves mother
her
‘the child loves her mother’
c.
yen
wanene
person that
mangblo
krìká ne
swallow
crab the
‘that person swallowed the crab’
cxvi
In the above sentences, the underlined verbs or verb phrases are assigning the
semantic role of agent to their respective Noun Phrases which are the initiator of
the action described by the verb.
2.
Patient Role
In this case, the verb determines the receiver of an action. For example:
a.
Ade
malí iyen
Ade
sell
hawk
‘Ade sold a hawk’
b.
n
tà
kòli
I
eat
snail
‘I ate a snail’
c.
Ba
ni
they see
nyevele
ne
man
the
\they saw the man’
cxvii
In the above sentences, the underlined verbs are assigning patient roles to
their respective object NPs, thereby making them the receiver or sufferer of the
action described by the verb.
cxviii
CHAPTER FOUR
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES IN MIGILI
4.0
INTRODUCTION
This chapter shall investigate and describe, with ample examples, the
transformational or syntactic processes attested in Migili language. These
transformational processes are: focus construction, relativization, reflexivization
and question formation. How the surface structures are derived from the deep
structures via these transformational processes shall be examined in the
language.
4.1
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES DEFINED
Following the position of Chomsky (1970), the phrase structure rules (and
lexicon) generate the deep structures of sentences and that the rules of the
transformational component of the syntax map these into surface structures.
Thus, each sentence has both a deep structure and surface structure
representation. On this premise, transformation can be defined as changing the
structure of one sentence to another; and it performs a lot of operations like
deletion, permutation, adjunction, copying etc. (Yusuf, 1992: 136). Likewise,
Radford (1985: 401) considers transformations as the process whereby the deep
cxix
and surface structures are interrelated by a set of movement rules. In his own
view, Lamidi (2008: 43) is of the opinion that, transformation is a rule that states
how components of a structure are reorganized or moved from node to node. He
maintains further that it is a device used to change the form of one linguistic
structure to another.
Again,
Lamidi
(2008:
28-29)
identifies
four
major
functions
of
transformations which are:
(i)
They can delete formatives which had earlier occurred at the deep
structure of a sentence.
(ii)
Transformations can involve substitution.
(iii)
They can insert new elements into a structure
(iv)
They can move elements from one position to another in a sentence.
From the above functions performed by transformations, movement is the
principal function that is involved in virtually all transformational processes
attested in natural human languages. Cook (1988: 34) states that movement is
the relationship between two levels: the deep structure and the surface
structure. Yule (1966: 102) defines the deep structure as an abstract level of
structural representation in which all the elements determining structural
cxx
interpretation are represented. At the deep structure, all the elements in the
sentence are in their original location.
On the other hand, the surface structure is the physical form in which the
structure (say a word, a phrase, a clause or a sentence) finally appears after the
application of transformational rules. (Lamidi, 2008: 44). At the surface
structure, certain elements have been displaced by applying one or more
operations to the deep structure.
Baker (1978) and Lamidi (2008) submit that transformations are in two
parts:
i.
Structural description (SD) which refers to the existing structure before the
transformation was applied, and
ii.
Structural
change
(SC)
which
is
the
result
obtained
after
the
transformation has been applied.
We shall consider focusing, relativization, reflexivization and question
formation in Migili language using copious data as medium of exemplification.
4.1.1 Focus Construction
According to Tallerman (2005), focus construction is a process whereby
constituents in a sentence are moved in order to focus on a particular phrase,
cxxi
perhaps in order to emphasize it, or else to contrast it with other parts of the
clause. He further claims that focused phrases move to a clause-initial position in
many languages. Along the same intellectual thought, Stockwell (1977: 157)
considers focus as “a way of introducing special marking into the surface
structure of the element that is being focused”. He therefore equates focus with
prominence. It does not refer to any change in the substance of a message, only
to change in the way the message is coded relative to what preceded, to what is
presupposed and to what is most important in the speakers’ intention.
In Migili language, focus construction is syntactically marked with the
special focus
marker “k” usually placed immediately after the focused
element at the initial slot o the derived sentence. This syntactic process involves
the fronting of an NP by moving it from its original position in the basic sentence
to the derived sentence-initial position and will be contiguously followed by the
focus marker. there are subject NP focusing and direct object NP focusing in
Migili language. We shall describe these with appropriate examples:
4.1.1.1
Subject NP Focusing
cxxii
In Migili language, the subject NP is emphasized or focused by maintaining
its natural syntactic position (initial) and will be immediately followed by the
special focus marker kŋ. Examples:
1a.
Ade
tà
nzoŋ
Ade
eat
beans

