On Igbo Verbs With Body Part Complements English Language Essay

September 2, 2017 English Language

This analysis of Igbo verbs with body-part complements is done within the theoretical position of Role and Reference Grammar. This model has the advantage of finding the lexical decomposition of verbs and their built-in temporal belongingss. There are five sub-classes of verbs with body-part complements. The complements are: onu ‘mouth ‘ , oI?bi Iˆ ‘heart ‘ , isi ‘head ‘ , aIˆhuI? ‘body ‘ and anya ‘eye ‘ . These complements are NPs which are semantic qualifiers to the verbs. When used in sentence buildings, these complements give extended significances beyond the basic looks. For illustration, the complement onu ‘mouth ‘ tends to transport an added sense of negativeness in a sentence. The complement oI?bi Iˆ ‘heart ‘ tends to ever mention to the experiences of the psyche. The complement isi ‘head ‘ in a sentence, conjures up the province of the head of the talker or addressee, and the complement aIˆhuI? ‘body ‘ brings up the mental image of the province of the talker ‘s or addressee ‘s well-being. The complement anya ‘eye ‘ conjures up the cognition of the worth of something by the talker or addressee. The work concludes that the Igbo talker ‘s cognition of a verb ‘s significance includes the significance of its complement and their interaction with the rules of grammar.

Cardinal words: Igbo verbs, function and mention grammar, lexical cognition, body-part complements.

0 Introduction

Igbo is a major linguistic communication in Nigeria with approximately 25 million people talking it as their first linguistic communication. The Igbo people are celebrated for set abouting trading escapades across the West-African sub-region and this is why their linguistic communication is spoken in big markets across the part ( Emenanjo 1998: 43 ) . Igbo is a tonic linguistic communication[ 1 ]with three basic tones, viz high, low, and the phenomenon of downstep. The linguistic communication is classified as a Niger-Congo linguistic communication which belongs to the new Benue-Congo sub-branch of linguistic communications ( Bendor-Samuel 1989 ) or the West Benue-Congo ( Williamson & A ; Blench 2000 ) . The linguistic communication consists of many idioms[ 2 ]which are reciprocally apprehensible[ 3 ]. The current tendency in Igbo linguistics is to sort Igbo idioms based on the common characteristics associated with the States of beginning of these idioms. Hence, there exist the Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imoand Rivers dialects. This categorization is deemed to be more realistic and practical because “ Igbo people today associate talkers of Igbo idioms with characteristics common to their provinces ” ( Igboanusi & A ; Peter 2005: 60 ) .

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The averment by Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1987 ; 2005 ) is that the “ Igbo verb is made up of three reciprocally obligatory and complementary elements ” ( Emenanjo, 1978: 129 ) . These obligatory elements are the verb itself, the complement and the edge blood relation noun ( BCN ) . He once more stresses that in the surface construction, the verb co-occurs with both the complement and the BCN or either of them. The claim here is that every Igbo verb must be with a “ nominal component which ever complements it ” ( Emenanjo, 1978:130 ) . The nominal component is called Complement ( CP ) ( Emenanjo 1978: 129 ) . All Igbo verbs have the BCN which ever which, in a given building, ever occurs closely linked to the verb and instantly behind it.

Uwalaka ( 1988: 1984 ) observes that the averment by Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1978 ) is indefensible. For Uwalaka ( 1984 ; 1988 ) the accompaniment of verbs and their edge blood relation nouns are “ V ( erb ) +N ( oun ) composites ” ( Uwalaka, 1988:36 ) which should be treated as semantic units in the vocabulary. Uwalaka defines the blood relation noun or object as one which has a high selectivity between it and the verb and non merely as elements which are morphologically related to the verbal component.

The difference in analyses by these two bookmans bears out in the lexical entries of lexicons. For Uwalaka ( 1984 ; 1988 ) , merely V+N composites should be entered in the lexicon because this solves the job of homophonous verbs that abound in the linguistic communication. For Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1978 ) , in contrast, every verb should be entered with its complements or edge blood relation noun to separate them even better. The well-founded averment from both bookmans is that Igbo verbs co-occur with nominal elements which extend the significance of the verbs. In this work, we follow Emenanjo ( 1975 ; 1978 ; 2005 ) in naming these nominal elements complements. As we shall see in the subsequent subdivisions of this paper, the nominal complements are non statements of the verb nor are they actively involved in the province of personal businesss denoted by the verb. This is why we adopt Emenanjo ‘s ( 1975b ; 1978 ; 2005 ) claim that the nominal elements are complements. Besides, Uwalaka ‘s V+N composite ( 1984 ; 1988 ) is based strictly on a structural description of the Igbo verb. The theoretical model for this survey is based on the lexical decomposition of verbs to find their built-in temporal belongingss and statements.

1 The Igbo Verb

In Emenanjo ( 2005 ) , the Igbo verb is, with respect to the co-occurring nominal component, sub-divided into five major categories. These are ;

( 1 ) General Complement Verbs ( GCV )

( 2 ) Inherent Complement Verbs ( ICV )

( 3 ) Bound Complement Verbs ( BCV )

( 4 ) Prepositional Phrase Complement Verbs ( PPCV )

( 5 ) Ergative Complement Verbs ( ECV )

1.1 General Complement Verbs

General Complement Verbs ( GCVs ) take a general noun complement, that is, nouns which may travel on to be more narrowly specified. The general noun complement is the cover term for the particular nouns which sub-categorise the GCV[ 4 ].

