ASPECTS OF KUTURMI VERB PHRASE
A LONG ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN
LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY
OF ILORIN, ILORIN, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS (HONS.) IN LINGUISTICS.
BY
OLAOSEBIKAN IFEOLUWA EUNICE
07/15CB080
JUNE 2011
DEDICATION
This project is dedicate to God almighty, the Giver of life, prosperity and
all good things, and to my dearest parents, Oba and Mrs. J.O. Olaosebikan and
the entire family.
ii
CERTIFICATION
This essay has been read and approved as meeting the requirements for
the award of Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Degree in the Department of Linguistics
and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State.
__________________
Mr. Aje
Supervisor
_____________
_______________________
Professor A.S. Abdulsalam
Head of Department
_____________
__________________
External Examiner
_____________
Date
Date
Date
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To God be the Glory for all things he has done. I would not have seen this
time and moment in the course of my academic pursuit, if God has not been for
me. Father, I say I am grateful.
My sincere appreciation goes to my project supervisor, MR. AJE and all
the academic and non-academic staff of the department of Linguistics and
Nigerian Languages for their useful pieces of advice which has helped me thus
far.
My deepest appreciation also goes to my parents, Oba and Mrs. J.O.
Olaosebikan and my siblings, Tolulope, Ilerioluwa and Ayomikun. Thank you
all for your support.
I want to say a big thank you to Owolabi, Omotosho Olarinde. Thanks for
standing by me through thick and thin. This research work without you would
have been hell. Thank you, I appreciate you. More love.
I wholeheartedly acknowledge the support and cooperation of my friends,
Dolapo, Funke, Bimbo and all my room mates. I love you all.
To everybody who has helped in one way or the other, I appreciate you
all.
OLAOSEBIKAN IFEOLUWA EUNICE
iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SVO
Subject-Verb-Object
NP
Noun phrase
N
Noun
NI
N-bar
VP
Verb phrase
PP
Prepositional phrase
ADJP
Adjectival phrase
IP
Inflectional phrase
SPEC
Specifier
CP
Complementizer
C
Complement
v
I
Inflection
ADJ
Adjective
DET
Determiner
VI
V-bar
PREP
Preposition
TNS
Tense
PRES
Present
P.S.R.
Phrase Structure Rule
G&B
Government and Binding Theory
vi
TABLE OF CONTENT
Page
Title page
i
Dedication
ii
Certification
iii
Acknowledgment
iv
List of abbreviations
v-vi
Table of contents
vii-x
Chapter one
1.0
General Background
1
1.1
Geographical and Historical Background
1-2
1.2
Historical Background
2
1.3
Socio-cultural Profile
3
1.3.1 Cultural Profile
3
1.3.2 Religion
3
1.3.2.1 Tradition
3-4
vii
1.3.2.2 Christianity
4
1.3.2.3 Islam
4
1.3.3 Festival
5
1.3.4 Marriage Rite
5
1.3.5 Socio-Economic Life
6
1.3.5.1 Occupation
6
1.3.5.2 Food
7
1.3.5.3 Dress
7
1.3.6 Sociolinguistic Profile
7
1.4
Genetic Classification
8
1.5
Scope and Organization of the Study
9-10
1.5.1 Justification of the Study
10
1.5.2 Methodology
10
1.5.3 Data Analysis
11
viii
1.6
Review of Theoretical Framework
1.6.1 X-Bar Theory
12-13
13
Chapter Two
2.0
Introduction
14
2.1
Basic Syntactic Concepts
14
2.1.1 Phrase Structure Rules
14-15
2.1.2 Noun Phrase
15-16
2.1.3 Verb Phrase
16-17
2.1.4 Finite and Non-Finite Verb
17-18
2.1.5 Adjectival Phrases
19-20
2.2
Basic Word Order
20-21
2.3
Types of Sentences
22
2.3.1 Sentence Types in Kuturmi
22-24
2.4
Tone System in Kuturmi Language
24
2.5
Syllable Structure
25-32
2.6
Vowel Sound System in Kuturmi
32-35
ix
Chapter Three
3.0
Structure of Kuturmi Verb Phrase
36
3.1
Introduction
36
3.2
Headedness/Head parameter
37
3.2.1 Sub-categorization of verbs
37-46
Chapter Four
Transformational Processes in Kuturmi Verb Phrase
47
4.0
Introduction
47-50
4.1
Relativization
50-53
4.2
Summary
54
Chapter Five
5.0
Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
55
5.1
Introduction
55
5.2
Summary
55-56
5.3
Conclusion
56
5.4
Recommendation
57
References
58-60
x
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
GENERAL BACKGROUND
This research work is on the Verb phrase of Kuturmi. Kuturmi is one of
the languages spoken in Kaduna State. It is spoken in Awon and Arikwo. It has
two dialect, Inuwa and Umsuwe which is used in Arikwo and Inuwa is been used
in Awon (district head quarter) Umsuwe is the majority while Inuwa is the
minority.
