A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE SENTENCE STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH AND IGARRA LANGUAGES
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
- Qualitative
- Library / Doctrinal
- Abstract : Available
- Table of Content: Available
- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 3000
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The most primary aim of language is communication, and communication can be transactional or interactional. However, different languages have different forms and structures. It is in view of this that the research intends to look at the sentence structures of English and Igarra languages (Olaofe, 1982). The studies that have been carried out on the two languages vary a great deal. English language has a lot of materials on studying the sentence structure unlike the Igarra language which was not touched until the twentieth century (Olaofe, 1982). Therefore there are few works done on it and most of the materials are in form of seminar papers that have not yet been published.
Nigeria is without question, a multi-lingual society due to the existence of many languages. The number of languages present in Nigeria has been estimated to lie between 360 and 400. Olaofe (1982) put the number at 394. Among them are Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, which are recognized as the three major languages, while Tiv, Ebira, Idoma, Nupe, Igala, Fulfulde, Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio, Itsekiri are minor languages in Nigeria.
In this study, attention is focused specifically on the contrastive analysis of the sentence structures of English and Igarra languages. Adeyanju (1978) Contrastive analysis is concerned with the similarities and differences which result from the comparison between the two different languages. This is done by looking at the structures of the sentences of the studied languages.
Before going into the main body of the work it is of paramount importance to look at historical profiles of Igarra speakers. Apart from being the name of the language, Igarra, is the headquarters of Akoko Edo Local Government Area which is today the oldest in Nigerian Federation. Igarra which is otherwise known as Etuno has a very congenial and serene atmosphere as it is nestled among large boulders and exotic greens which explain why the chief occupation of the people was and remains farming though it is fast becoming unfashionable as Igarra has had its own brush with urban drift. It is estimated that more than 75% of its sons and daughters live and work outside the town (Olaofe, 1982).
Igarra is a unique town in Edo state as it shares and has little in common with any other in the state. Its history, language and cultural heritage has nothing to do with those of neighbours as close as Enwan, Somorika or even the Uneme people. It has been established that Igarra people have a common ancestry with the Igalas and the Igbiras of Kogi state, even as there are no other theories as to the origin of the Igarra people but the former remains more plausible and has become widely accepted (Adeyanju, 1978). The others are largely myths and legends unsubstantiated with little or no shred of evidence.
Below is a list of some basic greetings in igarra language:
HELLO – CHAO
GOOD MORNING – YENNE GOOD
AFTERNOON – YANRODU
GOOD NIGHT – ADUFUO
GOOD BYE – NAVE
WELCOME – KANE
WELL DONE – KORO
Furthermore, Igarra speakers or Etuno are mainly Christians. They pre-dorminate in Akoko-Edo local government of Edo state, Nigeria.
Knowing and understanding the sentences of any languages is of primary importance and a foundation to anyone who wants to get to the task of the structural analysis or study of any portion of the sentences.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- One of the objectives of this study is to identify the links or similarities in English and Igarra language sentence structures.
- It is also the aim of this project to look at how the verb of each of the languages operates.
- It would also make a syntactic analysis of the two languages.
- It follows therefore that this piece of work would be important for language teaching and as such create better Igarra speakers of English language.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The statement of the problems is to make a contrastive analysis of the sentence structure of English and Igarra language by looking at the aspect of both of them.
The study also attempt to analyses how the two languages are structured.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research will benefit the students of language, especially those who are concerned with grammar and the field of structural analysis of language. This is because it will provide them with an example of how different findings of the field can be exploited to examine a form of language in use. Also the research will serve as a source of further study of this nature. This research will look among other things at the form and sentence structure of both English and Igarra languages, by analyzing the structure of phrases, clauses, and sentences of languages.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
This research is limited to only the contrastive analysis of the sentence structure of English and Igarra languages. The data collected for this research are from grammar books and native Igarra speakers.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To guide our research into the problem highlighted earlier, research questions are formulated as follows
- Is there any syntactic difference between Igarra and English language as far as sentence structures are concerned.
- Is there any difference between the sentence structures of English and Igarra languages?
- What are the similarities / dissimilarities between the two languages (English and Igarra)?
- Is use of tenses in English and Igarra languages the same
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following are the definitions of some key words in the context in which they are used in this work.
- SENTENCE:- The traditional, or common sense of definition states that a sentence is a group of words that expresses a thought. The problem comes in defining what a thought is. The phrase an egg expresses a thought but is it a sentence? A sentence like I closed thedoor ‘because it was cold’ expresses two thoughts and yet it is one sentence.
- CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS:- Contrastive analysis is concerned with the similarities and differences which result from the comparison between two different things. Banjo, A. (1969)
- STRUCTURE:- These refer also to the way in which the parts of something are connected together, arranged or organized. In other words it is how things are organized according to some kind of principle or pattern.
- GRAMMAR:- This refers to the rules in a language for changing the form of words and joining them into sentences. In other words, grammar is the rule governing the use of language.
- ENGLISH:- Is the language of Britain, Ireland, American, Australia, and some other countries.
- IGARRA:- Igarra is the language of Etuno and Igarra people in Edo State.
CONCLUSION
In this chapter we have seen the background to the study, significance of the research and the research question. Importantly in this chapter also scope and limitation, statement of the problems and definition of terms were also discussed.
However, in the next chapter the research will dwell on the review of the related literature.
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