1.2 Built-in Complement Verbs

The 2nd category of verbs in Emenanjo ( 2005 ) is the Built-in Complement Verb ( ICV ) . The survey of this category of verbs was pioneered by Nwachukwu ( 1984 ) ( californium. Emenanjo 2005 ) .

Built-in Complements verbs are “ verbs the commendation signifier of which includes a nominal component which may or may non be blood relation with the verb ” ( Nwachukwu, 1984:109 ) .

These verbs ( which are “ double unit morphemes ” ) are each characterized by being instantly followed by a free morpheme, ever a noun ( and in really few instances by a prepositional phrase ) , which must be included in their commendation signifiers. Thus the CV-stem and its nominal complement signifier one semantic unit and, in any dictionary entry, they must be cited together to to the full stipulate their significance. ( Nwachukwu 1984, 109 )

1.3 Bound Complement Verbs

Bound Complement Verbs ( BCVs ) are “ verbs which are frequently used with Bound Verb Complements without the niceties of accent which is built-in in Bound Verb Complements ” ( Emenanjo 2005: 482 ) .

1.4 Prepositional Phrase Complement Verbs

This verb category, harmonizing to Emenanjo ( 2005: 482 ) , consists of verbs ‘that are frequently followed by prepositional phrases ‘ , with which they constitute one indivisible semantic unit.

1.5 Ergative Complement Verbs

The serious survey of Ergative Complement Verbs was pioneered by Uwalaka ( 1988 ) . This category of verbs involves the alternation of the syntactic place of the topic and object of the verbs in inquiry. This exchange of places does non alter the entire significance of the building.

1.6 Tonic Classs of Verbs

Igbo verbs are besides classified along tonic characteristics. In the Anambra and Enugu idioms, there are three tone categories of verbs viz: high, high-low and low. This categorization is based on the fact that the high- and low-tone verbs remain consistent in their tonic characteristics, particularly in the infinitive, the past tense and the imperative. On the other manus, high-low tone verbs do non stay consistent in these signifiers[ 5 ].

1.7 Transitivity in Igbo Verb Classification

The categorization of Igbo verbs into transitive and intransitive verbs has been controversial in Igbo surveies for about three decennaries. Eminent bookmans of Igbo linguistics have taken sides in the argument whether Igbo verbs are transitive or non. The outstanding scholarly works that propose the transitivity of Igbo verbs include Uwalaka ( 1984 ; 1988 ) , Nwachukwu ( 1983 ; 1984 ) , and Ubahakwe ( 1976 ) . On the other side of the argument is Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1978 ; 2005 ) who is of the “ overwhelming strong belief that transitivity is non necessary for the categorization of Igbo verbs ” ( Emenanjo, 2005: 479 ) . He argues for complementation as the appropriate procedure that can be used to sort Igbo verbs. Ubahakwe ( 1976 ; californium. Emenanjo 2005 ) criticizes Emenanjo ( 1975b ) for reasoning that both transitive and intransitive verbs take objects. Emenanjo ( 1975b ) argues that the nominal blood relation component which complements the verb is “ an object in map ” . In other words, he assumes that both transitive and intransitive verbs exist at the deep construction of Igbo and their analysis is expressed at that place. Ubahakwe ( 1976 ) criticizes this averment because for him, the thought of “ object ” and “ transitivity ” are in conformity with the surface construction and / or semantics of the linguistic communication. The categorization of verbs into transitive and intransitive in Ubahakwu ( 1976 ) depends on the ‘usage ‘ of these verbs. For him, the same verb may be transitive in one case and intransitive in another.

Nwachukwu ( 1983 ) argues against the entries in Ubahakwe ( 1976 ) and Emenanjo ( 1975 ) . He adopts a “ semantic-syntactic congruousness statement which enables him to screen out all sorts of jobs ” ( Emenanjo 2005: 486 ) . Uwalaka ( 1988: 36 ) proposes the pronominalisation trial to find true objects and accordingly transitive verbs in Igbo. The pronominalisation trial is “ a lexical regulation which replaces a lexical NP with a pronoun ” ( Emenanjo, 2005: 486 ) . This regulation helps Uwalaka ( 1988 ) to subject that Igbo has transitive verbs. In Emenanjo ( 2005 ) , the cogency of the pronominalisation trial is recognized but the restrictions of this trial are pointed out. The transitivity / complementation argument is non our concern in this paper, but it is of import to observe that both waies of the argument have their ain virtues.

2 Igbo Verbs with Body-Part Complements

We identify Igbo verbs with body-part complements as those verbs which take as their co-occurring nominal elements the NPs that denote body-parts in the linguistic communication. This subclass of verbs autumn under the Inherent Complement Verb ( californium. Emenanjo ( 2005 ) and Nwachukwu ( 1983 ; 1984 ) . We have identified the following as verbs with body-part complements.