In this chapter, we shall discuss the historical background, Geographical
location and
Socio-linguistics profile of Kuturmi speakers, the genetic
classification of Kuturmi language, Scope and organization of the study,
Justification of the study, Methodology, Data collection, Data Analysis and the
Theoretical frame work.
1.1
GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Kuturmi land is situated geographically between latitude 9-5 degree North
and 10 degree north and longitude 7.5 degree East and 8.0 degree east. The
region lies to the Western part of Kachia district headquarters. The region is
xi
bounded by the river guinea to the East and South and to the North and West by
the Kadara tribe. It is about 12km from Kachia town.
The vegetation of this Area falls under the guinea savannah type with
prominent feature of fall grasses called elephant grass.
Among the natural resources of the region are timber, palm produce, trees
and some agricultural products such as ginger, maize, millet, yam, cassava and a
host of others.
1.2
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The history of Kuturmi people was associated with migration. There
exists two sources of the Kuturmi Origin. One traditional source holds that the
Kutumbawa people captured Kanu empire in the year A.D. 499. Bagauda was
said to be a grandson of Bayajidda the snake killer of Daura.
The second source which is the Katsina fable, simly puts it that the
Kuturmi people migrated to their present settlement from Kano city in 1807
(Burdon 1969).
xii
The Kutumbawa people were nicknamed after their occupation “Mortar
carving” by their neighbour the word “Mortar” is Turimi in Hausa, But they later
moved from Kano and by-passed Zaria to the north and Kauru to South and
settled at a village called Kallah in Kajuru district of Kajuru Local Government
Area.
1.3
SOCIO-CULTURAL PROFILE
1.3.1 CULTURAL PROFILE
Culture is a shared learned symbolic of values, beliefs and attitude that
shape and influence perception and behaviour. In Kuturmi land their culture
respect the fact that females should not wear trouser while males should not wear
skirts. Their belief is that men should not wear women clothing while women
should also not wear men’s clothing. Also the longitudinal tribal mark on their
cheeks is an identity to describe the Kutumbawa people.
1.3.2 RELIGION
xiii
The Religion in Kuturmi land before Christianity was around just like
other Nigerian community was essentially traditional, but now they have three
religions namely: Traditional, Christianity and Islam.
1.3.2.1 TRADITION
This religion embraces a number of beliefs and practices among which he
belief in the supernatural, who is believed to be the architect of their lives. In this
practice, there is the belief of several spirits those that posses powers above
those of ordinary human beings and the constitute power of their own
and live as human beings live, they are commonly known as “Ushara” and they
live in various places like rivers, trees, forest and mountains.
1.3.2.2 CHRISTIANITY
To the Kuturmi’s God is the creator and controller who have the final
authority over the universe. He (God) is known by the name “UCHE” that is the
Supreme Being. In this Religion, the idea of God is fundamental. They believed
in the existence of the supreme being. The lord of the universe and its creator.
xiv
To them he is the author of all things and the God of all gods “UCHE” is
represented by the Kuturmi’s as being too holy to be approached directly, and so
they have devised other means of approaching him through prayers. In this
religion the people serving God are known as the Christians and goes to church
every Sunday to worship and adore him.
1.3.2.3 ISLAM
In Kuturmi land, there are no many Muslims in the land, they are not
more than 10-20 people in this religion, they also have their own way of praying
or approaching their God, they pray at intervals while on Fridays mainly, they go
to the mosque for their worship service.
1.3.3 FESTIVAL
There also exist some festivals in Awon, these include, harvest festivals,
masquerade festival and installation of chiefs among others. The harvest festival
comes up whenever new “Accha” (hungry rice) is around, they celebrate it while
the chiefs will pray on it and take it first before any other person can take it.
1.3.4 MARRIAGE RITE
xv
Marriages in this community were in the olden days the responsibility of
the parents. The parent chooses wives for their son’s right from the day female
child is born. The father or the mother simply ties a small rope around the leg of
the baby indicating his or her willingness to marry her to his or her son, from
that time gift of food stuff will be taken to the girls parent at the end of every
farming season until she grows for marriage age when dowry will be taken to her
parents. The dowry is usually a hen and a pot of local wine (burukutu) the
culture has since given way to the modern methods of marriage as practice use
were in the northern part of the country.
1.3.5 SOCIO-ECONOMIC LIFE
Kuturmi people lives in traditional mud houses, the houses which was
formerly circular in shapes with thatch roofs had gradually given way to the
modern rectangular houses with corrugated iron sheets. The houses built in
clusters belonging to an extended family. Families were divided or distinguished
xvi
along the clandestine lines. The clans were named after occupations or social
status of family like Arikpan (The warriors) ‘Arigumo’ (The ruling clan)
‘Arikma’ (The blacksmith) and Aritaworo.
1.3.5.1 OCCUPATION
Kuturmi people’s occupation is majorly farming, they in addition to
farming practiced mortar carving and blacksmith hunting and fishing are
practices to their dishes, farming is carried out in sessions beginning with yam,
cocoyam, hungry rice, guinea corn and millet.
Today, Kuturmi’s food crops are in commercial quantity for sale to the
outside communities.
