By
1Okeke, Obiageli Peace, 2Alagbe,
Adewole Adigun (Ph.D) & 3Alani, Ebenezer Akinyele
Department of English,
Nasarawa State University Keffi, Nigeria
Corresponding author’s email & Phone No: pisfl.ps77@gmail.com/ 09026552390
Abstract
The
purpose of this study stems from the huge reawakening and encouragement Igbo language
has received in recent time coupled with the fact that Nnewi dialect is among
the most threatened towards extinction. This
study is informed by the need to preserve the linguistic heritage of the people
and also help the indigenes and other learners alike understand the morphology
of Nnewi Igbo which is a subset of the Igbo language. Minimal Pairs is an
aspect of phonology that cuts the attention of scholars and which this study
explores to put things in perspective in relation to its morphology as regards
the dialect of Nnewi Igbo and English languages. Two theories (lexical
morphology/phonology and contrastive analysis hypothesis) were deployed. Here,
the research evaluates the features of minimal pairs while exploring the
possible horizons in the native Nnewi dialect. It examines the morphological
processes of realising minimal pairs as well as how to identify minimal pairs
in the dialect. This research therefore looks at the possibility of having
common features in both languages; it examines the differences in the
realisation of minimal pairs in English and Nnewi dialect while highlighting
the peculiarities in the attributes of minimal pairs in both languages. By this
task the study covers Nnewi town and using the purposive sample technique and
by participant-observer method interviewed the target respondents of one
hundred (100) (twenty five from each village) substantially literate native
speakers. Among the observations is that the dialect like the English is guided
and regulated by certain principles (vowel harmony, tone, CV or VC structure
etc.) in its morphology to form meaningful words and phrases for clear
understanding of the Nnewi Igbo. Another observation is that tone plays a major
role in the formation of minimal pairs; equally important is the fact that
Nnewi Igbo supports the principle of vowel harmony. Meanwhile, among the
findings of this study is that both the tone influence and the vowel harmony
law of the language sometimes constitute a hindrance in the formation of
minimal pairs unlike in the English language. English is discovered to have no
limits in forming minimal pairs. However, a study of this nature is not an end
in itself as it leaves room for other scholars to extend into the minimal
phrase structures etc.
Key words: Morphology, Minimal Pairs,
Nnewi Igbo
Introduction
Language
can be described as the commonest and practicable means of communication used by
human beings. Besides spoken and sign language, written (text and discourse)
function primarily as a formal means of communication. Among different branches
of linguistics is the morphological study that examines the formation of syllables,
words, phrases and sentences in any particular language. According to Noam Chomsky, language is the
inherent capability of native speakers to understand and form grammatical
sentences. It is a set of finite or infinite sentences, with each finite length
constructed out of a limited set of elements. He suffices that language has two
structures – the surface and deep
structure Morphology as an aspect of
linguistics is the study of the internal structure of words; that is, examining
the syllables or morphemes that are brought together to construct a word.
Historically, morphology is a Greek dual-word that means morph (form or shape)
and –ology (study of …thing). Bloomfield (208) an American structuralist,
posits that morphology is the constructions within which bound forms spring up
among constituents that can result to either bound forms or independent words
that are not phrases. Yet, another scholar, Lyons defines morphology as study
of synthetic language in which the grammatical relations and distinctions are
realised within words. These definitions of language consider sentences as the
basis of a language, noting clearly that the sentences may be limited or
unlimited thereby giving room for more word formation. Languages are often
classified according to their morphological types – isolating, agglutinating
and inflecting however no language is entirely of one type. By these scholars’
view points, language can be said to be the wheel of any society. It is an
essential and necessary instrument without which communities and groups of people
may not be able to function or carry out their activities in a synchronised and
harmonious way. Language therefore is the organised and systematic function
through symbolic or abstract (sign) communication that allows societies and
groups share their thoughts and ideas by way of symbolic sounds (phonemes)
patterned in the form of meaningful words (morphemes) for interaction.
The English language
is one of the Indo-European-family of languages. Within this family, English as
a member of the West Germanic branch originated from the Anglo - Frisian and
Old Saxon dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts
of North West Germany, Denmark and Netherlands in the 5th century. English being
the language spoken by a simple majority the world over is the official
language of about fifty – nine (59) countries including Nigeria where Nnewi is
geographically situated. English and Igbo particularly Nnewi has the properties
of a natural language with which to explore the topic of this essay. Both are
grouped as agglutinating languages with a high rate of morphemes per word and
sematic features within which they can be examined. One major component of
English morphology centres on the formation of minimal pairs which are
distinguished by only one single element, example /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ that can
appear at the initial, medial or the end position in words. The replacement of a phoneme in each of these
positions shows that formation of words takes place at the phonological level
an action which automatically generates another meaning. We can see the effect
of the following interface of phonemes in different positions:
Initial position /pear/ /fear/, /bat/ /fat/, /pin/
/sin/, /met/ /pet/, /tough/ /rough/ etc.