2.1 Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement oI?nI? uI? I?’mouth ‘

The sub-class of verbs presented in ( 1 ) below are high-low tone verbs. They all have the noun oI? I?nuI? I?’mouth ‘ as their built-in complement:

( 1 ) ( a ) A±bI?uI? oI?nI?uI? I? ‘to fast ‘

( B ) A±tI?uI? oI?nI?uI? I? ‘to self-praise ‘

( degree Celsius ) A±kI?poI? I?oI?nI?uI? I? ‘to have bad will ‘

( vitamin D ) A±kI?oI? oI?nI?uI? I? ‘to verbally abuse ‘

( vitamin E ) igba egbe oI?nI? uI? I? ‘to exaggerate ‘

2.2 Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement oI?biIˆ ‘heart ‘

This category of verbs belongs to the group of high-tone verbs. The illustrations in ( 2a-d ) have the noun oI?biIˆ ‘heart ‘ as their built-in complement while the illustration in ( 2e ) has a prepositional phrase n’oii ‘in the bosom ‘ as its complement:

( 2 ) ( a ) inweI? oI?bi ‘to be persisting ‘

( B ) ikaI? oI?bi ‘to be make bolding ‘

( degree Celsius ) ikpoI?chi oI?bi ‘to be heartless ‘

( vitamin D ) ibu n’oI?bi ‘to intend ‘

( vitamin E ) igbaI?waI? oI?bi ‘to break person ‘s bosom ‘

2.3 Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement isi ‘head ‘

These verbs which are high-tone verbs have the noun isi ‘head ‘ as their built-in complement:

( 3 ) ( a ) inwe isi ‘to be purposeful ‘

( B ) ibu n’isi ‘to have in head ‘

( degree Celsius ) ima isi ‘to find the root cause ‘

( vitamin D ) inya isi ‘to be chesty ‘

( vitamin E ) ikpa isi ihe ‘to eatage ‘

2.4 Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement ahuI? ‘body ‘

The illustration in ( 4a ) is a low-tone verb while the illustrations in ( 4b-e ) are high-tone verbs. The verbs in this sub-class all have the noun ahuI? ‘body ‘ as their built-in complement:

( 4 ) ( a ) ifiaI? ahuI? ‘to be hard ‘

( B ) ido ahuI? ‘to be refreshed ‘

( degree Celsius ) igba ahuI? ‘to be promptly witted ‘

( vitamin D ) inweI? ahuI? ‘to be plump ‘

( vitamin E ) ita ahuI? ‘to be thin ‘

2.5 Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement anya ‘eye ‘

The illustration in ( 5b ) below is a low-tone verb, nevertheless, the other illustrations, ( 5a, degree Celsius, vitamin D, and vitamin E ) are high-tone verbs. The verbs in ( 5 ) all have the noun anya ‘eye ‘ as their built-in complements.

( 5 ) a. iwo anya ‘to understand ‘

b. ido aI?nyaI? ‘to be adept ‘

c. iwa anya ‘to be street-wise ‘

d. isoI? I? aI?nyaI? ‘to defer to ‘

e. inyuI? I? aI?nyaI? ‘to brand discomfited ‘

The verbs in illustrations ( 1 ) to ( 5 ) are used in the sentences ( 6 ) to ( 10 ) below. We analyze these sentences within the model of Role and Reference Grammar as developed in Van Valin ( 2005 ) , and Van Valin & A ; La Polla ( 1997 ) .

3 Theoretical Position

3.1 General Remarks

The present survey is undertaken within the model of Role and Reference Grammar ( RRG ) as developed in Van Valin ( 2005 ) and Van Valin & A ; La Polla ( 1997 ) . The RRG model implements a system of lexical decomposition based on Vendler ‘s ( 1967 ) theory of Aktionsart. The term Aktionsart means ‘inherent temporal belongingss of verbs ‘ ( Van Valin and La Polla, 1997:92 ) .. Van Valin ( 2005 ) proposes six categories of verbs, viz. province, accomplishment, achievement, activity, active achievement and semelfactives. A figure of syntactic and semantic trials determine the Aktionsart of a clause.

Agbo ( 2010 ) has developed six syntactic and semantic trials to find Igbo verb categories. Igbo verbs with body-part complements fall into three categories, viz: accomplishment, achievement and active accomplishment verbs. The RRG model implements a system of lexical decomposition of verbs with province and activity predicates as the footing. The lexical representation is known as the logical construction ( LS ) of the predicate. State predicates are represented as predicateaˆ? and activity predicates include doaˆ? . Accomplishment LS have the operator BECOME, while accomplishments LS have the operator INGR, which is short for ‘ingressive ‘ . Semelfactives include the operator SEML.

One of import constituent of the RRG model is that of semantic macroroles. The two semantic macro-roles, histrion and undergoer, are tantamount to the primary statements of a transitive postulation. Transitivity in RRG is determined by the figure of macro-roles a verb can take. A transitive verb takes two macro-roles while an intransitive verb takes one macro-role.[ 6 ]

The RRG model is justifiable for this survey because it allows a categorization of Igbo verbs based on lexical decomposition alternatively of by specification and abstraction. RRG has the advantage of being inspired by both theoretical and descriptive considerations. The model incorporates the outstanding functions of semantics and pragmatics in explicating linguistic communication phenomena. Our informations are better understood if the cultural position of the verbal complements is taken into consideration.

The chief competing theories are authorities and binding ( Chomsky 1986a ) and the Minimalist Program ( Chomsky 1995a ) , which are popular in Nigerian Linguistic circles. Government and binding ( GB ) and the Minimalist Program ( MP ) have the point of position that linguistic communication should be studied independently of any communicative and sociocultural contexts. For these theories, sentence structure is the nucleus facet of linguistic communication while semantics and pragmatics belong to the fringe. In other words, the lone component which is necessary for linguistic communication survey is the native talker ‘s intuition.

