The structure of negation in Úwù

Jelil A Adeoye

doi:10.17161/1808.27659

Abstract

This study examines the structure of negation in Úwù; one of the endangered languages of Nigeria. Úwù is spoken in the Àyèré community in the Ìjùmú Local Government in Kogi State. The present study identifies the various negative markers in the language and their structural distributions both at phrasal and sentence levels. In this study, the researcher establishes that a negative clause is derived through Neg that projects into NegP which takes TP as its complement. It is also observed that the language does not manifest lexical negation. The minimalist program (MP) is used to analyse the syntactic distributions of negative markers in sentences. It is our hope that this study will serve as part of the documentation of an aspect of the syntax of the language. Keywords: Negation, Úwù, Minimalist program

Highlights

Úwù is one of the endangered languages spoken in Nigeria (Abiodun, 2004, 2007) with a population of 4,600 speakers (2006 Census)
We argue that negative markers are Infl items in the language
The study notes that the language forbids the co-occurrence of negative markers, perfective, progressive and habitual aspect, and past tense morphemes

Summary

Introduction

Úwù is one of the endangered languages spoken in Nigeria (Abiodun, 2004, 2007) with a population of 4,600 speakers (2006 Census). In a preliminary study, Abiodun (2007) observed a close affinity between Úwù and Àhàn, a language spoken in Èkìtì State, but he did not attempt a new genetic classification for Úwù. Akanbi (2014), modifying Elugbe’s (2012) classification, grouped Àhàn and Àyèré (Úwù) as a separate branch of Benue-Congo languages, under Defoid, which he called Ahanoid. Adeoye (2015), relying solely on lexicostatistic counts of 100 words and mutual intelligibility between Úwù, Àhàn and Yorùbá, maintains that Àhàn and Úwù are closely related but are quite different from Yorùbá As a result, he treats Úwù as a distinct language. The comparison of Úwù with these languages (Yorùbá, Àhàn, and Igbo) is borne out of the fact that they all belong to the Benue-Congo language family and there are possibilities of structural similarities between them which are likely to assist our data analysis in this study.

The concept of negation

The following notation is used for syntactic glosses

44. Àhàn nthì èkìmanthì ‘the act of not sleeping’

Conclusion