ASPECTS OF KOENOEM VERB PHRASE
OPAREMI, SAIDAT OLABISI
MATRIC NO. 07/15CB085
A LONG ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF
ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS, B.A. (HONS)
LINGUISTICS
MAY, 2011.
i
CERTIFICATION
This essay has been read and approved as meeting the
requirement of the Department of Linguistics and Nigerian
languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.
……………………………….
MR. S.O.O. ABUBAKRE
Supervisor
………………………………
Date
…………………………………………………
PROFESSOR A.S. ABDULSSALAM
Head of Department
………………………………
Date
………………………………….
External Examiner
………………………………
Date
ii
DEDICATION
This research work is dedicated to Almighty Allah who
shower his blessing over me, and my parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Oparemi for their moral and financial support in an effort to make
my educational career to be a successful one, may God continue to
protect you all the ways (Amen).
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To God be the glory for the great things he has done on this
note, I send my profound gratitude to Almighty Allah, the maker of
the universe, the one that makes ways where there seems to be
none, God that render help when all hopes. Seems to be no more.
He is the beginning and the end. I thank you for your love, care,
affection and encouragement during these hard and good times of
my life, I shall be grateful to you.
The joy of every student is having a good and sincere
supervisor, therefore my thanks goes to my supervisor Mrs. S.O.O.
Abubakre for her total support and true concern about my project
work.
I seek for God protection for her and her family.
My profound gratitude also goes to my H.O.D. professor
Abdulssalam and other lectures in Linguistics Department for their
effort in seeing me through my course in the university.
iv
My thanks goes to every one in one way or the others that
help me in my life of education like, my lovely parents Alhaji and
Alhaja Oparemi.
My brothers and sisters and Alhaji Mr. Yusuf
(Aku).
I am indeed not forget my lovely Oparemi Rauf and my
lovely sister Oparemi Aishat Olanike for their unrelenting effort in
seeing me through my course successfully, you are one in a
million,may God be with you (Amen).
I am mostly indebted to all my friends and course mates like
Jimoh, Abiola, Bolaji, Basitat, Adefila Rasheedat, Abioye Alimat,
Kayode Moji, Julius Victor, Orelope Hassan, Jemil Adisa, Odebode
Akeem, Mummy Pelumi, Yusuf Toyin, honest and others, may God
continue to guide them all the ways (Amen).
v
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
e
-
empty category
i
-
co-referentiality
t
-
trace
-
rewrite rule
θ
-
theta
Ap
-
Adjectival phrase
‘
-
Intermediate level
A
-
Adjective
Adv -
Adverb
Deg -
Degree
Agr
-
Agreement
Cp
-
complementizer phrase
C
-
complementizer
Det
-
Determiner
PP
-
prepositional phrase
vi
P
-
preposition
Np
-
Noun phrase
N
-
Noun
Vp
-
Verb phrase
V
-
verb
Spec -
Specifier
T
-
Tense
Ip
-
Inflectional phrse
I
-
Inflection
Fp
-
Focus phrase
F
-
Focus
Qm
-
Question marker
Rel
-
Relative pronoun
/ /
-
Phonemic symbol
[ ] -
Phonetic bracket
[ ̀ ] -
High tone
vii
[ ́ ] -
Low tone
˜
Nasality
-
[ ] -
Square bracket or labeled bracket
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title Page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
List of Symbols and Abbreviation
v
viii
Table of Content
vi
CHAPTER ONE: THE KOENOEN LANGUAGE & ITS SPEAKERS
1.0
General Introduction
1
1.1
Historical background of the Koenoem Speakers
2
1.2
Socio-Cultural Profile
4
1.2.1
Religion
4
1.2.2
Festivals
5
1.2.3
Economy/Occupation
6
1.2.4
Marriage Divorce/Rites
7
1.2.5
Administrative System
8
1.2.6
Geographical Location
10
1.2.7
Topography
10
ix
1.2.8
Educational Background
11
1.3
Introduction to Genetic Classification of Koenoem Language
12
1.4
Scope and organization of the Study
15
1.5
Theoretical Framework
16
1.6
Data Collection and Analysis
18
1.7
Data Analysis
20
1.8
Brief Review of the chosen Framework
21
1.8.1
X-Bar Theory
24
x
1.8.2
Projection Principle
27
1.8.3
The Principle and Head Parameter
28
1.8.4
Theta Theory
31
1.8.5
Case Theory
34
1.8.6
Binding Theory
36
1.8.7
The Anaphors
37
1.8.8
Prenominals
37
1.8.9
Referential Expression
38
1.8.10
Bounding Theory
39
1.8.11
Control Theory
41
1.8.12
Government Theory
42
CHAPTER TWO:THE PHONO-SYNTAX OF KOENOEM
Introduction
2.1
46
Sound Inventory
47
xi
2.1.1 Consonants of Koenoem Language
48
2.1.2
Distribution of Koenoem Consonant Sounds
50
2.1.3
Vowels of Koenoem Language
63
2.1.4
Distribution of Koenoem Language
65
2.2
Tone System in Koenoem Language
72
2.3
The Syllable Structure in Koenoem Language
75
2.4
Lexical Categories in Koenoem Language
80
2.4.1
Noun
82
2.4.1.1 Common Nouns
83
2.4.1.2 Concrete Nouns
84
2.4.1.3 Abstract Nouns
85
2.4.1.4 Proper Nouns
85
2.4.1.5 Countable Nouns
86
2.4.1.6 Uncountable Nouns
87
2.4.1.7 Place Nouns
88
xii
2.4.1.8 Collective Nouns
88
2.4.1.9 Compound Nouns
88
2.4.1.10 Animate Nouns
89
2.4.1.11 Noun Animate Nouns
90
2.4.2
Pronoun
90
2.4.2.1 Personal Pronoun
91
2.4.2.2 Reflective Pronoun
92
2.4.2.3 Interrogative Pronoun
93
2.4.2.4 Indefinite Pronoun
94
2.4.2.5 Demonstrative Pronoun
95
2.4.2.6 Possessive Pronoun
95
2.4.3
Verbs
96
2.4.3.1 Classes of Verb
98
2.4.3.2 Transitive Verb in Koenoem
98
2.4.3.3 Intransitive Verb in Koenoem
100
xiii
2.4.3.4 Verb with Sentencial Complement
103
2.4.3.5 Verb with Sentencial Complement in Koenoem
104
2.4.3.6 Auxiliary Verb in Koenoem Language
106
2.4.3.7 Modal Auxilliaries
107
2.4.3.8 Primary Auxilliaries
107
2.4.4
Tense
109
2.4.4.1 Tense in Koenoem Language
110
2.4.4.2 Present Tense
110
xiv
2.4.4.3 Past Tense
111
2.4.4.4 Continuous Tense
111
2.4.5
Aspect in Koenoem Language
111
2.4.6
Adverb
112
2.4.6.1 Adverb of Time
113
2.4.6.2 Adverb of Frequency
113
2.4.6.3 Adverb of Degree
113
2.4.6.4 Adverb of Reason
114
xv
2.4.7
Adjective
114
2.4.7.1 Adjective of Colour in Koenoem Language
115
2.4.7.2 Comparison of Adjectives in Koenoem Language
116
2.4.8
Preposition
116
2.4.9
Conjunction
118
2.4.10
Interjection
118
2.5
Basic Word Order in Koenoem Sentences
119
2.5.1
Types of Sentences in Koenoem Language
121
xvi
2.5.1.1 Simple Sentence
122
2.5.1.2 Compound Sentence
123
2.5.1.3 Complex Sentence
124
2.5.1.4 Functional Classification of Sentences in Koenoem
Language
124
CHAPTER THREE: VERB PHRASE IN KOENOEM
2.0
Introduction
127
3.1
Verb Phrase and Head Parameter
127
3.2
Structure of Verb Phrase
132
xvii
3.3
The Structure of the Koeneom Verb Phrase
133
3.3.1
Verb Phrase with Noun Phrase as Satellites
133
3.3.2
Verb Phrase with Prepositional Phrase as Satellites
135
3.3.3
Verb Phrase with Noun Phrase and Prepositional Phrase as
Satellites
137
3.3.4
Verb Phrase with Adverbial Phrase as Satellites
139
3.4
The verb Phrases and X-bar Theory
141
3.5
Verb Serialization
144
xviii
3.6
Serial Verb in Koenoem Language
145
3.7
Phrase Structure Rules in Koenoem Language
147
3.7.1
Phrase-Types in Koenoem Language
152
3.7.1.1 Noun Phrases
154
3.7.1.2 Verb Phrase
158
3.7.1.3 Prepositional Phrase
163
3.7.1.4 Adjective Phrase
166
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CHAPTER FOUR
3.0
Transformational Process
169
4.1
Movement
170
4.2
Deletion
173
4.3
Focus Construction in Koenoem Language
174
4.4
Relativization
184
4.5
Reflexivization
190
4.6
Passivization
194
xx
4.7
Question Formation
199
4.7.1
Wit Question
199
4.7.2
Yes/No Question
203
4.8
Adjunction
206
4.9
Substitution
207
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0
Introduction
208
5.1
Summary
210
5.2
Observation/conclusion
211
5.3
Recommendation
213
References
214
CHAPTER ONE
THE KOENOEM LANGUAGE & ITS SPEAKERS
1.0
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
xxi
This study focuses verb phrase in the Koenoem language and
its speaker spoken in Shendam local government area of Plateau
state.
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 and the burial rites of the
Koenoem people. In this same chapterr, we shall present the
organization of the study, theoretical framework together with a
review of the chosen theory, data collection and data analysis.
1.1 HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
SPEAKERS
xxii
OF
THE
KOENEOM
There are contradictory versions about the origins of the
Koenoem. Some primary and secondary oral sources assumed
monolithic origin for the Koenoem people. However, all these
contradictory versions reflect migrations and interrelations.
A popular legend of the Koenoem claimed that they were
evidently influenced by the attempt to link their origin to the
universal perspective and centres of old civilization. This legend
claimed that they migrated from France to their present location
for economic reasons. According to the present village head, the
Koenoem speakers travelled from far Sudan and settled on in their
present abode because of the unlimited economic potentials
possessed by the area.
Linguistic consideration strongly points to the fact that all
couldn’t have one origin nor came together into central Nigeria, as
they do not speak same language. In fact, the different in dialect
xxiii
from one Koenoem group to another further points to the fact that
they have distinct origin.
Literally, the word “Koe” means “to” while “noem” means
“refuse”. This name emanated from a dispute that ensued between
them and their neighbours over a river dividing them. The
Koenoem people were the rightful owners of the river but their
neighbours were claiming ownership. This is because the river has
immense economic benefits.
The Koenoem couldn’t stand akimbo and see themselves
being deprived of their inalienable rights, they beseeched
terrestrial powers from their ancestors with which most of the
neighbouring competitors were struck to death.
The neighbouring town later compromise their stand and left
the land for its rightful owner. Till today, the Koenoem people are
respected for their traditional prowess.
1.2 SOCIO-CULTURAL PROFILE
xxiv
The Koenoem people are known for unshakeable peace and
unflinching tolerance even with other distinct neighbours. They
believed these elements (peace and tolerance) are indispensable
for survival and productivity. The puzzle of Koeneom social
psychology attracts scholarly interest to examine the binding
forces. Other groups are most comfortable with them for their
humour, human relations, accessibility, peace and docility. They
are identical through joking relations, common facial marks,
sharing of foods, traditional and cult consultations, moving
together in the market or social occasion and sometimes forging
common origin.
1.2.1 Religion
The Koenoem people are dominantly traditional worshippers
with every families having its own ancestral shrine, town shrines
and clan shrines. The intrusion of the colonial masters had
propagated Christian religion to the point that, it has more
preference today
than traditional religion. However, Islamic religion is practiced by
only those who are also sons of the soil. The language of worship
xxv
is Hausa. For the traditional worshippers more allegiance is paid to
their kins and cultural cum religious heads.
1.2.2 Festivals
Festivals are organized to unite their kins from far and near.
The chief priest is regarded as the ruler of the tribe only, but
without defined territory, ceremonies are some of the arenas for
hosting neighbouring groups. Some of the ceremonies are burials,
marriages and annual festivals. There is a particular festival
celebrated to commemorate the death of their heroes who had
fought tirelessly to emancipate them from the shackles of invaders
and other forms of oppressions. Others are celebrated after the
drop of the first rain. There is also an annual festival celebrated on
the 12th December. For this festival, an antelope must be casted to
appease the gods.
1.2.3 Economy/Occupation
xxvi
Agriculture is the mainstay of Koenoem’s economy. The
people here are gainfully employed in farming. Commercial and
subsistence farming are dominant. Yam, maize, and guinea corn
are the major articles of trade. The land has varying proportion of
silica, salt, nitrogen and phosphorus. It is alluvial and sticky in the
paddy areas and sandy on the uplands. They ensure proper growth
of crops. In other words, the boom in agriculture is related to the
fertility of the soils. It is pertinent to note here that, farming in this
region is of great antiquity. Agricultural produce are sold to buyers
from the urban centres.
However,
agriculture
here
doesn’t
possess
the
rich
potentialities that belong to it in the other regions. Crops are sold
at a give-away prices.
1.2.4 Marriage Divorce/Rites
xxvii
Marriage is one of the basic necessity in every human
society. It is the only formal universal approach to procreation. The
Koenoem people like any other tribe have an approach to marriage
system. After a marriage proposal has been consented by a girl
and her family, the man is expected to pay a bride price. The price
is usually bearable because of the stagnant economy of the area.
The money is combined with material things like; rapper,
traditionally called “shinggida” millet, and local beer for the elders
of bride’s family.
The second step is that the groom’s farmland is visited to
ascertain his financial status. This is executed without his (Groom)
knowledge. Having certified that the groom is financially capable,
the next step is introduction of both family and subsequently
marriage ceremony.
xxviii
After the marriage ceremony, the bride is also exposed to
different physical fitness exercise to keep her warm for the routine
duties ahead of her.
1.2.5 Administrative System
The unit of authority starts from the household under its
house-head. The household heads are answerable to the clan head
or ward head. They are also answerable to the village head while
all the village heads are answerable to the chief who might even
be the village head. Titleholders have overlapping roles in the
palace, but the most significant ones are the secretary, and the
chief security officer. The committed leadership attracted the
admiration of Arab and European writers and remarked that:
“they were world famous in governance, better than
European, Asian or American systems”. (Filaba, e’tal
(2007) Koeneom and Gbagyi sub-groups. Bwari:
technoscape publications).
Ibn Batuta, a renowned historian also observed that;
xxix
“The
negroes
posses
some
admirable
qualities. They are seldomly unjust and
have a greater abhorrence of injustice than
any other people. Their kings shows no
mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least
act. There is complete security in their
country. Neither travelers nor inhabitant in
it have anything to fear from robbers or
men of violence. They do not confiscate the
property of any man…” (Okoye, 1964: 72).
The traditional institution was not corrupt; it protected the
weak, dealt with criminals particularly armed robbers and could
stop any violent clash. In attempt to account for the semiautonomous nature of the village groups, some informants simply
submitted that they were kingdoms, independent of external
control. The traditional name of the king is Long Koeneom.
xxx
1.2.6 Geographical Location
Shendam local government is located in Shendam, which is
almost 254 kilometres to the South East, uniquely recognized as
the lowland because of its geographical low attitude. It’s humid
weather can be compared to that of the Federal Capital Territory.
The council has a total area of 2,437 square kilometers. The local
government area is divided into four administrative districts of
Shendam, Dorok, Doka and Piapun. The major occupation of the
people is farming, trading, craftwork like pottery and fishing. The
area can boast of a reasonable presence of several tourism sites
such as Npoll Lake, Jalbang Rocks.
1.2.7 Topography
People here derive their livelihood from the environment in
similar ways from the environmental wealth and thus have a strong
traditional affinities. The most obvious physical features of the area
xxxi
are the topography and drainage with ranges of hills of base
granite outcroppings with kurape hill.
The hills protrude through Jos but cut off with plains making
it becoming dotted down to the confluence of Kogi state. These
hills serve as water heads for river Gurara Uke in Kaduna and
Nassarawa states respectively. There are also many patches of
densely thick forest of several square kilometers, some of them
running along the banks of rivers. The natural environment and the
weather opportunities have greatly influenced human habitation in
the southern Plateau. The plains are between 500-600 metres
above sea level with some hills as high as 900 metres above the
sea-level made of older granite and black rocks (Gojeh, Jatau and
Mamman, 1998: 24-26).
1.2.8 Educational Background
The Koenoems are fairly educated. Though, the belief that
farming is profitable has imprisoned their psyche to nothing but
xxxii
agriculture but, we can say to a considerable degree that a few
number of the people are educationally motivated. A survey of
some of the primary school around the area reveals that, more
children are enrolling in school than ever before. This is a pointer
to an educationally potential community.
1.3 GENETIC CLASSIFICATION OF KOENOEM LANGUAGE
Genetic classification is an offshot of genesis while genesis is
derived from the word gene (cell). Languages could be genetically
related. Language of the world can be divided into certain
compartments based on striking similarities. They are genetically
classified based on the similarities in their linguistic items.
However, language might be similar because they belong to the
universal sets, this doesn’t mean that such resemblance can be
traced to common origin.
xxxiii
Genetic classification is a sub-grouping of all related
languages into genetic nodes (groups of languages in each of
which one language is more closely related to the other in that
group, than to any language outside the group).
Mumil Rublen (1987: 1) states that “the idea that groups of
languages that share certain systematic resemblances have
inherited those similarities from a common origin is the basis of
genetic classification”.
Genetic classification thus makes two statements. First, it
affirms that certain languages are in fact related to each other (i.e.
maintains similar ancestral relations). Second, it typifies how the
languages are interrelated in the form of a branching diagram.
Koenoem language falls under the category of Niger-Congo
family.
xxxiv
xxxv
1.4 SCOPES AND ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The ultimate goal of this project is to study the aspect of
verb phrase in Koenoem language. Extensive investigation shall be
made on verb phrase, the minimum verb phrase, its maximum
projection, and functions of verb phrase in Koenoem language and
verb phrase in respect to transformational process, which involve
modification of constituents.
This long essay is conveniently divided into five chapters. The
first is an introductory chapter which will encompass the general
introduction of this research work, the historical background, sociocultural profile of the speakers, administrative system, economy,
geographical location, topography, educational system, marriage
rites and burial system. Chapter one also has in its fold; scope and
organization of the study, data collection and analysis, theoretical
framework and finally a review of the chosen framework.
xxxvi
Chapter two presents a phonological overview of Koeneom
language and basic syntactic concepts like phrase structure
rules/components, basic word order, lexical categories and
sentence types. Chapter three which is the core or central of this
project shall mark out what ‘Verb phrase’ is about in Koenoem
language. Chapter three will also delineate the relevant notion of
verb phrase and its major sub-categories. Chapter five summaries
and make linguistically significant generalizations about Koenoem
language.
1.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Theories are bundles of abstract representation existing in
the linguistic repertoire of a linguist. The relevance of these
theories lies in its practical sense. All the levels of language
analysis has one or more theories that are capable of exposing the
rudiments or fundamentals of such level. “The varieties of
approaches to syntax and the grammars on which they depend
xxxvii
make this particular level of language probably the most complex
and the most contentious in terms of linguistic criticism”…
(Geoffrey, Finch 2000: 82). Allied to the above, theories are
propounded in order to present a systematic account (or
descriptive) of the linguistic knowledge or competence a native
speaker possess. Theories in syntax include traditional, classical,
structural or taxonomic, systemic and transformational generative
grammar.
The theoretical framework to be employed in this research is
“government and binding theory”: a sub-theory of transformational
generative grammar. Government and binding theory is a model of
grammar propounded and developed by Noam Chomsky. This
theory has been chosen because it makes universal claims about
natural languages i.e. it explains the systems, principles, conditions
and rules that are elements or properties of all human languages.
Government and binding theory captures the similarities in natural
xxxviii
languages by assigning to them the same structure rather than the
case of transformational generative grammar.
In essence, verb phrase as an aspect of syntax will be
analysed under the GB theoretical framework.
1.6 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Samarin (1967: 43) says “the kind of corpus a field
researcher obtains is determined by the purpose and the
techniques he adopts in his data collection”. The focus of this
research is largely for language description and primarily for
showing antonymity or, oppositeness of some utterances with a
view to explaining the semantic implication of such in Koenoemlanguage.
The data is collected through contact or informant method.
We obtain linguistic data for this study by making use of a
proficient informants from the native community. The Koenoem
four hundred wordlist together with a framework techniques are
xxxix
the
basic
instruments
of
data-collection.
The
framework
techniques” forms a crucial part of this research work since it is the
domain of syntax. It helps an informant to adequately account for
both underlying and surface syntactic processes that can’t be
captured using the Koenoem four hundred basic lexical items.
Three informants tirelessly supply this research work with
sophisticated or rich data. Below are pieces of information about
them.
1.
Name:
Muhammad Kabir
Sex: Male
Age: 56 years
Occupation: Farmer
No of years spent in Koeneom: 56 years
Other languages spoken: English, Hausa, Nupe and Igala.
Aspect of the data supplied: Historical background of the
Koeneoms
xl
2.
Name:
Musa Taofeek
Sex: Male
Age: 68
Occupation: Traditional ruler
No of years spent in Koeneom: 48
Other languages spoken: Hausa, English, Gwarri and Nupe
Aspect of the data supplied: Part of the wordlist and some
sentences.
1.7 DATA ANALYSIS
To ensure clarity and brevity of this research, all data
supplied by the informants are accurately transcribed. The
component words or constituent of the sentences of the language
(Koeneom-language) are carefully glossed and subsequently
translated. The data collected are strictly worked upon according
to native speakers rendition without any permutation, mutilation,
modification or imposition of correctness.
xli
1.8 BRIEF REVIEW OF THE CHOSEN FRAMEWORK
Cook (1988: 86) views GB theory “as an interlocking
arrangement of principles and sub-theories which interact in many
different ways. Horrocks, G (1987, 95) shared a similar opinion”.
GB theory is best described as a set of interacting “components”.
GB theory carries over certain aspects of the deep structure into
the surface structure through the process of transformations or
movement technically termed as move-alpha (move – a) according
to Andrew Radford, (1988: 419) transformation is the rule that
deals with the act of changing the structure of one sentence to
another. Transformations are supplementary rules to the phrase
structure rules. The output of the phrase structure rules in the
input of transformational rules. This theory was developed to
correct the lapses of transformational generative grammar.
GB theory captures the similarities which exist between
different categories of lexical phrases by assigning the same
xlii
structure to them rather than having different phrase structure
rules for VOS, Adjps, NPs as postulated by transformational
generative grammar. Unlike in TGG, GB theory is a modular
deductive theory of grammar. The modules of grammar otherwise
known as sub-theories, operate in a modular form, i.e. they are
interconnected. Below is the modular theory of grammar that
confirms the interlocking nature of the GB theory.
xliii
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
PHONETIC FORM
LOGICAL FORM
xliv
Modules of Grammar
(Adapted from Sells (1985) and Cook (1988).
The above diagram shows that, no part of the GB theory can be
considered in isolation from the rest. It posits seven sub-theories
viz;
i.
X – BAR theory
ii.
Theta Ө theory
iii.
Case theory
iv.
Binding theory
v.
Bounding theory
vi.
Government theory
vii.
Control theory
1.8.1 X – Bar Theory
According to Horrocks, G. (1987: 101), X’ theory provides
principles for the projection of phrasal categories from lexical
categories and imposes conditions of the hierarchical organization
xlv
of categories in the form of general schemata. Crucially, it makes
explicit the notion “head” of a phrase. Similarly, the x-bar (x’)
theory is based on the theory of phrase structure.
In X’ theory, word order (i.e. the syntagmatic arrangement of
words) and constituent structure (the relatedness of structures)
are paramount. The theory takes into consideration the strict-subcategorization frame that occurs between verbs and nouns, and
generalizes this over other phrasal categories including sentences.
The internal structure of each phrasal category e.g. an NP, is
similar to others such that the same set of rules can apply to each
of them. Thus, we say that the X’ theory uses cross-categorical
generalizations. Lamidi, M.T. (2008: 153).
What makes the above possible (according to Lamidi) is the
fact that, the phrases have certain features in common. One of
these is the concept of head. In PSG, the head is the keyword in a
phrase and the word can be pre-or post modified. This concept has
xlvi
been taken over by the X’ theory. The primacy of the head started
from the deep structure each head is projected from the Dstructure in what is called the projection principle. The principle
states that each head must be represented at all levels. There are
three categorical levels of X-bar theory viz: lexical, intermediate
and phrasal category. The schema below explains better.
X” (= XP)
Spec
X’
X’
X0
Adjunct
Complement
In this schema, we take to be a variable representing Noun,
Verb Adjective or Preposition, each of which functions as the head
of its own phrase. The head is the primary and therefore is X: As
xlvii
an X’, it is a lexical category and it can be pre-modified by a
specifier (Spec). It can also be post-modified by a complement or
an adjunct. The X-bar theory projects from the core projection
level to the maximal projection level. This is called
projection
principle.
1.8.2 Projection Principle
Chomsky (1981: 29) states that representation at each
syntactic level is projected from the lexicon, in that they observe
sub-categorisation properties of lexical items: projection principle
requires lexical properties to be projected to all levels of syntactic
representation i.e. lexical item projects from its zero bar level to
one (single) bar level, which is optioned, then to double level the
zero bar level is referred to as the core projection level, the single
bar level is referred to as the intermediate projection level and the
double bar is technically called maximal projection level. The
illustration is shown below.
xlviii
X”
Maximal projection level
X’
Intermediate projection level
X0
Core projection level
Another feature that makes generalization possible under the
X-bar theory is the concept of head. The notion of head of a
phrase is called the principle of head parameter.
1.8.3 The Principle of Head Parameter
The principle of head parameter explains the order of
elements in a language the notion of head parameter assumes that
the constituent of a phrase may be arranged in different ways.
Stowel, (1981: 70) says that the parametric variation between
languages according to whether the positions of the head is first or
last with respect its complement is to tagged “head parameter” In
other words, the “head” in a phrase carries the highest load of
xlix
semantic information. It is the obligatory part of a phrase. The
category to which a phrase falls is strongly determined by the
head. E.g.
X