GB and MP can non to the full explicate the buildings in our informations. The selectional limitations of the verbs with body-part complements with their semantic and matter-of-fact dealingss are best captured within the model of RRG.

In the following subdivision, we follow the RRG model to give a descriptive history of the happening and lexical decomposition of Igbo verbs with body-part complements in Igbo sentences.

Van Valin ( 2005 ) discusses the semantic macro-roles of the statement of a verb. There is a relationship between the logical statements of a verb and the semantic macro-role of the verb. “ aˆ¦given the logical construction of a transitive verb, the leftmost statement will be the histrion and the rightmost statement the undergoer. This is the default state of affairs ” ( Van Valin, 2005: 61 ) . The figure of macro-roles a verb takes is predicated on the logical construction. If a verb has two or more statements in its logical construction, it takes two macro-roles, and if a verb has merely one statement in its logical construction, it takes one macro-role. If a verb takes two macro-roles, they must be histrion and undergoer, but if it merely takes one macro-role, it must be an undergoer. An activity predicate takes an histrion, while a verb with a province predicate takes an undergoer.

The histrion and undergoer must be referential in nature. This means that the histrion must be an entity that instigates an action that actively affects the undergoer. In other words, both histrion and undergoer must actively take part in the province of personal businesss depicted by the verb, one inciting the action, the other being affected by the action.

3.2 Sentence Constructions Illustrating Verbs with the Body-Part

Complement oI? I?nuI? I?’mouth ‘

The buildings in illustration ( 6 ) below include the verbs in illustration ( 1 ) above. They are verbs with the body-part complement oI? I?nuI? I?’mouth ‘ . The illustrations in ( 6a-e ) express the happening of the verbs in basic Igbo sentences, while ( 6aaˆ?-eaˆ? ) illustrate the happening of the verbs with the naIˆ progressive marker ( Agbo 2010 ) . This is to corroborate that the verbs ( 6a, B and vitamin D ) belong to the category of accomplishment verbs while ( 6c ) belongs to the category of province verbs. The sentence in ( 6c ) fails the trial of the verb co-occurring with the naIˆ progressive marker. This is why the illustration in ( 6caˆ? ) is ill-formed. Example ( 6e ) is a semelfactive verb ( Agbo 2010 ) . Note that the tonic characteristics of the verbs alteration in the simple sentences in ( 6a-e ) . Although they have high tones in the infinitive signifier in ( 1 ) , they take low tones in the simple sentences in ( 6a-e ) . This is why they are classified as high-low tone verbs in the literature. Their built-in complement onu ‘mouth ‘ retains the basic tones. The illustrations in ( 6aaˆ?aˆ?-eaˆ?aˆ? ) represent the lexical representation of the verbs in the sentences. The lexical representation expresses the logical construction of the verb, which is intended to give the peculiar significance of the verb in the sentence ( Van Valin 2005: 47 ) .

( 6 ) a. oI?u- ru oI?nI?uI? I?

3sg carry-TNS oral cavity

‘S/he fasted ‘

aaˆ? . oI? na- e- buI? oI?n uI? I?

3sg PROG- AGR- carry oral cavity

‘S/he is fasting ‘

a.aˆ?aˆ? BECOME carriedaˆ? ( 3sg, oI?nI?uI? ) I?

b. EI?ze tu- ru oI? I?nuI? I?

Eze sprout-TNS oral cavity

‘Eze boasted ‘

baˆ? . E ze na- e- tuI? oI? I?nuI? I?

Eze PROG-AGR- sprout oral cavity

‘Eze is touting ‘

baˆ?aˆ? . BECOME sproutedaˆ? ( Eze, oI?nI?uI? ) I?

c. NI?neI?ka kpo`-I?ro` I? AdaI? oI? I?nuI? I?

Nneka hit-IND Ada oral cavity

‘NnekA? has bad will for Ada ‘

caˆ? . *Nneka naIˆ- a-Iˆ kpoI? I? AIˆdaIˆ oI? I?nuI?

Nneka PROG-AGR-hit Ada oral cavity

‘Nneka is holding bad will for Ada ‘

caˆ?aˆ? . hit-with-the mouthaˆ? ( Nneka, Ada )

d. UI?cheIˆ ko-I?Iˆ roI?Iˆ EI?zeIˆ oI? I?nuI? I?

Uche cut-TNS Eze oral cavity

‘Uche made violative comments to Eze ‘

daˆ? . UI?cheIˆ naIˆ- a-Iˆ koI? I? EI?ze Iˆ oI?nI? uI? I?

Uche PROG- AGR-cut Eze oral cavity

‘Uche is doing violative comments to Eze ‘

daˆ?aˆ? . BECOME cut-with-the mouthaˆ? ( Uche, Eze )

e. Ha saIˆ-raIˆ n’oI? I?nuI?

3PL spread-IND in oral cavity

‘They confessed ‘

eaˆ? . HaI? na-Iˆ a-Iˆ sa n’a»?na»?

