French and Urhobo languages are so linguistically different one from the other, yet their grammars show traces of similarities and differences that raise questions. Questions, which, when answered would elicit further research into the nature and various nuances of these languages; i.e. their speeches and articulations, discourses, nouns, verbs etc. In this study, the French reflexive verb and its Urhobo equivalent were examined. A description of the reflexive verb in French and Urhobo show elements of possible structural and semantic convergences and or divergences. Is every French reflexive verb also reflexive in Urhobo? Are their structural sequences the same? These and some others which surfaced in the course of this study are the questions which were answered during this study. French language is fully documented while Urhobo is much less documented. For this reason, method of research was varied. This study was based mainly on the theory of Transformational grammar also known as Transformational Generative Grammar. But because of some inherent elements of translation, Eugene Nida’s theory of equivalence was also brought into play.
The Reflexive Verb in the Grammar of the Urhobo Language Premier Publishers
In the grammar of a language, the reflexive verb is part of the structure of speech which shows the action of the verb being executed on the speaker while the action of other verbs is received by other objects outside the speaker. Amongst a community of persons, there are often situations which provoke reflexive actions and expressions such as “I see myself”/ Mé mre ómà mè “Lift yourself up” / “kpárōmà”. By this I mean that it is expedient that the grammar of a language contains forms of the reflexive verb; not only should it contain it, the reflexive verb should also be easily recognisable. Currently, the language has several Urhobo dictionaries to its credit. Sadly, though, they do not seem to feature the reflexive verb. Why is this so? This is the question which this study has tried to answer while attempting to fill up the existing lacunae. The approach to this study has been eclectic since it involved the application of various methods. In view of the structure of the reflexive verb, this study was based on Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Grammar or Transformational Generative Grammar.
This document discusses the phonemic and phonetic features of several consonant sounds in English and Spanish, including /n/, /ɱ/, /ŋ/, /ɲ/, and /l/. It contrasts the production of these sounds between the two languages and identifies their different places and manners of articulation. The document also examines homorganic sounds and the aspiration of voiceless stops like /p/ and /t/ in English. It discusses the importance of contrastive analysis in understanding pronunciation errors that may occur due to the transfer of learners' first language sound systems.
Teaching English Consonants to Spanish Speakers Universidad de Guayaquilinventionjournals
This document discusses teaching English consonants to Spanish speakers. It begins with an abstract that outlines key differences in pronunciation between English and Spanish, such as variations in stress, pitch, and syllables. The document then provides background on English consonants and their classification based on place and manner of articulation. It notes challenges Spanish speakers face, such as some consonants producing different sounds without changing meaning. The document also examines psychological and cultural factors influencing pronunciation. Finally, it compares the Spanish and English phonetic systems, noting Spanish is syllable-timed while English is stress-timed, and some consonants are pronounced the same in Spanish but distinguish meanings in English.
Ling 502 a phonetic description of korean language (report)Bernard Paderes
This document provides a phonetic description of the Korean language based on data from a language resource person from Seoul, South Korea. It finds that the Central Korean dialect has 21 consonant phonemes and 7 vowel phonemes. Stops and affricates are mostly voiceless. Consonants occur at bilabial, alveolar and velar places of articulation. The document also analyzes vowel phonology and provides example words to illustrate phonetic concepts.
This document discusses phonetic transcription and phonemes. It defines a phoneme as the minimal distinctive sound unit of a language. Phonemes are contrastive and unpredictable, while allophones are consistent variants of phonemes that are in complementary distribution. The document also discusses phonetic transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent sounds, and provides examples of phonemic versus allophonic transcription. It gives instructions on how to transcribe words and includes transcription activities.
This study aims to identify the causes of epenthesis, or the insertion of extra sounds, in the speech of students at Bisease Senior High School. Recordings of students' conversations show insertion of both vowels and consonants. The insertions occur for several reasons, including influence from the students' native Fante and Twi languages, which have different phonotactic rules than English. Vowels are often added to conform to the syllable structure and phonotactics of Fante and Twi. Consonants are inserted to break up unfamiliar consonant clusters in English words. The type of sound inserted depends on factors like neighboring sounds. The study concludes epenthesis is caused by mother tongue interference and recommends spending more
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds, while phonology focuses on phonemes, or the smallest units of sound that distinguish meaning. There are two types of transcription: phonetic uses the IPA to precisely notate sounds, while phonemic uses slashes for a broader view. Phonemes contrast words like "pan" and "ban", while allophones are variations that don't change meaning, like different [n] sounds in different environments. Phonology examines phonemes in real language use regarding stress, rhythm and connected speech. While phonetic transcription provides more detail, phonemic transcription is sufficient for learner comprehension. Some debate exists around using phonemic symbols with young learners.
The document provides instructions for a pronunciation course, including labeling diagrams of speech organs, matching phonetic concepts to their definitions, transcribing words phonetically, identifying phonetic sounds from descriptions, answering true/false questions about phonetics, writing words to demonstrate phonetic sounds, correcting phonetic transcriptions, comparing word pronunciation patterns, sorting words by final sounds, rewriting a paragraph in phonetic transcription, and wishing the student good luck.
The Reflexive Verb in the Grammar of the Urhobo Language Premier Publishers
In the grammar of a language, the reflexive verb is part of the structure of speech which shows the action of the verb being executed on the speaker while the action of other verbs is received by other objects outside the speaker. Amongst a community of persons, there are often situations which provoke reflexive actions and expressions such as “I see myself”/ Mé mre ómà mè “Lift yourself up” / “kpárōmà”. By this I mean that it is expedient that the grammar of a language contains forms of the reflexive verb; not only should it contain it, the reflexive verb should also be easily recognisable. Currently, the language has several Urhobo dictionaries to its credit. Sadly, though, they do not seem to feature the reflexive verb. Why is this so? This is the question which this study has tried to answer while attempting to fill up the existing lacunae. The approach to this study has been eclectic since it involved the application of various methods. In view of the structure of the reflexive verb, this study was based on Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Grammar or Transformational Generative Grammar.
This document discusses the phonemic and phonetic features of several consonant sounds in English and Spanish, including /n/, /ɱ/, /ŋ/, /ɲ/, and /l/. It contrasts the production of these sounds between the two languages and identifies their different places and manners of articulation. The document also examines homorganic sounds and the aspiration of voiceless stops like /p/ and /t/ in English. It discusses the importance of contrastive analysis in understanding pronunciation errors that may occur due to the transfer of learners' first language sound systems.
Teaching English Consonants to Spanish Speakers Universidad de Guayaquilinventionjournals
This document discusses teaching English consonants to Spanish speakers. It begins with an abstract that outlines key differences in pronunciation between English and Spanish, such as variations in stress, pitch, and syllables. The document then provides background on English consonants and their classification based on place and manner of articulation. It notes challenges Spanish speakers face, such as some consonants producing different sounds without changing meaning. The document also examines psychological and cultural factors influencing pronunciation. Finally, it compares the Spanish and English phonetic systems, noting Spanish is syllable-timed while English is stress-timed, and some consonants are pronounced the same in Spanish but distinguish meanings in English.
Ling 502 a phonetic description of korean language (report)Bernard Paderes
This document provides a phonetic description of the Korean language based on data from a language resource person from Seoul, South Korea. It finds that the Central Korean dialect has 21 consonant phonemes and 7 vowel phonemes. Stops and affricates are mostly voiceless. Consonants occur at bilabial, alveolar and velar places of articulation. The document also analyzes vowel phonology and provides example words to illustrate phonetic concepts.
This document discusses phonetic transcription and phonemes. It defines a phoneme as the minimal distinctive sound unit of a language. Phonemes are contrastive and unpredictable, while allophones are consistent variants of phonemes that are in complementary distribution. The document also discusses phonetic transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent sounds, and provides examples of phonemic versus allophonic transcription. It gives instructions on how to transcribe words and includes transcription activities.
This study aims to identify the causes of epenthesis, or the insertion of extra sounds, in the speech of students at Bisease Senior High School. Recordings of students' conversations show insertion of both vowels and consonants. The insertions occur for several reasons, including influence from the students' native Fante and Twi languages, which have different phonotactic rules than English. Vowels are often added to conform to the syllable structure and phonotactics of Fante and Twi. Consonants are inserted to break up unfamiliar consonant clusters in English words. The type of sound inserted depends on factors like neighboring sounds. The study concludes epenthesis is caused by mother tongue interference and recommends spending more
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds, while phonology focuses on phonemes, or the smallest units of sound that distinguish meaning. There are two types of transcription: phonetic uses the IPA to precisely notate sounds, while phonemic uses slashes for a broader view. Phonemes contrast words like "pan" and "ban", while allophones are variations that don't change meaning, like different [n] sounds in different environments. Phonology examines phonemes in real language use regarding stress, rhythm and connected speech. While phonetic transcription provides more detail, phonemic transcription is sufficient for learner comprehension. Some debate exists around using phonemic symbols with young learners.