Medial
position /calm/ /balm/, /man/ /men/, /boot/ boat/, /sing/ /sang/, /fort/ /fight/
etc
End
position/tap/ /tag/, /slim/ slip/ /march/ /mark/, /boom/ /boost/, /peg/ /pen/
etc.
This
study stems from the huge reawakening and encouragement Igbo language has
received in recent time coupled with the fact that Nnewi dialect is among the
most threatened towards extinction. This is a legacy to preserve the dialect
and a guide for curriculum developers, researchers and both students and
scholars alike.
Nnewi
Igbo in Perspective
Nnewi
people are found in the Southern part of Anambra State, South East of Nigeria
among the Igbo-speaking indigenes of the country. Igbo is genetically one of
the African languages that belong to the new Benue-Congo of the Niger Congo
language family. The Igbo language has a number of dialects distinguished by
accent or orthography, but almost mutually intelligible. Igbo studies have
received a rejigged interest and attention from both scholars and sundry
sectors which have contributed to the increasing demands and expectations from
Igbos worldwide for the acceleration that will bring more development of the
language. With this call, researchers have stepped up studies on different
dialects of the language in the face of the present advancement in information
technology so as to put the language at its proper position as the binding and
priceless heritage of the Igbo people. Nnewi dialect cluster is among the least
studied though the people of Nnewi maintain a very distinct dialect, not much
has been written on the morphology of the dialect.
However, the
morphology of Nnewi dialect is based on the morphological processes and rules
of Igbo language. The very obvious knowledge among Igbos and the people of the
State in particular is that Nnewi indigenes can easily stand out in any group
due to the unique, emphatic and guttural manner with which they speak. A common
teaser against the people for their dialectical mannerism is; ‘ehi e mewuolu, e
mewuo onye nne ji nnake ye’. No other community speaks like that in the whole
Igbo land. It in a form of a slang meaning; ‘when the chips are down, anyone
who does not have siblings is bound to suffer the most’. Using the above slang
to bring out some minimalistic pairs such as; /ehi/ and /ohi/ (when and theft)
are minimal pairs in the dialect. Here the two initial vowel phonemes /e/ and
/o/ are the distinctive sounds just as the case of /lu/ and /na/ in /emewuolu
/and /emewuona/ (at last and oppressed). The word ‘nnake’ (only) shares a
minimalistic pair with ‘nnaka’ (father is supreme) with the difference at the
final positions. By the evidence so far, it can be seen that the morphology of
Nnewi dialect accommodates to a great extent minimal pairs and supports the
formation of not only new words but generates new meanings. In generating
minimal pairs in Nnewi dialect for instance there is the tendency to observe
the rule of vowel harmony as well as keeping in check the rules that guide the
use of syllabic nasals (semivowel; m, n) in forming words as spelt out in Igbo
morphology.
Minimal Pairs is
an aspect of phonology that cuts the attention of scholars and for which this
study explores to put things in perspective in relation to its morphology as
regards the dialect of Nnewi in Igbo and English languages by trying to:
i)
Examine the features
of minimal pairs while exploring the possible horizons in the native Nnewi dialect.
ii)
Explain the
morphological processes of realising minimal pairs as well as how to identify
minimal pairs in the dialect.
iii)
Examine the peculiarities in the attributes of
minimal pairs in both languages.
The phenomenon is
one of the phonological features besides free variation, diaphonic variation
etc. that reveal the different realisations of the English phoneme. For example,
the difference in these words ‘cap’ and ‘cup’, is seen in the phonemes / ᴂ /
and/ᴧ/ which occur at the middle of the words.
In ‘lip’ and ‘tip’, the difference is observed at the initial segment
with the /l/ and /t/ phonemes. These phonemes are referred to as the international
phonetic alphabetic (IPA) symbols found in the sound system of any language
constituting of different elememts (phones) which can be combined to produce
meaningful units of sounds. Phonemes, which are the sound system of a language,
are the basis of distinguishing minimalistic pairs. They are the abstract set
of units on the basis of human speech. A phoneme is the least meaningful unit
used to distinguish words or utterances in a language as well as the basis of
realising minimal pairs. Hence, both word formation and meaning making as aspects
of minimal pairs dwell in the milieu of phonology.
Concept of Minimal Pairs
Minimal
pair, as posited by Alagbe (105) is a pair of words that differ in a single
phoneme at the same position. Minimal pairs are often used to show that two
words/sounds contrast in a language. A look at the following examples /b/ and
/p/ and /g/ and /gh/ are pairs of contrasting sounds in English and Igbo
respectively. Minimal pairs are introduced by distinct phone or phoneme as in
/a/ and /e/, /k/ and /g/, /s/ and /z/ or /bat/ and /tag/, /go/ and /to/, /cash/
and /dash/ etc. Note that the substitution of one sound with another in the
same position not only results to change in sound but so does meaning change.