1.3.5.2 FOOD
xvii
The food eaten majorly by this people (Kuturmi) is ‘Tuwo and Kalkash
soup (okro) they use Accha in making their Tuwo this days, but before it was
guinea corn they use in making their Tuwo.
1.3.5.3 DRESS
Kuturmi women dress in ‘Ture’ a piece of cloth of about 1.5 meter long
and two inches wide tied around the waist and upper part of their body (covering
the essential part of them. The young girls use leaves while the men dress in
animal skin which covers just the waist covering their private part. This tradition
has since given to modern way of dressing. The men now dresses simply but
occasionally uses flowing gowns on festivals and Sundays while their women
folks wear wrappers and blouses with head tie to march.
1.3.6 SOCIOLINGUISTIC PROFILE
It (Kuturmi) is a language of the home, it is not in use in the educational
system, but it is used for communication in the home. While Hausa is the
Language of Education together with English Language. The orthography used
in writing Kuturmi is the Greek-Roman Orthography and not Hausa
Orthography.
xviii
The relationship between Hausa and Kuturmi is that, both Hausa and
Kuturmi are been used concurrently, Kuturmi borrowed more of Hausa sounds.
In a nutshell we can say Kuturmi is endangered because Hausa language has
dominated it.
1.4
GENETIC CLASSIFICATION
NIGER KORDOFANIAN
NIGER CONGO
KORDOFANIAN
West Atlantic Kru
Kwa
Mande
Plateau
Plateau 1 Plateau 2
Eloyi
Benue Congo
Junkoid
Plateau 3
Cross River
Plateau 4
Bantoid
Plateau 5 Plateau 6
Plateau 7
Zaria Group
Koro Subgroup
Jaba
Idon
Mandu Subgroup Central Kadara subgroup
Kadara
Doka
Kuturmi
xix
Ikulu cluster
Kajuru
GENETIC CLASSIFICATION OF KUTURMI (FIVAZ AND SCOTT 1977:314)
xx
1.5
SCOPE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This work aims at describing the Verb phrase of Kuturmi language using
the Government and binding theory. The work will describe the various verbs
and verb complements in the language and discuss some transformational
processes involved in their derivation. The scope of this work is therefore
essentially the verb phrase in Kuturmi language.
The research work is divided into five chapters.
Chapter One discusses the general background to the study, the historical
background of the language and people, their socio-cultural profile, genetic
classification of the language, scope and organization of the study, justification
of the study, methodology, collection and data analysis.
Chapter Two reviews some literature review to the study, such as phrase
structure rules, lexical categories, sentence types and the verb phrase and its
constituents tone and syllable structure as well as the basic word orders.
Chapter Three deals with the verb phrase of Kuturmi language, it
identifies the verb in the language and classified them based on their syntactic
xxi
and semantic functions, the chapter also discusses the verb phrase in the
language together with their components.
Chapter Four focuses on the transformational processes that are relevant
to the derivation of the verb phrase in the language while Chapter Five
summarizes the work, make the recommendations and concludes the study.
1.5.1 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
The study of Kuturmi language is very important because to the best of
our knowledge no work of this type has been done on it. This work will therefore
help in reserving the language by committing it into writing and providing an
orthography for it. It will also promote future work on this language as the
present work can be used for future research into the language.
1.5.2 METHODLOGY
The following methodology was adopted in collecting the Data for this
long essay. The Data used in this research work are face to face contact method,
using oral interview and the Ibadan word list of 400 basic items.
xxii
Two literate native speakers of the language were used to collect the Data.
Hence, questions were asked in English language and answers were given in
Kuturmi language.
PARTICULARS OF THE INFORMANT
1.
NAME:
Mrs. Lyda Oguche
AGE:
36 Yrs
SEX:
Female
OCCUPATION: Lecturer
RELIGION:
Christianity
YEARS SPENT IN HOMETOWN: 23 Yrs
OTHER LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Hausa, Igala, English and
Kuturmi
2.
NAME:
Mrs. Kankana Bilihatu
AGE:
40 Yrs
SEX:
Female
OCCUPATION: Teacher (Vice Principal)
xxiii
RELIGION:
Christianity
YEARS SPENT IN HOMETOWN: 21 Yrs
OTHER LANGUAGES SPOKEN: Hausa, English and Kuturmi
1.5.3 DATA ANALYSIS
The analysis of the Data collected will be carried out using the
Government and Binding Theory.
1.6
REVIEW OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
GOVERNMENT AND BINDING THEORY
This theory was formulated by Noam Chomsky in his 1981 lectures on
Government and binding theory (Chomsky 1981, Cook 1988). Transformational
Generative Grammar is a complex theory involving abstract components.
Creating a new simplicity and capturing the internal and universal knowledge of
language using small numbers of properties.
The following are the components of Government and Binding theory
according to Chomsky 1981 lectures on Government and binding.
1.
X-bar Theory
2.
Control Theory
xxiv
3.
Bounding Theory
4.
Case Theory
5.
Theta Theory
6.