The document provides instructions for a pronunciation course, including labeling diagrams of speech organs, matching phonetic concepts to their definitions, transcribing words phonetically, identifying phonetic sounds from descriptions, answering true/false questions about phonetics, writing words to demonstrate phonetic sounds, correcting phonetic transcriptions, comparing word pronunciation patterns, sorting words by final sounds, rewriting a paragraph in phonetic transcription, and wishing the student good luck.
PHONOLOGICAL ADAPTATION OF ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN IGBOEugene Ejiofor
The document discusses the phonological adaptation of English loanwords in Igbo. It analyzes various phonological processes that English words undergo when borrowed into Igbo, including vowel and consonant changes, insertions and deletions. Some key findings are that English vowels may be substituted with different Igbo vowels, long vowels may change to short vowels, diphthongs become monophthongs, and consonants can be modified. Additionally, vowels are often inserted between consonant clusters or at the end of words to comply with Igbo phonotactics. The stress patterns of English words also change to tone patterns in Igbo. The study reveals how contact between English and Igbo has influenced the flexibility and development of words in
English phonetics redouane boulguid ensa_safi_moroccoRednef68 Rednef68
This course on Phonology/Phonetics is prepared for students of engineering and conception of information systems [Professional B.A.] at National School of Applied Sciences, Safi - School-Year 2014/2015 . References wil be included in the next part [final] of the course.
This document discusses communication through sound and language. It covers the following key points:
1. Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and their production, while phonology studies how sounds are organized in language.
2. Variation exists both between and within languages. Accents can diverge geographically and be used to indicate social affiliation.
3. The International Phonetic Alphabet provides a standardized way to represent speech sounds and allows accurate production, writing, and recognition across languages. However, English spelling presents ambiguities with many sounds per spelling and spellings per sound.
Hi everyone!
I've recently published my new course "Pronounce Russian Properly" on Udemy.
If you're interested in learning Russian check it out here:
https://www.udemy.com/pronounce-russian-properly/
Tatiana Kharitonchik
Intro. to Linguistics_7 Phonetics (Phonetics Transcription and Suprasegmental)Edi Brata
This slide is seventh session of Introduction to Linguistics. This course is about Phonetics Transcription and Supra-segmental Features of sounds. It is the second of two topics of phonetics course.
Phonics, Vowels & Consonants- Presentation of Mrs. MELODY M. GONZALES, NEBES,...Ramil Gonzales
This document outlines a lesson plan for teaching phonics. It discusses 7 lessons with phonics, beginning with teaching the sounds of consonants and short vowels. Later lessons teach long vowels, consonant blends, digraphs and diphthongs. Each lesson provides examples of words to use and exercises for students. It emphasizes teaching phonics in a systematic, step-by-step process starting with the basics and increasing in complexity. The goal is to help students learn the relationships between letters and sounds to become skilled readers.
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and perception. It includes articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. Phonology is concerned with how sounds pattern and relate to meaning in languages. It focuses on abstract cognitive units of speech sounds called phonemes. While phonetics describes speech sounds, phonology describes how they function in languages. Phonetic transcription represents sounds, while orthography represents written symbols.
This document provides an overview of teaching pronunciation in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms. It discusses using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and a phonemic chart to teach the sounds of English. The key aspects of pronunciation covered are articulation, transmission, and reception of sounds. Resources for teachers include IPA phonemic chart applications and printable versions from the British Council website.
Ipa transcription practice 5th lectureFaiza Sandhu
This document provides information on phonetic transcription and IPA symbols. It includes charts of English vowels and consonants and their typical phonetic transcriptions. It then discusses exercises to practice distinguishing vowel and consonant sounds, including lessons on vowel digraphs and diphthongs, as well as rules for transcribing suffixes like -ed and -s. The document also covers diacritic marks used to indicate modifications in consonant articulation, such as dentalization, palatalization, and velarization.
Methodology for Oral Didactic: Retroflex Consonants of Indo-Aryan Languages
Vidishaa Prakaash,
INALCO, France
The Fifth Annual International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature
2-3 February 2021, Ahwaz
For more information, please visit the conference website:
WWW.LLLD.IR
The document discusses weak and strong syllables in English. It defines a weak syllable as having one of four possible vowel sounds at its center: schwa (ə), a close front vowel like i, a close back vowel like u, or a syllabic consonant. It provides many examples of words containing weak syllables and discusses how weak forms are important for both producing and comprehending spoken English.
Some French expressions as used in Urhobo: a case study of the terms ‘AVOIR …...Premier Publishers
Expressions are expositions of the mind. They reveal thoughts which otherwise would have remained undisclosed. How these thoughts are expressed differ from language to language and from individual to individual. Even individual expressions can also be different one from the other even though they are expressed in the same language. In some instances, certain similarities and dissimilarities have been found in the phrasal constructions and usage of certain French and Urhobo expressions, even though they do not indicate any semantic divergences. In this study, the difference between some French ‘avoir’ expressions and their Urhobo equivalents will be examine. What happens to the verb ‘avoir’ when the expressions are translated into the Urhobo language? How is the structure of the expression affected by the transfer from one language to the other? This study is prompted by the hope of selling the Urhobo language to others as a means of saving it from extinction. The study will be based on some extracts of the French ‘Avoir …‘ expressions as compared to their Urhobo equivalents. For obvious reasons, the approach in this study will be somewhat eclectic. It will involve individual interviews, and since there will be some elements of translation the study will have recourse to Eugene Nida’s theory of dynamic equivalence.
Towards Revitalization of the Urhobo Language: A Return to OralityPremier Publishers
This document summarizes a paper that discusses efforts to revitalize the Urhobo language in Nigeria. It describes how the Urhobo language has become endangered as younger generations have shifted to speaking other languages. The author examines returning to oral traditions and using information communication technologies as ways to revive the Urhobo language. The study used interviews and a review of literature related to the Urhobo people and their language. It is based on Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar, which proposes that humans are born with an innate understanding of language.
Teaching Urhobo as a Second Language through Poetry to Pupils in the Immediat...Premier Publishers
The Urhobo people who are found in the southern part of Nigeria have nurtured and promoted other languages and left their own language to perish. Urhobo has done this to the extent that even in Urhoboland, a great number of Urhobo people do not understand the language, and even if they do understand it, they are not able to speak it because it had not been their practice to respond in Urhobo language when they are spoken to or to speak it to people. As the Proprietors of this language realise that the language is being lost, there is a bid to resuscitate it. How can this be done since the Urhobo language has gradually lost its status of first language? In this work, the possibility of teaching Urhobo as a second language was discussed. Various methods of second language teaching were examined. The nature of poetry was also discussed and the means of teaching Urhobo through poetry was examined. The method of research applied was eclectic and it was based on the Theory of Naturalism.
Perspectives and problems of codifying nigerian pidgin english orthographyAlexander Decker
The document discusses various perspectives on codifying the orthography of Nigerian Pidgin English. It examines views that Nigerian Pidgin English should develop its own orthography based on Nigerian languages rather than English spelling. It also considers perspectives that support using English spelling for Nigerian Pidgin English due to its roots in English and the advantages this could provide. Overall, the document explores the ongoing debate around establishing a standardized orthography for Nigerian Pidgin English and considers arguments for both indigenous and English-based approaches.
This document examines phonological variation in the nine speech forms classified as Akokoid spoken in Akoko North West Local Government in Nigeria. Through data elicitation using the Ibadan 400 wordlist, it was found that the speech forms have undergone language change over time resulting in phonological variation. Specifically:
- Arigidi has 19 consonant phonemes while Owo has 22, demonstrating differences in phoneme inventories.
- Phonological processes like nasalization, palatalization, spirantization have also led to variation. For example, 'steal' is pronounced differently across speech forms due to different processes.
- The variation is a result of both differences in phoneme inventories and conditioning
Afroasiatic, Dené-Sino-Caucasic, Eurasiatic, Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan compared according to the qualities of the protolanguages and the living languages of their descendants.