Therefore it is pertinent to say that the phonemes of any language are
attributive to a system in which they are contrast with one another. Such examples
can be seen with the phoneme /b/ and /k/ and /g/ and /p/
/b/ contrasts with /k/ as in /book/ and
/cook/, /ban/ and /can/, /beg/ and /keg/, /bill/ and /kill/
/g/ contrasts with /p/ as in /gill/ and
/pill/, /gander/and /pander/, /goes/ and /pose/, /gave/ and /pave/ etc. Examples in Igbo phonemes ch /ʧ/ and/s/ as in
/ʧisom/ (name), /ʧisӓ/ (name) or
In
the other phonemes - kw /kw/ and gh /gh/ as in ekweghukwe /ekweghịkwe/ (stubbornness v / n).
Chomsky (27) avers
that that the nature of sound and meaning is an empirical distinction not
spelling. Manda (81) postulates that minimal pairs are valuable in
establishing, identifying and discovering contrastive phonemes (sounds) Anyanwu
(2006) in Mbah and Mbah (48) posits that prosodic supra-segmental or
auto-segmental features occur on top of each segment at the same time as the
before-and after segment in Igbo - gw, kw, nw . This phenomenon shows that Igbo is
syllabic-timed while English is stress-timed. Ezeuko and Chira (57 - 67)
describe in detail that minimal pairs in Igbo as obtained in English can be
realised from phonemes at the initial, medial and final positions of words.
Initial position /ndi / and /udi/ (some people and types); /aka/
and /akwa/ (hand and egg)
Medial
position /ofu/ and /osu/ (one and outcaste); /ima/ and /ina/ (to know and to go
home)
End
position: /aku/ and /ako/ - (wealth and
sense); /efe/ and /efu/ - (cloth and zero); /nne/ and /nni/ - (mother and
food).
The basis of the
discussion on minimal pairs will lack lustre if the phoneme on which it hinges
is not properly x-rayed. The phoneme is the smallest meaningful unit of sound
in speech. Igbo phonemes make a lot of meaning difference in conception, being
a tonal language it falls under the cvc, vcv, cvcv category of languages. Take
for instance these phonemes, /bia, pia (come / flog), /jee, mee (go / do), pụọ,
chụọ (leave, / pursue) anyị, anyụ (we, pumpkin) /okwṳ, ikwu (speech, relative)
etc
Tone - feature
minimal pairs are very common in Nnewi dialect. Mbah (59) quoting Hyman (1976)
asserts that tone and intonation are two types of speech variation used by many
speakers of many languages in order to give shape to utterances. According to Hyman
(63) forty to fifty percent (40 – 50%) of the world languages are tonal.
Anagbogu et al (130) define tone as a structural element in the sound system of
a language that is significantly contrastive but with relative pitch syllables
in such words like; ónyá (trap), ònyá (wound) ényí (friend) ényí (elephant) úbé
(pear) ùbé (spear) éké (python) èké (to share), òkwá (announcement), ókwá (position)
ṁkpò (small container), ṁkpó (walking stick) etc. In the examples above some
phonemes are tonally equipollent i.e. they share common tones that others do
not and here contrastiveness is evident at the level of voice (pitch) and also
in meaning.
Concept of Morphology
Morphology
according to linguists is the study of the internal structure of words and the
rules governing the formation of words in a language. It looks at both sides
(form and meaning) of the linguistic signs. Morphology as the study of form is
a branch of linguistics that deals with the internal structure of complex
words. The term which was first used in 1859 was proposed by a linguist, August
Schleiche. Bloomfield avers that morphology is a linguistic form which bears no
partial phone-semantic resemblance to any other form. For Yule (75) morphology
is the study of form which he sees as the morphemes. Morphemes in his
affirmation are the smallest units of grammar. Obviously for these scholars the
form and the rules guiding the internal structure of words are the most
important features of morphology because pronunciations wrongly made might be
interpreted differently regardless of the speaker’s intentions, hence the need
to draw a line between words with minimalistic differences for a clear
understanding and interpretation. Morphological properties according to
linguists consider the internal structure of words, their forms and the rules
governing them.
Morphology, to Crystal
(225) is the branch of grammar which studies the structure of words primarily
through the use of morpheme constructs. Fromkin and Rodman (69) define
morphology as the study of the internal structure of words and the rules by
which the words are formed. To them morphology as a linguistic domain covers
five major branches including, alternation, affixes, compounding, reduplication
and suppletion. Yet Arnoff and Fudeman (1) postulate that morphology in
linguistics refers to the mental system involved in word formation or to the
branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure and how
they are formed. Mathew (47) states that morphology is relevant to any language
because it explicates the rules governing the transformational patterns of the
words of that language. Spencer (4) is of the view that morphology is the
branch of linguistics that is concerned with the knowledge of word structure.