Binding Theory
7.
Government Theory
We believe that there is a relationship that relates these theories together
in one way or the other which am going to bring out diagrammatically below
with the use of X-bar to show us their relationship.
1.6.1
X-BAR THEORY
Projection Principle
D-Structure
Lexicon
Move-
Bounding
 Theory
(-criterion)
CASE THEORY
(CASE FILTER)
S-STRUCTURE
xxv
ECP
CONTROL
BINDING
PHONETIC
FORM
LOGICAL
FORM
Modules of Grammar
(Adapted from Sells (1985) and Cook (1988).
xxvi
CHAPTER TWO
2.0
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter basic syntactic concepts will be discussed. This include the
basic word order, verb phrase, noun phrase and also the account for all and only
the representations that underlines for all the grammatical sentences in Kuturmi
language.
2.1
BASIC SYNTACTIC CONCEPTS
INTRODUCTION
In this section we shall review phrase, structure rules, lexical categories
the basic word order and sentence types.
2.1.1 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
Phrase structure rules (henceforth p.s. rule) according to Horrocks
(1987.31) are formal devices for representing the distribution of the phrases
within sentences. Yusuf (1987.6) says that p.s rules are a set of rules which
generate the constituents of a phrasal or clausal category it tells us which item or
xxvii
category that exist in a sentence without leaving anyone out. Lamidi (2000.31),
says, it involves the linear analysis of a structure.
Tomori says (1977.61) that phrase structure rules are rules that analyse
utterances in terms of their syntactic constituents. It is discovered that in p.s rule
that a sentence of any type should at least be written as S-NP MFL, P, that is to
re-write the sentence as consisting of he Np which is the Noun phrase, the mfl
which is the same as “Auxiliary and may consist of tense (T.N.S) Agreement
(AGR) Modes (M) and ùAspect (Asp) as well as the V.p which is the verb
phrase.
There are other phrasal categories which would be explained one after the
other.
2.1.2. NOUN PHRASE
It is a phrase headed by a noun. It is an element that functions as the
subject or object of a verb or position. It is also defined by Yusuf (1977.7) as the
category hat codes the participant in the event or state described by verb.
Examples are found in the following Noun phrase in Kuturmi language.
1.
Úwén uná Ùtìré
This house full
xxviii
This full house
2.
Ùtárìúpio Ùsháh
Heavy iron New
The New heavy iron
3.
ònó étén
Boy old
He old boy.
4.
Àkàrá Ùsàh
Car New
The New Car
2.1.3 VERB PHRASE
The verb phrase is a phrase ahead by a verb. It is traditionally called the
“predicate” because it has the sentence predicator namely the verb (Yusuf,
1997.21). It is the verb phrase that tells us what the participatory roles of the
nominal are in the sentences. It also indicate the role of such nominal
syntactically either as subject or objects.
TYPES OF VERBS
There are two types of verbs. They are:
xxix
1.
Main verb
2.
Auxiliary verb
Main verbs are also called “Lexical verbs” Kolawole and Adelabu
(2006:45-48) describes main verb as having meanings on their own. According
to Kolawole and Adelabu (2006.49-51) there are thousands of main verb which
part of them are:
1.
Transitive and intransitive verbs.
2.
Finite and Non-finite verbs.
3.
Dynamic and stactic verbs.
4.
Regular and irregular verbs.
TRANSITIVE AND INTRASITIVE VERBS
A verb is transitive when action it denotes is transferred to an object i.e.
the verb takes a direct object (Kolawole and Adelabu 2006:49).
Kolawole and Adelabu (2006.50) states that a verb is intransitive if its
action is not transferred to any object either because it does not accept an object
or the object has been removed i.e. intransitive verb does not have direct object.
2.1.4 FINITE AND NON-FINITE VERB
xxx
According to Kolawole and Adelabu (2006:51) finiteness means
limitedness. A verb is made finite (limited) by its subject, because the subject
can change in number and person. It has a subject, meaning it can be a main verb
in a sentence. It can also reflect numbers which can be singular plural and person
which can be first, second or third.
Non-finite verb on the other hand have no subject tense or number.
Kolawole and Adelabu (2006:51-52) describes verbs as non-finite when it does
not change to reflect any change in it. They are not limited by the subjects of the
sentences in which they occur; this is why they are termed non-finite verbs.
Examples of VERB phrase in Kuturmi
1.
Ùpéré ánáma
Kill Goat
Killed the Goat
2.
Ùrah àyaba
Eat banana
Eat the banana
3.
Ùsáh òroung
Drink water
Drink the water
xxxi
4.
Ùrah òsùmo ushàrà
Eat Rice
Eat the Rice
2.1.5 ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
Adjectives qualify a noun. They normally occur in adjectival phrases and
they are headed by adjectives. They perform lexical and grammatical functions.
The following phrases are adverbs in Kuturmi.
Slowly
“Nàshìshong”
Quickly
“Nàkíkère
Lowly
“àtàtà”
Always
“Kòkìnákuà”
Hard
“Pàgárà”
Sentences in which adverbs are used in Kuturmi
1.