An introduction to the linguistic landscape, prepared for the non-linguist.
interested in the history and the mystery of our sound & meaning
A linguistic analysis of translation in an african novelAlexander Decker
This document discusses translation in African novels, specifically analyzing proverb translations in Mawuli Adzei's novel "Taboo". It provides background on the debate around language use in African literature, including four tendencies: acceptance of colonial languages, Africanization of those languages, repudiation and return to indigenous languages, and reinvention of indigenous languages in the African diaspora. The study aims to identify linguistic features of translations in African writing by analyzing proverb translations in "Taboo" using translation theory models. It finds that translations allow incorporation of African sociocultural nuances into works in colonial languages, showing Adzei supports Africanizing those languages.
A linguistic analysis of translation in an african novelAlexander Decker
This document discusses translation in African novels. It analyzes translations of proverbs from Ewe to English in Mawuli Adzei's novel Taboo. The analysis uses Vinay and Darbelnet's translation theory model. Key findings show linguistic features and stylistic processes of translation evident in the novel. The document provides background on the debate around language use in African literature. It discusses four tendencies African writers have taken regarding language, including acceptance or rejection of colonial languages. The study is relevant to understand sociolinguistic contexts of African writing by revealing linguistic details of translations.
- Franz Boas is considered the father of American anthropology. He established anthropology as the study of human diversity and argued that cultural and linguistic differences must be explained in their historical context.
- Boas' work on Native American languages in the Handbook of American Indian Languages helped establish linguistics as a core part of anthropological research. It showed the diversity of American Indian languages and challenged views of their inferiority.
- Linguistic anthropology emerged to study language as both a structured code and a medium for social life. It brings attention to language use and variation within social and cultural contexts.
This document compares six major protolanguage families: Afroasiatic, Amerind, Dené-Caucasian, Eurasiatic, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Saharan. It discusses features such as consonant and vowel inventories, vowel harmony, ejectives/implosives, gender systems, inclusive vs. exclusive "we", word order, and morphological typology. For each protolanguage family, it describes characteristics of the ancestral language and notes features that were inherited or diffused among modern descendant languages. Examples of structural traits that spread through language contact, such as certain sounds and grammatical properties, are also outlined.
PHONOLOGICAL ADAPTATION OF ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN IGBOEugene Ejiofor
The document discusses the phonological adaptation of English loanwords in Igbo. It analyzes various phonological processes that English words undergo when borrowed into Igbo, including vowel and consonant changes, insertions and deletions. Some key findings are that English vowels may be substituted with different Igbo vowels, long vowels may change to short vowels, diphthongs become monophthongs, and consonants can be modified. Additionally, vowels are often inserted between consonant clusters or at the end of words to comply with Igbo phonotactics. The stress patterns of English words also change to tone patterns in Igbo. The study reveals how contact between English and Igbo has influenced the flexibility and development of words in
English phonetics redouane boulguid ensa_safi_moroccoRednef68 Rednef68
This course on Phonology/Phonetics is prepared for students of engineering and conception of information systems [Professional B.A.] at National School of Applied Sciences, Safi - School-Year 2014/2015 . References wil be included in the next part [final] of the course.
This document discusses communication through sound and language. It covers the following key points:
1. Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and their production, while phonology studies how sounds are organized in language.
2. Variation exists both between and within languages. Accents can diverge geographically and be used to indicate social affiliation.
3. The International Phonetic Alphabet provides a standardized way to represent speech sounds and allows accurate production, writing, and recognition across languages. However, English spelling presents ambiguities with many sounds per spelling and spellings per sound.
Hi everyone!
I've recently published my new course "Pronounce Russian Properly" on Udemy.
If you're interested in learning Russian check it out here:
https://www.udemy.com/pronounce-russian-properly/
Tatiana Kharitonchik
Intro. to Linguistics_7 Phonetics (Phonetics Transcription and Suprasegmental)Edi Brata
This slide is seventh session of Introduction to Linguistics. This course is about Phonetics Transcription and Supra-segmental Features of sounds. It is the second of two topics of phonetics course.
Phonics, Vowels & Consonants- Presentation of Mrs. MELODY M. GONZALES, NEBES,...Ramil Gonzales
This document outlines a lesson plan for teaching phonics. It discusses 7 lessons with phonics, beginning with teaching the sounds of consonants and short vowels. Later lessons teach long vowels, consonant blends, digraphs and diphthongs. Each lesson provides examples of words to use and exercises for students. It emphasizes teaching phonics in a systematic, step-by-step process starting with the basics and increasing in complexity. The goal is to help students learn the relationships between letters and sounds to become skilled readers.
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and perception. It includes articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. Phonology is concerned with how sounds pattern and relate to meaning in languages. It focuses on abstract cognitive units of speech sounds called phonemes. While phonetics describes speech sounds, phonology describes how they function in languages. Phonetic transcription represents sounds, while orthography represents written symbols.
This document provides an overview of teaching pronunciation in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms. It discusses using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and a phonemic chart to teach the sounds of English. The key aspects of pronunciation covered are articulation, transmission, and reception of sounds. Resources for teachers include IPA phonemic chart applications and printable versions from the British Council website.
Ipa transcription practice 5th lectureFaiza Sandhu
This document provides information on phonetic transcription and IPA symbols. It includes charts of English vowels and consonants and their typical phonetic transcriptions. It then discusses exercises to practice distinguishing vowel and consonant sounds, including lessons on vowel digraphs and diphthongs, as well as rules for transcribing suffixes like -ed and -s. The document also covers diacritic marks used to indicate modifications in consonant articulation, such as dentalization, palatalization, and velarization.
Methodology for Oral Didactic: Retroflex Consonants of Indo-Aryan Languages
Vidishaa Prakaash,
INALCO, France
The Fifth Annual International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature
2-3 February 2021, Ahwaz
For more information, please visit the conference website:
WWW.LLLD.IR
The document discusses weak and strong syllables in English. It defines a weak syllable as having one of four possible vowel sounds at its center: schwa (ə), a close front vowel like i, a close back vowel like u, or a syllabic consonant. It provides many examples of words containing weak syllables and discusses how weak forms are important for both producing and comprehending spoken English.
Some French expressions as used in Urhobo: a case study of the terms ‘AVOIR …...Premier Publishers
Expressions are expositions of the mind. They reveal thoughts which otherwise would have remained undisclosed. How these thoughts are expressed differ from language to language and from individual to individual. Even individual expressions can also be different one from the other even though they are expressed in the same language. In some instances, certain similarities and dissimilarities have been found in the phrasal constructions and usage of certain French and Urhobo expressions, even though they do not indicate any semantic divergences. In this study, the difference between some French ‘avoir’ expressions and their Urhobo equivalents will be examine. What happens to the verb ‘avoir’ when the expressions are translated into the Urhobo language? How is the structure of the expression affected by the transfer from one language to the other? This study is prompted by the hope of selling the Urhobo language to others as a means of saving it from extinction. The study will be based on some extracts of the French ‘Avoir …‘ expressions as compared to their Urhobo equivalents. For obvious reasons, the approach in this study will be somewhat eclectic. It will involve individual interviews, and since there will be some elements of translation the study will have recourse to Eugene Nida’s theory of dynamic equivalence.
Towards Revitalization of the Urhobo Language: A Return to OralityPremier Publishers
This document summarizes a paper that discusses efforts to revitalize the Urhobo language in Nigeria. It describes how the Urhobo language has become endangered as younger generations have shifted to speaking other languages. The author examines returning to oral traditions and using information communication technologies as ways to revive the Urhobo language. The study used interviews and a review of literature related to the Urhobo people and their language. It is based on Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar, which proposes that humans are born with an innate understanding of language.
Teaching Urhobo as a Second Language through Poetry to Pupils in the Immediat...Premier Publishers
The Urhobo people who are found in the southern part of Nigeria have nurtured and promoted other languages and left their own language to perish. Urhobo has done this to the extent that even in Urhoboland, a great number of Urhobo people do not understand the language, and even if they do understand it, they are not able to speak it because it had not been their practice to respond in Urhobo language when they are spoken to or to speak it to people. As the Proprietors of this language realise that the language is being lost, there is a bid to resuscitate it. How can this be done since the Urhobo language has gradually lost its status of first language? In this work, the possibility of teaching Urhobo as a second language was discussed. Various methods of second language teaching were examined. The nature of poetry was also discussed and the means of teaching Urhobo through poetry was examined. The method of research applied was eclectic and it was based on the Theory of Naturalism.