Agreeing no less, Tomori (21) added that morphology is the study of the
structure of word meaning; the study of the rules governing the formation of
linguistic word in a language. For Asher (72) no meaningful consideration of
what the word is will be complete without a clear consideration of the
morpheme. The morpheme therefore can be seen as the hard-core of any
morphological process.
Arnoff and Fudeman (11) refer to the study of
form or forms as the mental system involved in word formation. It is a branch
of linguistics that deals with words, their inter structures and how they are
formed. One major way in which morphologists investigate these items is through
the identification and study of morphemes. Morphology as a field in linguistics
study is generally divided into two formidable sub-fields, i.e. the process of
inflection and the word formation which is our concern vis-a-vis minimal pairs.
Osuagwu, et al (52) opine that word formation on its own part can be divided
into two small subfields, namely, composition and derivation. Yet other
linguists see morphology as the study of how parts of words called morphemes
create different meanings by combining with each other or standing alone. Also,
a word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language hence, words are morphemes
but some morphemes may not necessarily constitute a word. Morphemes are the
building blocks of morphology. English words have internal structure that may
be built of even small pieces, for example the word ‘morphemes’ can be split
into three pieces – (‘morph’, ‘eme’, and ‘s’). A major way by which
morphologists investigate word and their internal structure and how they are
formed is through the identification and study of morphemes, Arnoff and Fudeman
(68). Morphemes are equally made up of structures (morphs or letters) of the
alphabets that may or may not make meaning in words. In Igbo which is a tonal
language, morphemes also have meanings. Morphemes such as ‘akwụkwọ’ (book), ‘ọgalanya’
(wealthy person), nnyahụ (yesterday), ‘gụnụ’ (what) ‘nwanyị’ (woman), ‘ibiliashị’
(middle aged woman), ‘ọkankụ’ (much) among others though are words, they are
also morphemes.
Morpheme / Morph
Morpheme,
according to Haspelmath and Sims (116) is defined as the smallest meaningful
constituent of a linguistic expression. It is a minimal linguistic piece with
grammatical function. Words are analysed by segmenting them into two or more
parts as the case may be. These distinct segments are called morphemes. In Igbo
for example ‘aguhọọ’ has two morphemes, agu + họọ (reading + negation) meaning,
didn’t read. The term morphs as Arnoff and Fudeman stated, is sometimes used to
refer specifically to the phonological realisation of a morpheme. Examples
abound in English past morpheme that ends with ‘ed’ which has varied morphs. It
is realised as /t/ after the voiceless [p] of jump, as /d/ after the voiced – /b/
of tabled, also /id/ as in wedded. These variants are not really the concern of
this study but to buttress the fact that the appearance of one morph over the
other in this case is determined by voicing and the place of articulation. Spencer
(13) opines that morphemes have a physical (that is, phonological and phonetic)
form and also meaning, and that much of morphological theory is given over to
establishing just how the mapping between form and content is achieved.
According to
Katambe (16), the main principle used in the analysis of morphemes is the
principle of form which are contrasted on the basis of; i) Phonological shape
due to sounds used and ii) Meaning, broadly defined to cover both lexical
meaning and grammatical functions. Those differences in the grammatical
functions and in the phonological sounds (phoneme) correspond to the
differences in the meaning of the word. Check
this ‘They are baking’ and ‘She is cooking’, the difference in meaning lies in
the lexical meaning of ‘cooking’ and ‘baking’, while the grammatical function
marks the difference between such words as ‘are’ and ‘is’. Hence, Ndimele (23)
supports Katamba above that morphemes can be classified according to function
or lexical meaning. Consequently, Katamba posits that morphs as representations
of morphemes as seen through Mathew’s example with ‘cort’ being analysed into
/kɔ:/ + /t/ and ‘calmed’ into two /kəm/ + / d/
which creates the impression that morphs correspond to phones and that
morphemes are made up of phonemes. However, in their own argument, Spencer (17)
and Katamba (66) aver that any approach which assumes that morphemes are made up
of phonemes leads to a theoretical ‘cul-de-sal’ (impasse). They emphasised that
such representations are realised or manifested as morphs which they supported
with these reasons among others:
i.
There may be a
one-to-one correlation between morpheme and morph
ii.
Language is arbitrary, particular sounds or
strings of sounds have no particular meaning in language hence, several different
pairing of sounds will possibly have different meanings.
iii.
A single morpheme
may be represented by a variety of phonological representations, example the
plural morpheme /z/ can be realised as /-s/, /-z/, or /-iz/.
Empirical Framework
Osuagwu
et al (33) in their work on morphology posit that morpheme as the minimal unit
of grammar is meaningful and argue that other characteristics of morphemes
which may distinguish them from other grammatical units include; i) a morpheme
is not identical with a syllable. ii). a morpheme may consist of only one
phoneme, among others. Conversely, Ikeagwu (45) in his contrastive study of
English and Orlu dialect of Igbo notes that so many Igbo morphemes do not stand
alone and are therefore considered dependent or bound. These morphemes can also be used to identify
how minimal pairs are formed for such words that indicate negation like ‘họọ’
and ‘hoo’ (depending on vowel harmony in such words) as ‘nahọọ’ (didn’t go back),
‘jehoo’ (didn’t go).
