University of Nigeria Virtual Library

Serial No

ISBN 0794 - 9928

Author 1

Uguru Joy O.

Author 2

Author 3

Title

The Syntax of Ika Future Marker: be

Keywords

Description Journal of Liberal Studies

Category

Humanities Unit, School of General Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Publisher

Publication Date

December, 2003

Signature

LIBERAL STUDIES

THE SYNTAX OF IKA FUTURE MARKER: be

Joy Oluchi Uguru Humanities Unit,

~cho& of Gcnrral Studies, UNN.

-0duction Ika is mainly spoken in some of the Igbo-speaking parts of

ta State in Nigeria. Also, it is spoken in Igbanke in Edo State. speaking towns of Delta State include Umunede, Owere-Olubo, ~mazi, Otolokpo, Abavo, Emuhu; Mbiri and so on.

Generally, in linguistic literature, time marking (past, present future) is referred to as tense. In most languages, the verb

'nges form to reflect one tense or the other. In other words, the ression of time grammatically is an indication of tense. lough not all languages possess the three tenses (past, present . future) as was traditionally held in Latin grammar, the itence of tense, particularly the past, is still obvious in most pages.

'

Crystal (1991) shows that in many languages, the forms of a d vary in order to express such contrasts as number, gender tense: ,Time expression in Ika is not strictly different from that

ny other Igtx, dialect as it employs the use of tense. However, ka, there is very little variation in verb forms in the indication ense. The verb root, most of the time, retains its form while

is marked predominantly by use of modals, particles and tonat nges. Mection of verbs for tense, mood or aspect is rare in The use of beauxiliary in marking future time does not involve verbal inflection. The verb root retains its morphological form may change or retain its tone, depending on the tone of the iect noun phrase.

mples Be I% je ulo. - I will go home. Fut Isg go home. B e Chi& je u10. - Chika will go home. f ~ ~ t Chika go home.

ka-eje ulo. - i will go home. I sg tiit go home.

230

. . (4) 0 je Glo. - She/he went home.

3sg go-past home. (Past)

, . . (5) 6 je do. - She/he goes home. .

j . .

3sg goes home (Habitual)

It is observable that the verb is not inflected in the examples- above except in sentence (3). In the first sentence, the verb root, je retains its morphological form but its tone changes to a mid tone. In the second sentence, the verb retains its morphological structure and tone. In the fourth sentence it acquires a low tone to show past tense while it retains its morpholo~cal structure and tone in the fifth sentence, denoting a habitual tense;

. In some languages, precision of time is not considered very vital. In Yiddish, for instance, it is impossible to differentiate between the concepts, now and today, by means of lexical parameters, (Crystal, 1987; Comrie,' 1985). They show that'although tense conveys meanings which denote present time, past time and future time it does not always correspond to time. He !. gives . an example in English: . . . .

. . . . . . . , ~

(6) Minister dies. - < < , .

In the sentence above, present tense is used to denote past time (past event). Present tense denotes future tense in the sentence below.

(7) Okoro goes tomorrow. The distinction between tense and aspect is so subtle that the distinction is usually very difficult to make (Langacker, 1972). Aspect deals with the inception, duration or completion of an event. Tense, which is often expressed by verbal affixes and at times by separate words (particles), is used to show time of past, future or present event.

Future Tense in Languages Tense is not universal though it is a frequently occurring

JOURNAL OF LIBERAL STUDIES, VOL. 1 f . NOS. 1 8 2 DEC.. 2003.

. . category in languages of the world (Trask, 1993). Chinese is an 'example of a language without any tense. He shows that some ianguages like Hua language (spoken in New Guinea) have two tenses - future and non-future. Latin and Romance languages have three tenses - present, past and future. Yimas language, spoken in New Guinea, ha.s seven tenses. The future tense involves locating a situation at a time subsequent to the present time (Comrie, 1985 and Crystal, 1991) Many languages lack the future tense because of the foIlowing reasons (Lyons, 1977):

' (i) Probably because it is not seen to be as definite and certain as the past.

