COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN STANDARD YORÙBÁ AND Ẹ̀GBÁ DIALECT
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Date
2016
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A JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST, GHANAINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN THE HUMANITIES;
Abstract
This paper compares negative constructions in
Standard Yorù bá (SY) and Ẹ̀gbá dialect (ẸD),
using the Principles and Parameters theory as a
theoretical framework. A major finding of this
study is that while ‘má ’ is attested as a negative
marker in SY, it is attested as a progressive
marker in ẸD. It is also found that, the negative
marker ‘kò’ is the only negative marker in SY that
has variants ‘kò’ and ‘ò ’; but all negative
markers in ẸD, except ‘à ì’ and ‘tì’ have variants.
In terms of behaviour and features of these
negative markers in different syntactic positions,
a lot of differences exist between those that are
attested in SY and ẸD, bringing about differences
in their negative constructions. The paper
concluded that, despite the fact that Ẹ̀gbá is a
dialect of Yorù bá , a lot of differences were seen
in their negative constructions as a result of the
differences in the syntactic positions and features
of the negative markers attested in the two speech
forms.
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Keywords
Negative Constructions, Standard Yorùbá, Ẹ̀gbá Dialect