Other bound
morphemes that can be used to identify minimal pairs are seen in forming pasts
tense, futuristic tense, completion and intensity. It is used to separate words
into two or more parts when being analysed. For example, bịa + na (come + has)
which means, ‘came’. The term morph as Arnoff
and Fudeman (96) stated, is sometimes used to refer specifically to the
phonological realisation of a morpheme. “These distinct parts into which words
can be segmented are called morphs”. The names ‘okike and ‘okeke’, are minimal
pairs with the difference occurring at the medial ‘i’ and ‘e’ morphs and
constituting the distinct sounds in the phonemes.
Morphology of Nnewi Vowel Harmony
Vowel
harmony in Igbo is one of the strongholds towards forming and realising minimal
pairs in the language. Before the morphological processes of Igbo phonemes are
considered, the vowel harmony and their rules must be understood. The Igbo
vowels which are eight in number include; a, e, i, ị, o, ọ, u, ụ. These vowels
are divided into two groups A and E according to their rules and for easy
comprehension. The group A is called ‘Otu Ụdamfe’ (vowel-group of light sound) made
up of a, ị, ọ, and ụ. The vowel in the E group is called ‘Otu Ụdaalo’ because
they sound heavier when pronounced are made up of e, i, o, and u.
According to Egonu
(32) one major rule guiding the Igbo vowels is that those contained in any
infinitive word must be part of any of its group and in harmony with the
morphemes. In summary, Igbo vowel maintains concord within their groups which
can be seen in the following minimal pairs;
Group
A - abacha and abana – (tapioca and typ. yam); ịchị and ịmị - (to lead and draw
out); ịdụ and ịkụ - (chook and plant); ọka and ọna – (maise and typ. yam); ụka
and ụkpa – information and walnut); ịzụ and ịzọ - (to buy and to contest); akụkọ
and ọkụkọ - (story and fowl). Others are formed from imperatives like ‘bịa’ and
‘pịa’ – (come and flog); ‘pụọ’ and ‘bụọ’ – (leave and scratch); ‘gbọọ’ and ‘kpọọ’-
(vomit and call) etc.
Group
E – ‘ukwe’ and ‘ekwe’-(hyme and gong),; ‘onu’ and ‘inu’ –(mouth and to hear), ‘ezi’
and ‘eze’ – (outside and teeth); ‘uno’ and ‘une’ – (house and exam); ‘ekwu’ and
‘efu’ – (tripod and nothing); ‘igwu’ and
‘ikwu’ – (lice and relative); ‘okeke’ and ‘okike’ – (names), ’jee’ and ‘kpee’
–(go and report); ‘zie’ and lie’ – (send and eat) etc.
The illustrations
above show that harmony is the key within which the different vowel groups operate
in Nnewi. Also a study of this type must put in perspective the relation of
vowels in the morphology of infinitive verbs in Igbo to ensure the principle of
harmony whether in speech or writing. Examples are shown with these infinitives;
‘i me’ - to do, ‘i mo’ - to hit, ‘ị kụ’ - to plant, ‘ị ko’ - to till etc.
Others are, ‘i bo’ - to allege, ‘i bu’ - to carry, ‘ị kpo -to call, ‘ị kpu’ -
to mould etc.
Yule (56) confirms
that English just like Igbo phonology accommodates various phonemic pairs (two
words) in vowels and consonants.
/p/
/d/ pen – den /ↄ:/
/ᴂз:/ pork – park /
/c/
/g/ cap - gap /ei/ /ai/ day - die
/k/
/t/ kin – tin /u/ /u:/ pull -
pool
/i:/
/i/ seat – sit /ᴧ/ /a:/ cut – cart
Tone forming - Gerundive Verbs, Nouns and
Adjectives.
Tone
impact in Igbo minimal pairs cannot be exhausted in one study. Hence, only a
few examples are considered herein; ịzú
– to buy, ịzù – to rear; ịkpú – to sculpt ịkpù – to scratch, ịbù – to hatch, ịbú – to scramble for etc. Others are ịba – to enter, ịba – malaria; aṅụ
– drink, aṅụ – bee; igwe – to
grind, igwe – iron; and
these, ukwu – huge ukwu – waist,
mgba – wrestle, mgba – imp. support etc.
Ukwe (1- 4) in his study of Igbo, Yoruba and English sound systems observes
that tonal and intonational languages have different sound systems phonologically.
This probably is indicative of the way the phonemes are aspirated noting that
while English vowels are 24, the consonants are 20 showing a marked difference
with the Igbo 8 and 28 respectively. Igbo has double articulation especially with
the consonant plosives.