X0
complement
X’
Head first (as in Yorba example)
X0
Comp
omo naa  NP N Det.
OR
X’

complement
X.
X’
Comp
X’
As in the English example: The boyNPDet N
Another type of phrase that is permissible within the X-bar is
the functional phrase. In X’ theory, a phrase can be headed by
non-lexical items (functional word) like determiners, inflections and
agreement functional phrases invariably have heads that are linked
l
to functional elements. The functional phrases include inflectional
phrases (IP).
IP

Spec I’
I’

I Comp (VP)
e.g. The house was burgled (A case of passivation)
IP
Spec
I’
NP
Det
VP
N’
TNS ASP
N
past better
V’
V
The
house
NP
was burgled
Øt1
Other functional phrases include complementizer phrase (CP)
CP

Spec C’
C’

C
IP
li
C
Spec
C’
C
IP
e.g what is your name
CP
Spec
C’
Wh- C
Ø
IP
Spec
Ø
I’
I
VP
TNS
V’
PRST V
What
is
NP
Det
N
Your
name
1.8.4 Theta Theory (Ө Theory)
Ө-theory is concerned with the assignment of what Chomsky
calls “thematic’ roles to sentential constituents. The Greek letter
lii
theta is a form of shorthand for thematic, thematic roles is similar
to semantic roles e.g. roles such as agent, patient, (or theme),
beneficiary etc. it is assumed that these are assigned to the
complements of lexical items as a lexical property. Kirsten (1991:
493) states that Ө-theory deals with the functional relationship
between a predicate and its argument. A predicate is said to assign
theta-role to each of its arguments e.g. the NP complement (Direct
object) is assigned the role of patient and the PP complement the
role of location while the subject NP or the sentence is assigned
the agent role. The main principle of Ө-theory is the Ө-criterion
which requires each thematic role to be uniquely assigned; i.e.
each constituent denoting an argument is assigned just one Ө-role
and each Ө-role is assigned just one argument denoting
constituent e.g.
liii
Sola cooks in the kitchen
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
N’
TNS
V’
AGENT0
PRST V
PP
P’
P’
NP
Det
LOCATION P
Sola
cooks
in
N’
N’ PATIENT
the
kitchen
In the above, the verb phrase assigns the role of an agent to
“Sola” (subject NP), the role of agent was also assigned to the
object NP by the verb phrase.
liv
1.8.5 Case Theory
Ore, Yusuff (1988: 26), case has to do primarily with the
forms that NPs take in different syntactic environments. For
English, Yoruba and many Kwa languages, the concept is not
readily demonstrable because these languages do not vary the NPs
or N-head forms, according to Horrocks (1987: 102) case theory
deals with the principle of case assignment to sentential
constituents. Chomsky assumes that all NPs with lexical content
are assigned (abstract) case. Kristen (1991: 496) states that “case
theory regulates the distribution of phonetically realized NPs by
assigning abstract case to them. Case is assigned by a set of case
assigners to the governed. Horrock (1987: 103) further noted that,
the basic idea is that case is assigned under government, the
choice of case being determined by the governor in any given
example. Government is a traditional notion involving the
delimitation of the sphere of influence of a particular category with
lv
respect to adjacent categories for instance, NP subject is assigned
nominative by INFL, verb assigns accusative case to the object of
the verb while preposition assigns oblique case to it object. The
following exemplifies the case-system in English
Nominative 
subject
NP
Vocative

calling
NP
Accusative 
object
NP
Genitive

NP object OF
Dative

NP object of TO
Ablative

NP object of in/on
Subject
He
she
it
Object of V him her
it
Obj of prep him her
it
Genitive
its
his
her
Adapted from one, Yussuf (1998: 27)
lvi
Case assignment to the NP complements of a lexical head is
straightforward, and entirely traditional. Accusative or objective
case will be assigned in English to any NP governed by V or P but
no NPs governed by N or Adj. Prepositions assign oblique case.
1.8.6 Binding Theory
The binding theory is one of the most important constructs in
the system. It is primarily concerned with the conditions under
which NPs are interpreted as co-referential with other NPs in the
same sentence. For the purpose of the binding theory NPs that are
arguments are assumed to fall into one of the three categories
listed below:
i. Anaphors
ii. Pronominals
iii. Referential expressions
lvii
1.8.7 The Anaphors
These are NPs whose reference is necessarily determined
sentence-internally and which cannot have independent reference.
In English reflexive and reciprocal pronouns fall into this class e.g.
‘Herself’ must be taken as referring back the individual denoted
(female) in a sentence.
e.g. The girl projected herself well
1.8.8 Prenominals
These are NPs that specific lexical content and have only the
features person, number, gender and case; unlike anaphors, they
may either refer to individuals independently or co-refer to
individuals already named in a given sentence. E.g. the pronominal
“He” may refer to an individual mentioned.
In a sentence or some other individuals not mentioned at all:
example I and II illustrate this:
(i) Noam Chomsky says he is a genius. ((He refers to individual
lviii
denoted in the sentence)
(ii) Noam Chomsky believes him to be genius (Him referring to
individual not denoted in the sentence).
1.8.9 Referential Expressions
(R. expressors) as the name implies are noun phrases with
lexical hands which potentially refer to something. Co-reference is
excluded here.
e.g. Tunde says Tunde must be promoted
The
same
name
is
used
twice,
the
most
natural
interpretation is one where two different people are involved as
above. However, referentiality is also possible in a limited case.
The locations of antecedents that count for binding theory
are defined in three binding principles. Viz:
A.
Anaphors must be bound in their local domains
B.
Prenominals must be free in their domain
lix
C.
Referential expressions must also be free.
The term bound is based on the principle. A simply refers to the
conjunction of C. command and co-indexing. Thus a binds b: if and
only if
1. a
c-
commands B
2. a and B are co-referential
In principle B, the terms free simply means not bound. Principle
C refers to elements such as names and other referential noun
phrases, Horrocks (1978: 111, 112, 113).
1.8.10 Bounding Theory
Horrocks (1978: 128), states that, bounding theory is
concerned with the limitation to be placed on the displacement of
constituents by the transformational rule schema move a and its
chief principle is subjacency may best be thought of as a criteria
lx
property of move a. movement rule within GB theory is assumed to
involve three things viz:
A
an
extraction site
B
A
landing site
C
an
intervening gap
Landing site
Intervening gap
Extraction Site
Figure 2: The diagram of bounding theory
Here, move-a is defined as move any constituent from
anywhere to land somewhere. The original position of
lxi
alpha before movement is called an in-situ position. The
diagram below exmplifies this.
X
a
WHP
Y
XP
In-situ position
The diagram says move any element, which is represented
with (a), from its in-situ position regardless of variable x and y to
the left right, beginning or end of a phrase or sentence.
The basic idea advanced by bounding theory is that no
movement can move an element too far.
1.8.11 Control Theory
This
theory
posits
that,
transformational
analysis
of
sentences with verbs taking infinitival complements that have null
subjects understood as being co-referential with an NP in the man
lxii
clause will be abandoned in favour of an analysis employing
interpretative rules. Similarly, it is concerned with the way in which
subjectless infinite structures are construed. It focuses on an
element called PRO, sometimes called “big PRO” to contrast it with
PRO. PRO is restricted to the subject position in non-finite clauses.
I wanted to go
In the example above, there are reasons to believe that there is
really a subject to the clause ‘to go’ but the subject is invisible.
PRO can only appear in the subject position of non-finite clauses; it
is banned from all object position and from the subject position of
finite clause as there is no governor for its position.
1.8.12 Government Theory
Government theory has a role to play in several other subtheories of universal grammar. According to Chris, U. (2000: 140)
the theory is concerned with the relationship between a head and
its complements. It also defines the relationship in other sublxiii
theories. It establishes the set of items that may govern other
items, and the second is to delimit the sphere of influence of those
items. Let us assume that, the set of governors comprises lexical
heads of phrases, IFNL [+ tense] and poss [the abstract element
in NPs that governs and assigns possessive or genitive case to their
subjects. Following Chomsky (1986b) and Sells, (1985), we define
government theory thus:
“
governs
β
if