basic sentence
‘Ade ate beans’
b.
Ade
kŋ
tà
nzoŋ 
Ade
FM
eat
beans
derived sentence
‘It was Ade that ate beans’
2a.
yénvèlè
ne
aje
itrò
Man
the
wear cloth

basic structure
‘the man wore cloth’
b.
yénvèlè
ne
kŋ
aje
itrò
man
the
FM
wear cloth
‘it was the man that wore cloth’
3a.
nmá
ino
gbe
gufe
Mother
her
buy
bag

‘her mother bought a bag’
cxxiii
basic sentence
b.
nmá
ino
kŋ
gbe
gufe
mother
her
FM
buy
bag
‘it was her mother that bought a bag’
4a.
n
súwé nkwále
I
drink water

basic sentence

derived sentence
‘I drank water’
b.
n
kŋ
súwé nkwále
I
FM
drink water
‘it was I that drank water’
cxxiv
1.
FP
Spec
NP
N’
F’
F
IP
Spec
I’
I
TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
Ade
kŋ
Ade
FM
‘it was Ade that ate beans’
tà
eat
cxxv
nzoŋ
beans
2.
FP
Spec
F’
NP
F
N’
IP
Spec
Spec
Det
I’
I
TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
Yénvèlè ne kŋ
man the FM
‘it was the man that wore cloth’
aje
wear
cxxvi
itrò
cloth
3.
FP
Spec
F’
NP
F
N’
IP
Spec
Spec
Det
I’
I
TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
nmá ino kŋ
mother her FM
gbe
gufe
buy
bag
‘it was her mother that bought a bag’
cxxvii
4.
FP
Spec
NP
F’
F
N’
IP
Spec
I’
I
VP
TNS Agr
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
n
I
kŋ
FM
súwé
drink
nkwále
water
‘it was I that drank water’
cxxviii
4.1.1.2 Direct Object NP Focusing
The direct object NP is focused in Migili language by moving the object NP
from the front of the verb in the basic sentence and placing it at the surface
sentence – initial slot which will then be contiguously followed by the special
focus marker “kŋ”. The following examples will justify the above claim:
1a.
Bola gbe
gufe
Bola buy
bag

basic sentence

derived sentence
‘Bola bought a bag’
b.
gufe kŋ
Bola gbe
Bag
Bola buy
FM
‘it was a bag that Bola bought
2a.
obi
súwé nkwale
obi
drink water

basic sentence
‘obi drank water’
b.
nkwále
kŋ
obi
súwé 
water
FM
obi
drink
derived sentence
‘it was water that obi drank’
3a.
yénvèlè
ne
zoronyi
nmà ino
cxxix

basic sentence
Man
the
loves
mother her
‘the man loves her mother’
b.
nmà ino
kŋ
mother her FM
yénvèlè
ne
zoronyi  derived sentence
man
the
loves
‘it is her mother that the man loves’
4a.
Ayuba tsi
ballo ne
Ayuba kick
ball