Egeonu (37) notes
that unlike English, there are double alphabets in Igbo – ch, gb, gh, kp, kw,
nw and sh which are diagraphs, also known as Igbo unit consonants. These can
also form minimal pairs; ch – ‘chelu’ - wait, ‘chezọ’ – forget; kp – ‘kpọọ’ –
call, ‘kpoo’ - gather; ny - ‘onye’ -
someone, ‘onya’ – trap; gb – ‘egbe’– kite, ‘egbe’ – gun; – kite; kp – ‘ekpe’-
report, ‘ekpe’ - rites of inheritance. The above illustrations show that
minimal pairs can be formed in Igbo using diagraphs, vowels and consonant
phonemes. Liddicoat and Curno (29) aver that every language has its own pattern
of sound system. Obviously, some sounds that do not contrast in English may be
distinctive in Igbo because contrasts are language and sometimes dialect
specific.
Theoretical Framework
The study hinges on these theories, lexical morphology
/ phonology, and contrastive analysis hypothesis. Lexical morphology was first
propounded by Straus (1982) and later developed by kiparsky (1982) and Mohanan
(1986). In this model, linguists make the distinction between lexical and post
lexical levels of rule applications. Pulleyblank (45) explains that when
phonological rules apply within the lexicon (lexical phonology), the level of
analysis is said to be lexical. Conversely, if the phonological rules apply to
the output of the syntactic component (the post lexical is on the phrase level
or sentential phonology), Clark et al explain that the title of the theory is
reflective of the distinction between the lexical and post-lexical components
of description and that the role of the lexical rules is to modify these forms
in accordance with the phonological requirements of the language. At the
lexical level, lexical representations make no reference to redundant or
allophonic features. Only distinctive features are given consideration. In
agreement Fromkin et al postulate that a lexical entry will contain information
that is sufficient to distinguish its surface realisation from that of any
other form which in the judgement of the speaker is realised distinctly in the
same circumstance.
In the proposition
of Mohanan (‘82), the distinction between lexical and post lexical levels in
phonological representation stem from the fact that the rules that apply to
both components may manifest different properties when applied to the
components. Obianika (31) records that in accordance with the stance of
Mohanan, Kiparski (82) Pulleyblank (‘86), Fromkin et al (2000) and Clark et al
(2007) assume that there is only one set of phonological rules whereby its
application may be specified in each case as applicable lexically,
post-lexically or both. However, scholars have not agreed on whether rule
application should be cyclic (all morphological rules need not apply before the
application of phonological rules) or not. Considering the milieu of this
study, it is arguable that the strict cyclic rule application may negate some
features especially when we look at the dialectical relativity. Pulleyblank (89)
submits that evidence from tonal languages has shown that tone association and
tone rules must be cyclic in nature for a variety of languages. Because this
study looks at the dialects of a tone and intonational languages, the influence
of pitch on them is therefore pertinent.
It is expedient
that this study looked into the boundaries of morphology as a linguistic
domain. There are two major morphological paradigms as classified by scholars
which include; Item - and - Arrangement (both root and affixes are treated as
morphemes) and Item – and – Process (roots are morphemes, but affixes are
rules). Arnoff and Fudeman (47) describe it as the morpheme-based morphological
feature. The idea considers the technique of breaking words down into separate
morphemes called items. The process is concerned with the arrangement of these
items (morphemes) into a particular order to realise a defined structure. In
this present study the both paradigms hold sway in that minimal pairs as
morphemes are the consideration here and not the protocol of affixation. Here
any changes for instance, addition of ‘ble’ and ‘lity’ in the word
‘acceptability’ is not regarded as affixes but generated as part of the
morpheme. In the following examples /chairs/ and /pairs/ are distinct by the
initial phonemes of /ʧ/ and /p/ which makes them minimal pairs.
The second theory,
contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH) was propounded by Lado and expanded
through his book Linguistics across
Cultures (1957) even at the time structural linguistics and behavioural
psychology were dominant. Lado’s argument that those elements which are similar
to the learner’s native language will be simple for him than those that are
different though not new in linguistic study, he became the first to provide a
comprehensive theoretical treatment and suggested a systematic set of technical
procedures for the contrastive study of language. This procedure involves
describing languages using structuralist linguistics, comparing them and
predicting learning difficulties so as to aid language learning and teaching.
The CAH as it is
popularly known assumes that the finite structure of a given language can be
compared with another language(s) thereby aligning it to applied linguistics as
suggested by some linguists since the analysis may donate practical
instructional materials (qtd in Sokpo 81).