m-commands
(=
maximally commands) β (i.e. if  and β
share the same maximal projection) and
there is no
, a barrier for β, such that
excludes .  is a governor if  is an X’ in
the X-bar system (e.g. N, V, A, P, INFL)”
The X’ governors (i.e. Noun, verb, adjective, preposition) are
lexical items which can function as the head of a construction. The
INFL, though not a lexical item is a governor because it assigns
lxiv
nominative case to the subject NP. There is a close relationship
between theta role assignment, case marking and principle of
government as the configuration in the following figure shows:
IP
NP
I’
I
VP
+ Tense
V
V
V
Governs
governors
PP
NP
NP
P
P
governs
lxv
NP
From the foregoing, the verb sub categorizes for its object as
well as assigns Ө-role to both the subject and the object NPs. For
case assignment [+ Tense] INFL assign nominative case to [NP,
VP] and the preposition assigns oblique case to [NP, PP]. In the
same way, INFL governs the subject NP, the verb governs the
object NP etc.
lxvi
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the basic phonology 0f sound
inventories and sound patterns in Koenoem language. It captures
some phonological phenomena like; the sound inventory, tonal
system, syllable structure, lexical categories, basic word order and
sentence types all within the frame of our target language
(Koenoem language). To avoid being myopic, we shall attempt a
brief definition of phonology.
According to George, Yule (1996: 54), phonology is
essentially the description of the system 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 statistics,
phonology is concerned with the abstract or mental aspect of the
lxvii
sounds in a language rather than with the actual physical
articulation of speech sounds.
Phonological is about the underlying design, the blueprint of
the sound type, that serves as the constant basis of all the
variations in different physical articulations of that sound. The core
or central of phonological is the phoneme. Phoneme is a meaningdistinguishing sounds in a language. A sound which brings about a
change in the meaning of the affected words. A phoneme is both
significant and prominent.
2.1 SOUND INVENTORY
Every natural language has its sound inventory. Phonology
has to do with nature of sound system in terms of segments.
Oyebade(1998:2 ) defines phonology as the “scientific study of the
arbitrary vocal symbol
Used in human speech and the patterns into which these symbols
enter
lxviii
To produce intelligent meaningful utterance”.
Fromkin and Rodman (1978:101) says that “phonology is the study
of sound patterns found in human language. It is also the kind of
knowledge speeakers of a language have about the sound and
pattern of a particular language”.
2.1.1 Consonants of koenoem language
Consonants are sounds produced with obstruction in the airtream during
speech production. Behind this obstruction is usually a build of air
pressure,which may oor may not producrd with any vibration.They are also
known as sounds that are produced by the obstructing the airflow totally or
partially at some point in the vocal tract (Yusuf,1992:8). All together,koenoem
has twenty-four consonants,these are;p,b,t,d,k,g,kp,gb,
f,v,s,z,∫,h,m,n,l,r,j,w, Kw , , , ,
Using the international phonetic association (IPA) chart, the
consonants sound can be illustrated as shown on the chart below:
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
lxix
Fricative
f, v
Nasal
m
s, z
Labialized
Velar
K, g
Kp, gb
Kw,gw
∫
Glottal
LabioVelar
Palatal
PalatoAlveolar
t, d
Velar
P, b
Alveolar
LabioDental
Bilabial
Plosive
h
n
Lateral
l
Flap
r
r
Trill
Approximants
j
CHART 1: KOENOEM CONSONANT CHART
2.1.2 Distribution of koenoem-consonant sound
lxx
w
The distribution of koenoem consonant with respect to their
occurrence at the initial, medial and final position.
/p/ VOICELESS BILABIAL STOP
Word initially
[pεp]
‘bread’
[pũvai]
‘seven’
[piεεrεm]
‘pierce’
Word midially
[tip-ka]
‘air’
[tεphar]
‘cotton’
[típ-k m]
‘chin’
Word finally
[∫εrεp]
‘fish’
[pεp]
‘bread’
/b/ VOICED BILABIAL STOP
lxxi
Word initially
[bãbai]
‘basket’
[bìgbìpú]
‘new’
[baali]
‘hard’
Word midially
/t/
[tá:ba]
‘tobacco’
[bãbaí]
‘basket’
[nbiziŋ]
‘horse’
VOICELESS ALVEOLAR STOP
Word Initially
[tεpkar]
‘cotton’
[tip-ká]
Word midially
[∫ìtá] ‘paper’
[ntet] ‘bat’
Word finally
lxxii
[gbis t]
‘felish’
[gbit]
‘bely’ (external)
/d/ VOICE ALVELAR STOP
Word Initially
[dul]
‘vagina’
[dah]
‘stand’
[dak :ng] ‘back’
Word midially
[m diká]
‘forget’
[ndєtnò]
‘soon’
Word finally
[mhad]
‘wind’
/K/ VOICELESS VELAR PLOSIVE
Word Initially
[khapu]
[kumgbĩ]
‘mouth’
‘corpse’
lxxiii
[k nhám]
‘river’
Word midially
[típ-k m]
‘chin’
[tєpkar]
‘cotton’
[dak :ng]
‘back’
Word finally
[f l k]
‘heat’
[rє∫ik]
‘fight’
/g/ VOICED VELAR PLOSIVE
Word Initially
[g kbi]
‘cloth’
Word middially
[sãgoesee]
[εni gwεgwulε]
‘right’
‘sister’
[lãga lãga] ‘matchet’
Word finally
lxxiv
[dak :ng]
‘back’
[ribusũg]
‘he goat’
[kpalãg]
‘lick’
/kp/ VOICELESS LABIO-VELAR STOP
Word Initially
[kpalãg]
‘lick’
[kpi∫i ]
‘ashes’
Word midially
[miєrkpã]
‘oil palm
/gb/ VOICED LABIO-VELAR STOP
Word Initially
[gbis t]
‘felish
[gbit]
‘bely’
Word midially
[kumgbin]
[bìgbilã]
‘corpse’
‘hot’
lxxv
/f/ VOICELESS LABIO-DENTAL FRICATIVE
Word Initially
[f l k]
‘heart’
[fiafú]
‘maize’
[f
‘blow’
t]
Word midially
[fiafú]
‘maize’
[púfram]
‘arm’
/v/ VOICED LABIO-DENTAL FRICATIVE
Word initially
[púvàli]
‘seven’
/s/ VOICELESS ALVEOLAR FRICATIVE
Word Initially
[sa: ]
‘close’
[sawn]
‘horn’
lxxvi
[sãgoesee]
Word midially
[ribusũg]
‘he goat’
[gbis t]
‘felish’
Word finally
[h s]
‘teeth’
[mies]
‘wine’
/z/ VOICED ALVEOLAR FRICATIVE
Word Initially
[zà:í]
‘star’
[z m]
‘dwell’
[zãm]
‘descend’
Word midially
[nbiziŋ]
[diŋk eziŋ]
‘horse’
‘urinate’
/∫/ VOICELESS PALATO-ALVEOLAR FRICATIVE
lxxvii
Word Initially
[∫ám]
‘name’
[∫ìtá]
‘paper’
[∫єrєp]
‘fish’
Word midially
[re∫ik]
‘fight’
[kpi∫i]
‘ashes’
Word finally
[li∫]
‘tongue’
/h/ VOICELESS GLOTTAL FRICATIVE
Word Initially
[h s ]
‘teeth’
[hãsí ]
‘egg’
Word midially
[khápu]
[k nhàm]
‘mouth’
‘river’
lxxviii
[shen]
‘hoe’
Word finally
[dah
]
‘stand’
/m/ VOICED BILABIAL NASAL
Word Initially
[mies]
‘wine’
[miєrkpã]
‘oil palm’
Word midially
[k mkwã]
‘groundnut’
[gwimgwifεi]
‘old person’
[gwimgma:t]
‘female’
Word finally
[j m]
‘jaw’
[nεm]
‘hunger’
[pùfram]
‘arm’
/n/ VOICED ALVEOLAR NASAL
lxxix
Word Initially
[nεm]
‘hunger’
[njεp]
‘children’
[nbiziŋ]
‘horse’
Word midially
[k nhàm]
‘river’
[dak :ng]
‘back’
Word finally
[sawn]
‘horn’
/l / VOICED ALVEOLAR LATERAL
Word Initially
[la:rεp]
‘woman’
[li∫]
‘tongue’
[loe]
‘house’
Word midially
[yielŋbal]
‘sound’
lxxx
[f l k]
‘heart’
[yeli]
‘ground’
Word finally
[wel]
‘weep’
[dul]
‘vagina’
/r/ VOICED ALVEOLAR TRILL/FLAP
Word Initially
[rε∫ik]
‘fight’
Word midially
[piεεrεm]
“pierce”
[∫εrεp]
“fish”
[la:rεp]
“woman”
Word finally
[tεpkar]
‘cotton’
/j/ VOICED PALATAL APPROXIMANT
Word initially
lxxxi
[j m]
‘jaw’
[ji:]
‘rain’
Word middially
[njεp]
‘children’
[njàki: ]
‘donkey’
/w/ VOICED LABIO-VELAR APPROXIMANT
Word Initially
[wel ]
‘weep’
[wєєt]
‘steal’
Word middinally
[sawn]
‘horn’
[gwimhuma:t]
‘female’
/r/ VOICED ALVEOLAR TRILL
Word Initially
[ribusũg]
[ri]
‘he goat’
‘goat
lxxxii
Word midially
/η/
[pùfram]
‘arm’
[rìs :ru]
‘duck’
VOICED VELAR NASAL
Word middially
[Єniηgwєwulє]
‘sister’
[hєmnù ηgber]
‘brother’
Word finally
[maη]
‘carry’
[ribiziη]
‘horse’
/kw/ VOICELESS LABIALIZED VELAR PLOSIVE
Word initially
[kwarius]
‘charcoal’
[kwam]
‘grass’
Word middially
lxxxiii
[yaigurfєrikũkwasari]
‘ninety’
[k mkwã] ‘groundnut’
/gw/
VOICED LABIALIZED VELAR PLOSSIVE
Word initially
[gwimguma:t]
‘female’
[gwimgbєє]
‘senior’
Word middially
[tákgwepin]
‘room’
[takgwel ]
‘compound’
2.1.3 Vowels of koenoem language
According to Fromklin and Rodman (1978:80) vowel are
produced with no oral obstruction whatsoever.They usually
constitute the of the nucleus of syllables. Yusuf(1992:29) says that
vowel are produced with very obstructions of airflow in the vocal
lxxxiv
tracts.None of the articulators come close enough to impede airflow.
Koenoem has both oral and nasal oral vowels. Theoral vowel
are seven in number.While the nasals are fiv. All together they are
twelve vowels in koenoem language .They are ; a,i,e, ,o, ,u, ã, u:,
:,
Front
High
Central
Back
i:
u:
I
Mid-high
u
e
o
:
Mid-low
Low

ε
a: a
Figure 3: Oral vowel chart of koenoem
lxxxv
Front
High
Central
Back
ĩ
Ũ
Mid-high
Mid-low

ε
ã
Figure 4: Nasalized vowel chart of koenoem
2.1.4 The Distribution of Koeneom-Vowel Sounds
The vowel sounds attested in Koeneom language are:
/i/
High front unrounded vowel
/i:/
High front long unrounded vowel
/u/
High back rounded vowel
lxxxvi
/e/
Mid-high unrounded vowel
/o/
Mid-back rounded vowel
/ε/
Mid-low unrounded vowel
//
Mid-low back rounded vowel
/c:/ Mid-low long back rounded vowel
/a/
Low back unrounded vowel
/a:/ Low-back long unrounded vowel
examples include, occurs at initial, midial, final position.
/i/
HIGH FRONT UNROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
[ir]
‘thorn’
Word middially
[jit]
‘eye’
[kikap]
‘wing’
Word finally
[mài]
‘millet’
lxxxvii
[hà:sí]
‘egg’
/u/ HIGH BACK ROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
[u∫u]
‘fire’
Word middially
[zual]
‘needle’
[∫uw ]
‘drink’
Word finally
/e/
[khápu]
‘month’
[u∫u]
‘fire’
MID-HIGH UNROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
[eniηgwagwégbe]
‘sister’
[esi]
‘grind’
Word midially
[miєs]
‘wine’
lxxxviii
[sép]
‘axe’
[ietúk]
‘town’
Word finally
[hemnηule]
[ti∫e]
‘brother’
‘crab’
/o/ MID-BACK ROUND VOWEL
Word initially
[o:k]
‘dig’
Word middially
[dop]
‘penis’
[goro]
‘kolanut’
Word finally
[r go]
‘cassava’
[loo]
‘house’
/ε/ MID-LOW UNROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
lxxxix
[εsi]
‘grin’
Word middially
[sε:rεm]
‘seed’
[gwimgoεmisi]
[zεm]
‘man’
‘snake’
Word finally
[εsε]
‘grind
[iε: ]
‘small’
/ / MID-LOW BACK ROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
[
k]
‘dig’
Word middially
[z m]
‘dwell’
[l :mài]
‘village’
Word finally
xc
[∫ùw ]
‘drink’
[takgwεl ]
‘room’
/a:/ LOW-BACK LONG UNROUNDED VOWEL
Word middially
[ka:]
[ta:m]
‘head’
‘song’
Word finally
[nla: ]
‘son’
[ma: ]
‘child’
/ :/ MID-LOW LONG BACK ROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
[ :k]
‘dig’
Word middially
[l :mài] ‘village’
[dãk :g] ‘back’
Word finally
[takgwèl :]
‘compound’
[r :]
‘put on’
/i:/ HIGH FRONT LONG UNROUNDED VOWEL
xci
Word middially
[dì:k]
‘build’
[di:k]
‘mould
Word finally’
[ji:]
‘rain’
[bi: ]
‘thing’
/a/ LOW-BACK UNROUNDED VOWEL
Word initially
[am]
‘water’
[ansa:]
‘reply’
Word middially
[sai]
‘hand’
[mai]
‘millet’
Word finally
[ayaba]
‘plantain’
[ká]
‘head’
xcii
2.2 TONE SYSTEM IN KOENOEM LANGUAGE
According to Pike (1948: 24), tonal languages are languages
that have significant and contrastive pitch on each syllable. Tone is
described as a phonemic or contrastive pitch. A tone language is
also considered as a language in which pitch phonemes and
segmental phonemes enter into the composition of morphemes
(Welmers, 1957: 2).
There are basically tone types of tone viz; Register and
contour tone. Both (Register and contour) can be sub-divided into
three types. Register tone houses the high tone, mid and low
tones. The high tone is orthographically represented as [/], low
tone is represented as [\] and mid tone is usually unmarked.
Contour tone sub categorises into:
Falling tone[^]
Rising tone [v] (Awolaye, 1974: 8)
xciii
Koenoem is a tone language. It has three basic register
tones. In Koenoem, tone is contrastive in that words that have the
same orthographical representation are differentiated by the tone
i.e. tonal differences bring about a change in the meaning of the
affected words. Examples of such words include the following:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
[mεmε]
‘quickly’
[meme]
‘fastly’
[k p]
‘spear’
[k p]
‘bow’
[dà2g]
‘tail’
[da2g]
‘crocodile’
The examples below illustrate the distribution of tones in
Koeneom Language
L+L
[kàà]
‘climb’
[nbìziŋ]
‘horse’
xciv
[làà∫i]
‘dog’
H+H
[tágbó]
‘lizard’
[punfárí]
‘nine’
[tonkúlú]
‘left’
M+M
[fuat]
‘vomit’
[paat]
‘five’
[Naan]
‘God’
L+H
[∫ìtà]
‘paper’
[bìsá]
‘food’
[lεmú]
‘orange’
L+H+L
[làbárì]
‘story’
L+H+L+H
xcv
[kùεlεùεlε] ‘boat’
L+L+H
[nòmét]
‘toad’
H+H+H
[téŋzúál]
‘thread’
2.3 THE SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN KOENOEM LANGUAGE
A syllable is the smallest part of a word that can be
pronounced at a breath. Ladefoged (1976: 26) defines a syllable in
terms of the inherent sonority of each sound. The sonority of a
sound is relative to that of other sounds with the same length,
stress and pitch. A syllable is the peak of prominence which is
usually associated with the occurrence of one vowel or syllabic
consonant (Hyman, 1975: 189).
A syllable has three components; the onset (the first
consonant of a syllable), the nucleus or peak (the vowel and most
xcvi
important constituent of a syllable) and the coda (the last
consonant of a syllable). The nucleus is either a vowel or vowellike segments.
Vowels like segments are also known as syllabic consonant.
The nucleus forms the core or peak of a syllable; it is not optional
in any syllabic structure. The onset has prevalence over the coda
because the coda s frowned at in most Nigerian languages. There
are two types of syllable. The open and closed syllable. An open
syllable is one without a consonant ending while the close syllable
accepts consonant ending. English language is an example of
language that attests both open and closed syllable. Most NigerCongo languages like Koenoem language frowns at consonant
ending a word.
Our language of interest (Koenoem-language) exhibits open
syllable structure. However, case of alveolar nasal ending a word is
also observed. This cannot be considered as a case of close
xcvii
syllable because, its occurrence at that position (final position)
makes reference to nasality (The preceding vowels becomes
nasalized). The syllabic structure in Koenoem are:
CV (consonant vowel)
i.
[ri]
‘goat’

