Max planck institute for the science of human history. Igbo english and english igbo dictionary igbo culture and. I will be using the english verb to do as an example of a verb running through most of the video. On the scope of the serial verb construction in yoruba.
These frame fourteen explorations of serial verb constructions and similar structures in languages from asia, africa, north, central and south america, and the pacific. It belongs to the benuecongo group of the nigercongo language family. As you probably know already, igbo is one of the major african languages. The serial verb construction parameter osamuyimen thompson stewart an investigation of the serial verb construction, this work engages central issues in syntactic theorycomplex predicates, clausal architecture and syntactic variation. All the lessons contain audio and are all offered for free.
Serial verb constructions, a crosslinguistic typology 2, aikhenvald provides truly comprehensive remarks based on the variety of research works on serial verb constructions in numerous languages in the world. Some of these suffixes harmonise with the verb stem, others do not, and sometimes multiple suffixes can follow each other in a combination. The igbo purpose clause patterns like a serial verb construction, with the verb heading the initial vp and bearing the tense feature. Learn igbo and embark on a journey through nigerias igboland. The language is thought to have originated around the 9th century ad in the area near the confluence of the niger and benue rivers, and then spread over a wide area of southeastern nigeria. Igbo is written in the latin script, which was introduced by british colonialists. The igbo language interpreters and translators cal. We will begin our study of the language with a brief introduction.
Pdf a comparative study of the semantics of serial verb. The serial verb construction parameter request pdf. Word order is, like in most benuecongo languages, subjectverbobject. The reason is that igbo prepositions and noun phrases are. The book itself has been printed in 3 soldout editions and has become the essential guide for development. According to oji, items in the list are, beyond all doubt prepositions in the igbo language, when used as such oji 1987. Serial verbs, object sharing, and the analysis of dative shift. To put an english verb in the infinitive form, simpley precede it with to, for example to do. Around 18 million people living in nigeria and equatorial guinea speak igbo.
We will also analyze some grammar rules, and finally practice how to ask for direction in igbo. Secondly, to apply the diagnostics to different types of svcs in igbo benue. Some relevant terms in the study of vietnamese serial verb. The event semantics of serial verb constructions in igbo. Do not bother about the exceptions to the rule at this stage. Serial verbs, object sharing, and the analysis of dative shift 0. A definition of serial verb construction the definition in 11 tries to capture as precisely as possible, in terms that allow for empirical checking, just those phenomena that caught the attention of our descriptive colleagues and made them see a separate category to use seurens 1991. The use of serial verbs in expressing prepositional notions is not peculiar to igbo. Igbo is officially recognized as one of the three major. Introduction from the caribbean via west africa to the far east, we find languages, creoles and pidgins featuring the socalled serial verb construction svc for short, illustrated by the example in 1, fromyorub a, a kwa language spoken in southwestern nigeria.
The infinitive form of the verb, also called the infinitive marker, refers to the most simple version of the verb preceded by the word to such as to see. External and internal factors have been proposed as causes of the decline of igbo language usage. There are many dialects of the language, some so distinct that two people speaking different dialects of igbo wouldnt be able to. A case for prepositions in i filozoficka fakulta mu. Yet, to date only few studies have investigated the existence and functions of svcs in sign languages. Serial verb construction svc is a sequence of two or more verbs which act as a single but complex predicate. Verbs are formed by added prefixes and suffixes to verb roots. It assert the claim by esizimotor and francis 2005 that serial verb construction is a phenomenon in nigerian pidgin. Frontiers structure and grammaticalization of serial verb. Ass igbo ass ibo listen or ibo is the principal native language of the igbo people, an ethnic group of southeastern nigeria.
Serial verb constructions in southeastern tepehuan. Learn igbo now aims to help you learn igbo language and culture the fun way with stories and dialogues. A look at the tone patterns in table 1 reveals that each construction has. Igbo, or ibo, one of the largest languages of west africa, is spoken by 18 million people in nigeria. This contrasts with english where the nouns and verbs can be used to derive other words. In serial verb constructions svcs, multiple independent lexical verbs are combined in a monoclausal construction. Although it is spoken predominantly in biafra former eastern nigeria, it is widely spoken in almost all the countries of this world by the igbo diaspora.
Serial verbs have been a subject of interest among linguists for some time. Document resume ed 375 678 fl 022 534 author stewart. Nouns are invariable but verbs take prefixes and suffixes to mark aspect and tense. When creating a verb, one must consider the tense past, present or future, the aspect progressive, perfective, durative and inchoactive, the imperative and the negation. The introduction sets out the crosslinguistic parameters of variation, and the final chapter draws out a set of conclusions. Produced by johns hopkins university press in collaboration with the sheridan libraries.