Other goals of CAH includes to make foreign language teaching more
effective; to find the difference
between language(s) and the target language based on the assumption that
foreign language learning that hinges on mother tongue similarities facilitates
positive transfer (learning); and that differences may cause problems (negative
transfer / interference). Meanwhile, problems predicted by contrastive analysis
hypothesis always appear to be difficult for the students in contrast to many
errors that automatically turn up and which are not predicted by the theory. This
has led to so many criticisms against the contrastive analysis hypothesis
(CAH). Contrastive distribution occurs in both tonal and intonational languages
the world over. Quoting Ferdinand de Saussure, Mbah (76) avers that the
distinctiveness of speech sound is the feature that matters. Two morphs /
phones in opposition are contrastive when one substituting the other yields a
different lexical item.
Research Methodology
Descriptive Design
Descriptive
design is an explanatory research method that enables researchers to describe
the features and items contained in the work; the population, the circumstances
as well as other phenomena. Descriptive design as the name suggests gives authors
the privilege to examine, illustrate and describe the characteristics of the
group, situation and features without manipulating the variables through
observation, case study or survey. Besides the afore-mentioned, descriptive
study the design analyses and compares the results towards developing knowledge
based concepts and providing solutions to critical issues. It aims at answering
how the even occurred, when and where it occurred and the issue(s) with the
phenomenon through the mechanism of interviews and focussed groups to
illustrate outcomes from the findings.
The data used in this
study were collected strictly from the population of two hundred (200) native/
speakers of Nnewi dialect of Igbo who are resident in the four villages (Otolo,
Uruagu, Unudim and Nnewichi) that make up Nnewi North Local Anambra State,
Nigeria. By simple purposive technique, the population was reduced to hundred (100)
indigenous natives who formed the respondents that are relatively educated
having acquired tertiary institution certificate (Degree, HND NCE etc.) as
their basic qualification. The data was
gathered through the participant – observation method during events like church
programmes, alumni meetings, cultural and social festivals etc. However, the
secondary part of the data was also collected from texts. Recordings of raw
interactions and some isolated structure were transcribed and translated into
English for analysis. The translated data were systematically and sequentially
presented in tandem with the aim and objectives of the study as well as in
answer to the research questions raised. The analysis hinged on the theories of
lexical morphology and phonology since minimal is a phonological element, also
the second theory, contrastive analysis hypothesis supported the study of two
languages (English and Nnewi Igbo) and so the analysis highlighted the points
of agreement and areas of peculiarities in the formation of minimal pairs in
the two languages under study.
Data Presentation and Analysis
The
analysis of the data followed the linguistic peculiarity of the languages.
While English generates minimal pairs without strict morphological rules, Nnewi
Igbo on the other hand follows a lot of guiding principles due to its tone
bearing feature,
Minimal items in English
Some
examples of English minimal pairs include; boast /bœst/ and toast /tœst/, knife
/naïf/ and wife /waif/, tight /tait/ and white /wait/, cape /kӕp/ and tape
/tӕp/, die /dai/ and tie /tai/, keep /ki:p/ and beep /bi:p/ (initial position
sound difference). Cut - /k˄t/ and court - /kͻ:t/, vine - /vain/ and vane - /vᴂn/,
farm - /fa:m/ and form - /fͻm/, match - /mᴂʧ/ and march - /ma:ʧ/, dart - /da:t/
and date - /dᴂt/. In these examples, the items in the medial position sound
differently. Ban - /bən/ and bat - /bət, cup - /c˄p/ and cut /c˄t/, /search
/sә:ʧ/ and serve /sә:v/ etc. (end position sound difference)
Igbo lexical items (imperatives)
Minimal
pairs in Nnewi Igbo; ‘gbuo’ - to kill, ‘buo’ - to cary; ‘daa’ - to fall, ‘taa’ - to chew; ‘see’ – to
draw, ‘dee’ – to write; ‘lie’ - to eat, ‘sie’ - to cook; ‘gbaa’ - to dance ‘naa’ - to go; Others include; ‘mbọ’ - hussle,
‘mba’ – no; ‘ndo’ - sorry, ‘ndu’ – guide; ‘wepu’ - remove, ‘weta’ – bring’; ‘akwa’
- cry, ‘agwa – character’; ‘uju’ - plenty, ‘uchu’ - industrious.
The Rule of Vowel Harmony
One
major principle to understanding any language is to observe the morphological
rule. Vowel harmony is a morpho-phonological process that categorises Igbo
vowels into two, heavy and light or group E and group A as the case may be. It
allows for concord in the formation of Igbo lexical because each group vowels
share similar characteristics; these phonemes align with particular groups to
ensure harmony in the vowel group; ‘eke’ and ‘enwe’ - (python and monkey), ‘iwe’
and ‘ife’ (anger and thing), ‘iho’ and ‘iko’ (fables and cup), ‘ukwe and ‘ikwe’
- (song and mortar) are all in the heavy or E group. Meanwhile, these vowels
(a, ị, ọ and ụ) form the second A group; ‘ụkpa’ and ‘ọkpa’, (walnut and leg), ‘akọ’
and atọ’ (sense and three), ‘ịsa’ and ‘ịsụ’ (wash, and wash cloth) etc.