CV
ii.
[lò]
‘house’

CV
iii.
[tu] ‘kill’

CV
iv.
[dá] ‘calabash’

xcviii
CV
CVC (Consonant Vowel Consonant)
i.
[típ]
‘bag’

CVC
ii.
[dàm]
‘firewood’

CVC
iii.
[sép]
‘axe’

CVC
iv.
[táŋ]
‘tree’

CVC
VCV (Vowel Consonant Vowel)
i.
[nshì]
‘bee’
xcix

VCV
ii.
[usi]
‘roast’

VCV
iii.
[ámè]
‘what’

VCV
CVVC
i.
[deem]
‘swell’

CVVC
ii.
[f t] ‘blow’

CVVC
iii.
[b t] ‘tie rope’

CVVC
c
iv.
[jeèl]
‘rare’
[jε:t]

CVVC
CVCVC
i.
[fólók]
‘heart’
[flk]

CVCVC
ii.
[pεtεr]
‘mat’

CVCVC
iii.
[túl-am]
‘water pot’

CVCVC
2.4
LEXICAL CATEGORIES IN KOENOEM LANGUAGE
According to Alabi, T. (2005: 22), language is a system. It is
made up of different segments or chunks. One major category of
these chunks on the grammatical rankscale is the word. Words are
ci
classified according to their functions as used in the sentence.
Usually every sentence has words as its constituents. In essence,
words are put into their respective classes according to the
functions they perform in syntactic contexts. More so, lexical
categories are what were referred to as the parts of speech in
classical grammar. The grouping of words in a language is based
on function. Technically speaking, a word does not belong to any
class until it is used in a particular context.
Words are traditionally grouped into eight parts of speech in
Koeneom language.
i.
Nouns
ii.
Pronouns
iii.
Verbs
iv.
Adverbs
v.
Adjectives
vi.
Prepositions
vii.
Conjunctions
viii.
Exclamation or Interjection
cii
2.4.1 NOUN
A noun is a word used to name or identify a person, animal,
place or thing which may include objects, qualities, actions, ideas,
or concepts. Broadly speaking nouns are naming words.
Darby (1967: 124), a noun is a lexeme which functions
typically as the head of a nominal segment. Traditionally speaking,
a noun can be defined as a part of speech that identifies person,
places, objects, actions, and qualities. General examples of noun
include;
Word
Glossing
[Tákardá]
‘Book’
ciii
[gwimgoεmis]
‘Man’
[m ]
‘Food’
[típ]
‘Bag’
[kóézám]
‘Rat’
[kwak]
‘Leg’
[gòkbí]
‘Clothe’
[k mputer]
‘Computer’
[koεpoε]
‘Mouth’
[muss]
‘Cat’
2.4.1.1 Common Nouns:
These are the general categories 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 letters
except at the beginning of sentences.
[am]
‘water’
civ
[kiop]
‘shoe’
[∫alk]
‘pot’
[kp]
‘chalk’
[usnasárá]
‘stone’
2.4.1.2 Concrete Nouns: are those nouns with physical
manifestation. They can be seen, touched and measured. They
denote tangible entities. examples in Koeneom language are listed
below:
[petol]
‘chair’
[pãg]
‘stone’
[komb]
‘comb’
[tákardá]
‘book’
[loe]
‘house’
[∫alk]
‘chalk’
[tébù]
‘table’
[viε]
‘shelve’
cv
2.4.1.3 Abstract Nouns: According to Ukamaka, (2010: 170),
these are nouns that name idea, action, a thought or a quality with
only emotional manifestation i.e. intangible things that lack
physical qualities. They express general terms, attributes or
feelings. (Alabi, 2005: 24). Examples include:
[dεm]
‘love’
[εtá]
‘joy’
[lot]
‘anxiety’
[Nε]
‘hunger’
[t mε]
‘peace’
2.4.1.4 Proper Nouns:
Ukamaka, (2010: 169) states that, proper nouns name particular
person, things, places, countries, days of the week, months of the
year etc. in a unique way. Nouns in this sub-class do not have the
full range of determiners and they lack article distinction (Quirk
cvi
et’al., 1972b: 128). Also, proper nouns are written with upper case
initials irrespective of where they are fund in a sentence.
[Sadik]
‘name of a person’
[Akeem]
‘name’
[Bwari]
‘place’
[esadik]
‘name’
[akim]
‘name’
[bwarri]
‘place’
2.4.1.5 Countable Nouns:
Alabi, (2005: 23), countable nouns are detectable in
sentences where determiners like ‘a’ or ‘an’ precede them. Also
common nouns which are countable exhibit number distinction i.e.
in terms of singular and plural. Ukamaka, (2010: 171), common
nouns whether abstract, concrete, or collective, can be classed as
countable or uncountable. Simply put, they are nouns which can
cvii
be ascertained in number i.e. we can be sure of their quantity.
Examples in Koeneom language include the following:
[mótò]
‘car’
[gwĩnúe]
‘persons’
[poeloe]
‘door’
[tip]
‘bag’
[k p]
‘cup’
2.4.1.6 Uncountable Nouns:
(Non-counts nouns) unlike countable nouns, we cannot
determine their specific numbers. They cannot be counted. They
cannot also be qualified by numerals or other qualifiers. Examples
in Koeneom language are:
[Ham]
‘water’
[kiεm]
‘blood’
[yel]
‘smoke’
[fuε]
‘rain’
cviii
2.4.1.7 Place Nouns:
Place nouns denote places e.g.
[diεlutuk]
‘town’
[loekwam]
‘village’
[lùbìkãg]
‘zoo’
[mai]
‘farm’
[loe]
‘house’
[letuk]
‘market’
2.4.1.8
Collective Nouns:
This is a sub-class of noun that embodies a group of similar
objects, persons, or species that are tied together by the bund of
common relationship borne out of togetherness or similarities. E.g.
[t dóf]
‘audience’
[bŨbat]
‘police’
2.4.1.9
Compound Nouns:
cix
Alabi, (2005: 24) a compound noun is a combination of
noun(s) [as base (s)] with a preposition. Ukamaka, (2010: 171)
defines it as nouns made up of two or more words.
[loe + lákarda]
‘bookshop’
shop+ book
[yìlà + mákárãtá]
‘school bag’
bag + school
2.4.1.10 Animate Nouns:
These are nouns that are restricted to the category of
animals.
[hie]
‘goat’
[tam]
‘sheep’
[koezam] ‘rat’
[t se]
‘elephant’
[piet]
‘monkey’
[ntet]
‘bat’
cx
2.4.1.11 Non Animate Nouns:
These are nouns that define non-animate things i.e. lifeless
things. Examples in Koeneom language include;
[∫hiem]
‘wood’
[papà]
‘paper’
[‘gòkbí]
‘clothes’
[Dam]
‘stick’
[kik]
‘knife’
2.4.1 PRONOUN
According to Darby (1967: 137) a pronoun is a word which
can correlate with a noun or nominal segment. Ukamaka, (2010:
176) defines it as a word that substitutes for a noun, i.e. it is used
in place of a noun. Pronouns are very necessary in sentences, to
avoid tautology or repetition of nouns which make sentences
appear akward. Similarly, a pronoun refers to a word
cxi
acting for a noun, or that can be used instead of a noun. The
following types of pronoun are attested in Koeneom language.
Personal pronoun
Reflexive pronoun
Interrogative pronoun
Indefinite pronoun
Demonstrative pronoun
Possessive pronoun
Reciprocal pronoun
2.4.2.1 Personal Pronoun:
Personal pronoun take the grammatical slots of specific
names of persons, places or things. They are used for definite
persons or things. They refer to the person speaking (first person),
(b) to the person speaking (second person), (c) to the person or
cxii
thing spoken about (third person). The table below shall illustrates
our explanation better.
1st Person
Singular
2nd Person
3rd Person
I
You
He/she/it
[ã]
[goe]
[larεp][larεp][la]
We
You
They
[mŨ]
[goe]
[muεp]
Plural
SUBJECT PRONOUN
OBJECT PRONOUN
[lárεp] ‘he’
[ni] ‘him’
[larεp] ‘she’
[mup] ‘her’
[la] ‘it’
[la] ‘it’
[muε] ‘they’
[muεp] ‘them’
[mŨ] ‘we’
[mŨ] ‘us’
2.4.2.2 Reflexive Pronoun: (Self Pronoun)
This is a self pronoun. Here the object refers to the same
person as the subject of the sentence, Ukamaka (2010: 179).
Reflexive pronouns show that the action in the sentence affects the
cxiii
person or thing that does the action. They are often used as
objects of verbs. Examples in Koeneom languages include;
[Hambuεi]
‘myself’
[ambinnu]
‘yourself’
[muεp]
‘themselves’
[ká:mú]
‘ourselves’
[anni]
‘himself’
2.4.2.3 Interrogative Pronouns:
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.
[ámè]
[anne]
‘what’
‘where’
cxiv
[áwe]
‘who’
[wε]
‘which’
Sentential examples in Koeneom language include:
àmε ga
sim
what your name
‘what is your name?’
2.4.2.4 Indefinite Pronoun:
As the name suggests, these are pronouns that are not
number specific, in that they refer to numbers, persons in a
generalized manner. Examples include;
[kowεdegwim]
‘everybody’
[dègwìm]
‘somebody’
[ba:degwìm]
‘none’
[k iwεdèbí]
‘everything ‘
[koowεdégwim] ‘anyone’
cxv
Sentential
Examples
from
our
target
language
(Koeneom
language)
i.
koowεegwim
dεm ni
everybody
love him
‘everybody loves him’
ii.
badegwim mã
none
koedara
know tomorrow
‘none knows tomorrow’
2.4.2.5
Demonstrative Pronoun:
[soe] ‘this
i.
soe
a
mã
tip
this
is
my
bag
‘this is my bag’
[muεp]
‘those’
[sov2s]
‘that’
2.4.2.6 Possessive Pronouns:
These are pronouns that are used to show possession or
ownership of something. e.g.
cxvi
[mã]
‘my’
[a]
‘their’
[nmmak]
‘yours’
[nmã]
‘ours’
[kat]
‘hers’
Sentential examples in Koeneom language include
(i) tip
a
bag
theirs
‘their
bag’
(ii) pencil mã
pencil my
‘my pencil’
2.4.3 VERBS
A verb is defined as a word or group of words that expresses
action, existence or occurrence, i.e. what the subject of a sentence
does, is, and what action the subject receives. A verb combines
with a subject to make a statement, give a command or ask a
question. The verb is the most important of all parts of speech, for
it is the heart of the sentence. It gives meaning to the sentence.
cxvii
That is, the verb is just like a life-wire, running through the whole
sentence structure to make a complete sense. The function of a
verb is not determined in isolation but usually in multiple
combination.
Examples of main verb in Koeneom-language include;
[tà:t]
‘kick’
[dap]
‘slap’
[∫εt]
‘cook’
[tam]
‘dance’
[rã]
‘write
[gia]
‘play
[∫wei]
‘laugh’
e.g. Akeem
Akeem
ta:t
hie
kick goat
‘Akeem kicks the goat
cxviii
2.4.3.1
CLASSES OF VERB
It is pertinent to mention two traditional classes of verbs, the
transitive and the intransitive verbs. According to Yusuf (1997:21),
the transitive verbs are one that has no object NP.
This simply implies that a verb will take an NP object when it
is transitive but will not take one when it is intransitive.
V
(Vt) (t = transitive)
(Vi) (I = intransitive)
2.4.3.2
Transitive Verbs in Koeneom)
According to Brown and miller (1992:62), transitive verb are
so-called as a result of the fact that “the action of the verb” is
considered to “pass over” from the “agent” subject to the “patient”
object. Transitive verb cannot typically occur without a following
NP.
Examples of transitive verb in Koeneom include the following:
i.
[nuãg làrep]
cxix
flog
girl
“flog the girl”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
nuãg
flog
ii.
làrep
girl
[d ì poeleo]
close door
“close the door”
VP
Spec
V’
V
d ì
close
cxx
NP
poeleo
door
iii.
[shεt bìςie]
cook food
“cook the food
VP
Spec
V’
V
2.4.3.3
NP
shεt
bìςie
close
door
Intransitive Verbs in Koenoem
The structure of the intransitive verb is represented as:- V1
+ [-Ø]
This implies that the intransitive verb does not subcategorize
for an NP object. However, some intransitive verb requires to be
followed by a PP. The PP typically indicates a location.
Examples of intransitive verbs in Koeneom include the
following.
cxxi
i.
/ sam / e.g.
[gwimgoemat sam]
sleep
He slept
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
He
VP
Tns
Spec
V’
Pres
ii.
/ met / e.g.
jump
V
Sleep
[Olu met]
“Olu jump”
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
Tns
VP
Spec
Pres
Olu
cxxii
V’
V
met
Jumps
Here are some examples of verbs in Koeneom that take PP
complements.
i.
/ sam / e.g.
sleep
[sam koedĭ pєtol]
sleep on chair
“sleep on the chair”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
P’
P
sam koedĭ
sleep
on
cxxiii
NP
pєtol
chair
ii.
/talnjoi/ e.g. [talnjoi m
ask
ask
irim]
for beans
“ask for the beans”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
P’
P
NP
talnjoi
m
irim
ask
for
beans
“ask for the village”
cxxiv
2.4.3.4 VERB WITH SENTENTIAL COMPLEMENT
Yusuf (1977:26) says that among the possible complements
of the verb is a full clause, which has sentential complements such
as
Appearance verbs: seem, appear
Epistemic verbs:
know, believe
Reporting verbs:
say, claim, report
Desiderative verbs
want, desire, expect
Demand/causative verbs:
cause, makes, force
2.4.3.5
VERB WITH SENTENTIAL COMPLEMENTS IN
KOENEOM.
The
following
are
some
verbs
subcategorize for sentential compliments.
A.
Epistemic Verbs
Know / mã /
i.
[ã mã nãã bigoezãg]
cxxv
in
Koeneom
which
I know God good
“I know God is good”
IP
Spec
I’
Pro
I
VP
Tns
N
ãmã
Pres
nãã
I
B.
Say / kwєl /
[goe kwєl ámè]
You say what
cxxvi
NP
V
Spec
bigoezãg
know
Reporting Verbs
i.
V’
God
good
“What did you say”
C.
Causative Verbs
Makes / jaàrá /
[b t jaàrá goe bìςit k nàm]
can make you work well
“I can make you work well”
VP
Spec
V’
VP
VP
V’
N
V’
V
N’
V
Adv
pro
b t
can
jaàrá
make
goe
you
bìςit
work
‘I can make you work well’
cxxvii
k nàm
well
2.4.3.6 Auxiliary Verbs in Koeneom-Language
Auxiliary verbs are also known as helping verbs in English
language. They are sub-divided into primary and modal auxiliary
verbs. These sub-divisions are also captured or attested in
Koeneom-language.
2.4.3.7 Modal Auxiliaries
[b st]
‘can’
[dam]
gwim
‘person
‘will’
bt tam
can dance’
‘the man can dance’
Gwin
Person
dam ba:
will come
‘The man will come’
2.4.3.8 Primary Auxiliaries
[amu]
‘is’
cxxviii
[muεp]
‘are’
[nd k]
‘was’
[hã]
‘am’
[bikn k]
‘being’
gwim amu mut
man is
die
‘the man is dead’
hã ba:ba:
am coming
‘I am coming’
gwim k ba:ba:
person was coming
‘The man was coming’
From the above;we noted that the functions of the modal auxilliary
include:
To expression of simple futurity; Examples
larεp dam baa
cxxix
person will come
‘she will come’
To expression of containty; Examples
lã
dam fuε
‘it
will
rain’
To expression of possibilities;Examples
a
b t
sie
bread
I
can
eat
bread
‘I can eat the bread’
2.4.4 TENSE
Tense shows the relationship between action and time e.g.
present tense, past tense and future tense etc. Tense in koenoem
language shall be shown in tabular form.
cxxx
2.4.4.1 TENSE IN KOENEOM LANGUAGE
PRESENT TENSE
PAST TENSE
CONTINUOUS TENSE
[rã]
[rã]
[ãrã]
Write
Wrote
Writing
[∫εt]
[∫εt]
[∫εt∫εt]
Cook
Cooked
Cooking
[ba:]
[ba:]
[ba:ba:]
Come
Came
Coming
[sie]
[sie]
[siesie]
Eat
Ate
Eating
[kum]
[kum]
[kumkum]
Sweep
Swept
sweeping
The tenses are illusrated with the follwing sentenses;
2.4.4.2
Present Tense:
cxxxi
dзk b
Jacob
rã
write a
la
takarda
book
‘Jacob writes a book’
2.4.4.3 Past Tense:
dзk b
rã
la
Jacob
wrote a
takarda
book
“Jacob is writing a book”
2.4.4.4 Continuous Tense:
dзk b
koe rãbirãla
Jacob
writing book
tarada
‘Jacob is writing a book’
2.4.5 ASPECT IN KOENOEM LANGUAGE
Aspect is closely associated with a tense. Aspect of a verb
indicates whether the expressed action is completed (perfective) or
continuous (progressive).
[diel]
‘has’
cxxxii
[kat]
‘have’
[kjεl]
‘had’
gwimgeomat
she
has
diel
sam
sleep
‘she has slept’
2.4.6 ADVERB
Ukamaka, (2010: 188), an adverb modifies or qualifies a
verb, adjective, or other adverbs and sometimes the entire
sentence i.e. they tell us more about them. An adverb never
modifies nouns or pronouns. The types of adverb that shall be
studied under Koeneom-language include;
Adverb of time
Adverb of frequency
Adverb of degree
Adverb of manner
Adverb of reason
cxxxiii
2.4.6.1 Adverb of Time: Describes the time when an action
occurs or takes place, e.g.
[ndai]
‘tomorrow’
[ndiε] ‘yesterday’
[satiguedãba]
‘next week’
gwim dam ba:
ndai
man will
come tomorrow
2.4.6.2 Adverb of Frequency
[kowεdelokoci]
[t ga]
‘regularly’
‘usually’
[tatgoegãdama] ‘seldomly’
2.4.6.3 Adverb of Degree
[lεlε]
‘slowly’
[mεmε]
‘fastly’
[d td t]
‘silently’
[∫íraú]
‘quietly’
cxxxiv
2.4.6.4 Adverb of Reason
[n]
‘if’
[saidei]
‘unless’
Examples;
gwim diel
fara dagi 1970
he
start since 1970
has
‘he has started since 1970’
gwim pai
koedãg
gwim ma
serious
he
because
he
serious
fail
not
‘he failed because he is not serious’
2.4.7 ADJECTIVES
The word “adjective” is derived from a Latin word and it
means “an attribute of”. It is defined as a word which modifies or
describes a noun or pronoun or another adjective, by supplying
descriptive or specific details. In short, the adjective is a word that
cxxxv
tells us more about what is modifying (Ukamaka, 2010: 185).
Examples include;
[ding]
‘big’
[∫ kl k]
‘small’
[koεp]
‘short’
[ruwãg]
‘thin’
[tiε]
‘heavy’
[dèe]
‘large’
[d g]
‘beautiful’
2.4.7.1
Adjective of Colour in Koenoem Language
[tip]
‘black’
[nat]
‘yellow’
[pía]
‘white’
[malap]
‘blue’
[saã]
‘green’
[bãg]
‘light’
cxxxvi
2.4.7.2
Comparison of Adjectives in Koenoem Language
ADJECTIVES
COMPARATIVE FORM
SUPERLATIVE FORM
[dĩg]
[dĩg]
[dĩgbuie]
‘big’
‘bigger’
‘biggest’
[koεp]
[koεpbuie]
[koεp]
‘short’
‘shorter’
‘shortest’
[d gd g]
[d gbuie]
[d gdat]
‘beautiful’
‘more beautiful’
‘most beautiful’
[mεmε]
[mεmε]
[mεmεdát]
‘fast’
‘faster’
‘fastest’
[rúwàg]
[rawãgbuie]
[ruwãgdat]
‘thin’
‘thinner’
‘thinnest’
2.4.8 PREPOSITION
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition,
1989) preposition is an indeclinable word or particle serving to
cxxxvii
mark the relationship between two notional words, the latter of
which is usually a noun or a pronoun; A preposition links a noun or
its equivalent to another part of the sentence or to the sentence as
a whole.
It shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some
other words in a sentence (Close, 1990). Essentially, prepositions
are a closed class items connecting two units in a sentence and
specifying a relationship between them. The following are
examples in Koeneom-language language;
[nmai]
‘outside’
[pe]
‘at’
[takdie]
‘in’
[koèdĩ]
‘on’
[koèdãg]
‘about’
[kákdíe]
‘into’
[ndã]
‘under’
cxxxviii
[nd m]
‘below’
[kòeyil]
‘down’
Sentential example include:
Shuaib
buet b lu ndã tébù
Shuaib
keep ball
undertable
‘Shuaib kept the ball under the table’
2.4.9 CONJUNCTION
A conjunction is a word (or a group of words) that joins
words or groups of words together it primarily performs linking
function. The only conjunction attested in Koenoem language is
[koe]
‘and’
2.4.10 INTERJECTION
An interjection, according to Adegbija (1987: 108), is a word
that expresses emotion.
cxxxix
2.5
BASIC WORD ORDER IN KOENEOM SENTENCESS
Ayodele (1999: 51) describes basic word order as the
permissible sequence or arrangement of lexical items to form
meaningful and grammatical sentences in a language. The idea of
basic word order stemmed from the fact that the languages need
to be classified on the basis of how syntactic constituents, such as
subject, verb and object are structured in a simple, declarative
active basic sentence. Yusuf (1998: 35) observes that, there are
six universal syntactic types:
Subject
-
Verb -
Object
(SVO)
Subject
-
Object -
Verb
(SOV)
Object
-
Verb -
Subject
(OVS)
Verb
-
Subject -
Object
(VSO)
Verb
-
Object -
Subject
(VOS)
Object
-
Subject -
Verb
(OSV)
cxl
Koeneom language is an SVO language, that is, in Koeneom
language, a simple declarative sentence, the subject comes first,
followed by the verb and then the object. This is illustrated in the
sentences below;
dзεkob
rã
takarda
Jacob
write book
‘Jacob writes a book
S
V
Lagoemis sie
O
m
He
eats food
S
V
O
Lagimat
lap
tam
She
sings music
‘she sings music’
S
V
O
ade
∫et
∫imaa
cxli
Ade
cook yam
‘Ade cooks yam’
S
V
O
Bisi
kum yiel
Bisi
sweep floor
‘Bisi swept the floor’
2.5.1 TYPES OF SENTENCES IN KOENOEM LANGUAGE
Ukamaka (2010: 219)says that a sentence is a group of
words that contains a subject and its verb, and expresses a
complete thought or sense. Sentences are organized according to
the grammatical principles of the language in which they are
written. According to Adegbija, (1987: 87), a sentence is a group
of words which make a statement, a command and also expresses
wish, ask a question, or make an exclamation (Yusuf, 1998: 107).
Sentences can be classified based on complexity and function.This
cxlii
sections further illustrate the positions ofs VP in sentense in
koenoem
Using the parameter of (complexity), three types of sentence
can be identified in Koenoem-language.
2.5.1.1SIMPLE SENTENCE
The simple sentence is made up of one NP subject and a
predicate (traditionally regarded as a single verb (Ore, 1997: 59).
A simple sentence is a sentence that contains only one finite verb
(Adegbija, 1987: 89). Below are examples of simple sentences in
Koeneom language.
gwim dεm bisi
he
love bisi
‘he loves bisi’
sei
ntákdie
kwãútásá
eat
inside
plate
‘eat inside the plate’
cxliii
As pointed out by Yusuf (1997: 61), a compound sentence is
formed when two or more simple sentences are conjoined by a
coordinating conjunction. Any number of the simple sentence may
be co-ordinated by the lexical category known as conjunction. It
contains two main clauses, linked by co-ordinating conjunctions
like ‘and’.
Nkoyo
gw m gwim koe gwim yè
mŨiãgni
Nkoyo
deceive
was hate
people and he
‘Nkoyo deceived the people and he was hated’
a
dãg làp
I
can
koe tam
sing and dance
2.5.1.2 COMPOUND SENTENCE
This is a combination of two sentences joined by more than
one finite verb. It could also be joined by a comma. Examples in
Koenoem are:
cxliv
(i)
A yong mup lagimat yong ham
I call her, she
call me
“she call me (and) I call her”
(ii)
a dem ami lagoemis dem ham
I love him, he
love me
“He love me (and) I love him”
2.5.1.3 COMPLEX SENTENCE
According to Yusuf, (1997: 63), a complex sentence has a
sentence embedded in one of the phrasal categories: VP or NP.
Traditionally the complex
is described as a main clause and a
number of subordinate clauses.
n
fuã
ba:
a
if
ran
come I
ma: ba:
not
come
‘if it rains, I wont come’
2.5.1.4 FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF SENTENCES IN
KOENEOM LANGUAGE
cxlv
Sentences can be classified according to functions or use. So,
we have sentences that make statements or deny them, sentences
that ask questions and that command and sentences that express
strong feelings. Koeneom sentences are functionally classified
below:
-
Declarative sentences
-
Interrogative sentence
-
Imperative sentence
Declarative Sentence:
This makes a statement or denies it. It states a fact.
Interrogative Sentence:
An interrogative sentence is used to make an enquiry or ask
question which demands some sort of response from the
addressee. However, questions could be rhetorical (Adedimeji and
Alabi, 2003: 55) Examples in Koeneom language include;
cxlvi
Imperative Sentence:
This gives a command or makes a request (Ukamaka, 2000:
223).
tait
b lu ni
kick ball
the
‘kick the ball’
na:
bS lu ni
see
ball
the
‘see the ball’
cxlvii
CHAPTER THREE
VERB PHASE IN KOENEOM LANGUAGE
3.0
INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter, the sound inventories, patterns and
linguistics concepts in koenoem were discussed.
This chapter
attempts to bring out how the verb phrases are formed, as well as
their constituents in Koeneom language. This implies processes by
which the phrasal category known as “verb phrase” is derived
through the joining of verb with other lexical units.
All these
derivations are explained using the government and Binding frame
work.
3.1 Verb phrase and head parameter
An important way in which language vary is in the order of
the elements within the phrase.
The concept known as “head
parameter “ specifies the order of elements in the language.
cxlviii
Chomsky (1981) suggests that the position of head could be
specified once for all phrases in a given language. Rather than a
long list of individual rules specifying the position of the head in
each phrase type,a single generalization suffices:”heads are first or
last in a phrase”.
Koenoem falls under the category of language in which “head
are first in the phrase”. This can be exemplified as follows;
i.
[muã lutúk]
Go market
“go to the market”
VP
Spec
V
V
PP
P
Ø
NP
N
muã
Lutúk
go
market
“go to the market”
cxlix
ii.
[shùwo hаm]
drink water
“drink water”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N
shùwo
hаm
drink
water
“drink water”
iii.
[∫ie bi∫ie]
eat food
“eat the food”
cl
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N
∫ie
bi∫ie
eat
food
“eat the food”
iv.
[kum yiel]
sweep floor
“sweep the floor”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N
kum
yiel
sweep
floor
“sweep the floor”
cli
v.
[kwák poeloe]
knock door
“knocked the door
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N
kwák
poeloe
knock
door
“knocked the door”
vi.
[hap poeloe]
open gate
“open the gate’
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N
clii
vii.
hap
poeloe
open
gate
“open the gate”
[dem ham]
love water
“love water”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N
dem
ham
love
water
“love water”
3.2
STRUCTURE OF VERB PHRASE
According to Yusuf (1997:21), The verb phrase is traditionally
called the ‘predicate because it has the sentence predicates namely
the verb. The verb is the head of the VP, it is obligatorily present
cliii
with or without its satellites. Verb satellites could be ‘complements
or adjuncts’. The formal notation for the expansion of the verb
phrase rewrites it as an obligatory V and its complements where
the X variable stands as the complement.
VP
VX
According to the Government and binding theory, the verb
phrase can be represented diagrammatically as:
VP
Spec
V’
V0
3.3
Complement
THE STRUCTURE OF THE KOENEOM VERB PHRASE
Lexical items are inserted at the deep structure space level in
accordance with the sub-categorization frame of individual items.
Therefore, in Koeneom language, the verb (which is the head
of the VP) subcategorizes for the following complements.
cliv
3.3.1 Verb Phrase with Noun Phrase as Satellite
A.
i.
VP
V (NP)
[sie bì∫íe]
eat Food
“eat the food”
VP
Spec
ii.
V’
[muã ιòé]
go
house
“go home”
VP
Spec
V’
clv
V
NP
sie
eat
bì∫íe
food
V
NP
muã
go
iii.
ιòé
house
[dem Hemnĩ]
love
brother
“love your brother”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
dem
Hemnĩ
love
brother
“love brother”
3.3.2 Verb Phrase with Prepositional Phrase as Satelite
B.
VP
i.
V (PP)
[bàá mákárãtá]
come school
“come to school”
clvi
VP
Spec
V’
V
PP
P’
V
NP
bàá
Ø
mákárãtá
come
school
“come to school”
iii.
[tãlnjoi m
l
màí]
ask for village
“ask for the village”
VP
Spec
V’
V
PP
P’
P
clvii
NP
tãlnjoi
m
màí
ask
for
village
“ask for the village”
3.3.3 Verb Phrase with Noun Phrase and Prepositional
Phrase as Satellites
C.
VP
i.
V (NP) (PP)
[gąp sherep koe sáí]
cut fish
with hand
“cut the fish with hand”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
PP
P’
P
gąp
clviii
sherep koe
NP
sáí
cut
fish with
hand
“cut the fish with hand”
ii.
[dieι ã táhardá m nhã]
pass my book for me
“pass my book for me”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
Det
PP
N
P
dieι
ã táhardá m
pass
my
book
for
“pass my book for me”
iii.
[tąp dàm m nhã]
break stick for me
clix
NP
nhã
me
“break the stick for me”
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
N’
N
PP
P
P’
P
NP
N
tąp
dàm m
nhã
break stick for
me
“break the stick for me”
3.3.4 Verb Phrase with Adverbial Phrase as Satelite
D.
VP
V (ADVP)
clx
i.
[báà meme]
come quickly
“come quickly”
VP
Spec
V’
V
Advp
báà
meme
come
quickly
“come quickly”
ii.
[báà ndai]
come tomorrow
“come tomorrow”
VP
Spec
V’
V
clxi
Advp
báà
ndai
come
tomorrow
“come tomorrow”
3.4
THE VERB PHRASES AND X-BAR THEORY
The X-bar theory provides principles for the projection of
phrasal category from lexical category and imposes conditions of
hierarchical categorization in form of general schemata. It makes
explicit what is implicit about the notion of head. The theory takes
the strict sub-categorization of Nps and Vps and generalises this
over others.
Here are some examples of verb phases and X-Bar theory
i.
[sw ni b lu m nigeriąą]
score the goal for nigeria
“score the goal for nigeria”
clxii
VP
Spec
V’
V
sw
NP
Spec
N’
N
PP
P’
NP
P
N
sw
ni b lu m
nigeriąą
score the goal for Nigeria
“score the goal for Nigeria”
ii.
[sét la dĭa hie]
Buy a fat goal
Bought a fat goal
clxiii
VP
V’
V
NP
Adj
Del
N’
Adj’
Sét
la
dĭa hie
Buy a
fat
goal
“Bought a fat goat”
iii.
[sie komukwă]
Eat groundnut
“Eat groundnut”
VP
Spec
V’
clxiv
V
sie
eat
NP
komukwă
groundnut
“eat groundnut”
3.5 VERB SERIALIZATION
Verb phrase serialization variantly called serial verbs refers to a
situation whereby there is a single subject Np but a number of Vps
ranging from two to possibly as may as our meaning will allow
(Yusuf, 1997:32).
PECULIARITY OF SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTION (SVC)

The sentence has two or more verb

There is a single subject for the whole sequence of verb.

Each verb may have its own complement.