basic sentence

derived sentence
the
‘Ayuba kicked the ball’
b.
ballo ne
Ayuba tsi
ball
Ayuba kick
the
‘it was the ball that Ayuba kicked’
cxxx
1.
FP
Spec
NP
N’
F’
F
IP
Spec
NP
N
I’
I
N’ TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
N
V
gufe
bag
kŋ Bola
FM Bola
gbe
buy
‘it was a bag that Bola bought’
cxxxi
2.
FP
Spec
NP
N’
F’
F
IP
Spec
NP
N
I’
I
N’ TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
N
V
nkwále
kŋ obi
water
FM obi
‘it was water that Obi drank’
súwé
drink
cxxxii
3.
FP
Spec
F’
NP
F
N’
N
IP
Spec
Spec
NP
Det
N’
N
I’
I
Spec TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
Det
V
nmà ino kŋ yénvèlè ne
mother her FM man the
‘it is her mother that the man loves’
zoronyi
love
cxxxiii
4.
FP
Spec
F’
NP
F
N’
N
IP
Spec
Spec
NP
Det
N’
I’
I
TNS Agr
VP
Spec
V’
N
V
ballo ne
kŋ Ayuba
ball the FM Ayuba
‘it was the ball that Ayuba kicked’
tsi
kick
cxxxiv
4.1.2 Relativization
According to Lamidi (2008: 138) “relative constructions involve the
insertion of a relative clause in front of its NP antecedent in a matrix clause”.
Therefore, Tallerman (2005: 228) defines a relative clause as a type of
embedded clause which modifies (i.e. says something about) a head noun in the
matrix clause”. Stating further, he maintains that relative clause constructions
always contain a head noun and a restricting relative clause that modifies it. In
his own account of relative clause, Stockwell (1977: 59) states that it is:
A sentence embedded (in S-structure) as modifier of an NP, the embedded
sentence having within it a Wh-pronominal replacement for a D-structure NP,
which is in some sense identical with the head NP.
From the above submission, it can be deduced that relative clauses are
usually introduced mainly by Wh-relative pronouns such as who, whom, which,
whom, when, whose etc. most especially in English. In Migili languages, like
other African languages, relative construction is formed and introduced by a
special relative marker kón which will be placed in front of the NP that is
relativized. In Migili, we have both subject NP and object NP relativization. We
shall examine them with copious data in the language.
cxxxv
4.1.2.1 Subject NP Relativization
In Migili language, a subject NP is modified or relativized by inserting a
relative clause which begins with the relative marker kón in front of it. This is
exemplified below:
1a.
dzavele
ne
yi
baro ne
Boy
the
steal pen

basic sentence
the
‘the boy stole the pen’
b.
dzavele
ne
kón
yi
baro ne
boy
the
REL
steal pen
the
àabé derived sentence
arrive
‘the boy who stole the pen’
2a.
I pere ado
kijimi 
time is
late
basic sentence
‘the time was late’
b.
I pere kón
n
be
ado
time REL
I
come is
kijimi 
derived sentence
late
‘the time when I came was late’
3a.
oka
ne
Story the
ado
yinye 
is
true
basic sentence
cxxxvi
‘the story was true’
b.
oka
ne
story the
kón
n
wuso ado
yinye 
REL
I
hear is
true
derived sentence
‘the story which I heard was true’
4a.
yénvèlè
mágbó
baro 
Man
throw
pen
basic sentence
‘a man threw a pen’
b.
yénvèlè
kón
mágbó
baro be
man
REL
throw
pen
come
‘a man who threw a pen came here’
cxxxvii

