Greg Obiamalu | NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY AWKA, NIGERIA (original) (raw)

Papers by Greg Obiamalu

UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2016

This paper presents a descriptive account of some grammatical categories in Ọ̀gbahù dialect of th... more This paper presents a descriptive account of some grammatical categories in Ọ̀gbahù dialect of the Ìgbò language, one of the three major languages of Nigeria, West Africa. The purpose of this study is to show how these grammatical categories operate in Ọ̀gbahù dialect. These grammatical categories (functors) are Tense, Aspect, Negation and Agreement. The study reveals that both Tense and Aspect exist as functional categories in Ọ̀gbahù dialect, contrary to earlier works on Ìgbò which claimed that Aspect rather than Tense is explicitly marked in Ìgbò. The-lV suffix clearly instantiates past tense in different constructions in Ọ̀gbahù. The study further reveals the existence of the E-/Aprefix as a default agreement marker which occurs only in negative constructions.

The notion of "case" has been a controversial one, yet the grammatical terminology has survived r... more The notion of "case" has been a controversial one, yet the grammatical terminology has survived right from traditional Grammar to the current grammatical theories. This paper critically examines the notion of case within different grammatical frameworks. Our interest is mainly on the role of syntax and semantics in case determination and the level of grammatical analysis (deep or surface) at which case is assigned. The paper looks at the notion of case as conceived in traditional grammar and the explores how the concept has been adapted to antecedent grammatical theories up to the Principles and parameters theory. The paper concludes that in all the grammatical models, Case has both syntactic and semantic relevance.

Litotes is understatement while hyperbole is overstatement. Litotes is linguistically characteriz... more Litotes is understatement while hyperbole is overstatement. Litotes is linguistically characterized by a negative. However, by context of use it contributes to a positive output. Hyperbole is not characterized by any specific linguistic elements; words are used to express situations beyond reality. The litotic and hyperbolic phenomena receive more literary stylistic than linguistic or pragmalinguistic attention. In this paper, we provide some morphological/syntactic evidence in Igbo that gives strong indication that the litotic and hyperbolic relations are encoded in the language; hence could be accounted for linguistically or pragmalinguistically. We identify that the morphemes,-gbu "kill" and-rụ "corrupt" mark the relations. These morphemes could be free and in some cases appear as bound morphemes (i.e., affixes, particularly suffixes). In such cases as suffixes they serve to express the litotic or hyperbolic relations. They express the litotic relation when they modify a state of affairs in which excessiveness may have a positive implication. Hence, the negative implication of the suffixes does not cancel the significance of what is stated but concludes to asserting it positively. On the other hand, they express the hyperbolic relation when they modify an action about which excessiveness is negative. Here, they are evidently degree markers. They express the degree of what is denoted usually out of normal proportion. We readily see that the suffixes express the litotic relation with stative verbs while they express the hyperbolic relation with dynamic verbs. Beyond this linguistic fact, we note that their use is context-sensitive; and, this paper demonstrates the contexts implicit in their use.

UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2016

JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN LINGUISTICS

The notion of case has been a controversial one, yet the grammatical terminology has survived rig... more The notion of case has been a controversial one, yet the grammatical terminology has survived right from traditional Grammar to the current grammatical theories. This paper critically examines the notion of case within different grammatical frameworks. Our interest is mainly on the role of syntax and semantics in case determination and the level of grammatical analysis (deep or surface) at which case is assigned. The paper looks at the notion of case as conceived in traditional grammar and the explores how the concept has been adapted to antecedent grammatical theories up to the Principles and parameters theory. The paper concludes that in all the grammatical models, Case has both syntactic and semantic relevance.

The notion of " case " has been a controversial one, yet the grammatical terminology has survived... more The notion of " case " has been a controversial one, yet the grammatical terminology has survived right from traditional Grammar to the current grammatical theories. This paper critically examines the notion of case within different grammatical frameworks. Our interest is mainly on the role of syntax and semantics in case determination and the level of grammatical analysis (deep or surface) at which case is assigned. The paper looks at the notion of case as conceived in traditional grammar and the explores how the concept has been adapted to antecedent grammatical theories up to the Principles and parameters theory. The paper concludes that in all the grammatical models, Case has both syntactic and semantic relevance.

This paper, using Optimality Theory (OT) as a framework, investigates the phonology of loanwords ... more This paper, using Optimality Theory (OT) as a framework, investigates the phonology of loanwords in Mada , a Benue-Congo language spoken in Nasarawa state, North Central Nigeria (Williamson & Blench, 2000). Data for the study were obtained from two sources: Mada -English dictionary and audio recordings of relevant corpus from three native speakers of Mada . The standard OT view of loanword phonology assumes that it is the host language grammar that acts on the foreign words by selecting the right output form from a vast majority of candidates. The paper examines the strategies that Ma da adopts in the process of adapting words borrowed from other languages into it as well as the constraints hierarchy preferences. The results show that the phonological changes which foreign words undergo when borrowed into Ma da are evident in a range of phonological processes such as vowel deletion, coda simplification, cluster simplification, structure preservation, and syllable deletion. In all, it is observed that, to a large extent, the loanwords violate the syllable structure and Mada phonotactics; but in order to preserve its structure, Mada uses constraints that require the output material to be independent of input.

Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 2016

UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2014

Compounds are generally words with two or more of other words as their constituents. T he categor... more Compounds are generally words with two or more of other words as their constituents. T he category of the output of compounding may be identical with the category of each of the constituents or one of them or a different category altogether. In this work, we have identified and analyzed a verb form in Igbo structurally described as V+nye , where V is a verb and nye an element which has been analyzed as a verb, meaning 'give' in some instancesand as an extensional suffix in some others. Of course with the former, the output is a compound; but with the lat ter a compound is ruled out. We argue here that it is a verb; hence we have formalized V+nye as V-V compound verb in all contexts. T hough, we agree that in some structures nye may express illativity, which translates it as prepositional, and has been the premise for some Igbo linguists to designate it as one of the examples of category-incorporated preposition or a verb grammaticalizing as a preposition, but the illativity notion, expressed by nye , is a metaphorical extension of its meaning as 'give'. T he verb 'give' takes three arguments and assigns the roles: Agent, T heme and Goal to them. T he same trivalent feature of nye as an independent verb is carried into its existence as part of a compound verb. When the Goal argument is [+human], it appears as the indirect object of the verb, but when it is [-Human], the illativity notion becomes prominent and the [-Human] Goal appears as an object of a preposition, denoting location. More interesting is that nye imposes its trivalent feature on any sentence where it occurs. Les mots composés sont en général constitués de deux mots ou plus. La catégorie du résultat du mot composé peut être identique avec la catégorie de chacun des constituants ou de l'un d'eux ou être une catégorie tout à fait différente de ses constituants. Dans cet article, nous avons identifié et analysé une forme verbale en igbo décrite de manière structurelle comme V+nye , où V est un verbe et nye un élément qui a été analysé comme un verbe, signifiant 'donner' dans certains cas, et comme un suffixe d'extension dans d'autres cas. Le premier cas donne certainement lieu à un mot composé, mais quant au second, il est hors de question de parler d'un mot composé. Nous soutenons que c'est un verbe ; c'est pourquoi nous avons formalisé V+nye comme V-V verbe composé dans tous les contextes. T out en étant d'accord que dans certaines structures nye puisse exprimer l'illativité, qui le traduit comme prépositionnel, et ceci a été considéré comme une prémisse pour certains linguistes Igbo de le désigner comm e un des exemples de préposition incorporant des catégories ou comme un verbe qui se grammaticalise comme une proposition, mais la notion d'illativité, exprimée par nye est une extension métaphorique de sa signification comme « donner ». Le verbe « donner »prend trois arguments et leur assigne les trois rôles suivants : Agent, T hème et But. Le même trait trivalent de nye comme un verbe indépendant est réconforté dans son existence comme partie du verbe composé. Lorsque l'argument du But est [+humain], il apparait comme le But d'objet indirect du verbe, mais quand il est [-humain], la notion d'illativité devient proéminente et le but [-humain] apparaît comme un objet d'une préposition, dénotant le lieu. Ce qui est plus intéressant est que nye impose son trait trivalent sur n'importe quelle phrase dans laquelle elle apparaît.

Journal of West African Languages Vol 40:2, 2013

Negation in Standard Igbo is marked by the general negative suffix ghi. Some other Igbo dialects ... more Negation in Standard Igbo is marked by the general negative suffix ghi. Some other Igbo dialects use other types of negative suffixes. It is a well known fact that tone plays important grammatical roles in Igbo. And so negation is also marked by changes in tone pattern. However, there are some dialects such as Nneewi and Onicha that have suffixless negative constructions and also have inherently negative auxiliary verbs. In these suffixless negative constructions, tone is the only indicator of negation. It seems that the common denominator for the suffix and suffixless negative constructions in most Igbo dialects including Standard Igbo is the presence of a floating high tone which could be borne by the ‘default agreement prefix’ (Dechaine 1993) or the verbal element (aux and main verb). This position is contrary to Ndimele (1995, 2004, 2009), who argues that a floating low tone plays an important part in Igbo negation. My position is supported by different constructions in different dialects of Igbo that lack the negative suffix but yet negation is overtly implied. Data from these dialects show that negation could be marked by high tone alone in some construction or high tone plus the negative suffix in some others. I therefore conclude that high tone (not low tone) plays important role in Igbo negation and in fact the primary negative marker in Igbo.

Igbo has no definite and indefinite articles. is of the view that articles are the only true dete... more Igbo has no definite and indefinite articles. is of the view that articles are the only true determiners. Igbo has some other nominal modifiers such as demonstrative, quantifier, numeral, adjective, pronominal modifier which in most cases occur as post modifiers. Adopting the DP-hypothesis which assumes that the argument phrase is headed by a functional category D which take which could be found in the genitive construction and in virtually all types of Igbo nominal constructions.

UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2016

JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN LINGUISTICS

Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 2016

UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2014

Journal of West African Languages Vol 40:2, 2013