The sequence as a whole has the behaviour of a single
predicated and not that of a construction involving distinct
predicate in some depending relation.
clxv
The instructure of serial verb can be given as: VP
VP(Vpn)
The superscripted [n] means we may have any number of Vps:
two, three, four and so on. A tree structure is given below as:
VP
VP VP VP VP VPn
3.6 SERIAL VERB IN KOENEOM LANGUAGE
Serial verbs are so called because of the way they occur in
string. Examples of serial verb construction in Koeneom are:
i.
/la wet ∫im nni ∫ue/
child steal yam and eat
“(The) child stole yam and eat”
clxvi
IP
Spec
NP
pro
I’
I
VP
VP
VP
Spec V’
NP
la
child
ii.
spec V’
spec
NP
det
V
wet ∫im nni
∫ue
steal yam and eat
“the child stole yam and eat”
[Tunde gap sherep nni ∫ue]
clxvii
Tunde cut fish and eat
“Tunde cut the fish and eat”
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
pro
VP
VP
VP
Spec V’ spec
NP
V’
spec NP
det
Tunde
V
gap sherep nni ∫ue
Tunde
cut
fish and eat
3.7 PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES IN KOENOEM LANGUAGE
clxviii
According to Yussuf (1998: 7), phrase structure rules are rewrite or expansion rules, very much like the expansion of an icon
in the computer, which displays the content of a phrase or
sentence. It is like opening a box to disclose its contents.
Horrocks (1968: 31) defines phrase structure rules as formal
devices for representing the distribution of phrases within
sentences.
Lamidi (2000: 66) refers to it as the rule of the base
component which inserts words into their logical positions in a
structure. It is used to map out simple or declarative structures.
For instance, to describe the content of a Noun Phrase as
containing possibly a determiner, a compulsory Noun head; and
some optional satellites like the prepositional phrase and possibly a
clause, the following formular is used.
NP

(D) N (PP) (S’)
For a sentence;
clxix
S

NP INFL VP
VP

V
NP

(D) N (PP) (S’)
S

Sentence
NP

Noun Phrase
Det

Determiner
Adj

Adjective
PP

Prepositional Phrase
(NP)
Informally, each rule is to be interpreted as saying that the
element on the left hand side of the arrow consists of the elements
on the right hand side in that other. In other words, the rules
express part-whole relationships and impose an order on the parts.
Items which are optional are enclosed in parentheses. It is
customary to refer to the parts of some whole as its constituents
and any given constituent that is itself analyzable into constituents
is assumed to represent a coherent building block.
clxx
Since our chosen theory is the government and binding
theory, the basic syntactic structures of Koenoem language shall
be analyzed using transformational rules.
Transformational rules provide supplementary rules to the
phrase structure rules. The output of PS rules is the input of
transformational rules. In TF rules, a functional category can
head a sentence. The phrasal categories of Koeneom language
shall be exemplified using the schema below;
CP

Spec C’
C’

C
IP

Spec I’
IP
i’ or I’
I
VP
I

TNS Agr
VP

Spec V’
V’

V
(NP) (PP)
NP

N’
Spec
clxxi
N’

N
(Det)
Examples in Koeneom language
Gwim ni
dap larep ni
Man the
slap girl
the
The sentence can be phrase marked as shown below:
IP

Spec I’
Spec 
NP
I’

I
I

TNS
VP

V’
V’

V
NP
NP

N
Det
VP
clxxii
IP
Spec
I’
NP
N
Det
I
VP
TNS
V’
Present
V
NP
N’
N
Gwim
ni
dap larep
Man
the
slap girl
‘‘the man slapped the girl’’
Det
ni
the
3.7.1 Phrase-Types in Koeneom Language
clxxiii
A phrase refers to any well-ordered, small group of words
that are related to each other, occurring within a sentence or
clause. This group usually doesn’t have a finite verb and cannot
make complete sense on it own, except in conjunction with other
elements of the sentence. It is necessary to note from the onset
that the word phrase and group may be used interchangeably.
Phrases are usually named after their main words, referred to as
headwords. The headword is a component of a phrase which is not
optional. It carries the highest load of semantic information. The
headwords dominates other constituents of a phrase. In Koenoem
language, we have Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, Adjectival Phrase,
and Prepositional Phrase. E.g.
Nla
ni
gòekún
boy
the
tall
‘The tall boy’
clxxiv
‘boy’ in the above constitutes the headword because it is the
only obligatory element in the group.
NP
N
N
D
Adjp
Adj
Nla
Boy
ni
the
goekun
tall
3.7.1.1 Noun Phrases
clxxv
According to Lamidi, (2000: 68), the NP is a group of words
with a noun as the keyword. Some times, a pronoun or a noun
stands for an NP. This means that the phrasal category which
consists of a sequence of words is grammatically equivalent to a
single word which serves as the headword. The noun in an NP can
be pre-modified by a determiner, a nominal, a numeral, and an
adjective. It can also be post modified by prepositional phrases ( a
complement and/or a adjunct). In Koeneom language, the noun
phrase is usually post-modified either by a determiner or
prepositional phrase. We shall consider the minimum and
maximum expansion of noun phrase in Koenoem language.
[nla]
‘boy’
[tákardá]
‘book’
[típ]
‘black’
[kóézám] ‘rat’
[larεp]
‘female’ (child)
clxxvi
NP Lexicon with a prepositional satellite
Tákardá
ni
koedin
tébù ni
book
the
on
table the
‘the book on the table’
NP
N
Det
PP
P
NP
N
Det
tákardá
ni
koedin
tébù
ni
book
the
on
table
the
‘the book on the table’
clxxvii
larεp ni
ntak loe
girl
in
the
ni
room the
“the girl in the room”
NP
N
Det
PP
P
NP
N
Det
larεp
ni
takdie
loe
ni
girl
the
in
room
the
‘‘the girl in the room’’
clxxviii
Noun Phrase with Adjectival Satelites
yei
goe típ
bird a
black
‘a black bird’
NP
N’
N
Det
Adjp
Adj’
Adj
yei
goe
típ
bird
a
black
‘‘a back bird’’
3.7.1.2 Verb Phrase
clxxix
According to Yusuf (1997: 21) verb phrase is traditionally
called the “predicate” because it has the sentence predicator
namely, the verb. Lamidi (2000: 166), the verb is the head of a VP.
Whenever it occurs, the verb maintains the same syntactic feature.
Like other categories, the VP contains optional specifier while the
other phrasal categories like NP, PP,A etc serve as its complement.
The formal notation for verb phrases is:
VP

V
(NP) (PP) (S’)
In Koeneom language, the VP can be opened up into the
following:
VP

V
VP

V
NP
VP

V
NP
PP
VP

V
NP
Advp
VP

V
NP
PP
Adjp Advp
VP Lexicon with NP Satelites
clxxx
Sie
bì∫íe
eat
food
‘eat the food
VP
V’
V
NP
N
eat
food
Basic VP
ran
write
clxxxi
dap
slap
tam
dance
VP with PP Satellites
ram koedin
tébù
write on
table
‘write on the table’
VP
V’
V
PP
P
NP
N’
clxxxii
N
ram
Write
koedin
on
tèbu
table
VP with Adverbial Satellites
nuãg làrεp mεmε
flog girl
quickly
‘flog the girl quickly’
VP
V
V
nuãg
Flog
NP
Advp
N
Adv
làrεp
girl
mεmε
quickly
clxxxiii
Other examples of verb phrase in Koeneom language include:
siεt
gòkbí
buy clothe
‘buy the clothe’
shet bì∫íε ntàkdiε
cook food in
loe
room
‘cook the food in the room’
tát
bolù
kick ball
kwák nmmak
with leg
your
‘kick the ball with your leg’
3.7.1.3 Prepositional Phrase
Jowit and Nnamonu (1985: 228) observe that preposition are
frequently used to 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 because it contains a
preposition and an NP complement. In this case, the preposition is
clxxxiv
the head and it precedes the NP in the PP. The prepositional
phrase has been characterized as below in Koeneom-language.
PP
P
NP
Prepositional
N
PP
Prepositional