derived sentence
1.
IP
Spec
I’
NP
N’
I
VP
TNS AGR
V’
CP
V
Spec
N’
Spec C
N
Det Wh-
C’
aàbé
IP
Spec
arrive
I’
I
VP
TNS AGR Spec
V’
V
Dzavele
ne
kón
Boy
the REL
‘the boy who stole the pen has arrived’
NP
N’
Spec
N
Det
yi
baro
steal pen
cxxxviii
ne
the
2.
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
TNS Agr
N’
N
CP
Spec
C’
Wh- C
V’
AdjP
V
Adj’
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
N’
Adj
VP
TNS AGR V’
V
Pron
I pere
time
kón
REL
n
be
ado
I
come is
‘the time when I came was late’
cxxxix
kijimi
late
3.
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
TNS Agr
N’
CP
N
Spec
C’
Spec Wh- C
Det
V’
AdjP
V
Adj’
IP
Spec
Adj
I’
I
NP
VP
TNS AGR V’
N’
V
Pron
oka
story
ne kón
the REL
n
wuso ado
I
hear is
‘the story which I heard was true’
cxl
yinye
true
4.
IP
Spec
I’
NP
N’
N
I
CP
TNS AGR
Spec
Wh-
VP
V’
C’
C
IP
Spec
I’
I
TNS
VP
Agr
V’
V
NP
N’
N
Yénvèlè kón
man
REL
mágbó
baro be
throw
pen come
‘a man who threw a pen came here’
cxli
4.1.2.2 Object NP Relativization
An object NP is relativized in Migili language by introducing a relative
clause after it which begins with the special relative marker kón. This is often
done in order to modify or say something about an NP mentioned in the basic
sentence. Examples are provided below:
1a.
b.
2a.
b.
3a.
b.
dzavele
Boy
‘a boy sold
dzavele
boy
‘a boy sold
ligang inimijeng
ne
sell gate
the
the gate’
ligang inimijeng
ne
sell gate
the
a gate which is strong’

basic sentence
kón
REL
ado
is
ìkúkplá
strong
dzanyinyraŋ sule kuc ino 
basic sentence
Girl
plait hair her
‘the girl plait her hair’
kuc ino kón dzanyinyraŋ sule ado dzi
hair her REL girl
plait is
bad
‘her hair which the girl plait was bad’
n
ípe ipere ne

basic sentence
I
know time the
‘I know the time’
n
ípe ipere ne
kón ino be

I
know time the REL she come
‘I know the time when she came’
cxlii
derived sentence
1.
IP
Spec
I’
I
VP
TNS Agr
NP
N
V’
V
NP
N’
N’
CP
Spec Spec
C’
Det Wh-
C
IP
Spec
I’
I
VP
V’
TNS Agr
dzavele ligang inimijeng
ne
boy
sell gate
the
‘a boy sold a gate which is strong’
kón
REL
cxliii
Adj
V
ado
is
ìkúkplá
strong
2.
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
TNS Agr
N’
CP
N
Spec
C’
Spec Wh- C
Det
V’
AdjP
V
Adj’
IP
Spec
Adj
I’
I
NP
VP
TNS AGR V’
N’
V
Pron
kuc ino
kón
dzanyinyraŋ
sule
hair
REL
girl
plait is
her
ado
‘her hair which the girl plait was bad’
cxliv
dzi
bad
3.
IP
Spec
I’
NP
N’
I
VP
TNS AGR
V’
V
NP
N’
CP
Pron
N’
Spec Spec
N
Det
C’
Wh- C
IP
Spec
NP
I’
I
N’ TNS
VP
Agr
Pron
n
I
ípe
know
ipere
time
ne
kón ino
the REL she
‘I know the time when she came’
cxlv
V’
V
be
come
4.1.3 Reflexivization
According to Stockwell (1977: 128), “reflexivization is the rule which has
been proposed to create reflexive pronouns in the right places in languages, and
this operates only within simple sentences”. Also, following the opinion of
Mathews (1997: 314), reflexivization can be considered as a transformational
process whereby reflexives, where appropriate, replaced NPs. Reflexive is
characteristically interpreted as anaphoric to an element elsewhere in the
sentence (Mathews, 1997: 313; Yusuf, 1998: 146).
In a reflexivized derived sentence, the subject and the object of the
sentence are obligatory by co-referential. But, it must be noted that, in order for
an NP and a reflexive pronoun to be co-referential, they must agree in person,
number and gender. On this note, Riemsdijk and Williams (1986: 189) assert
that the antecedent NP must C-command the reflexive and that no subject may
intervene between the reflexive and its antecedent NP. Examples are cited as
follows:
1a.
Ade
zrnyi
Ade
Ade
loves
Ade