Perspectives and problems of codifying nigerian pidgin english orthographyAlexander Decker
The document discusses various perspectives on codifying the orthography of Nigerian Pidgin English. It examines views that Nigerian Pidgin English should develop its own orthography based on Nigerian languages rather than English spelling. It also considers perspectives that support using English spelling for Nigerian Pidgin English due to its roots in English and the advantages this could provide. Overall, the document explores the ongoing debate around establishing a standardized orthography for Nigerian Pidgin English and considers arguments for both indigenous and English-based approaches.
This document examines phonological variation in the nine speech forms classified as Akokoid spoken in Akoko North West Local Government in Nigeria. Through data elicitation using the Ibadan 400 wordlist, it was found that the speech forms have undergone language change over time resulting in phonological variation. Specifically:
- Arigidi has 19 consonant phonemes while Owo has 22, demonstrating differences in phoneme inventories.
- Phonological processes like nasalization, palatalization, spirantization have also led to variation. For example, 'steal' is pronounced differently across speech forms due to different processes.
- The variation is a result of both differences in phoneme inventories and conditioning
Afroasiatic, Dené-Sino-Caucasic, Eurasiatic, Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan compared according to the qualities of the protolanguages and the living languages of their descendants.
An introduction to the linguistic landscape, prepared for the non-linguist.
interested in the history and the mystery of our sound & meaning
A linguistic analysis of translation in an african novelAlexander Decker
This document discusses translation in African novels, specifically analyzing proverb translations in Mawuli Adzei's novel "Taboo". It provides background on the debate around language use in African literature, including four tendencies: acceptance of colonial languages, Africanization of those languages, repudiation and return to indigenous languages, and reinvention of indigenous languages in the African diaspora. The study aims to identify linguistic features of translations in African writing by analyzing proverb translations in "Taboo" using translation theory models. It finds that translations allow incorporation of African sociocultural nuances into works in colonial languages, showing Adzei supports Africanizing those languages.
A linguistic analysis of translation in an african novelAlexander Decker
This document discusses translation in African novels. It analyzes translations of proverbs from Ewe to English in Mawuli Adzei's novel Taboo. The analysis uses Vinay and Darbelnet's translation theory model. Key findings show linguistic features and stylistic processes of translation evident in the novel. The document provides background on the debate around language use in African literature. It discusses four tendencies African writers have taken regarding language, including acceptance or rejection of colonial languages. The study is relevant to understand sociolinguistic contexts of African writing by revealing linguistic details of translations.
- Franz Boas is considered the father of American anthropology. He established anthropology as the study of human diversity and argued that cultural and linguistic differences must be explained in their historical context.
- Boas' work on Native American languages in the Handbook of American Indian Languages helped establish linguistics as a core part of anthropological research. It showed the diversity of American Indian languages and challenged views of their inferiority.
- Linguistic anthropology emerged to study language as both a structured code and a medium for social life. It brings attention to language use and variation within social and cultural contexts.
This document compares six major protolanguage families: Afroasiatic, Amerind, Dené-Caucasian, Eurasiatic, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Saharan. It discusses features such as consonant and vowel inventories, vowel harmony, ejectives/implosives, gender systems, inclusive vs. exclusive "we", word order, and morphological typology. For each protolanguage family, it describes characteristics of the ancestral language and notes features that were inherited or diffused among modern descendant languages. Examples of structural traits that spread through language contact, such as certain sounds and grammatical properties, are also outlined.
This document discusses the history and evolution of the English language from Old English to Modern English. It describes how family trees were created to show how languages are related and how words in different languages with similar meanings, spellings and pronunciations (cognates) can indicate a shared ancestral language. The document also explains comparative reconstruction, which aims to reconstruct the original forms in ancestral languages, and provides examples of how sounds and words were reconstructed across language families. Finally, it outlines the major periods of English history: Old English before 1100, Middle English from 1100-1500, Early Modern English from 1500-1700, and Modern English after 1700.
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In Defense of Linguistic Diversity. EXPOLINGUA 2011UNESCOmhok
EUS - Itziar Idiazabalek egindako Munduko Hizkuntza Ondarearen UNESCO Katedraren aurkezpena Expolingua 2011n //
CAST - Presentación de la Cátedra UNESCO de Patrimonio Lingüístico Mundial realizada por Itziar Idiazabal en Expolingua 2011.
EN - UNESCO World Language Heritage Chair's presentation by Itziar Idiazabal in Expolingua 2011
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2. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Akpofure-Okenrentie 178
Figure 1: Map of Delta State Showing the Location of the Urhobo Territory
Source: Extracted from Onigu Otite (2011)
Okumagba (op cit,) reaffirms that “Reverend S.O. Efeturi
history of Erhowa also confirms the approximate period of
their migration from Benin and the first place of their
settlement. Egharevba confirmed at page 5 of his book that
Urhobos left Benin after the end of the first period (1052
A.D. – 1170 A.D.). Otite, (op cit.) discusses the political
institutions of the Urhobo people and he “highlights the
outstanding contributions made by the Urhobo people at
all levels and arenas of constitutional government in
Nigeria, involving the executive, the legislature and the
judiciary”. Also, Otite (op cit.) discusses the “Ukale and
other Urhobo in diaspora”. This is about how the Urhobo,
haven migrated from Edo to Urhoboland, some of them
found the location too small, they therefore migrated to
Yoruba land in order to acquire a bigger and better location
as well as a higher standard of living. One would have
thought that this move would affect their spoken Urhobo
language negatively. This was not so. An encounter with
some of those in diaspora over in Yoruba land showed that
they had stronger control of the language than those who
were at home in Urhobo land. (This must be because the
head of the home made a point of speaking Urhobo to his
children whether they were out at the farmland or at home.
The Researcher knows this because she had interacted
with some of such children. They informed her that they
spoke Urhobo with members of the family and spoke
Yoruba with others. (Although this information is not
applicable here, but it is worth noting). Concerning the
population of the Urhobo, Otite (op cit.), cited in Akpofure-
Okenrentie, (2017) and (2018) reveals that: “The present
(2002) overall population of the Urhobo is more than 2
million taking into consideration Urhobo migrants living in
other parts of the country and abroad”.
As touching the Urhobo language, Okumagba,(op cit.)
cited in Akpofure (2015) states that:
At Erhowa, the Urhobo families settled with the
Western Ijaw family of Oproza. By frequent
contact and inter marriage it became difficult for
the Urhobo families to retain the original Benin
language. There was therefore an
unceremonial marriage of the Edo and Western
Ijaw languages. Consequently, a new language
(Urhobo) evolved which is classified as a dialect
of the Edo language.
Ohwovoriole, (N.D.) also produced a book titled Obe
Resosuo Re Urhobo. It is not dated but details of its
publication indicate that it must have been written in the
1970s. It is actually like a picture dictionary of Urhobo
words. It also talks about the seven vowels of the Urhobo
language. From lesson 10 it graduates from single words
into short sentences. By the time it reaches lesson 54 it
has progressed to very short stories. The final lesson
which is lesson 55 is a display of alphabets in Urhobo
language. Another book, titled Modern Urhobo Readers by
Onokpasa, B.E., the foreword of which is dated 19th
August 1959, is a compilation of reading passages. There
is also Oto re eta (a dictionary of Urhobo words with
proverbs and pithy sayings).
On the question of the Urhobo alphabet. Ekeh (2005), cited
in Akpofure, (2015), strikes me as significant as he talks
about “the letter “R” in Urhobo and Benin languages”.
According to him “ … the most deployable letter in the
Urhobo alphabet appears to be “r” yet it is largely
suppressed in Benin language”. After this assertion he
goes on to relate the “range” of its uses in Urhobo
language; and this, he says is wide:
First, it appears quite frequently in double
consonant formations, coming only next to the
prolific “h”. It also appears in the few cases of
triple and quadruple consonant formations. In
contrast, in Benin language, the “r” is quite often
suppressed in cases of double consonant
formation. That is why Benin language has
3. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Int. J. of Lit., Lang. Ling. 179
deleted “r” from “Urhobo”, yielding “Uhobo”,
which is what Benins call Urhobos. Second, “r”
dominates all instances of possessive
indications in Urhobo language. In English
grammar, the possessive can be indicated (a)
by employing “of” before what the subject
belongs to. (e.g., Ovie of Agbon); (b) by the
apostrophy “s”, (e.g. Olomu’s King); by a
possessive adjective (e.g. Nigerian towns) or by
possessive pronouns (his, her, its). In Urhobo
grammar, all these instances of possession
would be handled in only one way; through the
use of possession-indicating preposition which
is “r”.
