The Syntactic Position of Negative Markers in Idoma and Tiv: A Deviation from Language Universal Validity
0
조회
0
다운로드
1
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
Syntacticians and typologists have carried out a cross-linguistic study of the syntactic position of the negative marker with respect to the verb in a given sentence (Greenberg 1966 and Dryer 1988). The objective of this study is to carry out a comparative study of the negative marking strategies in both Idoma and Tiv languages, spoken in Benue State, Nigeria. Given the fact that the two languages belong to the same genetic family (Benue -Congo) and share the same basic word order (subject, S; object, O; verb ,V); the study is intended to find out the extent to which the negative marking strategies in the two languages conform to the assumption under language universals. The assumption is that there is an overall tendency for the negative marker to precede the main verb in SVO languages. That is, a location between the subject and the verb. Since none of the two writers speaks any of the two languages, data were collected through interview method. And the frame technique method was adopted in presenting structured grammatical sentences in English to native speakers of the two languages to translate to both Idoma and Tiv. The Principles and Parameters approach was employed for our analysis in this study. Our findings revealed that what obtains in both Idoma and Tiv negative constructions is contrary to the assumption under language universals. Instead of preceding the main verb, the negative markers occur at the sentence-final position, in each of the two languages. Notwithstanding the deviation from the language universal validity, we have discovered a high degree of similarities in the syntactic behaviour of negative markers in both Idoma and Tiv languages.
Abstract
Syntacticians and typologists have carried out a cross-linguistic study of the syntactic position of the negative marker with respect to the verb in a given sentence (Greenberg 1966 and Dryer 1988). The objective of this study is to carry out a comparative study of the negative marking strategies in both Idoma and Tiv languages, spoken in Benue State, Nigeria. Given the fact that the two languages belong to the same genetic family (Benue -Congo) and share the same basic word order (subject, S; object, O; verb ,V); the study is intended to find out the extent to which the negative marking strategies in the two languages conform to the assumption under language universals. The assumption is that there is an overall tendency for the negative marker to precede the main verb in SVO languages. That is, a location between the subject and the verb. Since none of the two writers speaks any of the two languages, data were collected through interview method. And the frame technique method was adopted in presenting structured grammatical sentences in English to native speakers of the two languages to translate to both Idoma and Tiv. The Principles and Parameters approach was employed for our analysis in this study. Our findings revealed that what obtains in both Idoma and Tiv negative constructions is contrary to the assumption under language universals. Instead of preceding the main verb, the negative markers occur at the sentence-final position, in each of the two languages. Notwithstanding the deviation from the language universal validity, we have discovered a high degree of similarities in the syntactic behaviour of negative markers in both Idoma and Tiv languages.
참고문헌 (22)
- Akiga, B., "Akiga’s Story: The Tiv Tribe as Seen by One of Its Members" (1965), OUP
- Armstrong, R., "People of the Niger-Benue Confluence, Ethnographic Survey of Africa" (1955), International African Institute
- Atel, T., "Dynamics of Tiv Religion and Culture: A Philosophical-Theological Perspective" (2004), Free Enterprise Publishers
- Blench, R., "The Benue-Congo Languages: A Proposed Internal Classification" (2004), CUP
- Cook, V., "Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: An Introduction" (2007), Blackwell Publishing
- Crystal, D., "A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics" (2008), Blackwell Publishing
- Dryer, M., "Studies in Syntactic Typology" (1988), John Benjamins
- Erim, E., "Idoma Nationality 1600-1900: Problem in Studying the Origins and Development of Ethnicity" (1981), Forth Dimension Publishing Company
- Gbor, J., "Mdugh U Tiv Man Mnyer Ve Ken Benue" (1978), Gaskiya
- Greenberg, J., "Universals of Language" (1966), MIT Press
- Haegeman, L., "Introduction to Government and Binding Theory" (1991), Blackwell Publishing
- Haegeman, L., "The Syntax of Negation" (1995), CUP
- Horrocks, G., "Generative Grammar" (1987), Longman
- Jackson, H., "Key Terms in Linguistics" (2007), Continuum
- Jespersen, O., "Negation in English and Other Languages" (1917), George Allen and Unwin
- Lyons, J., "Linguistic Semantics: An Introduction" (1995), CUP
- Malmkjaer, K., "The Linguistics Encyclopedia" (2002), Routledge
- Vladimir Pericliev, "Language Universals: Their Discovery and Verbalization by Machine", Journal of Universal Language, 19(1), pp.33~55 (2018), 언어연구소[DOI]
- Sanusi, I., "Nigeria Languages, Literatures, Culture & Reforms: A Festchrisft for Ayo Bamgbose", pp.613~620 (2007), M&J Grand Orbit Communications
- Sanusi, I., "Introducing the Linguist & Linguistics" (2017), University Press PLC
- Umaru, Y., "The Syntax of Relative Clause Constructions in Idoma: A Government and Binding Approach", Ph.D., pp.2016
- Watter, J., "African Languages: An Introduction" (2000), CUP