3PL PROG-AGR-spread in oral cavity

‘They are squealing ‘

eaˆ?aˆ? . SEML do ( 3PL, [ confessaˆ? ( 3PL ) ] )

In ( 6a ) , the verb phrase buI? oI? I?nuI? I?’carry oral cavity ‘ has a negative intension in traditional Igbo life and civilization where fasting is non an admired activity. To the Igbo head, fasting is done merely when there is famine. Otherwise, the Igbos care for their nutrient and drinks. Fasting was introduced to Igbo civilization with Christianity. So anyone fasting would be seen as ignoring the nutrient offered to him/her. This act of snubbing is carried out with the oral cavity tightly closed and directed off from the nutrient.

Following Van Valin ‘s ( 2005 ) and Van Valin & A ; La Polla ‘s ( 1997 ) analysis of the semantic macro-roles of a verb, the histrion in ( 6a ) is the single indicated by the third-person remarkable morpheme, o , ‘s/he ‘ . It is referential in nature because it is an entity which can incite or be affected by the action denoted by the verb. In this instance, it is an histrion. The complement of the verb oI?nI?uI? I? ‘mouth ‘ is non an undergoer because it is non referential in nature. Remember that an activity predicate takes an histrion. The sentence in ( 6a ) has an activity predicate as illustrated with the logical construction of the verb in ( 6aaˆ?aˆ? ) . It is an accomplishment verb. The lexical representation in ( 6aaˆ?aˆ? ) translates to the fact that the histrion carries his/her oral cavity off from the way of the nutrient presented to him/her. This action of fasting goes on for some clip but terminates at a certain point. Hence, this verb is telic.

The illustrations in ( 6b and vitamin D ) have similar analyses to the illustration in ( 6a ) . For ( 6b ) , the verb tuI? oI? I?nuI? I?’to self-praise ‘ is an activity predicate and has a negative intension in the Igbo head. Boasting about one ‘s achievements is non encouraged in Igbo civilization. The histrion, who instigates the action of self-praise, is the entity eI?zeIˆ . The lexical representation of the verb in ( 6baˆ?aˆ? ) indicates that the oral cavity of the histrion sprouts like a furuncle when he boasts about his accomplishments. The verb is an accomplishment verb and it is telic in nature. Similarly, for ( 6d ) , the verb, koI? I? oI? I?nuI? ‘I? to verbally mistreat ‘ has a negative intension. Like in most civilizations, the Igbos scowl at the verbal maltreatment of individuals. The sentence in ( 6d ) has an histrion and undergoer. The histrion here is uI? cheIˆ , the entity that instigates the action of verbal maltreatment, while the undergoer is eI? zeIˆ , the entity that is actively affected by the action of the histrion. The lexical representation in ( 6daˆ?aˆ? ) shows that the verb is an accomplishment verb. It besides depicts the fact that the histrion, uI?cheIˆ , uses his oral cavity as an instrument to cut eI?zeIˆ , the undergoer.

The verb kpoI? I? oI?nI? uI? I? ‘have bad will ‘ has the entity A„nekA? as the histrion while the entity aIˆdaI? is the undergoer. It is besides a verb with a negative intension because it is non acceptable in Igbo civilization for anyone to hold bad will for his neighbor. The lexical representation in ( 6caˆ?aˆ? ) illustrates the thought that Nneka, the histrion, instigates bad will for Ada, the undergoer, by utilizing the oral cavity as an instrument to hit Nneka.

The verb SA n’a»?na»? ‘confess ‘ is an activity predicate that denotes a one-off event. It is used normally in the linguistic communication to show the action in which person confesses to wrong making. The histrion in the sentence in ( 6e ) is ha , the third- person-plural free morpheme in the linguistic communication. The lexical representation of the verb in ( 6eaˆ?aˆ? ) expresses the action of distributing one ‘s oral cavity broad in squealing the incorrect making.

In the following subdivision, we discuss the verbs with the body-part complement oI?biIˆ ‘heart ‘ .

3.3 Sentence Constructions Involving Verbs with the Body-Part

Complement oI?biIˆ ‘heart ‘

In the sentences in illustration ( 7 ) below, verbs from illustration ( 2 ) above are included. These are simple Igbo sentences. The verbs ( 7a, B, degree Celsius, and vitamin E ) autumn into the category of province verbs. State verbs fail all the syntactic trials for verbs documented in Agbo ( 2010 ) . The verb in ( 7d ) has a causative reading. The verbs belong to the category of high-low tone verbs. They have high tones in the infinitive ( californium. illustration ( 2 ) above ) , but take low tones in the simple sentences ( 7a-e ) . The verb complement oI?biIˆ ‘heart ‘ retains the built-in tone. The illustrations ( 7aaˆ?-eaˆ? ) represent the logical construction of the verbs.

( 7 ) a. uI? cheIˆ nweIˆ-reIˆ oI?bi Iˆ

uche have-IND bosom

‘Uche is brave ‘

aaˆ? . haveaˆ? ( uche, oI?biIˆ )

b. uIˆgoIˆ ka-Iˆ raIˆ oI?bi Iˆ

Ugo strong-IND bosom

‘Ugo is make bolding ‘

baˆ? . beaˆ? ( Ugo [ daringaˆ? ]

c. Chike kpocI?Iˆ hiIˆ-riIˆ oI?bi Iˆ

Chike lock-IND bosom

‘Chike is hardhearted ‘

caˆ? . beaˆ? ( Chike [ heartlessaˆ? ]

d. Chika buIˆ n’obiIˆ I? A±I?luI? II?feomA?