Òkùrom Kòkìnákuà
She sees me always.
xxxii
2.
èkei ùtunà nè gárá
The work is very hard e.t.c.
PRONOUNS IN KUTURMI
1.
èpèrim
2.
ìpéri mò
3.
àpia ró
4.
ìró ènègè
POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
1.
imíe
‘Mine’
2.
érén
‘His’
3.
àn
‘Our’
4.
òwón
‘Yours’
5.
èmáwe
‘Her’
POSSESSIVE PRONOUN IN SENTENCE
1.
òtínà nomiè
Its mine
2.
òbòrò nówon
xxxiii
3.
ànámà nè
4.
Otua no mie
2.2
BASIC WORD ORDER
In language, the syntactic arrangement of the constituents of a basic
sentence depends on what the grammar of a particular language requires or
permits. Languages do not form sentences by stringing words together randomly.
There is a form which they co-occur (Carlson, 1994:87).
Three types of word order are commonly found among human languages.
These word orders are:
1.
SVO
(Subject-Verb-Object)
2.
SOV
(Subject-Object-Verb)
3.
VSO
(Verb-Subject-Object)
Other possibilities include:
OVS
(Object-Verb-Subject)
OSV
(Object-Subject-Verb)
VOS
(Verb-Object-Subject)
BASIC WORD ORDER IN KUTURMI
1.
S.
V.
O. .
xxxiv
2.
I
kutrah umura
I
am
O.
going
V.
S.
e.g.
Orokru na gban hen
Man
3.
V.
is
tall the
S.
Ùperé ànámà
Killed the Goat
2.3
TYPES OF SENTENCES
Yusuf (1997:58) says that in conventional treatment of the sentence, three
types are identified. These sentences types are:
1.
Simple sentence
2.
Compound sentence
3.
Complex sentence
2.3.1 SENTENCE TYPES IN KUTURMI
xxxv
SIMPLE SENTENCE
The simple sentence is made up of one VP subject and a predicate
(traditionally regarded as a single verb).
e.g.
1.
ìkyá ugeriupara
I went to school
2.
ìsù ùtènà berun òbìro
At work village Kuturmi
I work at Kuturmi village
3.
ìkri bidó Kuturmi
Live in Kuturmi
I live in Kuturmi
4.
ìkúráh ùmùra
Am eating
I am eating
COMPLEX SENTENCE
xxxvi
(Yusuf, 1997:63) says the complex sentence has a sentence embedded in
one of the phrasal categories Vp or Np. He further explained that the complex
sentence is traditionally known as a main clause and a number of subordinate
clauses. Complex sentence is a sentence that has two or more clause at least one
of which is subordinate to the main clause. It can stand alone.
e.g.
1.
Ononung sene ikupiri kyekyan a yei avah oyuronye
Chicken which was raising for year new stolen
The chicken which I was raising for New Year was stolen
2.
Àròsoni Afárà ùpenì Ph.D bede pi a Ayeri Prof. Bamgbose
Person to first earn Ph.D linguistics is Prof. Bamgbose
The first person to earn a Ph.D linguistics is Prof. Bamgbose.
3.
Àrò semi ìrìè okpò
Man which saw dead
The man which I saw is dead.
2.4
TONE SYSTEM IN KUTURMI LANGUAGE
There are two types of tones in Kuturmi and they are:
xxxvii
(1).
Regular and (2) Contour tone.
Kuturmi language operates the register tone patterns. Register tones
appears to have a fixed pitched level such that we can have high, mid and low.
Tone in Kuturmi language performs lexical functions alone.
On lexical function tone can be used to distinguish between two words of
he same spelling, example of this is found in the following word.
1.
2.
3.
4.
2.5
evirí
‘bud’
èvìrì
‘background’
Àpára
‘onions’
Àpárá
‘surpass;
Gùrù
‘wash’
Gurú
‘close’
Vun
‘jump’
Vun
‘run’
SYLLABLE STRUCTURE
xxxviii
Hyman (1976:180) defines the syllable as a phonological unit which must
consist of an on set the peak and the coda. The initial consonant sequences are
onset, a sequence of non-consonantal or vowel is the nucleus and final sequence
of consonantal segment is called the coda (Hegg and Mc cully, 1987:81). A
syllable can be open or close. An open syllable ends in a vowel, while a close
syllable ends in a consonant. Kuturmi exhibit both open and close syllable.
A word can be monosyllabic, di-sylabic, Tri-syllabic or Poly-syllabic.
MONOSYLLABIC WORD
1.
bar
‘two’
[bàr]
2.
Kgul
‘open’
[Kgul]
CCVC
3.
Kpùm
‘pour’
[Kpum]
xxxix
CVC
4.
Pu
‘burn’
[Pu]
CV
5.
Wúng
‘Extinguish
[Wuŋ]
CVC
6.
Nung
‘Weave’
[nuŋ]
CVC
DI-SYLLABIC WORDS
These words have two syllables.
1.