Serial verb constructions are often described as coding a single event. The serial verb construction svc phenomenon is widely researched across many languages. The meaning of the verb is generally changed by the suffix that specifies the action in the present or past. Among the meaning types commonly expressed in serial verb constructions are instruments, datives, accompaniment, purpose, and manner. Pdf since the 1970s, serial verb constructions svcs have been discussed widely. Did the people who wrote this article have knowledge of serial verbs, or did they just make it up themselves.
We show that igbo serial verb constructions svcs with and without. Serial verbs, object sharing, and the analysis of dative. The serial verb construction svc is a productive syntactic phenomenon in many asian and african languages and has been the subject of various studies. The language attests dative overt serial verb construction and resultative serial verb constructions contrary to dechaines 1993 claim that these serial verb construction types are not allowed in the language but only surface as vv compounds. Serial verb constructions in hong kong sign language. The infinitive form of a verb is the raw form of that verb. Since the 1970s, serial verb constructions svcs have been discussed widely in african, oceanic and many other languages throughout the world. The syntax and event semantics of serial verb constructions in igbo. It is necessary at this juncture to clarify the issue as regards the nonprepositional functions. Im here to help you learn igbo, by going step by step. The language has approximately 44 million speakers, who live mostly in nigeria and are primarily of igbo descent.
It is a common feature of many african, asian and new guinean languages. Igbo language is based on verbs, therefore most of my lessons will be based on verbs. Nwachukwu 1995 appears to be the only available material on tone in grammatical constructions but it says nothing about the tone of verb compounds. Svcs express a range of grammatical meanings and are attested in numerous spoken languages all around the world. Preference for the english language in postcolonial nigeria has usurped the igbo language s role and function in society, as english is perceived by igbo speakers as the language of status and opportunity. Emenanjo 2005 claims that the igbo verb is the only source for the derivation of new words in the language. Verb structure in igbo language ngwaa verbs verbs are words used to show action. Serial verb constructions are a grammatical technique whereby two or more verbs form one predicate. Overall, in igbo, the infinitive form of the verb begins either with an i or. A serial of verbs or a serial verb construction has often been defined as a type of construction in which two or more verbs are strung together without an overt connective morpheme ndimele, 1996.
Igbo is a tonal language and has vowel harmony as well as consonants with double articulation. The verb to have ownership in igbo language youtube. Serial verb constructions are a pervasive feature of isolating languages of asia and west africa, and are also found in the languages of the pacific, south, central and north america, most of them endangered. Jul 04, 20 the direct object of the first verb in a serial construction gets it original accusative case, while the object of the second verb gets a genitive case as checked by the open vowel suffix in igbo. Dec 31, 2012 the verb to be can be translated into three words in igbo language.
On the contrary, this study seeks to establish that in addition to. Igbo written language is phonetic and it uses most of the english alphabet. The claim that these are universally true of narrowly defined serial verb constructions is based on a thorough reading of the comparative and theoretical literature, not on a systematic sample of languagethe latter would not have been practical, because svcs are rarely described in sufficient detail in descriptive grammars. Word order is, like in most benuecongo languages, subject verb object. Often the meaning of a verb in a serial construction can be identified in terms of case relationship and can be translated with a \ preposition in english. Comparative concept and crosslinguistic generalizations martin haspelmath max planck institute for the science of human history since the 1970s, serial verb constructions svcs have been discussed widely in african, oceanic and many other languages throughout the world.
It is generally regarded as a construction in which two or more verbs share the same arguments within a. Consist of more than one word and are single predicates with no marker of coordination and. Jan 02, 20 how to express ownership with the verb to have in igbo language. Case checking in igbo serial verb constructions by. The serial verb construction has been observed in many languages of the world, including chinese li and thompson 1973, 1978, malayalam k. There is a growing need in the united states for speechlanguage pathologists to find information on igbo speech language development. The serial verb construction max planck institute leipzig. Dewning serial verb constructions the recognition of serial verb constructions is typically based on a combination of formal and semantic properties addressed in this section. Comparative concept and crosslinguistic generalizations. In igbo language, verbs do not distinguish between present and past tense. For example, serial verbs are supposed to be a syntactic phenomenon definition at the start. We will first learn about the present tense, followed by the past tense, and future tense. Morphology, morphological processescommunication, concatenate processes, language universals, anaku, igbo language. There is evidence that in kwa languages, serial verbs are known to have reanalyzed as prepositions haspelmath 1999.