Chika carry in bosom to get married Ifeoma

‘Chika has the purpose of get marrieding Ifeoma ‘

daˆ? . carry-in-heartaˆ? ( Chika, ilu ifeomA? ) ] )

e. EI? keIˆ gbaIˆwaI? -raIˆ m oI?bi Iˆ

Eke break-IND 1s bosom

‘Eke broke my bosom ‘

eaˆ? . [ doaˆ? Eke, Eµ ) ] CAUSE [ BECOME brokenaˆ? [ 1sg, oI?biIˆ ) ]

The sentence ( 7a ) is a province predicate. The undergoer Uche possesses the property of bravery. This is depicted in the logical construction of the verb in ( 7aaˆ? ) . The reading of this logical construction means that Uche has the virtuousness of bravery as portion of his makeup. For the illustration in ( 7b ) , the verb kaI? oI?bi Iˆ , which translates into ‘daring ‘ in English, serves as an prenominal predicate. The logical construction of illustration ( 7baˆ? ) indicates that to be make bolding is an property of Ugo, who has the macro-role map of undergoer in the sentence. The same analysis can be extended to illustration ( 7c ) . In ( 7c ) , whose logical construction is represented as ( 7caˆ? ) , Chike, the undergoer, has the unalienable property of coldheartedness. The illustration ( 7d ) has two statements, as shown in the logical construction in ( 7daˆ? ) . The verbs ibu n’oI?biIˆ ‘to carry in the bosom ‘ , when translated into English, means ‘to desire ‘ . The first statement of the sentence, Chika, has the active desire to get married the 2nd statement, Ifeoma. The first statement has the semantic macro-role of histrion, while the 2nd statement has the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The sentence with a causative reading in ( 7e ) has a complex logical construction in ( 7eaˆ? ) , which consists of a predicate ( doaˆ? ) bespeaking the doing action linked to a predicate ( brokenaˆ? ) bespeaking the consequence of the action. The first predicate shows that an activity takes topographic point. Hence, the statement, Eke, which effects this, is an histrion while the undergoer is the statement, m, the first-person remarkable free morpheme in the linguistic communication. Note that the action of histrion consequences in the province where the undergoer becomes broken-hearted.

3.4 Sentence Constructions with Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement

isi ‘head ‘

The verbs in illustration ( 8a-e ) are sentences incorporating verbs in ( 3 ) above, with isi ‘head ‘ as the built-in complement. Their logical constructions are shown in ( 8aaˆ?-eaˆ? ) . The verbs in ( 8a-c ) are province verbs while the verbs in ( 8d and vitamin E ) are activity verbs. The tonic characteristics of the verbs in the sentences classify them as high-low tone verbs.

a. OI? nweIˆ-reIˆ A±I?sA±I?

3sg have-IND caput

‘It is important ‘

aaˆ? . haveaˆ? ( 3sg [ significanceaˆ? ]

b. UIˆgoIˆ buIˆ yaI? n’isi

Ugo carry PRN in caput

‘Ugo has it in head ‘

baˆ? . carry-in-headaˆ? ( UIˆgoIˆ , ya )

c. OI? ma-Iˆ raIˆ A±I?sA±I? yaI?

3sg know-IND caput PRN

‘S/he knows the root cause of the affair ‘

caˆ? . know-the-root causeaˆ? ( o , ya )

d. oIˆbA±I? na-Iˆ a- nyaIˆ A±I?si I?

Obi PROG- AGR- sway caput

‘Obi is chesty ‘

daˆ? . doaˆ? ( obi, [ swayaˆ? ( oIˆbA±I? , isi ) ] )

e. OI? na-Iˆ a-Iˆ kpaIˆ A±I?sA±I? yaI?

3sg PROG-AGR- eatage caput PRN

‘S/he is looking for the root cause of the affair ‘

eaˆ? . doaˆ? ( 3sg, [ forageaˆ? ( o , ya ) ] )

The logical construction in ( 8aaˆ? ) shows that the verb in ( 8a ) is an designation predicate. It serves to place the undergoer ( the third-person-singular morpheme, O ) as being of importance among other things. For the illustrations in ( 8b and 8baˆ? ) , there are two statements, an histrion, Ugo, and an undergoer, ya ( the 3rd individual remarkable object pronoun ) . The representation in ( 8baˆ? ) denotes that the verb is a consequence province predicate. In ( 8caˆ? ) , which is the logical construction of ( 8c ) , the lexical representation indicates that the verb takes two statements. The first statement o ( third-person-singular-subject, free morpheme ) is the histrion, while the 2nd statement, which is the undergoer, is ya ( third-person-singular object pronoun ) . The lexical representation in ( 8caˆ? ) is besides a consequence province predicate.

The activity verbs in ( 8d ) and ( 8e ) have their lexical representation in ( 8daˆ? ) and ( 8eaˆ? ) , severally. In ( 8daˆ? ) the verb takes two statements. The first statement, oI?biIˆ , has the semantic macro-role of histrion, while the 2nd statement, isi ‘head ‘ , has the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The act of haughtiness, as depicted by the logical construction of the verb, is demonstrated by the swaying of the caput. In the Igbo head, this swaying of the caput besides represents rebelliousness and disdain for authorization. The two statements in ( 8e ) are o ( third-person-singular-subject, free morpheme ) , which is the histrion and ya , ( third-person-singular object pronoun ) , which is the undergoer. The logical construction depicts an action of the histrion ( o ) scrounging for something, and in this instance, it is the root cause ( ya ) .