Okón
‘Oil palm’
[I # kón]
V CVC
2.
Obàm
‘palm wine’
[O #bàm]
V CVC
xl
3.
èvì
‘groundnut’
[è#vì]
VCV
4.
àvàr
‘leg’
[à#vàr]
VCVC
5.
UFó
‘belly (external)’
[U#fo]
VCV
6.
ère
‘teeth’
[è#re]
VCV
Tri-Syllabic Words
These are words that have three syllables.
1.
éjere
‘beard’
[é#dze#re]
V ev CV
xli
2.
ukólun
‘knee’
̭
[u#kpó#lun]
3.
ìguwò
‘maize’
ì#gu#Wì
V CV CV
4.
Àyàbà
‘banana’
à#jà#bà
V CV CV
5.
ùkwúrú
‘paper’
ù#kwú#rú
V CV CV
The syllable structures found in Kuturmi language include the following:
1.
CV structure
2.
CVC structure
3.
VCVC structure
xlii
4.
VCV structure
5.
VCVCV
6.
VCVCVC
Examples of the syllable structures are shown below:
CV structure
1.
‘burn’
Pu
[Pu]
CV
2.
Lù
‘eat’
[lu]
CV
3.
Sè
‘drink’
[Se]
CV
4.
CVC structure
bar
xliii
[bar]
CVC
5.
KgÚl
‘open’
[Kgul]
CVC
6.
Kpùm
‘pour’
[Kpum]
CVC
7.
Wùng
‘extinguish’
[Wuŋ]
CVC
VCVC structure
1.
Ikón
‘oil palm’
[ìkón]
VCVC
2.
Obám
‘palm wine’
[Obám]
xliv
VCVC
3.
ùkey
‘crab’
[ùkej]
VCVC
4.
elúng
‘bee’
[elúŋ]
VCVC
5.
enung ‘bird’
[enuŋ]
VCVC
VCV structure
1.
èdó
‘horse’
[èdó]
VCV
2.
àva
‘dog’
[ àvá]
VCV
3.
Ikwí
‘rat’
[Ikwe]
xlv
VCV
4.
‘God’
Uche
[utse]
VCV
VCVCV structure
ìguwò
‘maize’
[iguwo]
VCVCV
àyàbà
‘banana’
[àjàbà]
VCVCV
ùkwúrú
‘paper’
[ùkwúrú]
VCVCV
2.6
VOWEL SOUND SYSTEM IN KUTURMI
Vowels are sounds produced with very little obstruction to the air passage
in the vocal tract. None of the articulators come close enough to impede air flow.
xlvi
Vowels can be described along the parameters of the position of the
tongue and shape of the lips. The vowel chart in Kuturmi language is shown
below.
Front
High
Central
Back
i
Mid-low
u
e
o
é
Mid-low
‫כ‬
a
Low
Kuturmi language has seven oral vowels and five nasal vowels
(a e e o o i u) oral vowels and
(Ĩ    ) nasal vowels. Oral vowels are
exemplified in the following words.
[i]
[e]
High front unrounded vowel.
[ubíra]
‘cotton’
[ìkoro’
‘compound’
Mid-high front unrounded vowel.
[ejèríya]
‘thread’
xlvii
[èden]
[a]
[o]
[u]
‘basket’
Mid-low vowel
[ùjg]
‘road’
[ìsuwa]
‘he goat’
Mid-high back rounded vowel.
[ufó]
‘belly] (external)
[òno]
‘mouth’
High back rounded vowel.
[ìttunk]
‘ear’
[ùrlèm]
‘tongue’
Front
Ĩ
Central
Back




NASAL VOWELS
xlviii
[i]
[e]
[a]
[o]
[u]
Nasalized high front vowel
[ìdei]
‘vagina’
[ibi]
‘seed’
Nasalized mid high front unrounded vowel
[enjete]
‘man’
[ewe-ete]
‘son’
Nasalized low central vowel
[àkakpa
‘long’
[akpa]
‘sell’
Nasalized mid-back rounded vowel
[ìko]
‘oil palm’
[urkoa]
‘fat’
Nasalized high back rounded vowel
[ukpolu]
‘knee’
[ukuk]
‘ashes’
Summary
xlix
This chapter which is the literature review has discussed the verb phrase
which is the main focus of this. Consonant and vowels in Kuturmi language
discussed alongside the tonal system and the syllable structures.
l
CHAPTER THREE
3.0
STRUCTURE OF KUTURMI VERB PHRASE
3.1
As pointed out in Chapter two of this work, words in human language are
not just strunged together at random, they follow specific and clearly defined
principles. The structure of the verb phrase in Kuturmi can be mapped out using
the P.S. Rule.
In Kuturmi, a Vp may consist of only a verb.
Vp
V
It may contain e.g.
Vp
V
Np
(ADVp)
(PP)
Determine
Adjectival
(DET)
N (ADJP)
(PP)
e
akakpaan
urjo
itabu
on
table
The
ADJ
(Np)
tall
Spec AI
A
DEG
A
P
Spec
PI
P
P
Np
li
Prepositional phrase
(S)
3.2
HEADEDNESS/HEAD PARAMETER
Kuturmi verb phrase contains at least a head as well as other constituents.
