A Contrastive Lexicology of Greeting and Food Terms of English and Ogu Language: Its Pedagogical Implications

Abstract

This paper is a contrastive study of two semantic fields of English and Ogu language namely greeting terms and food terms with the aim of identifying how lexical variations in the two semantic fields affect the learning of English by Ogu second language (L2) learner. The paper observed that the internal differentiation of human societies is reflected in the two languages, and responsible for some learning difficulties of Ogu English learner, especially in the lexis, which is considered as more culturally generated. The theoretical framework for the study is anchored on structural semantics, Sapir-whorf hypothesis and contrastive analysis principles. Twenty (20) subjects, who are Ogu/English bilinguals were purposively selected and interviewed with specific questions from the two semantic fields under study. The findings revealed that the socio-cultural and geographical realities of each speech community accounts for their vocabulary and naming of words. The paper thus recommended proper understanding of the learner’s culture for proper translation of texts, design appropriate module for teaching and learning English, and a practical classroom approach to learning of second language vocabulary as some of the ways of resolving the learning problems confronted by Ogu learners of English.