To conclude this quotation here are examples of
possession-indication in Urhobo language. (My Father’s
house) Úwēvwì re Ósēmé. (My Sister’s dress) Éwù re
Óníòvó mé. It is worthy of note that in Urhobo grammar the
apostrophy is no longer used in the case of vowel elision.
This was agreed on at one of the meetings of the Urhobo
Studies Association some years back. This means that
while the preposition “re” is written in full, the vowel in the
preposition is elided in spoken language. That is to say it
is written this way (Uwevwi re Oseme) but spoken this way
(Uwevwi r Oseme). Akpofure, (2015) also discusses the
letter “R” of the Urhobo alphabet. She notes that it is the
eighteenth letter and the twelfth consonant of the Urhobo
alphabet. She also describes the various processes of
articulating the Urhobo “r”.
Concerning the language, Okumagba (op cit,) has a
chapter titled “Important Urhobo Words and Their English
Meaning showing the Plural where applicable” highlighting
their synonyms and homonyms.
In her article, the “Neutralization of Contrast in the Vowel
System of Urhobo”, Aziza, (2008) states that “Urhobo, a
South-Western Edoid language of the Niger-Congo family
is spoken in Delta State, Nigeria”. This article throws light
on the previous studies on the vowel systems of SWE
languages as she discusses the vowel system of Urhobo,
the behaviour of e,o,ɛ in verbs, the infinitive, constructions
in the present tense, constructions in the past tense,
constructions in the future tense, the behaviour of e, o, ԑ.
in nouns, plural formation and phrasal combinations. A
very rich article which indeed facilitates studies in this area.
As touching the reflexive verb, nothing has really been
found about it in Urhobo language Studies, but in Crystal
David’s, Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, there is a
definition of the reflexive verb.
METHODOLOGY
Given the documentary situation of the Urhobo language,
the approach to this study was varied. Also, because
Urhobo is a tone language there were recordings of
articulation and intonations which had to be listened to
repeatedly in order to determine to what extent the tonal
expressions required for particular morphemes had been
accomplished, especially as they reflect processes of
different tenses in Urhobo reflexive structures. Recourse
was also made to a bit of translation since the study
involved two languages.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is first to identify the differences and
similarities that exist in the French and Urhobo reflexive
verbs, and then to highlight some of the reflexive verbs that
were identified yet hitherto undocumented in Urhobo
language. Another aim also is to determine the differences
existing in the various modes and uses of the reflexive
verbs in both languages.
Theory of Transformational Grammar
Native languages such as Urhobo, Edo, Yoruba and others
indeed have their own complex grammars. Compared to
the French language grammar, the grammar of the Urhobo
language still lacks a lot of structural processes which need
to be unearthed in order to build it up and enrich it. These
processes do not get created in a vacuum. There are
supportive theories which are applied to them. One of
these theories is the Transformational grammar. For Uzer
(2015)
Transformational grammar (TG) or
transformational-generative grammar (TGG) is,
in the study of linguistics, part of the theory of
generative grammar, especially of naturally
evolved languages, that considers grammar to
be a system of rules that generate exactly those
combinations of words which form grammatical
sentences in a given language. TG involves the
use of defined operations called transformations
to produce new sentences from existing ones.
For the Editors of The Encyclopaedia Britannica, (2018)
also cited in Akpofure-Okenrentie, (2018) (unpublished), it
is “... a system of language analysis that recognizes the
relationship among the various elements of a sentence,
among the possible sentences of a language and uses
processes or rules (some of which are called
transformations) to express these relationships”.
Innovateus (2006-2013) also states that:
Transformational Grammar also “ refers to the
theory of generative grammar of a natural
language, developed by Chomsky.
Transformational grammar is basically a theory
to understand the processing of grammatical
knowledge in the human brain. Noam
Chomsky, the U.S. linguist, was the main
propagator of transformational grammar in the
1960’s. His theory opposed the earlier theories
4. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Akpofure-Okenrentie 180
of structuralism by rejecting the idea that each
language is different from the other. In fact,
transformational grammar analyses language
on the basis of certain universal tenets in
languages.
According to Innovateus (op cit), Transformational
grammar:
(i) describes a language with the help of transformational
rules. It involves logical reasoning to understand fully
the meaning of the selected words. As
such transformational grammar goes a step ahead
of structural grammar which focuses more on the
sentence structures used for communication.
(ii) Apart from the use of correct sentence
structure, transformational grammar analyses the
words with reference to its underlying thoughts.
(iii) Transformational grammar employs most of the
linguistic tools such as syntax and context to explore
the possible meanings of words.
This state of the Urhobo language actually gives rise to the
research and discovery or possible creation of new
concepts as regards the reflexive verb in Urhobo. With this
in mind the theory of Transformational grammar would be
seen as very appropriate for this study, and so it is
adopted. Urhobo as a language is still in the process of
evolution. This means that it still has more room for growth.
The Reflexive Verb
Generally, the reflexive verb is understood to be the type
of verb whose action is executed upon the subject; i.e. the
one who is speaking. Taxel, (2017) expresses this same
idea when he states that
In grammar a reflexive verb is loosely, a verb
whose direct object is the same as its subject.
For example, “I wash myself”. More generally,
a reflexive verb has the same semantic agent
and patient (typically represented syntactically
by the subject and the direct object). For
example, the English verb to perjure is
reflexive, since one can only perjure oneself. In
a wider sense, the term refers to any verb form
whose grammatical object is a reflexive
pronoun, regardless of semantics; such verbs
are also referred to as pronominal verbs,
especially in grammars of the Romance
languages.
Still on the question of the reflexive verb, Crystal (2009)
cited also in Akpofure-Okenrentie, (2018) means the same
thing when he says that it is an:
(adj.In.) (refl, REFL, reflex) A term used
in GRAMMATICAL description to refer to a
VERB or CONSTRUCTION where the
SUBJECT and the OBJECT relate to the same
entity. English uses reflexive pronouns to
express this relation (e.g. he kicked himself),
but the same verbal MEANING is often present
without the pronoun (e.g. I shaved (myself)). …
In TRANSFORMATIONAL grammar,
reflexivization refers to a rule which
introduces the reflexive pronouns into a
sentence – in one formulation by changing the
syntactic feature on the object personal
PRONOUN from [-reflexive] to [+reflexive],
when it is CO-REFERENTIAL with the subject,
e.g. she saw her = she saw herself. In
GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY,
reflexives, together with RECIPROCALS, NP-
TRACES and PRO, are BASE-generated
ANAPHORES – a class of NPs. Other classes
are pronouns and R-EXPRESSIONS.
Ade Ojo (2005) does not say anything different from the
others when he describes
pronominal verbs as:
… Verbs whose present infinitives are
accompanied by the reflexive personal pronoun
se. This accompanying pronoun changes
during the process of conjugation, as the
person, numbers and the endings (desinences)
of the verb change.
E.g. Je me, Tu te, Il / Elle se. Note for se
laver: Je me lave, Tu te laves, Il / Elle se lave,
Nous nous lavons, Vous vous lavez, Ils / Elles
se lavent.
The action expressed by these verbs is
reflected on and performed by the doer (the
subject of the verb).
In Ege (1985) the verb is noted in Urhobo as “ótāíruò”
meaning “word of action / action word”. Nothing is
indicative of the reflexive verb in the Urhobo grammar as
yet; neither in the Urhobo grammar books or documents
nor on the internet have I noted any topic that treats
specifically the term ‘reflexive’ in Urhobo grammar. Going
by the English definition of the reflexive verb, one would
say this verb in Urhobo would be:
“ótāíruò re íruērú rōyén shé kpāhe ómà”,
A verb whose actions falls on oneself”.
Also, “ótāíruò” re érū phíyo ómà.
A verb whose action is done on oneself.
There is actually the existing notion (though unwritten),
that the reflexive verb is non-existent in Urhobo. But, if one
says in Urhobo
“Mé wónmà” / “Je me suis blessé” / I hurt myself
then the verb wónmà” - to hurt, in this context,
is reflexive. The action of the verb “wónmà” / to
hurt is on “ómà”, that is “myself”. Let us take
again the verb “ho” / “bath”. The infinitive of
which is “Eho” / to bath E.g.