Syllabic Nasals or Semi-Vowels (m, n and ṅ)
Igbo
and especially Nnewi dialect has an open-ended syllabic structure hence some
words that start with consonants may not have their initial sound as ordinary
consonant but syllabic nasals otherwise known as semi-vowels in Igbo. They
stand on their own as syllables because they bear units of tone which means
that they sometimes do not need a complementary vowel sound to stand as
syllables. Their usage in the formation of minimal pairs also adapt to the rule
of Igbo grammar otherwise called the rule of syllabic harmonisation. Examples include; ‘mgbuno’ ‘mgbaja’ - (back of
house, outside the fence), ‘mkpuke’ and ‘mkpume’ – (bedroomand stone), ‘nche’
and ‘ncha’ - (vigilance and soap) ‘ngwa’ and ‘ngwọ’ – (let us and palmwine), ‘nzuzu’
and ‘nzukọ’ - (foolishness and meeting) etc.
Tone in Nnewi Igbo
Tone
unarguably is a phonological feature that depends on the tone-marks to undergo
its morphological process in Igbo. Some Igbo linguists, Mbah and Mbah (48) agree
with Emenanjo (1978) that Igbo has two basic tones; the high and the low with a
down-step high which scholars regard as a grammatical tone. Nnewi dialect uses
tone to generate minimal pairs and as such create meanings. Examples are;
úgwú - hill úgwù – respect; ónyá - trap ónyà – wound; égbé
- kite, égbè – gun;
nkụtá
- dog, nkụtà – basket; àkwá –egg, ákwá – cry; òkè - share, òké - rat;
òkwù - altar, òkwú – word; ájà - sand, ájá – sacrifice; òdù - tail, òdú
- pestle.
Both
tone and intonation have pitch as a subset of their characteristics in the
study of phonetics, for example, these English words; ‘advice’ (noun) and
‘advise’ (verb) or ‘invite’ (noun) and ‘invite’ (verb) show that the level of
voice at different point in speech utterance.
Data Analysis
The
data obtained were presented and analysed as shown above based on the unique
characteristics of the phenomena involved. The data were then subjected to
contrastive analysis since the study is based on two languages (English and
Nnewi igbo). The analysis conducted ascertained the areas of similarity and
difference in the two languages; the process examined, described and compared
the characteristic features of the phenomena so as to predict possible
orientation, functionality and habit in terms of the forms and linguistic
leanings of both languages.
Findings
From
the data collected, it is discovered that minimal pairs can be generated in
both English and Nnewi dialect by simple substitution or replacement of distinctive
phonemes at the same positions in a pair of close words which is known as
contrastive distribution which can easily be generated within the phonemes of
each language.
Unlike the
English, it was observed that the imperatives in Nnewi dialect can be used to
create more minimal pair. Going by the syllabic nature of Igbo which is vcv cv
cvcv, minimal pairs in this case are created just by adherence to the vowel
harmony.
One
major discovery about this study is that contrary to the belief of some
linguists that Igbo does not have clusters of consonants, this research proves
otherwise as in the case with syllabic nasals - /n/ and /m/ though regarded as
semi-vowels. When these sounds occur in clusters, /ɳ/ne and /ɳ/na – (mother and
father) or in /ɱ/manụ and /ɱ/madụ - (oil and person), the difference in phones
has shown that there is a cluster of the consonant letters ‘n’ and ‘m’. The
initial letters of the word bear a different phoneme with the next.
Furthermore, the
research observed that the pitch levels in tone and intonational languages are
not operating at same frequency. The tone level is always higher especially
with the voiced sounds making tone an aspect of minimal pair generation.
Another
observation of this study is that Nnewi dialect works in consonance with the
rule of syllabic nasal to form minimal pairs. This is achieved by ensuring that
the diagraphs or double unit-letters (eg. gb and kw) follow letters that belong
to the same vowel group with others in the word. Evidence gathered from this
study also established the fact that the rule of vowel harmony as believed by
some Igbo scholars does not completely apply to Nnewi dialect in realising /
forming some minimalistic pairs.
Conclusion
Both
English and Igbo are good examples of agglutinating, inflectional and fissional
languages that can allow for substitution or replacement of phonemes in a word
to undergo certain changes that create obviously other close pairs. Igbo
language like the English inflects but at different degrees due to differences
in the manner of usage of the vowels. It is therefore deducible that English
and Igbo are typologically different, though with some areas of similarities.
However, no two languages have been seen as completely alike at all the levels
of linguistic analysis even when they are of the same linguistic origin. The unique and distinctive features of
various languages come to the fore when placed side – by – side with others. Nnewi
Igbo is a rich, inexhaustible dialect that lends itself as a morphologically agglutinating sub-dialect of Igbo.
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This article is published in ALQALAM: A Journal of Language and Literary Studies, FUGUS, Volume 1, Issue 2 - June 2026
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