In the following subdivision, we discuss the buildings taking the body-part complement aIˆhuI? ‘body ‘ .

3.5 Sentence Constructions with Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement

aIˆhuI? ‘body ‘

The buildings in ( 9a-e ) all are prenominal province verbs ( Agbo 2010 ) . All the verbs, which are cited from the illustrations in ( 4 ) above, have the built-in complement aIˆhuI? ‘body ‘ . The verbs in ( 9a, vitamin D, and vitamin E ) are high-low tone verbs while those in ( 9b and degree Celsiuss ) are low tone verbs. The complement aIˆhuI? retains its built-in tone in all the buildings.

The logical constructions of ( 9a-e ) are represented in ( 9aaˆ?-eaˆ? ) .

a. Lingwistiks fiIˆaIˆ-ruIˆ aIˆhuI?

Linguisticss rub-IND organic structure

‘Linguistics is hard ‘

aaˆ? . beaˆ? ( Linguistics [ difficultaˆ? ] )

b. oIˆbA±I? do-Iˆ roIˆ aIˆhuI?

Obi settle-IND organic structure

‘Obi has gained weight ‘

baˆ? . beaˆ? ( Obi [ refreshedaˆ? ] )

c. oIˆbA±I? gba-Iˆ raIˆ aIˆhuI?

Obi V-IND organic structure

‘Obi is quick-witted ‘

caˆ? . beaˆ? ( Obi [ quick-wittedaˆ? ] )

d. oIˆbA±I? nweIˆ-reIˆ aIˆhuI?

Obi have-IND organic structure

‘Obi is chubby ‘

daˆ? . beaˆ? ( Obi [ plumpaˆ? ] )

e. oIˆbA±I? ta-Iˆ raIˆ aIˆhuI?

Obi dry-IND organic structure

‘Obi is thin ‘

eaˆ? . beaˆ? ( oIˆbA±I? [ thinaˆ? ] )

In ( 9aaˆ? ) the verb A±I?fA±I?aI? aIˆhuI? ‘to be hard ‘ takes merely one statement, ‘Lingwistiks ‘ . Since the verb is a province predicate, this statement must be an undergoer. It is the entity undergoing the action of trouble denoted by the verb in the sentence in ( 9a ) . This same analysis can be extended to the logical construction of the verbs in ( 9baˆ?-e ) , which besides take merely one statement each with the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The verb A±I?doIˆ aIˆhuI? ‘to be refreshed ‘ in ( 9baˆ? ) has oIˆbA±I? as its lone statement. This statement has the semantic macrorole of undergoer. Likewise, the verb A±I?gbaIˆ aIˆhuI? ‘to be quick-witted ‘ in ( 9caˆ? ) takes the undergoer oIˆbA±I? as its lone statement. The verb in ( 9daˆ? ) A±I?nweI? aIˆhuI? ‘to be plump ‘ besides has oIˆbA±I? as its lone statement. It has the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The verb A±I?taI? aIˆhuI? ‘to be thin ‘ in ( 9eaˆ? ) , with the lone statement oIˆbA±I? as undergoer, has the same analysis.

Sentence Constructions with Verbs Taking the Body-Part Complement

anya ‘eye ‘

The verbs in the buildings in ( 10a-e ) have the built-in complement anya ‘eye ‘ . Examples ( 10a-d ) contain consequence province verbs, with the illustrations in ( 10a-c ) holding prenominal predicates while ( 10d ) is a consequence province verb. The building in ( 10e ) has a semelfactive verb, which has an activity predicate. The illustration in ( 10b ) contains a low-tone verb while ( 10a, degree Celsius, vitamin D, and vitamin E ) have high-low-tone verbs. The logical constructions of the verbs are represented in ( 10aaˆ?-eaˆ? ) .

a. oI? woIˆ-roIˆ m aI? nyaI? naIˆ AIˆdaI? ga-Iˆ aIˆ- bia

3sg understand-IND 1sg oculus that Ada AUX-AGR- semen

‘I understand that Ada will come ‘

aaˆ? . beaˆ? ( o , [ informedaˆ? ]

b. oIˆnI? yiIˆ I? nyI?amoI? toIˆ doIˆ-roIˆ OIˆbA±I? aI?nyaI?

act of driving a auto clear-IND Obi oculus

‘Obi is adept in driving ‘

baˆ? . be-skillful-inaˆ? ( Obi, onIˆ I? yiIˆnI? yaI? moI? to )

c. OIˆbA±I? waIˆ-raIˆ aI?nyaI?

Obi break-IND oculus

‘Obi is street-wise ‘

caˆ? . beaˆ? ( OIˆbA±I? [ street-wiseaˆ? ]

d. OI? soIˆ-roIˆ OIˆbA±I? aI?nyaI?

3sg avoid-IND Obi oculus

‘S/he deferred to Obi ‘

daˆ? . show-deferenceaˆ? ( o , OIˆbiIˆ )

e. OI? du-Iˆ ruIˆ OIˆbA±I? aI?nyaI?

