THE BASIC CLAUSE OF YORÙBÁ-ÌYÀGBÀDIALECT OF KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The basic clause is the minimal grammatical expression that comprises the Complementiser Phrase (CP), Tense Phrase (TP) and Verb Phrase (VP). Previous studies concentrated on aspects of the phonology, morphology and syntax of Ìyàgbà dialect without exploring the interaction and interrelationship among the core clausal constituents which are germane and crucial in sentence formation. The study was, therefore, designed to investigate the core clausal elements of Ìyàgbà dialect of Yorùbá with a view to describing how they are woven together to derive convergent sentences.

Chomsky’s Minimalist Program and Rizzi’s Split-CP hypothesis were adopted as the framework. The ethnographic design was used. Ten resident native speakers of Ìyàgbà were purposively selected for interview from Ìyàgbà East Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria, where Ìyàgbà is predominantly spoken; two each, from Ìsánlú-Ìtẹ̀dó, Ìsánlú-Mọpọ, Ìsánlú-Màkùtù, Ìdọ̀fin and Ìjowà. Data comprised folklores (proverbs and folksongs), structured interview guided by Ìbàdàn 400 Wordlist and Ìbàbàn Syntactic Paradigm. Data were subjected to interlinear glossing and syntactic analyses.

The lexical VP is derived by recursive merging of Verb (V) and V-bar (V) with the indirect and direct objects respectively. The VP merges with the light v-bar (v) triggering the adjunction of lexical V. The external argument merges with vto receive theta role of AGENT. The light verb Phrase (vP) merges with the higher light vwhose light v attracts object Determiner Phrase (DP) to its specifier for the valuation of phi-features. The TP hosts Tense (T) which has future and covert non-future markers for both [±NEG] constructions. The basic future markers are á for negative [+NEG], à for positive [-NEG]. The T attracts thematic subject to its specifier for the valuation of phi-features and the fulfillment of the Extended Projection Principle. The CP comprises the Finiteness Phrase (FinP), Focus Phrase (FocP), Topic Phrase (TopP) and Force Phrase (ForceP). The FinPc-commands weak TP of infinitival clause. The DP subject of non-finite T values its Case either by overt Complementiser-head hún (to) and wún (to/for) or by the higher light v. The FocP presents new information. Its markers include kí for non-TP, mọ̣̀ for TP, and covert for Wh-Phrase. The ForceP is the clausal mood domain comprising interrogative, imperative and declarative sentence-types. The interrogative items are lé, lé hí, DP hí (who) [+Human], kí, DP hí (what/which) [-Human ±Abstract], Èhí/ìhí, DP hí (where/which)[-Human +Location], DP hí (how many) [-Human +Count]. The covert marker of each interrogative item triggers its movement to the specifier of its phrase. The indirect imperative markers are kí/j̣ẹ́ (let). The markers of the direct imperative and the declarative sentences are however, covert.

In Yorùbá-Ìyàgbà dialect, for clauses to converge, the tripartite layers of the Verb Phrase, Tense Phrase and Complementiser Phrase are strung together for thematic and temporal structures, valuation of features, scope discourse semantics and clause typing operations. The hierarchical order of Yorùbá Ìyàgbà basic clause is proposed as ForceP/InterP>FocP>Emph>(TopP) >FinP>NegP>TP/AspP>vP>VP to reflect the displacement of categories.