basic sentence
‘Ade loves Ade’
cxlvi
b.
Ade
zrnyi
riblikŋ
Ade
loves
himself

derived sentence
‘Ade loves himself’
2a.
ba
r
They call
ba

basic sentence
they
‘they call they’
b.
ba
r
they call
ribliba 
derived sentence
themselves
‘they call themselves’
3a.
yán
ne
wò
yán
ne
Woman
the
kill
woman
the

basic sentence
‘the woman kill the woman’
b.
yán
ne
wò
woman the kill
riblikŋ

derived sentence
herself
‘the woman killed herself’
cxlvii
1.
IP
Spec
NP
N’
I’
I
VP
TNS Agr
N
V’
V
NP
N’
Pron
Ade
zrnyi
riblikŋ
Ade
loves
himself
‘Ade loves himself’
cxlviii
2.
IP
Spec
NP
N’
N
I’
I
VP
TNS Agr
V’
V
Pron
NP
N’
ba
r
ribliba
they
call
themselves
‘they call themselves’
cxlix
3.
IP
Spec
I’
NP Spec
I
VP
N’ Det TNS Agr
N
V’
V
NP
N’
Pron
yán
ne
woman the
wò
riblikŋ
kill
herself
‘the woman killed herself’
cl
4.1.4 Question Formation
It is a universal characteristic feature of speakers of a language to use
their language for seeking information; this attempt is known as question
formation. Thus, Mathews (1997: 306) defines question formation as a syntactic
process which forms interrogative construction. Cross-linguistically, questions are
of two basic types: YES/NO questions and WH-questions.
4.1.4.1 YES/NO Questions in Migili
Likewise, Haegeman (1994) submits that Yes/No questions are called so
for the obvious reason that one expects an answer such as ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
In Migili language, the derivation of Yes/No question is done by attaching
the special question particle (question marker) at the end of the basic sentence
and enclosing it with a question mark (?). In this case, no movement is involved.
This question marker or particle in the language is bo. Examples are:
1a.
nyevele
ne
àn
Man
the FUT
‘the man will come’
kpéle bé

return come
cli
basic sentence
b.
nyevele
ne
àn
kpéle bé
bo derived sentence
man
the
FUT
return come QM
‘will the man come’
2a.
yìnrálòbálá me
ado
tró
Wife
is
cook food
my
ágítá 
basic sentence
‘my wife is cooking food’
b.
yìnrálòbálá me
ado
tro
wife
is
cook food QM
my
ágítá bo?
 derived sentence
‘is my wife cooking food?’
3a.
wò
don
bárò 
You
have pen
basic sentence
‘you have a pen’
b.
wò
don
bárò bo?
you
have pen

derived sentence
QM
‘do you have a pen?’
clii
1.
CP
Spec
C’
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
N’
Spec TNS
N
Det
nyevele
man
C
ne
VP
AGR Spec
modal V’
V’
V
V
àn
the
V’
kpéle
bé
FUT return
come
‘will the man come?’
cliii
bo
QM
2.
CP
Spec
C’
IP
Spec
C
I’
NP
I
N’
Spec TNS
N
Det
VP
AGR Spec
V’
V’
V
V’
V
NP
N’
yìnrálòbálá me
wife
my
ado tro
is
cook
‘is my wife cooking food?’
cliv
N
ágítá
food
bo?
QM
3.
CP
Spec
C’
IP
Spec
NP
N’
N
C
I’
I
VP
TNS Agr
V’
V
Pron
wò
you
NP
N’
don
have
bárò
pen
‘do you have a pen?’
clv
bo
QM
4.1.4.2
WH-Questions
According to Tallerman (2005: 217), “Wh-questions are so called because
they begin with a Wh-word”. This view is also held by Lamidi (2008: 127) by
claiming that Wh-questions have Wh-words as interrogative/question markers
such as who, what, why, which, when and how, and they are called Wh-words
because they (except “how) all start with wh. Wh-questions are also called
content questions of the Wh-question markers listed above are conventionally
placed at the initial position of the basic sentence and the whole derived
question will be captured with a question mark (?) at the end. This is exemplified
as follows:
1a.
nmà me
tro
ágítá 
basic sentence
mother my cook food
‘my mother cooked some food’
b.
nyén tro
ágítá? 
derived sentence
who cook food
‘who cooked some food?’
2a.
Bola yi
tárágàda