e.g.
koεdĩ tébù dĩg
on
table big
‘on the big table’
PP
P
P
NP
N
Adjp
Adj’
clxxxv
Adj
Koεdĩ
tébù
Ndaml g
loe
dĩg.
ni
Outside room the
‘‘outside the room’’
PP
P’
P
NP
Ndaml g
Outside
N
Det
loe
room
ni
the
Other examples include:
iii.
pe
letúk
at
market
clxxxvi
‘at the market’
iv.
Takdíe
koεdiεn
kàràtú
in
middle
class
‘in the middle of the class’
3.7.1.4 Adjective Phrase
Awolaja, (2002: 27), pointed out that an adjectival phrase
does the work of an adjective. It usually qualifies or modifies a
particular noun.
Olujide, (2005: 47), an adjectival phrase functions as an
adjective and its headword is always an adjective, which modifies
a noun or pronoun. Similarly, it usually occur before nouns (as
attributes) and after verbs as predicative adjectives. It can also be
premodified by adverbials.
The phrases given below are examples of adjectival phrases
in Koeneom language:
clxxxvii
i.
d sgd g
bigoe
beautiful
very
‘very beautiful’
Adjp
Adj’
Adj
Advp
Adv
D gd g
Bigeo
beautiful
very
Adjectival Phrase with Adverbial and NP Satellites
Diε
kee
zeemε
Gentle like snail
‘gentle like a snail’
clxxxviii
Adjp
Adj’
Adj
Advp
NP
Adv’
N’
Adv
N
Diε
kee
zeemε
Gentle
like
snail
clxxxix
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS
This is defined as a process by which the structure of one
sentence is changed to another structure.
It is a kind of device used by a speaker of a language to
express his meaning in a different way either for stylistic purpose
of emphasis. Transformation performs a lot of operations.
According to Yusuf (1997) “a transformational process is a
process whereby some types of sentences are formed or derived
from the basis sentence”
Transformation will work on the basis sentence as generated
by the base phrase marker (i.e. deep structure) to map such
phrase markers to a surface phrase maker producing such
sentence
as
MOVEMENT,
DELETION,
FOCUSING,
RELATIVIZATION, PASSIVIZATION, REFLEXIVIZATION, QUESTION
cxc
FORMATION, INSERTION OF BY PHRASE AND INSERTION OF
NEGATIVE MAKER.
The results of transformation is evidenced at the S.S (Surface
Structure) while that of PSR (Phrase Structure Rule) is encoded in
the D.S. (Deep Structure)
Deep Structure (D.S)
Transformation
Surface Structure (S. S)
4.1 MOVEMENT
Movement is a syntactic process whereby an element is
moved from its logical position to land in another position.
Movement can either
adjunction.
be
effected through substitution or
The third form of movement which is abnormal is
called crash landing movement.
Movement knows as the major transformational process is
now know in move recent research as (more alpha) which means
cxci
“move any variable category” i.e. an element can’t be moved more
than one bounding node. Yusuf (1992:49)
The diagrams below illustrate the examples of movement
and move alpha
Extraction site
S1
Landing site
S2 landing site S3
Intervening gap
cxcii
Extraction site
Koeneom
language
shows
movement
in
it
focusing
sentences, when noun phrase object are removed from their
original location to another.
1.
2.
Bisi
síe
єém
Bisi
eat
beans
àn
muàn ιoe
I
go
yinką
house
Yinka
These two sentence can be changed to what we have below:
Example 1:
Єém sae
Bisi
Beans that
síe
Bisi
ate
It is beans that Bisi ate
“Beans” which was the subject of the verb “ate” has been
moved to sentence final position for emphasy called focusing
Example 2: ιoe
Yinka an
muan
House Yinka I went
It is Yinka’s shop that I went
cxciii
4.2
DELETION
Deletion is another common process in language. It involves
the loss of a segment under some language specifically imposed
condition.
Deletion could involve vowels or consonant.
Francis
Oyebade (1998:69). This kind of syntactic processes take place in
Koeneom compound word, where repeated noun phrase objects
are deleted.
1.
Ola deem єém
Ola like
2.
kae Ola síe shimaa
beans and Ola eat yam
Kehinde dem Bisi kae Kehinde dєm Saidat
Kehinde love Bisi and Kehinde lay
Example 1: Ola dєєm єém
Ola like
kae
Saidat
sie shimaa
beans and ate yam
“Ola” in the second instant has been removed from the
sentence
Example 2: Kehinde dem Bisi
Kae dem
cxciv
Saidat
Kehinde love Bisi
and
love
Saidat
Kehinde love Bisi
and
married Saidat
4.3 FOCUS CONSTRUCTION IN KOENEOM LANGUAGE
The focus construction otherwise known as predicate cleft in
Koeneom language.
What makes focusing a universal syntactic process among
human language is the fact that it is normal for a speaker of any
language to want to emphasize a specific aspect of his message
while communicating with hi/her interlocutor.
The speaker thus
pragmatically assigns PROMINENCE to that part of his/her message
that he/she wishes to emphasize without necessarily changing the
substances of his message.
In order to show that focused sentences are derived from a
basic sentence, it is necessary to have a normal construction in
mind as the unmarked sentence from which the marked or focused
cxcv
sentences are derived. Below are examples of nominalized verb
focus in Koeneom language.
Subject - Noun Phrase Focus i.e. SUB – NP Focus
i(a)
[Orelope sєt pencil m Saidat]
name buy pencil for name
“Orelope bought a pencil for Saidat
cxcvi
IP
Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
Tns
V
NP
N’
N
PP
P
Orelope
NP
sєt
pencil m
Saidat
buy pencil for Saidat
i(b). [Sét a la Orelope sét pencil m Saidat]
buy foe pst names buy pencil for name.
“it was buying that Orelope bought pencil for Saidat”
cxcvii
IP
Spec
F’
F
Spec
IP
Foc Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
Tns spec
V’
Pst V
NP
N’
N
PP
P
Sét
ii(a) [Bisi síe εém]
a
Orelope
Bisi eat beans
“Bisi ate beans”
IP
cxcviii
NP
la sét pencil m Saidat
Spec
NP
I’
I
VP
Tns Spec
Pst
V
V’
NP
Bisi
síe
εém
Bisi
eat
beans
ii(b). [∫íe a Bisi ∫ie la εém]
eat foc Bisi eat pst beans
“it was eating that Bisi ate beans”
IP
cxcix
Spec
F’
F
Spec
IP
Foc
Spec
NP
I’
I
VP
Tns
V’
Pst
V
NP
N’
∫íe
a
Bisi
eat
iii(a) [Nirã sw
Bisi
ham]
Niran drink water
“Niran drank some water”
cc
la
∫ie
εém
eat
beans
iii(b) [sw a Nirã sw la ham]
drink foc Niran drink pst water
“it was drinking that Niran drink water”
Direct Object Noun Phrase Focus
Obj Np Focus
1(a). [Tunde taat ni bolu]
Tunde kick the ball
“Tunde kicked the ball”
IP
Spec
NP
I’
I
Tns
Pst
VP
Spec
V’
V
NP
Spec
Tunde
Tunde
taat
kick
cci
ni
the
N
bolu
ball
“Tunde kicked the ball”
i(b)
[ni bolu a tunde la taat]
The ball foc Tunde pst kick
“It was the ball that Tunde kicked”
IP
Spec
F’
F
Spec
Foc
IP
Spec
NP
P
Spec
Ni
I’
VP
Tns Spec
N
b lu
I
Pst V
a
Tunde
la taat
V’
NP
N
Ø
ccii
ii(a) [gwìmsεg tu
Hunter
t
s]
kill elephant
“Hunter killed an elephant”
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
Tns
past
gwìmsεg
Hunter
ii(b) [t
s
a gwìmsεg
la
VP
Spec
Ø
V
tu
kill
tu]
cciii
V’
NP
N
t s
elephant
Elephant foc hunter pst killed
‘it was elephant that the hunter killed”
IP
Spec
F’
F
Spec
IP
Foc
Spec
NP
I’
I
VP
Tns Spec V’
t s
elephant
a
gwìmsεg
hunter
iii(a) [ la dem victor]
Ola love Victor
“Ola loves Victor”
cciv
pst
V
la
tu
kill
NP
iii(b) [Victor a
la
dem]
Victor foc Ola love
“It was Victor that Ola love”
4.4 RELATIVIZATION
According to Yusuf (1992), relative construction as involving
the insertion of a relative clause in front of its Np antecedent in a
matrix clause.
A clause is relativized when an Np within it is
identical (and therefore changed to a relative pronoun) with the
antecedent Np of the matrix clause such relative pronouns are
moved from their original position to ‘comp’ position of the relative
clause.
According to Stockwell (1977:421). “A relative clause could
be a sentence embedded in the suitable structure as modifier of an
Np,
embedded
sentences
have
ccv
within
it
WH
pronominal
replacement for a deep structure.
And added (Adjunct)
information.
Relativization
is
a
syntactic
process
which
prevents
unnecessary repetition which can bring about confusion, though
the introduction of relative makers (who, which, that etc) these
relative markers have antecedents that are related to Np head.
In Koeneom relativization can occur in these position
in the sentence.
Subject – Np, Object – Np and indirect – Np relativization.
SUBJECT – NP RELATIVIZATION
1a.
Basic sentence
David Del ba
David has come
1b.
Derined sentence
David awe muan ko makrãta
David who go to school, come
“David who went to school has come”
ccvi
Basic Sentence
David ba
David come
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
Tns
N
I’
Agr
(pres)
VP
V’
V
David
Diel
Derived Sentence
David áwe muąn ko mąkrãtą bą
David who go to school come
“David who went to school has come”
ccvii
REL
Spec
Rel
Rel
David
I
NP
Spec
N
[ei]
Tns
Agr
V
I’
I
VP
PP
(past)
muan PP
ko
NP
N
makrãta
VP
V
ba
OBJECT-NP RELATIVIZATION
ccviii
Basic Sentence
1a.
Sola muąn ko tuluk
Sola go to market
“Sola went to the market”
DERIVED SENTENCE
1b.
In
tuluk
Sola
muąn
rel-market market Sola go
It was market that Sola went
CP
Spec
C’
C
NP
I
Spec
N
NP
N
I’
I
Tns
Agr
(past)
ccix
VP
V’
V
tuluk
Sola
INDIREC OBJECT-NP RELATILIZATION
1a.
Basic Sentence
Bidemi muąn ko tuluk lagos
Bidemi go to market lagos
Bidemi go to market in lagos
1b. Derived Sentence
lagos Bidemi muan ko tuluk
lagos rel bidemi go to market
it is lagos where Bidemi
ccx
muan
BASIC SENTENCE
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
Tns
N’
VP
Agr
V’
(pres)
V
N
PP
muan
P’
P
ko
ccxi
NP
N
N
Bidemi
lutuk Lagos
4.5 REFLEXIVIZATION
According to Yusuf (1990), “reflexivization is a process of
substituting another type of pronoun for plan pronouns.
The
substitutes are reflexive pronoun.
As their names indicate, they refer (to reflect) and earlier Np
(Noun phrase) in the same sentence, e.g.
(1) Mariam loves
Mariam loves herself
(2)
He laugh at him
He laugh at himself
(3) The thief killed the thief
The thief killed himself
These reflexives are neic subject of sentence. If they were,
they would not have an antecedent in the same sentence as
ccxii
required for their appropriateness and ungrammatically would
result i.e. herself killed the lion.
Quirk (1972) “reflexization as pronoun that ends with self
(singular) and selves (plural).
These suffixes are added to the
determiner possessive (myself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves).
In this type of transformation process two identical nominee
co-referential.
Relative pronouns show numerous properties with noun
phrase; their distribution is some what limited.
In Koeneom, reflexivization is used in basic form and
derived form.
1a.
Kunle tu Kunle
Kunle kill Kunle
“Kunle killed Kunle”
b.
Kunle tu kàlςĩ
Kunle kill himself
ccxiii
“Kunle killed himself”
2a
Sade dem Sade
Sade love Sade
“Sade loves Sade”
b.
Sade dem kàsaát
Sade love herself
Sade loves herself
1a.
Basic Sentence
REL
Spec
I’
I
NP
N’
VP
Tns Agr
(+past)
V’
V
N
tu
ccxiv
NP
NP
N’
N
Kunle
kill
Kunle
“Kunle killed Kunle”
1b. Derived Sentence
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
N’
VP
Tns Agr
(+past)
V’
V
N
NP
Pro
Kunle
Kunle
tu
kill
“Kunle killed himself”
ccxv
kàt∫ĩ
himself
4.6
PASSIVIZATION
According to Yusuf (1997:105) passive sentences are
sentence types where the logical object functions like the
subject in the surface structure. In a manner of speaking, the
passive construction is a demotion of the logical subject to allow
the speaker to focus attention on the object. This suggests that
if the underlying subject was mentioned at all, it would be in the
by-phrase as a peripheral argument.
The examples of passivization in Koeneom language
are below:
BASIC SENTENCE
1a.
Saheed sie kápá
Saheed eat rice
“Saheed ate rice”
DERIVED SENTENCE
1b.
kápá yen
sie koe Saheed
ccxvi
rice was eat by Saheed
“rice was eaten by Saheed”
2a.
gwim siee k p
man win cup
“The man won a cup”
2b.
k p
yen siee koe gwim
cup
was win by
man
“A cup was won by the man
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
N’
N
VP
Tns Agr
(+past)
V’
V
NP
N’
ccxvii
N
Saheed
Saheed
sie
eat
kappa
rice
“Saheed ate rice”
1a.
Basic Sentence
IP
Spec
NP
I’
I
Tns
N’
VP
Agr
Spec
N
V’
V
PP
P’
P
ccxviii
NP
N’
N
k p
cup
siee
win
koe gwim
by
man
“A cup was won by the man”
1b. Derived Sentence
IP
Spec
NP
I’
I
Tns
VP
Agr
Spec
N’
V’
V
N
PP
P
P
NP
N’
ccxix
N
Kappa
rice
sie
eat
koe
by
Saheed
Saheed
“rice was eaten by Saheed”
4.7 QUESTION FOMATION
Accoding to Radfod (1981:46) ‘question in any natural
language can be classified into a numbe of types. There are two
types of question in natural language: (1) yes/No question and (ii)
WH questions. These questions as asserted by Yusuf (1997:25)
correspond to their typical answers.
Examples of question formation in Koeneom language like,
WH question, Yes/No question and Echo question are explain
below:
ccxx
4.7.1 WH QUESTION
WH question are question that have asked using WH
element. They requires, it is used when information is required,
we use interrogative word like; what, who, would, whose, where,
how, and why.
Who > ask for information about an entity.
What > ask for information about somebody
Why > ask for reason
How > ask question about manner
Where > ask for information about place
Using your WH element or marker all position in the sentence
has question because they are all common to human language.
For examples in Koeneom,
1a.
sium singa weh
your name is what
1b.
weh singa sium?
ccxxi
What is your name?
2a.
gą
a
weh
you are who
2b.
weh
a
ga?
who are you?
3a.
weh
a
ga
baa
nee
where are you coming from
3b.
ga
a
baa
you are
nee weh
coming from where
Basic Sentence
Weh
ga
“Where are
a
baa
nee
you coming from?”
CP
Spec
WH-
C’
C
IP
ccxxii
Spec
I’
NP
I
N’ Tns Asp Agr
VP
V’
PP
pro
P’
V
weh
Where
a
are
ga
you
beting
“where are you coming from?”
b.
P
come nee
baa
from
coming
Derived Sentence
ga
a
you are
baa
nee weh
coming from where?
CP
C’
C
Spec
IP
Spec
NP
I’
I
WHVP
ccxxiii
N’
Tns Agr Asp spec
Pro
ga
V’
V’
PP
V
P’
P
beting
a come nee
weh
coming baa from
where
“you are coming from where”
4.7.2 YES/NO QUESTION
It is a question that require yes/No answer e.g. as this is
called following the Yes/No. In English they will remove the first
member
of
the
INFL
to
the
sentence
initial
position/complementizer position e.g. I am going, we are sleeping,
are you going, are we sleeping, I will come, will I come.
ccxxiv
In a situation whereby we don’t have any member of INFL
apart from them i.e. the subject and the auxiliary changes position
e.g. Did she traveled?
Yes/No question in Koeneom
Basic Sentence
1a.
a ashin shine
I
1b.
ready
ashin
am
2a.
am
a shiree
I
ready
lagimat ίni
she
2b.
ίni
can
3a.
3b.
Die
kpótam
can
dance
lagimat kpótam
she
dance
mun muan
They are
going
mun Die
muan
are
they going
ccxxv
Basic Sentence
She can dance
IP
Spec
I’
I
NP
Tns
VP
Agr Spec
N’
V’
V
Pro
lagimat
She
ini
can
kp tám
dance
Derived Sentence
ini
can
lagimat
kp tám
she
dance
IP
C’
C
Spec
IP
ccxxvi
Spec
I’
NP
I
VP
N’ Tns
Agr V’
Pro
ini
can
4.8
V
lagimat
she
kp tám Ø
dance
ADJUNCTION
Adjunction takes place when an item is adjoined included to be sister to
another node. This occur mostly in Yes/No question in some language but is
attested in Koeneom language.
For example:
1.
Tunde
sie
Tunde eat
biśie
food
koe
Yemi
together
Yemi
“Tunde and yemi ate the food together’
2.
laide dąm bąą
nzo nshini koe nike
laide will come here today with nike
“Laide and nike will come here today”
3.
Bisi muàn tàmtàm kąe ayo tàkdie party
Bisi go danced with ayo in party
ccxxvii
Bisi and ayo danced in the party
4.9
SUBSTITUTION
Substitution take place when some pro-form are substituted
for a redundant category instead of outright deletion.
Examples:
1.
enijgwegwúle sέέt
mótò sąąt a sέέt kumeé
sister my buy motor green I buy one
“my sister bought a green car and I bought one too”.
2.
gumistu muss sέέt a tu kumeé
man kill cat but I kill one too
“The man killed cat and I killed one too”.
ccxxviii
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, OBSERVATION, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
5.0 Introduction
This chapter presents a summary of chapter one to four. So
far, we have been able to explore, to an appreciable level, the
aspects of verb phrase in Koenoem language.
In all, the work
encompasses five chapters with verb phrase being the core of the
study.
5.1 Summary
Chapter one traced the historical background of Koenoem
people, their socio-cultural profile like religion, marriage, burial
rites and festival etc. It also identified the genetic classification of
ccxxix
the Koenoem in the world language. The chapter also had in its
fold, the scope and organization framework, method of data
collection and data analaysis etc. It also extended its frontiers to
the brief survey of the chosen framework which is chomsky’s
Government and Binding theory.