“Mé hò”. Subject / Object Verb
Mé hò
5. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Int. J. of Lit., Lang. Ling. 181
The action of the verb “ho” is directly on the pronoun “Me”.
This shows that the verb is reflexive, although the
emphasis seems to be on the pronoun. In French, the
reflexive verb is recognised by the presence of the
pronoun “se”. Hence in French one would say “se baigner”.
While the French reflexive verb “se baigner” is easily
recognised, the Urhobo “ho” is not that easily recognised.
If the sentence structure is such that clearly indicates the
subject, verb and object thus:
Subject Verb Object
B. “Mé ho ómā mè” Mé ho ómā mè
The use of “ómā mè” at this point would seem excessive,
because the pronoun internalises the object since “ómā
mè” still refers to “me”. Also, “Mé ho ómā mè” is not exactly
acceptable in the Urhobo sentence structure. So, where in
French the verb “se laver”, “se baigner” is reflexive, in
Urhobo, the emphasis is placed on the pronoun, (which is
now termed as a reflexive pronoun); hence Urhobo
grammar emphasises the pronominal “mè” instead of the
verb.
The Reflexive Verb in Urhobo
It had been noted earlier that in Urhobo grammar more
emphasis has thus far been laid on the pronoun than on
the verb. Considering Taxel, (op cit) and Crystal (op cit)’s
definition, as well as the context in which the pronominal
noun “Ómà” and the verb “wónmà” are linked and used, it
would not be out of place to say that the Urhobo verb
“wónmà”, mentioned in the example above is indeed
reflexive. Outside this context, it ceases to be reflexive. For
example:
Ómōshāré na wan ómōtè na òmá
Le garçon a blessé la fille
The boy has hurt the girl.
The action of “wonma ” / to hurt in this sentence is not on
“ómōshāré” / “boy”; it is on “ómōtè” / “girl”. It is noted that
even in French, the verb “blesser” / “to injure” ceases to be
reflexive in this context. But the following structure is
reflexive.
Ómóté nà wan ōma óbò róye ómà
La fille s’est blessée
The girl has hurt herself
In this sequence, the action of the verb is executed on the
subject herself.
So, it can be said that depending on the context in which a
verb is used, the “reflexive verb” really does exist in
Urhobo. Such verbs might indeed be few, but they do exist
and further researching and laboratory structural exercises
would certainly highlight more of them. Take for an
instance, the example given above.
“I wash myself” / “Je me lave” / “Mé hó”.
The verb “ho”, (infinitive form – “éhó” / se laver) can be said
to be reflexive in Urhobo when the following structure is
considered. Éhó / se laver / to wash oneself, to take a bath.
In order to equate the Urhobo reflexive structure with the
French the following exercise was carried out in the
laboratory.
Urhobo French English
1st ps Mé hó Je me lave I wash myself
2nd ps Wó hó Tu te laves You wash yourself
3rd ps Ó hó Il/Elle se lave He/she washes himself
Urhobo French English
1st pp Avwanre hó Nous nous lavons We wash ourselves
2nd pp Òwá hó Vous vous lavez You wash
yourselves
3rd pp Àyé hò Ils / ells se lavent They wash
themselves
“Se laver” can also be translated by “óma éhwōrhé” / “to
wash oneself”. In this sense, it is also reflexive E.g.
Mé hwórho ómá / Je me lave / I wash myself .
It is now established that the reflexive verb does exist in
Urhobo. But, the prefix “oma” added to “èhwōrhè” now
makes it a noun. In Urhobo linguistics, this is referred to as
the ‘pronominal noun’ or pronominal pronoun as the case
may be.
Considering Five French Reflexive Verbs
For the purpose of this study, five verbs have been picked.
These are:
i) S’appeler – to call, ii) S’agenouiller – to kneel, iii) Se
battre – to fight, iv) Se blesser – to be injured, v) Se cacher
– to hide. The aim is to distinguish between the French
reflexive verbs that also serve as reflexive verbs in Urhobo
and those that cannot serve as reflexive in Urhobo or vice-
versa.
i) Appeler (S’appeler)
According to Carrero (2015) the verb “appeler” comes
“From Old French apeler with the P and L added back to
reflect the original Latin appellō. In its infinitive form it
means “to name” (attribute a name to), to call, to call out”.
Its Urhobo equivalent is “se” to name, to call. i.e. “se ódé”
/ give it, or give him a name, Call it or call him a name. Mu
ódē ké / Nommez le/la. / Give him / her a name.
S’appeler – Se - to call. / A call – Úsé – Un appel /.
“Úsé” is the noun from the verb “se”. For example:
“Mí sē wè” / Je t’appele / “I call you”, “I am calling you”
“É sé wè” / “On t’appele” / “Someone is calling you”
“Úsé” wē nà kpátá re ó!. Ton appel - ci est si urgent!
This call of yours is so urgent!
Se òmá” / s’appeler. Se òma ódè / s’appeler du nom.
Now, “se” is the verb. The prefix e “ese” makes it the
infinitive. Whereas the prefix “ òmá” added makes it a noun
“Óma ēsé”, the affix “ òmá” is what now makes it reflexive.
We now have “se òmá” BUT it cannot translate as –
s’appeler. In Urhobo, “òde ómà” implies nickname /
surnom.
6. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Akpofure-Okenrentie 182
The reflexive verb s’appeler does not really exist in Urhobo
in the French context. The nearest equivalent to it is “ōdé
re óma ēsé”, which simply means “calling of self’ name”.
s’appeler means “to call oneself”, In Urhobo this would be
““Se òmá” even though it does not really signify the verb
s’appeler, in the French context, while the noun becomes
“óma ēsé”. For example:
Mí se ómā me Ívōkè – I call myself Voke – Je m’appele
Voke.
“Mí se ómā me Ívōkè” may be grammatically correct but it
is not the usage in Urhobo. The Urhobo person would
rather say:
“Ódé me Ívōkè” / Mon nom est Voke. / My name is Voke.
Again, “Mon nom est Voke” would not be the usage in
French either. Also, the correct and acceptable structure
in Urhobo, “Ódé me Ívōkè” clearly leans more towards the
English phrase structure. E.g.
“My name is Voke” / “Ódé me Ívōkè”; with “Ódē mè” as “My
name”, “Ívōkè” - “is Voke”. Another example is the
response to the question in Urhobo: “Die ye ode we?” /
“What is your name?” and not:
“Māvó wó se ómā wè?” / “Comment tu t’appeles?” / “How
do you call yourself? The French equivalent to the Urhobo
“Ódé me Ívōkè” would be “Mon nom est Voke”. This would
not be the usual acceptable structure in French grammar.
Neither would “Mì se òmá me Ívòké be acceptable in
Urhobo. Yet the clause “se òmá”, although it is the Urhobo
equivalent of “s’appeler”, has not really been documented
in Urhobo grammar usage as reflexive. But Urhobo is a
living and evolving language and the transformational
theory allows for the inclusion of new words and concepts
in the grammar of a language. Therefore from the verb
“se”, the prefix e gives the infinitive èsé; the prefix ómá
creates the noun òma ésé and the affix ómá gives the
reflexive form se òmá.. Let it be noted however that the
phrase “Māvó wó se ómā wè? Could be used in a
derogatory sense. Eg:
“Māvó wó se ómā wè?” Pour qui tu te prends? /Who do
you think you are?
“Dìé wó se òmá wè?” Pour qui tu te prends? /What do you
think you are?
However, in a completely different sequence “se óma”
could be used reflexively. Example: “se ómà brūchè” – to
call oneself to order which in French means “s’appeler à
l’ordre”. Structural laboratory exercises were carried out on
this area because of the context in which it is being used
reflexively with special reference to tenses
i. Mĭ se òmá brūchè / I called myself to order / Je me suis
appelé à l’ordre
Wŏ se òmá brūchè / You called yourself to order / Tu t’es
appelé à l’ordre
Ŏ se òmá brūchè / He called himself to order / Il s’est
appelé à l’ordre
Àvwárĕn se òmá brūchè / We called ourselves to order /
Nous nous sommes appelé à l’ordre
Ówă se òmá brūchè / You called yourselves to order /
Vous vous êtes appelé à l’ordre
Àyĕ se òmá brūchè / They called themselves to order / Ils
se sont appelé à l’ordre
This means that the reflexive form of the verb “s’appeler”
in Urhobo does not necessarily mean “to be called / to call
oneself a name” as it is in French. It is used as a process
of carrying out an action on oneself; hence the above
structural example. Following the sense of the above
structure would not end up in the French “s’appeler”.