Hence, it is said to be endocentric in nature.
The verb as the head of a Vp is obligatory with or without its satellites and
these satellites could be compliments or adjunct.
3.2.1 SUB-CATEGORIZATION OF VERBS
The verb can be classified (sub-categorization) unto transitive,
intransitive, complex, transitive, serial or those with sentential complement
depending in the inherent properties of lexical entry of the verbs in the lexicon.
Each of these classes of verb influence and predetermines the structure of a verb
phrase. In Kuturmi, the verb can be classified into:
1.
Transitive and Intransitive Verb
In Kuturmi, the transitive verb is the one that has an object Np. It can also
be explained to be the verb that takes a direct object Np as part of its lexical
properties before they complete sense can be established.
The following are examples of transitive verb in Kuturmi:
Mamwó
‘help’
lii
Je
‘cook’
Pòn
‘drive’
Kpúro
‘pay’
Wùng
‘kill’
Examples used in sentences:
1.
Ma gùwána wó
Help young lady
Help the young lady.
2.
òmje ìjere
Cook beans
Cook the beans
3.
Pòn ìkàryé
Drive car
Drive his car
Intransitive verb is the opposite of intransitive verb. The intransitive verb
does not require only Np. It can stand on it own making complete sense without
any argument.
liii
Examples in Kuturmi language.
1.
2.
èke
gyèá
She
left
suo
Ayà
Cry
they
They
cried
In Kuturmi, adverbial and propositional phrases are optional compliments
of the verb.
1.
útúmá
nashown
Work
slow
Work
Slowly
VII
Spec
VI
V
advp
liv
Utuma
adv
nashown
Work
Slow
Akà Chú úpáng
On Dance Floor
Dance on the floor
VII
VI
Spec
PII
V
Chu
P
NII
Dance
N
Aka
lv
Det
On
upang
Floor
lvi
Ajùrù urchó uzárá
Sat on mat
Sat on the mat
VII
Spec
VI
PII
V
PI
PP
Ajuru
Sat
P
NII
Urcho
on
NI
Uzara
mat
Complex transitive verb is regarded as extension of the transitive verb to
capture or cater for those transitive verbs that require not a direct object but also
a locative complement (most especially in the form of prepositional phrase) as a
part of their inherent properties or features.
lvii
Examples in Kuturmi language are:
I.
Sú òntásá urcho ifábu
Put plate on Table
Put the plate on the Table
VII
VI
Spec
NII
V
PII
NI Spec
Spec
N
Det
P
PI
Np
N
Su
Ontasa
urcho
Sú òntásá urcho ifábu
Put the plate on the table
lviii
Itabu
II.
Sém ítírà sé émì
Give me cup the
Give the cup to me
VII
VI
Spec
V
NII
PII
NI
Spec
PI
P
N
lix
NII
NI
No
Sem
Itira
lx
Se
emi
II
Desiderative verb e.g want-emnar
Emnar orów úkwùl
Want to buy House
Want to by a House
VII
VI
Spec
CII
V
CI
Spec
C
IP
II
Spec
VII
I
tns
Agr
Spec
V
VI
NII
NI
N
emnar
O
row
lxi
ukwul
II.
Reporting verb e.g. claim-asu
asú urchó ke èyár
Claim that she sweep
Claims that she swept
VII
VI
Spec
CII
V
CI
Spec
III
C
VII
Spec
NII
NI
I
tns
(past)
VI
agr Spec
VI
V
N
lxii
asu
Ke
eyar
SUMMARY
Chapter three of this work discusses the phonetic system, structure of
Kuturmi
verb
phrase,
Headedness/head
desiderative and reporting verbs.
lxiii
parameter,
sub-categorization,
CHAPTER FOUR
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES IN KUTURMI VERB PHRASE
4.0
INTRODUCTION
Transformational process is the process of converting Deep structure into
surface structure through the process of movement also known as move 
(Radford 1988).
It is also the change(s) that occur in a particular language by moving an
element from one insitu position to anot
her position.
This chapter attempts to bring out all the transformational processes in
Kuturmi language. These processes are:
1.
Question formation
2.
Relativization
Question Formation
This process is a phrase or word that asks for information, if you have a
simple sentence, every part of the sentence is questioned as it is called. They are
questions asked using wh elements. It asks seekful information. When such
lxiv
questions are asked, it requires a whole information, we use interrogative words
like, who, why, which, where, what, how and which.
Examples of this process in Kuturmi language are:
Basic sentence
ìbísí osùmo óshìaraa
Bisi ate Rice
WH QUESTION
ìyàré ei osumo òshìràà?
Who ei ate Rice
CP
CI
Spec
WH
C
IP
II
Spec
Np
I
Tns
ei
O
lxv
Vp
Agr
Spec
VI
V
Np
NI
ìyàré
Who
Sumo No
òshìràà
Rice
Osumo
ate
Basic Sentence
2.
