17.3421, Diss: Syntax/Morphology: S àláwù : 'A Comparative Study of the Syntax...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-17-3421. Tue Nov 21 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.3421, Diss: Syntax/Morphology: Sàláwù: 'A Comparative Study of the Syntax...'

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1)
Date: 21-Nov-2006
From: Hannah Morales < hannah at linguistlist.org >
Subject: A Comparative Study of the Syntax of Yorùbá and Ò?ko-?Ó?sànyèn (Àfiwé Ìtúpalè? Síntáàsì Èdè Yorùbá àti Ò?ko?-Ó?sànyèn) 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:35:11
From: Hannah Morales < hannah at linguistlist.org >
Subject: A Comparative Study of the Syntax of Yorùbá and Ò?ko-?Ó?sànyèn (Àfiwé Ìtúpalè? Síntáàsì Èdè Yorùbá àti Ò?ko?-Ó?sànyèn) 
 


Institution: Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife 
Program: African Languages and Literatures 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2006 

Author: Akeem Sé?gun Sàláwù

Dissertation Title: A Comparative Study of the Syntax of Yorùbá and
Ò?ko-?Ó?sànyèn (Àfiwé Ìtúpalè? Síntáàsì Èdè Yorùbá àti
Ò?ko?-Ó?sànyèn) 

Linguistic Field(s): Morphology
                     Syntax

Subject Language(s): Oko-Eni-Osayen (oks)
                     Yoruba (yor)

Language Family(ies): Niger-Congo


Dissertation Director(s):
Lawrence Olúfé?mi Adéw?lé

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis primarily highlighted the similarities and dissimilarities in the syntactic 
components of the standard variety of Yorùbá language and Ò?ko?-Ó?sànyèn, a language 
spoken in Ògòrì-Màgóngò Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. It also identified
the language universals and language specifics in various domains of the two languages. 
This contrastive effort was also with a view to directing attention to the need for a 
re-classification of the West Benue-Congo and Niger-Congo phyla of the West African 
Languages.
       
The methodology for the research involved the collection of data through oral interview 
with forty native speakers of each of the two languages. The age bracket of these 
informants ranged from forty and eighty years. It was believed that these speakers were 
old enough to speak the languages with minimum interference. This was supported by 
Ìbàdàn 400-wordlist and a set of relevant self-generated questions. The investigation also 
involved library and archival researches which were undertaken to effect an extensive 
review of literature. The data analysis was carried out within a modular generative 
grammar known as the Principles and Parameters Theory.
           
It was found that the syntactic processes such as relativization, topicalization and 
focusing in the two languages were similar whereas they are different in the areas such 
as anti-focus, the presence or otherwise of the phonological impacts on the pronominal 
and the forms of negation.The study also discovered that the controversies on the 
Mid-Tone Syllable, variant forms of the formative gbó?dò ?(must) and underlying 
representational form of the third singular pronoun object in the standard variety of 
Yorùbá were unnecessary in view of the fact the inherent forms and functions of all those 
features in the syntactic constructions of the  Ò?ko?-Ó?sànyèn language pointed to their 
proto statuses.
      
The study concluded that although Ò?ko?-Ó?sànyèn was an endangered language whereas 
Yorùbá  was not, the syntactic relatedness of the former to the latter, by and large 
pointed to a common ancestry. 




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