Chapter two presented the basic phonological and syntactic
concepts in Koenoem language. This chapter took care of areas
like; the sound inventories, syllable structure, lexical categories,
phrase types and sentence types. The systematic word order was
not excluded in this chapter.
Chapter three of this research critically examined the
Koenoem verb phrase.
Various definitions of verb phrase were
given according to different authors. The chapter being the nucleus
of the study, employed a systematic approach in the analysis of
verb phrase. First, it considered the basic or minimum verb phrase
in the language, later to its maximum expansion.
ccxxx
Chapter four centered on transformational processes. These
include; reflexivization, question formation, passivization, focus
construction, deletion among others were briefly discussed.
5.2 Observation/Conclusion
The language operates an open syllable system i.e. the
phonotactics of the language does not allow a consonant ending.
The linearity or word order in the language is SVO i.e.
subject, verb and object order.
The language operates both isolating and inflectional
language typology. Inflectional is highly grammatical in language
i.e. inflections do not change words meaning but provides
grammatical information like tense, plural and number etc.
ccxxxi
The configuration of the verb phrase is verb first just like
English verb phrase.
5.3 Recommendation
Through this research, useful insight has been drawn from
the structure of Koenoem Verb Phrase. As a matter of fact, the
language has not been exposed to linguistic scrutiny. There is the
need for linguist to focus attention on the language. This project
has only studied an integral part of the various fields of linguistics.
Only the Verb Phrase has been explored in this research.
However, some of my colleagues have already being working on
the phonology, morphology, question formation and negation.
This is not exhaustive, we hereby recommend that linguist will do
ccxxxii
well by focusing research light on the other aspects of the
language. Researchers who would like to further research into the
study of Koenoem language will find this research as a platform
into the language.
ccxxxiii
REFERENCES
Cook (1988:86): Chomsky’s Universal
Grammar: An Introduction praeer: Blackwell Publishers.
Horrock, G. (1987) Generative Grammar. London: Longman Group.
Welmers, P. (1959) Structure of Africa Languages London:
Longman Press.
Yule, G. (1996): The Study of Language new York: Cambridge
University Press.
Lamidi M. T. (2008): Aspect of Chomskyan Grammar. Oyo Nigeria:
Emman Publication.
Chomsky, N. (1981) Lectures on Government and Binding,
Dordrecht: Foris.
Sanusi, I. O. (1996): Introducting the Linguist and Linguistics,
Ilorin: Jimbsons Publishers.
ccxxxiv
Sockwell, R. P. (1977), Foundations of Syntactic Theory, New
Gersy: Prentice Hall.
Yusuf, O. (1992): Introduction to Linguistics. University Press,
Ilorin.
Yusuf, O. (1997): Transformational Generative Grammar. An
Introduction, Ijebu-Ode.
AFRO-ASIATIC
Ancient Egyptian
Semantic
Berber
Chadic
Cushitic
North Chadic
Easth Chadic
West Chadic
South Chadic
A2
A3(Angas gerka)
ccxxxv
Angas proper
1
2
geomai
pyapun
Koenoem
montol
tai
FIGURE 1: GENETIC CLASSIFICATION OF KOENOEM
LANGUAGE
Source www.ethnologue. com(Accessed (November 2010)
14
IBANDAN WORD LIST OF 400 BASIC ITEMS
Trial (English) Version
Give the following information:
1.
Investigator’s Name: Oparemi Saidat Olabisi 07/15CB085
ccxxxvi
2.
Investigator’s Address: Department of Linguistic, Faculty of
Art,
University of Ilorin (400 Level), Ilorin
3. Informant’s Name:
Mr.
Gwatil Titus
4. Informant’s age (A) Official Name:
28 years
old
5. Informant’s Language:
Koenoem
(B) Name use by speakers:
Koenoem
6. What other languages does the informant speak:
English,
Pipaun,
Hausa, Tal
7. Informant’s home town or village:
Lifidi
8. How long has informant lived in home town or village:
years
ccxxxvii
20
9. Where is this town
(a)
List the nearest larger towns and state,
there distance and direction: Doka
15km,
Zomo 10kam,
Piapun
20km
(b) Name
the
Local
government
Authority:
Shendam
(c) Name the District of Country:
Koenoem
(d) Name the Division:
North
Central
(e) Name of Province:
North
(f)
Plateau
Name the Region/State:
state
(g) Name the Country:
10.
Name by which speakers of languages are known:
(a)
Officially:
(b)
Among themselves:
Koenoem
Koenoem
ccxxxviii
Nigeria
11.
Does the languages have written forms:
No
12.
If it doesn’t, name the language whose spelling is taken as
basis for the spelling of the words in the list, (e.g English,
Hausa)
13.
Hausa
what other town (or district) etc) speak the same
language as the information’s town?
Zamkwo
piapun
1.
Head:
ka
[ ká]
2.
Hair (Head)
tip-Ka
[tip-ká]
3.
Eye:
yit
[jit]
4.
Ear
kom
[k‫כֿ‬m]
5.
Nose
kánzán
[kãzã)
6.
Mouth
khápu
[xápu]
7.
Teeth
hos
[h‫] כֿכֿ‬
8.
Tongue
lis
[Li ]
9.
Jaw
jom
[ ‫כֿכֿ‬m]
10.
Chin
tip-Kom
[tip-k‫כֿ‬m]
11.
Bebard
pep
[pέέp]
12.
Neck
tok
[t ‫כֿכֿ‬k)
ccxxxix
13.
Breast (female)
yoi
[ j ‫ כֿ כֿ‬i)
14.
Heart
folok
[f ‫ כֿ‬l‫ כֿ‬k]
15.
Belly (external)
gbit
[gbit]
16.
Stomach (internal)
takdiegbit
[tákdiegbit]
17.
Navel
fiank um
[fiákum]
18.
Back
dánkoong
[dák‫כּכֿ‬ή]
19.
Arm
pufram
[pufrám]
20.
Hand
sai
[sái]
21.
Nail (finger or toe)
shuen
[ uέ]
22.
Buttocks
pumuukan
[pumvukã]
23.
Penis
dop
[dòp]
24.
Vagina
dul
[dul]
25.
Thigh
shi
[ i]
26.
leg
kwák
[kwák]
27.
Knee
pufram
[pufrám]
28.
body
sopshil
[S‫כּכּ‬p ik]
29.
Skin
shimsopshik
[Sims‫כּ‬p ik]
ccxl
30.
Bone
ghas
[rás]
31.
Blood
tiem
[tiem]
32.
Salva
kialale or tili
[tili]
33.
Wine
kazin
[kázĩ]
34.
Feaces
fubukun
[fubuku]
35.
Food
bisa
[bisá]
36.
Water
am
[am]
37.
Soup/sauce
tok
[t‫כֿ‬k]
38.
Meat
luo
[lu‫]כּ‬
39.
Fat
miei
[miei]
40.
Fish
sherep
[ έrέp]
41.
Oil
miei
[miei]
42.
Salt
khán
[xã]
43.
Wine/beer
mies
[mies]
44.
Palm wine
pami
[pami]
45.
Yam
shim
[ im]
46.
Cassava
rogo
[r‫כּ‬go]
ccxli
47.
Guinea corn
swo
[sw‫]כּ‬
48.
Millet
mái
[mái]
49.
Maize
fiaful
[fiáful]
50.
Beans
Irim
[Irim]
51.
Papper
shita
[ itá]
52.
Okra
tokla
[t‫כּ‬klá]
53.
Plantain
ayaba
[ájaba]
54.
Banana
ayaba
[ájaba]
55.
Orange
lemu
[lέmu]
56.
Groundnut
komkwan
[k‫כּ‬mkwá]
57.
Kola nut
goro
[goro]
58.
Tobacco
táába
[táábá]
59.
Cotton
tepkár
[tepkár]
60.
Oil Palm
mierkpán
[mierkpá]
61.
Seed
seerem
[seerem]
62.
Grass
k’wám
[kwám]
63.
Tree
táng
[táή]
ccxlii
64.
Leaf
komtang
[k‫כּ‬mtή]
65.
Bark (of tree)
dánkomtaή
[dák‫כּ‬mtáή]
66.
That
yáήlọ
[jãήl‫]כּ‬
67.
Thorn
ir
[ir]
68.
Stick
dám
[dám]
69.
Firewood
shièp
[ ièp]
70.
Charcoal
kwarius
[kwárius]
71.
Fire
ushu
[u u]
72.
Smoke
yel
[jel]
73.
Ashes
kpisi
[kpisiusu]
74.
Water Pot
tul-am
[tul-ám]
75.
Cooking
shet
[ έt]
76.
Calabash
dá
[dá]
77.
Grinding stone
pán esfin
[páέsfĩ]
78.
Mortar
chin
[t i]
79.
Knife
chik
[t ik]
80.
Hoe
shen
[se]
ccxliii
81.
Axe
sep
[sep]
82.
Matchet
langa langa
[lãgálãgá]
83.
Spear (War)
kop
[k‫כּ‬p]
84.
Bow (Weapon)
kop
[k‫כּ‬p]
85.
Snow
tinkop
[tik‫כּ‬p]
86.
Iron (Metal)
87.
Mat
peter
[pεtεr]
88.
Basket
bándái
[bádái]
89.
Bag
tip
[tip]
90.
Rope
ten
[te]
91.
Needle
zual
[zuál]
92.
Thread
teήzual
[teήzuál]
93.
Cloth (Material)
gokbi
[g‫כּ‬kbi]
94.
Rope/gown/smock/(man’s)gokbi
[g‫כּ‬kbi]
95.
Hat/Cap
bomka
[bomká]
96.
Shoe
shop
[ op]
97.
Money
shol
[ ‫כּ‬l]
ccxliv
98.
Door (way)
pupun
[pupu]
99.
Wall (of house)
koήlo
[k‫כּ‬ήl]
100. Room
takgwepin
[tákgwepi]
101. House
loo
[l‫]כּכּ‬
102 Compound
takgweloo
[takgwel‫]כּכּ‬
103 Town
letuk
[letuk]
104 Village
loomai
[l‫כּכּ‬mái]
105 Well
konam
[k‫כּ‬nám]
106 Rubbish Heap
pinfok
[pĩf‫כּ‬k]
107 Road
yeei
[jeeĩ]
108 Market
letuk
[letuk]
109 Farm
mai
[mái]
110 Bush
kwam
[kwám]
111. River
konhám
[kohám]
113. Boat (Canoe)
kuelekuele
[kuέlέkuέlέ]
114. Stone
paή
[páή]
112. Sea
ccxlv
115. Mountain
paήupa/paήugbei [pãήugbei]
116. Ground
yeli
[jeli]
117 Earth (soil)
dil or yiel
[jiel]
118. Sand
yielήbal
[jielήbál]
119. Dust
pinnfok
[piήfok]
120. Mud
bok
[b‫כּכּ‬k]
121. Wind
mhad/kom
[k‫כּ‬m]
122. Rain
fueni
[fueni]
123. Sunshine
phsiilá
[phsiilá]
124. Sun
phisi
[phisi]
125. Soon
ndetno
[ndέtn‫]כּ‬
126. Star
záái
[záál]
127. Day
bit
[bit]
128. Night
payii/gong
[g‫כּ‬ή]
129. Dawn
bitpaή
[bit páή]
130. Darkness
pakwo
[pákw‫]כּ‬
131. Sleep
sáám
[sáám]
ccxlvi
132. Work
bishit
[bi it]
133. War
lek
[lέk]
134. Fear
loot
[l‫כּכּ‬t]
135. Hunger
nem
[nem]
136. Thirts
tok-fia
[t‫כּ‬k-fiá]
137. Rain
yii
[jii]
138. Rainy Season
pashi
[pa i]
139. Dry Season
loon
[l‫]כּכּ‬
140. Song
taam
[táám]
141. Story
lábári
[lábári]
142. Word
shik/yoii
[ ik]
143. Lie(s)
dan
[dá]
144. Thing
bii
[bii]
145. Animal
bikan
[biká]
146. Goat
ri
[ri]
147. He goat
ribusung
[ribusuή]
148. Sheep
tomu
[t‫כּ‬mu]
ccxlvii
149. Cow (Zebu)
nuή
[nuή]
150 Horse
nbiziή
[nbiziή]
151. Donkey
njakii
[nd ákii]
152. Dog
ashii/laashi
[láá i]
153. Cat
moosii
[m‫כֿכֿ‬sii]
154. Rat
khazam
[kházám]
155. Chicken (domestic fowl) koo
[k‫]כּכּ‬
156. Cock
kooήnisu
[k‫כּכּ‬ήnisu]
157. Duck
nsooru
[ns‫כּכּ‬ru]
158. Egg
háási
[háási]
159. Wing
kikáp
[kikáp]
160. Feather
komkikap
or
ripki
[k‫כּ‬mkikáp/ripkikap]
161. Horn
sawm
[sáwm]
162. Tail
dang
[dáή]
163. Leopard
lith
[lith]
164. Crocodile
dang
[dááή ]
ccxlviii
káp
165. Elephant
tose
[t‫כּ‬se]
166. Buffalo (bush cow)
kung
[kũή]
167. Monkey
pit
[phit]
168. Tortoise
kwũi
[kwũi]
169. Snake
zem
[zέm]
170. Lizard (common variety) tágbo
[tágbò]
171. Crab
tise
[ti e]
172. Toad (frog)
nòmet
[n‫כּ‬met]
173. Snail
zemán
[zέmá]
174. House
lò
[l‫]כּ‬
175. Bee
ňshi
[n i]
176. Mosquito
fũd
[fũd]
178. Bird
yeri
[jeri]
179. Vulture
nfiak
[nfiák]
180. Kite
gyara
[gjárá]
181. Hawk
gyara
[gjárá]
177. Louse
ccxlix
182. Guinea fork
shom
[ ‫כּ‬m]
183. Bat
ntet
[ntet]
184. Person
gwũim
[gwũim]
185. Name
sham
[ ám]
186. Man
gwingoemisi
[gwĩgoemisi]
187. Male
mishikom
[mi ik m]
188. Husband
mishi/gwũlò
[mi i]
189. Woman
láárep
[láárέp]
190. Female
gwimgũmáát
[gwimgũmáát]
191. Wife
maat
[maat]
192 Old person
gwimgwinfel
[gwĩgwĩfέl]
193. Senior/older
gwimgbee
[gwimgbee]
194. Father
baba
[bábá]
195. Mother
mámá
[mámá]
196. Child
maa
[máá]
197. Children
njep
[n
ccl
p]
198. Son
nlaa
[nláá]
199 Daughter
láarep
[láárεp]
200. Brother (sinner) for man hemnũήgber
[hεmnήũgber]
201 Brother (younger) for man hemnήule
[hεmnuήule]
202 Sister (older) for man eniήgwegwegbe [eniήgwágwegbe]
203 Sister (younger) for man eniήgwegwũle [enĩήgwέgwũlε]
204 Mother’s brother
kinn
[kĩn]
205. In
láháyá
[láhájá]
206. Guest (stranger)
mazep/ήmoshi
[mázεp]
207. Friend
gwĩshaĩ
[gwĩ ai]
208. King
long
[lή‫]כּ‬
209. Hunter
gwingwinsin
[gwĩgwĩsĩ]
210. thief
wet
[wet]
211. Bocklor (native)
gwimgwineen
[gwimgwĩeε]
212. Witch
gbisot
[gbis‫כּ‬t]
213. Chief
long
[l‫ כּ‬ή]
214. Medicine
ren
[rên]
ccli
215. Fetish (juju)
gbisot
[gbsi‫כּ‬t]
216. Corpse
kwumgbin
[kwumgbĩ]
217. God
naan
[náá]
218. One
kunmee
[kũmee]
219. Two
vueli
[vueli]
220 Three
kun
[kũ]
221. Four
feri
[fεri]
222. Five
paat
[páát]
223. Six
punmo
[pũm‫]כּ‬
224. Seven
punvali
[pũváli]
225. Eight
pũnkũn
[pũkũ]
226. Nine
punfári
[pũfári]
227. Ten
saari
[sáári]
228. Eleven
sáárishikákunme [sáári ikákũme]
229. Twelve
saarishika voeli [sáár ikikávoeli]
230. Thirteen
sarishikakun
[sáári ikákun]
231. Fourteen
sarishikaferi
[sáári ikaferi]
cclii
232. Fifteen
sarishikapaat
[sari ikápaat]
233. Sixteen
sarishikapunmo [sari kápunmo]
234. Seventeen
sarishikapunvali [sari ikápũnvali]
235. Eighteen
sarishikapunkun [sari ikápũkũ]
236. Nineteen
sarishikapunfari [sari ikápũfári]
237 twenty
yaagwim
[jaagwim]
238 Twenty-one yaagwinkunήkwakunma
[jaagwikunkwakunma]
239 Twenty-two Yaagwinkunήkwavueli
[jaagwikunkw
akavueli]
240 Thirty
yaagwimkunήkwasari
[jaaagwimkumkunkwasari]
241 Forty
yaagwinmvueli
242 Fifty
yaagwinvuelikakwasari
[jaagwivueli]
[jaagwivuelikakwasan]
243 Sixty
yaagukun
ccliii
[jaaguku]
244 Seventy
yaagwinkunkinkwasari
[jaagukukikwari]
245 Eighty
yaaguferi
[jaaguferi]
246 Ninety
yaaguferikunkwasari
[jaaguferikukwasari]
247 Hundred
yaagwinpaat
[jaagwipaat]
248 Two Hundred hundred
yaagwinsaari
[jaagwisaari]
249 Four hundred
yaagwin saarikavueli
[jaagwisaarikavuelo]
250 Black
tiep
[tiep]
251 White
pia
[pia]
252 Red
gbang
[gbãή]
253 Big (great, large) pak
254 Small
[pak]
lẹẹ
[lεε]
255 Long (of stick) kunn
[ku]
256 Short (of stick) koep
[koép]
257 Old 9opp. New0 feli
[feli]
258 New
[bìgbìpu]
bìgbìpu
ccliv
259 Wet
bìgbìgberek
[bìgbìgberek]
260 Dry
bìgbìefia
[bìgbìefia]
261 Hot (as fire)
bìgbìlaa
[bìgbìlaa]
262 Cold
bìgbìsom
[bigbisom]
263 Right (side)
tomgoshei
[tomgo re]
264 Left
tonkulu
[t kulu]
265 Good
bigoezang/dong
[
266 bad
bìgbièbìsì
[bìgbièbìsı]
267 Sweet (tasty)
bıgbieshang
(bigbıesāgή]
268 heavy
tìen
[tìe]
269 full
gam
[gaam]
270 strong
gyang
[g ăo]
271 hard
kin
[kĪ]
272 eat
shon
[ o]
273 drink
shuwo/ bishūwo
[ uwo/bìjūwo
274 swallow
dál
[dal]
275 bite
hath
[hat ]
cclv
]
276 lick
kpalang
[kpáLáή]
277 taste
shang
[sāĵή]
278 spit
salak
[salak]
279 vomit
fuat
[fuat]
280 urinate
dingkoezing
[dĺg ‫כ‬eziή]
281 delecate
bukọm
[buk‫כ‬m]
282 give birth
laa
[laa]
283 die
mut
[mut]
284 stand (up)
da‫ו‬
[dā‫]ו‬
285 sit (down)
tọn
[t‫כ‬n]
286 kneel
kwurm
[kwurm]
287 lie (down)
tẹl
[tєl]
288 sleep
saam
[sāām]
289 dream
suọm
[su‫כ‬m]
290 go
muán
[muá]
291 come
bàá
[bàá]
292 return (intr)
bankọn
[bāk‫]כ‬
cclvi
293 arrive
yộu
[јộu]
294 enter
zanm
[zàňm]
295 climb
kàà/ han
[kàà]/ hà
296 descend
zanm
[zāam]
297 fall
pal
[pal]
298 walk
muan
[muă]
299 run
sủύ
[sủύ]
300 jump
Mẹẹt/ marap
[mєєt]
301 fly
yol
[ј‫כ‬l]
302 pass (by)
diel
[diel]
[dЗiel]
303 turn round (intr) jiel
304 follow
pimmuọp
[pimmu‫כ‬p]
305 see
naá
[náà]
306 here
kiel
[kiЄL]
307 tiuch (with hand)duk
[duk]
308 know
man
[má]
309 remember
kakdiká
[kàkdikā]
cclvii
310 forget
mondiká
[mόndika]
311 thing
mèèí/bí
[mèèbí]
312 learn
kám
[kám]
313 laugh
swuei
[swei]
314 weep (cry)
wel
[wel
315 sing
làp
[láp]
316 dance
tàm
[tàm]
317 play (games)
shilák
[ hilák]
318 fear
lọọt
[l‫ככ‬t]
319 greet (salute)
tái
[tál]
320 abuse
ful/fıl
[ful//fıl]
321 fight
rẹnchik
[rЄt ık]
322. Call (Summon)
yòng
[j‫כּכּ‬ή]
323. Send (Someone)
pall
[páii]
324. Say (direct speech)
kwel
[kwεl]
325. Ask (Question)
talnyoi
[tálnj‫כּ‬i]
326. Reply
ánsá
[ãnsá]
cclviii
327. Ask (request)
talbi
[tálbi]
328. Refuse
nyan
[nja]
329. Like
deem
[dεεm]
330. wait (desire)
deem
[dεεm]
331. Look for
liep
[liep]
332. Lose (something)
pali
[páli]
333. Get (obtain)
kath
[káth]
334. Gather (things)
hádá
[hádáá]
335. Steal
weeti
[wέέti]
336. Take (one thing)
laap
[laap]
337. Carry (Load)
maή
[maaή]
338. Show (something)
nuná/kám
[nũná/Kám]
339. Give
pòen
[pòê]
340. Sell
sêêt
[sέέt]
sêêt
[sέέt]
341. Chose
342. Buy
343. Pay (for something) ‘’kwet
cclix
[kwεt]
344 Dount
tank
[táήk]
345. Divide (share out)
kap
[káp]
346. Finish (intr)
laat
[laat]
347. Work
348. Shoot
taat
[taat]
349. Kill
tu
[tuu]
350 Skin (flay)
sũpshik
[sũp ik]
351. Cool
sheet
[ έέt]
352. Fry
tung
[tũή]
353. Roast
usi
[uusi]
354. Pound (in mortar) tũbi
[tũbi]
355. Grind
esi
[ε i]
356. Pour
kwán
[kwã]
357. Throw
kom
[k‫כּ‬m]
358. Weep
kũm
[kũm]
359. Burn (tr)
piak
[piak]
360. Extinguish(tr)
nyet
[njεt]
cclx
361. Plait (hair)
piat
[paat]
362. Weave (cloth)
piat
[piaat]
363 Spin (thread)
nedee (nεdέε)/miep
[miεp]
364 Sew
tan
[ta]
365 Put on (clothes) leep (lεεp] /
ron [r‫]כ‬
366. Take off (clothes) mang
[mãή]
367. Wash (things)
viang
[viảή]
368. Was (beey)
ndook
[nd‫ככ‬k]
369. Wring (clothes) pioi
[pioi]
370. Pull
diel
[diel]
371. Push
tushi
[tu i]
372. Beat (person)
bgep
[bwεp]
373. Beat (drum)
bgep
[bwεp]
374. Break (pot calabash) pien
[pĩε]
375. Break (a stick) tap
[tap]
376. Tea (tre)
377. Split (tr)
gaap
[gaap]
cclxi
378. Pierce
pieerem
[piεεrεm]
379. Hoe
“sheen
[ εέ]
380. Dig
ook
[ k]
381. Soak (seeds in holed) ‘’koop
[k p]
382. Plant (tubers)
màĩi
[màĩĩ]
383. Bud
pĩàk
[pĩàk]
384. Build(house)
dĩĩk
[dĩĩk]
385. Mould (pot)
diik
[diik]
386. Carve (wood)
jeel
[dзεεi]
387. Make
jààrà ( έààrà)/miep
[miεp]
[jаа]
388. Hold (in hand) yaa
389. Tie Rope
bọọt
[b‫ככ‬t]
390. Untie
leng
[lέή]
391. Cover (in hand) doii
[d‫כ‬ii]
392 Open (door)
hap (hаp)/leeng
[lεέή]
393 Close
saa (sаа)/doi
[d‫כ‬i]
394. (be) rotten
deem/duu
[dεεm]/duu
cclxii
395. Stink
duu
[duu]
[dааm]
396. Swell (intr(of boil) deem
397. Blow (with mouth) fọọt
[f‫ככ‬t]
398. Blow (of wind) nọọk
[n‫ככ‬k]
399. Surpass
del
[del]
400. Dwell
zọm
[z‫כ‬m]
cclxiii
PRONOUNS
INDEPENDENT SUBJECT OBJECT
POSSESSIVE
han
nman
2nd
gie
Nmaak
3rd
moen
Nnun
Singular
1st
Plural 1st ni
Nman
2nd
gie
Nmaak
3rd
moen
nnun
Where there are several different forms for one pronoun,
include that all, adding notes where necessary e.g different forms
for masculine and feminine, inclusive and exclusive, personal and
impersonal or pro-vocalic and pre-consonantal forms.
interrogative pronouns.
What?
amee
What?
aginie
cclxiv
What?
awee
cclxv