úbòro ufúrú ómùwon
bag white mine
the white bag is mine
Wh Question
òkéná ei uboro nekéí?
Whose ei bag this
Whose ei bag is this?
Cp
CI
Spec
C
IP
Wh
II
Spec
Np
lxvi
I
Vp
ei
Tns
Agr
VI
Spec
V
Np
Det
ubòro
bag
ne
òkéná
whose
Keí
this
is
òkéná ei ubòro nèkèí
Whose ei bag is this
4.1
RELATIVIZATION
This deals with relative clause construction, it is also construction derived
by movement, basically it will provide information about the noun like, who,
which, that. It is also an instance of wh element, meaning it moves from one
point to another. It is also attached at the complementizer level. It provides
additional information about Nouns.
Examples of this process in Kuturmi are:
Basic sentence
1
ìsadé àkórá òshìaràà
lxvii
sade burnt Rice
Relativization
ìsadé ei òkèná àkórá òshìaràà bì dì kóyé
Sade who burn rice is at village
Sade ei who burnt the rice is at the village
lxviii
Np
NI
Spec
N
CP
CI
Spec
C
IP
Wh
II
Spec
Np
ei
I
VP
Tns
Spec
VI
V
NP
Spec
VI
N
VP
Oshiaraa
Rice
Spec
VI
VI
PP
Spec
PI
P
Np
di
at
Spec
N
lxix
ìsadé òkénà
Sade Who
Àkórà òshìaráá
burnt Rice
bi di
is at
Kóyé
Village
ìsadé ei òkénàa àkórà òshìaráá bi di Kóyé
Sade ei who burnt Rice is at village
2.
Basic sentence
Itolubeh bíbé emeshé
tolu came here yesterday
Relativization
Itolu ei òkèná beh bíbé emeshé
Tolu ei who came here yesterday
Np
NI
Spec
N
CP
CI
Spec
C
IP
Wh
II
Spec
Np
ei
I
tns
V.P
Agr
Spec
VI
e
V
lxx
Advp
Adv
boh
Itolu òkenà
Tolu Who
beh
(came)
emeshe
Yesterday
Itolu ei òkenà beh bíbé emeshé
Tolu ei who came here yesterday
Basic sentence
3.
egyten nù okpo
man is dead
the man dead
Relativization
Egyten eisem íríe nùkpó
Man ei whom I saw is dead
The man whom I saw is dead
Np
NI
Spec
N
Cp
CI
Spec
C
IP
Wh
II
Spec
Np
ei
lxxi
I
Vp
Tn
Agr
VI
Spec
V
V
Egyten Sem
Man whom
lxxii
I
NP
Np
V
N
rue
saw Nu kpo
4.2
SUMMARY
This chapter has succeeded in describing the transformational processes
that exists in Kuturmi language. Examples were given to support the
transformational processes and the examples were phrase marked.
lxxiii
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter concentrates on the summary and conclusion of the long
essay which is basically on the verb phrase of Kuturmi language.
5.2
SUMMARY
This research work has examined various issues in its five chapters. It has
set out to carry out an understanding description of how sounds (speech sounds)
are combined and their patterns. It looked at the structure of verb phrase, types
of verbs, sentence type and the possible transformational processes in Kuturmi
language.
The research work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one gives us a
brief introduction about what we are to work on (verb phrase) the historical
background of Kuturmi people which gives us insight about the people’s tribe,
culture, their sociolinguistic profile, their population, geographical location, and
genetic classification. In this chapter, it is made known that the Kuturmi people
are known as Kutumbawa. They are found in Awon village in Kaduna State.
lxxiv
This chapter also contains the rich culture practice of Kuturmi people in
marriage, occupation and festival and finally, the data collection and analysis
were examined. The theoretical framework adopted for analysis is Government
and binding version of T.G.G. The second chapter focuses on the basic syntactic
concepts of Kuturmi language. This chapter reviews various literature on verb
phrase various types of phrase and sentences were examined. The tone system
and syllable structure of Kuturmi language alongside the vowel and consonant
sounds were examined.
Chapter three of this work focuses on the verb phrase of Kuturmi
language. And during my analysis it was found that Kuturmi language has SVO
order (subject verb object), the verb phrase also has an head, their verb is subcategorized into transitive and intransitive verb, it also has adverbial and
propositional phrases. Desiderative and Reporting verbs while chapter four
focuses on transformational processes like Relativization and Question
formation.
Chapter five gives the summary and general conclusion of the research
work.
lxxv
5.3
CONCLUSION
This long essay has looked into the verb phrase of Kuturmi language,
structures of verb like transitive verb and verbs with sentential complement. The
language uses the subject, verb object order as mentioned earlier.
5.4
RECOMMENDATION
From the research carried out, it is discovered that Kuturmi language can
be a good language, which many researchers can work to further bring out some
of its important aspects. In doing this, we are in a way of saying our languages
and preventing them from language death.
It is our recommendation that other aspects of the language should be
examined to complement the resent effort.
lxxvi
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lxxx