E.g. Je m’appele à l’ordre / Mì´ se ómá brúchè,” “Mí bro
ómā me úchè.
Also, depending on the context, “Mĭ se ómá brúchè” could
be present tense or past tense. Eg.
Mĭ se ómá brúchè / Je suis en train de m’appeler à l’ordre
/ I am calling myself to order
Mĭ se ómá brúchè / Je me suis appelé à l’ordre / I called
myself to order.
The vowel /i/ of the pronoun “Mi” has the same low high
tone in both sequences. It is the difference in their
intonations that determines whether it is present
continuous or past tense.
Meanwhile “Mì se ómá brúchè” / “Je m’appèle à l’ordre” / I
call myself to order is simply present tense.
Urhobo French English
Present
cont.
Mĭ se ómá
brúchè
Je m’appele à
l’ordre
I am calling
myself to order
Past
tense
Mì se òmá
brūchè
Je me suis
appele à l’ordre
I called myself
to order
Future
tense
Mí chè se
òmá brūchè
Je vais m'appeler
à l’ordre
I will call
myself to order
More examples:
“Ódēyè, mĭ se ómà brúché”
Hier, je me suis appelé à l’ordre
Yesterday, I called myself to order
Ótiōyé nà, mĭ se ómá brúchè
Maintenant, je m’appele à l’ordre
Now I call myself to order
The present continuous is expressed with one low tone
and one high tone. [mì ´]
In opposition to the shortening of the vowel /i/ in the past
tense, the past interior is expressed with three sequences
of tones i.e. “high-mid-high” articulated thus: [mĭ] For
example:
i. Ódēyè, mĭ se òmá brūchè /
Yesterday, I called myself to order /
Hier, je me suis appelé à l’ordre
It should be noted that in order to enunciate the present
tense of the reflexive verb in Urhobo it has been necessary
to insert tone marks in the example given. It is with the tone
7. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Int. J. of Lit., Lang. Ling. 183
marks that tenses are indicated. Here is what Aziza (2007)
says of it: “Tense – Aspect marking is carried out by tone
in Urhobo. For example, to claim that action or event is on-
going, i.e. continuous, a floating high tone … is inserted
before the verb. This tone then takes the phonetic form of
the preceding vowel to it”. This is why this has been
applied in order to indicate the present continuous and the
past tense of the verb in Urhobo.
2. Agenouiller. “a- + genou + -er, via its old French root
genoil (knee). Carrero (2015), Kneel – She ígué /
S’agenouiller – to kneel. Literally, in Urhobo,“mí she íguè”
translates as “ I fall on knees”. But, “Je m’agenouille”
translates as “Mí she ómā me íguè”, “I kneel myself”. “Mí
she ómā me íguè” is not said in Urhobo. Although one can
say “Òmēvwe íguè”; where
Òmēvwè = Je = I
íguè = genou = knees.
This would mean “Je genou” / “I knees”, which makes no
sense without a verb.
It is noted that in Urhobo, both the pronoun and preposition
are internalised. Hence, whereas in Urhobo “Òmēvwe
íguè” makes full sense, it is not so in French where “Je
genou” makes no sense at all. In this case, there is a clear
divergence as it concerns the French reflexive verb
“S’agenouiller” and the Urhobo “She íguè” “ígue ēshé”
being the noun. In Urhobo language, the verb modulates
entirely from the idea of kneeling, to “shé” to fall. To make
it reflexive, the action falls upon the subject, which is the
pronoun “mi”. Example: “Mī she íguè” / “Je m’agenouille” /
I kneel. “Mì she íguè” effectively translates “Je
m’agenouille”. It is the direct equivalent of “Je
m’agenouille”. This means that the French reflexive verb
“s’agenouiller” has an equivalent reflexive form in Urhobo.
Another possible way of using this expression in Urhobo
could be the application of the verb “phi” – “mettre" – “to
put”. Example:
Mì phi ómà mé phi ígué
Je me mets à genou
I put myself on knees
This structure, “Mì phi ómà mé phi ígué” translates as Je
me mets à genou. This is a clear indication of a reflexive
form. Which is in line with the reflexive verb “se mettre”.
The difference in structure when it comes to the reflexive
verb in the two languages is clear.
It should be noted that while “She íguè” is the verb, it also
indicates the reflexive while “ígue ēshé” is the noun.
3. Se battre
Bouvier (2006) notes that “battre” is Middle French from
Old French “batre”, from late Latin “battere”, present active
infinitive of “battō”, alternative French of Latin “battuō”
(“beat, pound, fight”), of Gaulish origin.
The Urhobo equivalent of the verb “Se battre” is “hòrómà”,
while “Òma éhōró” is the noun. (Literally, Self - fighting). It
can also be translated by “óma èhwé”, “óma èghwié”, “óma
ètēyó”. The verb “hórè”, the infinitive is éhōró; the reflexive
is hòrómà; the noun is Òma éhōró. This sequence is easily
reflexive in Urhobo language because it is already an
action that is carried out on oneself. Take for instance that
someone is so angry that he or she executes an action on
himself/herself. (This may not necessarily be the case in
French). In Urhobo, the futile efforts of a jealous wife to
keep her flirtatious husband to herself could result in an
action described as “Òma éhōró”. Such a woman would
grumble and murmur; she is angry at herself and
everything around her. In Urhobo, one would say:
i. “Ó hōro ómā róyé /
Elle se bat, elle se trouble, Elle se tracas”.
“She is fighting herself”
ii. Ó hwe ómā róyé /
Elle se tue”.
“She is killing herself”.
Same is the case of an angry child who hurts himself by
banging his head on the wall. In Urhobo one says:
Ómóná hōro ómā róyè / L’enfant se bat The child is
fighting himself.
Imagine an instance when someone is angry about a
situation which he can do nothing about; perhaps a
situation emanating from his own mistake which forces him
to hate himself and fight himself. He says:
“Mé hōro ómā mè” / “Je me bats” / “I am fighting myself”.
He can also be told:
“Ó vwo óbò rú wō se rúú, wó dē hóro ómá wé” / “Tu ne
peux rien faire! Tu te bats seulement”
“There is nothing you can do. You are only fighting
yourself”. Also, two different communities get into a fight
over a sore issue. For example land. This is expressed in
Urhobo as:
Àyé hóro ōhwóhwó / Ils se battent / They fight
themselves. They are fighting themselves.
4. Se blesser - The verb is “wonma” - To hurt one’s
self. The prefix “oma” which is added makes it a noun -
Óma éwàn / Blessure / Injury. In the noun “Óma éwàn”,
both spelling and sound change. The reflexive form of the
verb remains “wonma”
From Antimoon (2007), “The word “blesser” comes from
old Frankish “blettjen” and originally meant “to bruise” …
but there is a common Germanic origin and a probable
relation to “blood”. Migrant (2015) confirms Antimoon’s
assertion as he notes the word “blesser” as coming:
From Middle French blesser, from Old French
blecier (“to injure, to hurt”), from Frankish
blētjan, (“to bruise”), from Proto-Germanic
blaitijanɡ, (“to discolour, bruise”), from *blaitaz
(“pale, discoloured”), from Proto-Indo-
European *bhllAid- (“pale, pallid”). Cognate
with Old High German bleizza (“livor, bruise”),
Old English blᾱt (“pale, livid”) More at blate.
8. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Akpofure-Okenrentie 184
“Óma éwàn” is an Urhobo word which means “injury” which
in urhobo is expressed with two words i.e. /ómá – body/, /
éwán – injury/. The word “éwán” on its own also has other
meanings like “to farm”, “to pass by” etc. This is why, for it
to be properly defined as a verb it must be joined to “ómá”
, body, which in this context is expressed by “self”. Hence
we have “wán òmá” with “ómá éwán” being the noun.
Literally therefore, “ómá éwán” means “the hurting/injuring
of the body” / “to hurt oneself”. Example:
/Mè wónmá/, - /Je me blesse/, / I hurt myself/.
But “mé wónmà” in this sense does not express the
present tense which is expressed in the French “je me
blesse”. On the contrary, it expresses the past tense. The
injury has already happened and stopped, “mé wónmà”
For it to have the same sense as “Je me blesse”, it would
have to be expressed in the present continuous tense,
indicated only with the tone marks. E.g.