basic sentence
clvi
Bola steal book
‘Bola stole a book’
b.
nyén yi
tárágàda?

derived sentence
who steal book
‘who stole a book’
3a.
wòn bé
you
ítsí

basic sentence
come house
‘you are coming home’
b.
ísi
wòn bé
when you
ítsí?

derived sentence
come house
‘when are you coming home?’
clvii
1.
CP
Spec
Wh-
C’
C
IP
Spec
I’
I
TNS
VP
AGR
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
nyén
tro
ágítá
who
cook
food
‘who cooked the food?’
clviii
2.
CP
Spec
Wh-
C’
C
IP
Spec
I’
I
TNS
VP
AGR
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
nyén
yi
tárágàda
who
steal
book
‘who stole a book?’
clix
3.
CP
Spec
C’
Wh-
C
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
TNS
VP
AGR
Spec
N’
V’
V
N
NP
N’
N
ísi
wòn
when you
bé
ítsí
come
house
‘when are you coming home?’
clx
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0
INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives a brief summary of the whole research work. Also,
conclusion as well as recommendations are given.
5.1
SUMMARY
In this research work (or long essay), we have carried out a linguistic
investigation and description of the verb phrase of Migili language (a language
spoken in Nasarawa State, Nigeria) using the theoretical framework of
Government and Binding (GB) theory.
The introductory chapter encompassed the general background of the
study and the historical background of Migili speakers as well as their sociocultural profile. Also, included in the chapter was the genetic classification of
Migili language and a brief review of the theoretical framework chosen.
The second chapter carried out an examination of some phonological and
syntactic concepts: with regard to phonological (brief) analysis of the language,
its sound inventory was provided; the basic syntactic phenomena considered
clxi
were phrase structure rules, basic word order, lexical categories and sentence
types in Migili language.
Chapter three of the work presented, with copious examples, the over all
structure and the functions of verb phrase in Migili language.
Chapter
four
addressed
the
transformational
processes:
focus
construction, relative clause construction; reflexivization and question formation
attested in Migili with appropriate examples.
The concluding chapter summarized the work, concluded it and gave
appropriate recommendations.
5.2
CONCLUSION
The focus of this long essay is on the verb phrase of Migili language. like
other phrasal categories, the verb phrase has a lexical head word – the verb
which gives it its name. This head word may be
present or not with other
constituents known as satellites. It is therefore observed in the language that the
verb phrase has different interesting structures and it performs two principal
semantic functions of assigning agent and patience roles. Also appealing in Migili
language, as demonstrated in the research work, is the way movement rules
apply on deep structures of sentences to convert them into surface structures.
clxii
From the above, it can be concluded that a careful investigation and
description of the syntax of Migili have been attempted in this long essay; and
this serves as the basis for further research on the language, most especially in
other areas of structural linguistics.
5.3
RECOMMENDATIONS
For an obvious reason that this long essay has attempted to handle only
one of the core areas of structural linguistics-syntax and applied to the linguistic
analysis of Migili language, I will recommend that other areas such as phonology,
morphology etc. which are in need of vigorous academic scrutiny with respect to
the language in question should also be investigated. In addition, since the
syntactic analysis of Migili as undertaken in this research work may not be
considered exhaustive enough, it is pertinent to note that the whole research
findings should be considered as the basis for further research into the syntax of
the language. in fact, this is just the beginning for attention to some other
interesting phenomena in the grammar of Migili language.
clxiii
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