Classificatory analysis of serial verb constructions. The consonants are similar to the use as in the english language, though there are separate combinations of consonants, i. In addition, i use the term serial verb construction, or svc, to refer to a. Conclusion this paper has presented data to prove that igbo is a true serializing language. See more ideas about learning resources, language and teaching. Igbo also possess an applicative construction, which takes the suffix rv. This website contains a complete guide on igbo language, highlighted in sample conversations including native audio clips, and explains the basic igbo grammar structure. The study of igbo has advanced enormously since the first edition of this dictionary, and the standardization and development of the language have also progressed under the leadership of a group of dedicated linguists and the enthusiasts of the society for promoting igbo language and culture.
Serial verb constructions in english and chinese hui yin university of alberta traditionally, the term serial verb construction refers to a sequence of verbs or verb phrases in a sentence in which there is no intervening conjunction. The language has approximately 24 million speakers, who live mostly in nigeria and are primarily of igbo descent. This work present an analysis of the basic clause in nigerian pidgin. A history of the igbo language an igbo dictionary chinua achebe denounces standard igbo books helpful for igbo language study sources for the study of igbo proverbs the first igbo novel, omenuko a brief biography of the author of omenuko an igbo tale. Learn igbo online igbo language course mango languages. The direct object of the first verb in a serial construction gets it original accusative case, while the object of the second verb gets a genitive case as checked by the open vowel suffix in igbo. Verbs are used to express an action i swim or a state of being i am.
Oji has a list of thirteen items which he classified as prepositions. The present tense in igbo conveys a situation or event in the present time. Hike the udi hills that overlook the city of enugu, catch an atilogwu dance performance, or explore the ngodo rock cave in abia state. With yearround festivals on the nigerian calendar, theres never a dull moment. Serial verb constructions also known as verb serialisation or verb stacking. In fact, the issue of serial or nonserial language is basically a.
Serial verbs constructions in a typological perspective. What is a serial verb construction sil glossary of. This paper further studied the serial verb in nigerian pidgin. Serial verb constructions in typological perspective. This volume of new work explores the forms and functions of serial verbs.
This page contains a list of the some of most common igbo verbs you will run into in your everyday conversations. Jan 20, 2019 resources for teaching yourself how to speak and read the igbo language. In addition to the category preposition, the igbo language adopts other means of ex. The serial verb construction, also known as verb serialization or verb stacking, is a syntactic phenomenon in which two or more verbs or verb phrases are strung together in a single clause. In a serial language these semantic dimensions are reanalysed, hence serialised, into subevents cf george 1975, agheyisi 1986 etc. The stone smashed the chair in this igbo language example, the semantic dimensions included in smash are expressed in a compound structure and not a. In this paper, i attempt to provide a functionaltypological analysis of this type of construction in southeastern tepehuan. Igbo words for construction include mwube and mmebo. Celebrate the harvest during the new yam festival and perform a. A sequence of verbs qualifies as an svc if there is no marker of syntactic dependency between the components and, in addition, for languages which distinguish between finite and non finite verbs, neither component can take a separate nonfinite marking. A serial verb construction is a string of verbs or verb phrases within a single clause that. Applied consistently in worldwide balanced 325 language sample. Among the languages of africa, it is accepted to be a characteristic of, though not limited to, the kwa languages. These formal criteria are satisfied by igbo svcsubtypes with and without.
The term serial verb, notes paul kroeger, has been used by different authors in slightly different ways, and linguists sometimes disagree about whether a particular construction in a given language is really a serial verb or not analyzing syntax, 2004. Monahan, personal communication, and pidgins and creole languages. A serial verb construction svc is a sequence of verbs which act together as a single predicate, without any overt marker of coordination, subordination, or syntactic dependency of any other sort. Not only does that book describe the wide variety of the traditions in this part of nigeria, attention is also paid to normal daytoday facets of life in the town and. Jul 04, 20 conclusion this paper has presented data to prove that igbo is a true serializing language. The chinese serial verb construction proper liu, caixia excerpt from masters thesis i 0 introduction although serial verb constructions svcs in chinese have been the sub1ect of a number of studies. Since the 1970s, serial verb constructions svcs have been discussed. A sequence of verbs qualifies as an svc if there is no marker of syntactic dependency. Introduction serial verbs are complex syntactic structures that are internally made up of a number of verbs. This time we will first learn about fruits and vegetables, followed by grammar rules, then food items, finally a conversation in igbo to help you practice your daily phrases. For the most part, these studiesincluding a previous study. Case checking in igbo serial verb constructions semantic scholar. Directional serial verb constructions in thai nuttanart muansuwan university at buffalo, the state university of new york abstract directional serial verb constructions directional svcs, which are a subset of serial verb constructions svcs in thai and involve motionrelated verbs, are.
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