/Mě wónmà / - Je me blesse / I am hurting myself
Other examples include:Ma wan emona ómà/ Nous avons
blessé les petites enfants/ we’ve hurt the little children. The
pronoun also changes according to the number. (Àvwárén
and Mà are the plural forms of the singular pronoun /Mě./
Mè wónmà Àvwárén wónmà / Mà wónmà
Wò wónmà Ówá wōnmà / Wà wónmà
Ò wónmà Àyē wónmà
Note that at this point the verb changes according to the
type of verb
5. Se cacher
According to Blasckhe (2016), the verb “cacher” is “From
Old French cachier, from Vulgar Latin *coacticāre, present
active infinitive of coacticō, ultimately from Latin coactō
Se cacher - Djávwómà - to hide oneself
Je me cache /Mé djāvwen ómà /I hide
myself.
The verb “se cacher” is easily expressed in Urhobo as a
reflexive verb. The impression noted above had been that
the reflexive verb is non-existent in Urhobo. This is
confirmed by the absence of the reflexive in the
documentation of grammar in Urhobo. The structure of
“ómà édjávwèn” negates that notion. This implies that in
French as well as in Urhobo, one notes the existence of
reflexive verbs although many of the French reflexive
verbs may not appear as reflexives in Urhobo in certain
contexts because of the nature of the Urhobo verb.
The following are the various forms of reflexive structures
used in the laboratory exercises: The structures are
modelled after the sentence structures in the use of the
Urhobo reflexive “Djávwómà” / se cacher.
Urhobo French English
1st ps Me djávwómà Je me cache I hide myself
1st ps
Óma édjávwèn
me éphà.
Je suis en train
de me cacher
I am hiding
myself
2nd ps Óma édjávwen
wó éphà
Tu es en train
de te cacher
You hide
yourself
2nd ps Óma édjávwèn
wó éphà
Tu es en train
de te chacher
You are hiding
yourself
3rd ps Ó djávwen
ómà
Il se cache He hides
himself
3rd ps Óma
édjávwèn ó
éphà
Il est en train
de se cacher
He is hiding
himself
1st pp Àvwárèn
djávwèn ómà
Nous nous
cachons
We hide
ourselves
1st pp Óma édjávwèn
ma éphà
Nous sommes
en train de nous
cacher
We are hiding
ourselves
2nd pp Ówa djávwèn
ómà
Vous vous
cachez
You hide
yourselves
2nd pp Óma édjávwèn
wa éphà
Vous êtes en
train de vous
cacher
You are hiding
yourselves
3rd pp Áyé djāvwèn
ómà
Áyé djāvwèn
ómà
They are
hiding
themselves
3rd pp Óma
édjávwèn àye
éphà
Ils sont en train
de se cacher
They are
hiding
themselves
FINDINGS
In the course of this study it was noted that:
(1) Contrary to the notion that the reflexive verb is
non-existent in Urhobo, it was found that this type of verb
is indeed very much available in Urhobo language. It is
actually quite common in daily use; and it is referred to as
the reflexive noun, pronoun; but up till now it had not been
documented. Of the five verbs studied, the verb s’appeler
was found to be not directly reflexive in Urhobo, but with
grammatical restructuring, the reflexive form was created.
The verb “se laver”/ “whorhoma” was found to be reflexive
in French as well as in Urhobo. The verb “s’agenouiller”/
“she igue” is reflexive in French as well as in Urhobo. With
the verb “s’agenouiller” certain technicalities had to be
accommodated as the verb modulated from one type of
verb to the other. The fourth and fifth verbs “se battre”/
“horoma”, “horohwohwo” and “se cacher” / “Djávwómà”
are both reflexive in French as well as in Urhobo.
It was found that:
1. The root verb in urhobo is a single word. Eg “ho”
The infinitive takes the prefix e to be formed: Eg. “èhó”
9. The French Reflexive Verb and its Urhobo Equivalent
Int. J. of Lit., Lang. Ling. 185
The reflexive takes the affix “ómà” to be formed e,g,
“Hómà”
It also takes the prefix “ómà” to become a noun. E.e. “Òma
éhó”.
(2) In the course of the study, not finding urhobo
reflexive verbs per se, clauses were created to form
reflexive verbs. This was achieved with the prefix of the
noun or pronoun added to the root of the verb. Note that
whereas to recognise the reflexive in French you look for
the pronoun se, to recognise the reflexive in Urhobo you
look for the affixed noun ómà.
(3) To the question “Is every French reflexive verb also
reflexive in Urhobo”? The answer is “No” Every French
reflexive verb is not also reflexive in Urhobo. Many are,
although the structures differ. Many are also not.
Examples of such are
1. “Se peigner” / to comb one’s hair. In Urhobo it is “Fa étó”
/ Comb hair
2. “Se brosser” / to brush one’s teeth In Urhobo it is
“Hwórhe ākò” / Wash teeth
(4) Are their structural sequences the same? No.
Semantically, they may have the same sense, but
structurally, the sequences are very different. So much so
that a retranslation could lead to another meaning in
source language. Differences in the structures of reflexive
phrases in both languages were noted. To solve this
problem, there was an option for the semantic equivalence
in the Urhobo language, i.e:: “ Je m’appele Voke” / “Ódé
me Ívōkè”.
(5) Where in French the pronoun comes before the
verb, in Urhobo the noun comes after the verb as an affix
to form the reflexive verb.
The under-listed are verbs which could possibly be
classed as reflexive in Urhobo:
1. Biómà / Se pousser / To shift oneself. (Reflexive in
Urhobo as well as in French)
2. Brómà / Se presser/ To hurry. (Reflexive in Urhobo as
well as in French)
3. Híómà / Se tracasser / To worry. (Reflexive in Urhobo
as well as in French)
4. Phuómà / se vanter / To brag. (Reflexive in Urhobo as
well as in French)
5. Fuērómà / s’examiner / To examine oneself. (Reflexive
in Urhobo as well as in French)
6. Nómà / se regarder / To look at oneself. (Reflexive in
Urhobo as well as in French)
7. Riómà / Se connaître / To know oneself. (Reflexive in
Urhobo as well as in French)
8. Rhēriómà / Se retourner /To turn around. (Reflexive in
Urhobo as well as in French)
9. Rōvwómà / Se reposer / To rest. (Reflexive in Urhobo
as well as in French)
10. Kēnómà / S’éviter / To avoid. (Reflexive in Urhobo as
well as in French)
11. Siómà / Se rejeter / To reject oneself. (Reflexive in
Urhobo as well as in French)
12. Dūrhiómà / S’inviter / To invite oneself. (Reflexive in
Urhobo as well as in French)
13. Dāvwòmà / S’examiner / To examine oneself.
(Reflexive in Urhobo as well as in French). Contrary to
the above-listed verbs, the under listed verbs are
reflexive in Urhobo but not so in French.
1. Tétómà / d’être meticuleux / To be meticulous
2. Vuómà / D’avoir honte / To be ashamed.
3. Shómà / Flirter / To flirt.
Actually, the verb stands alone as “shè” / vendre / to sell.
But when the noun ómà comes in as a prefix it is now
referred to as a pronominal noun. The verb is completely
forgotten. E.g. “òma” + “éshè” become the noun verb
“ómà-éshè”, But, when the noun comes in as an affix “shé
+ oma” the reflexive form is created. Hence “shómà” is the
reflexive form of the verb to flirt, but which in French, would
not be reflexive. The French “Flirter” is not reflexive.
CONCLUSION
The claim to have really exhausted the subject of reflexive
verbs in French and Urhobo languages is not made at this
point. There could have been a continuation in checking
and experimenting more reflexive clauses because the
zeal for this exercise has only just been ignited. Even as
this exercise is being concluded there is an influx of a mass
of Urhobo words; these are words and expressions that
must be poured forth. Why are we starting so late? Be that
as it may, time and space constraint me and this work
cannot continue now, except to begin another article. This
study is on the French reflexive verb and its Urhobo
equivalent. It is recommended that Urhobo scholars join in
this quest. There is the conviction that the Urhobo
language will indeed be richer in reflexive verbs. It will also
experience more increase in vocabulary than it has done
hitherto.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I sincerely appreciate my colleagues Mr. Godwin Ivworin
and Mr. Lucky Ejobee, both lecturers in linguistics and
Urhobo, for the times we spent together discussing Urhobo
verbs and their noun formations.