3sg cast-IND Obi oculus

‘He project a sneak glimpse at Obi ‘

eaˆ? . SEML castaˆ? ( o , Obi )

The verb iwo anya ‘to be informed ‘ in ( 10a ) , ( with its logical construction in 10aaˆ? ) takes merely one statement, o ( third-person-singular-subject pronoun ) . This statement has the macro-role map of undergoer. In ( 10b ) , the verb A±I?doIˆ aI? nyaI? ‘to be adept ‘ takes two statements. The first statement with the semantic macro-role of histrion is oIˆbA±I? while the 2nd statement with the semantic macro-role of undergoer is oI?Iˆnyi I? IˆnyI? a mI?oto ‘Iˆthe act of driving a auto ‘ . The logical representation of the verb is shown in ( 10baˆ? ) . The verb iwa anya ‘to be street wise ‘ takes merely one statement, oIˆbA±I? in ( 10c ) . This statement has the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The logical construction of the building is illustrated in illustration ( 10caˆ? ) . A expression at the building in ( 10d ) reveals that the verb iso anya ‘to defer to ‘ takes two statements. The first statement is o ( third-person-singular-subject pronoun ) , with the semantic macro-role of histrion, and the 2nd statement is oIˆbA±I? with the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The logical construction is represented in ( 10dI?aˆ? ) . The activity predicate idu anya , ‘to cast a sneak glimpse ‘ in ( 10e ) takes two statements. The first is o ( third-person-singular-subject pronoun ) . This statement has the semantic macro-role of histrion while the 2nd statement oIˆbA±I? has the semantic macro-role of undergoer. The verb is a semelfactive verb ( Agbo 2010 ) .

4. Igbo Verbs with Body-Part Complements and the Nature of

Lexical Knowledge

The verbs studied in this work all have extended significances beyond the basic looks in the sentences. For illustration, it seems that whenever the noun onu ‘mouth ‘ is the complement of a verb ( cf 6a-e ) , the look carries an added sense of negativeness to the experience of the talker. It besides seems that whenever the noun oI?biIˆ ‘heart ‘ is the complement of a verb ( cf 7a-e ) , the look refers to the experiences of the psyche, while the looks in ( 8a-e ) , with the noun isi ‘head ‘ as complements of the verb, have the added significance of mentioning to the province of the head. The verbs in ( 9a-e ) , with the noun aIˆhuI? ‘body ‘ as complement, render the added significance of “ the province of wellbeing ” and ‘general consciousness ‘ . In the sentences in ( 10a-e ) , the verbs with the complement anya ‘eye ‘ give the looks the added significance of ‘the cognition of the worth of something ‘ .

The Igbo talker has the ability to do elusive illations about what constitutes the statements of a verb. For the illustrations in ( 6-10 ) above, the Igbo talker knows that the complements of the verbs are non their statements because they are non entities that actively take part in the activities denoted by the verbs. Again, Igbo talkers know that the significance of a verb determines its syntactic behavior. This is why the verbs in the illustrations ( 6a, B and vitamin E ) have merely one statement with the macro-role map of histrion, while the verbs in the illustrations ( 6c and vitamin D ) have two statements, with the macro-role maps of histrion and undergoer. Similarly, the significance of the verbs in the illustrations ( 7a-c ) determines the fact that they take one statement merely, with the macro-role map of the undergoer, while the verbs in the illustrations ( 7d and vitamin E ) take two statements with histrion and undergoer maps. The significances of the verbs in the illustrations ( 8 ) to ( 10 ) take a similar analysis.

This work shows that the statements of a verb are derived from the interaction between its significance and the general rules of sentence structure. In other words, the lexical cognition of the Igbo talker includes the peculiar significance of the single verb and its complements, and the general rules of grammar.

5 Decision

There are two schools of idea on the construction of the Igbo verb. The first school of idea ( Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1978 ; 2005 ) asserts that the construction of the verb is made up of the verb itself, the complement, and a edge blood relation noun. Here, the complement of the verb is a noun that extends the significance of the verb. The other school of idea ( Nwachukwu ( 1984 ) and Uwalaka ( 1984 ; 1988 ) claims that the verb is made up of the verb and noun composite, which should be treated as a semantic unit. Here, the noun is treated as an built-in portion of the verb. Igbo bookmans are besides divided on the transitivity of Igbo verbs. One school of idea led by Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1978 ; 2005 ) is of the sentiment that transitivity is non necessary for the categorization of Igbo verbs, while the other school championed by Nwachukwu ( 1984 ) and Uwalaka ( 1984 ; 1988 ) is of the sentiment that transitivity is necessary for the categorization of Igbo verbs. The transitivity contention is beyond the range of this paper.

However, in this work, we have adopted the claims by Emenanjo ( 1975b ; 1978 ) about the construction of the Igbo verb. Following the work of Van Valin ( 2005 ) and Van Valin & A ; La Polla ( 1997 ) , we have analysed a sub-class of Igbo verbs with body-part complements. These verbs have as their complements nouns denoting body-parts in Igbo. Our analysis shows that the Igbo talker ‘s lexical cognition includes the significance of the verb, its complement and their interaction with the general rules of grammar.

Igbo is a ‘verb linguistic communication ‘ ( Emenanjo ( 2005 ) , Nwachukwu ( 1984 ) and Uwalaka 1984 ; 1988 ) ) , and the survey of any facet of the Igbo verb sums to the survey of the linguistic communication in its entireness. This survey makes valid part to the survey of the linguistic communication, particularly, in clarifying the built-in temporal belongingss of Igbo verbs and their statement constructions.

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