(ii) It involves more of an elemei~t of prediction. Whereas the past has already taken place, the future is

speculative, involving prediction. It can be changed by "intervening" events. Comrie therefore shows that while the difference between past and present is one of tense, the difference between future on the one hand and past and present on the other

. is that of mood rather than tense. He distinguishes between future' tense and modal construction in English. The major difference between the two is that the truth-value of future tense ran be assessed while that of a modal construction cannot be assessed. (8). Future tense : I will go tomorrow. (9) M d construction: I may go tomorrow. In some languages, there is no grammatical distinction between future and non-future rather the same form indicates both. Comrie (1985) cites German and Finnish examples.

German (10) Ich gehe morgen - 1 will go tomorrow.

Finish (11) Mina menen huomema - I will go tomorrow. The future marker is not implicated in the sentences above. Comrie shows that most Indo-Eurpean languages have such constructions.

English future tense is expressed by modal verbs like will, shall et cetera.

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THE SYNTAX OF IKA FUTURE MARKER: br I:.;

Example . ( 12) She will be here.

I t can also be denoted bv adverbials.

Example (13) She leaves for Lagos next week.

In Twi, the future tense is marked by b e which occurs in the verbal slot in a position preceding the main lexical verb and immediately after the subject NP.

Examples Twi

(14) k3 - go (15) 5k3 - he goes

- (16) jbekj - he will go (1 7) h e b e k j - he is going to go.

Source: Westermann G. Bryan (1 952:93). The Twi future marker be is distinguishable from that of Ika,

be. They have different tones and occupy different positions in a sentence.

Future Time Markers in some Igbo Dialects In Igbo, the three traditional tenses - past, present and future

- do not necessarily exist; rather there is an interplay between tense and aspect. Nevertheless, there are constructions in Igbo that can be classified as denoting futurity. Futurity in most Igbo dialects, particularly Standard Igbo, is usually marked by the auxiliary, ga - an example appears below.

Standard Igbo (18) 0 ga-kje @lo echi.

3sg fut go home tomorrow. She/he will go home tomorrow. In various other Igbo dialects, there are other future markers.

Nwigwe and Onyeabo (1983) show that in Ihiala and Obim dialects the future marker are j ~ p - and t 7 1 t 7 - respectively.

JOURNAL OF LIBERAL STUDIES. VOL. 11. NOS. 1 8 2 DEC.. 2003

234 Joy Oluchi Uguru - -

(19) Ihiala 0 je&i. 3sg fut eat S/he will eat.

(20) Ovim . 0 bji-kri. 3sg fut eat S/he will eat. In Onitsha and in the dialects of most of the towns making

up the area Ikekeonwu (1986) describes as Inland West Igbo. Some future markers include ya-, ja- and ga-.

Example (21 ) i ya- en.

2sg fut eat. You will eat.

Furthermore, some Wand West Igbo dialects like Awka may have ma- as the future time marker. This is dlustrated below.

(22) $I ma-kji. lsg ht go. .. .

I will go.

This is to be distinguished from the negative future ference as shown below.

(23) ~ m34je - I will not go. lsg neg go.

The Standard Igbo verb is usually inflected for tense and aspect. It is observable that the verbs in the illustrative sentences above are inflected. The harmonizing prefix is attached to the verb roots. The verb roots in sentences 18-23 are as follows:

ri - eat je - go

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Future Markerg in Ika Although we may not categorically state that a future tense

exists in Ika, there are ccnstructions, which denote futurity in this dialed. There are three basic ways of expressing futurity in Ika.

* By use of the particle, b e

Example (24) Be 5 je - I will go.

fut lsg go

* By use of the particle, ka

(25) m a e m A. - I will do it. lsg fut do it.

* By use of the phrase, ji ka-

(26) j - e j . - I will go. k g fut go

Ka- seems to be theelided form of ji ka- however; ji ka- is used to express emphasis or strong intention. It is vital to note that bi is used more than the other two, particularly in asking questions. The three may be classified as auxiIiaries.

In addition to these, the present form of the verb - simple present and present progressive can be used to denote futurity.

Examples (27) M jekj, khi. - I am going tomorrow.

Isg go prog tomorrow. (28) &i ri ebe h echi. - I am here tomorrow.

lsg am here tomorrow. In sentences above, the present tense is used for future event.

Sentence 28 can be reversed as follows.

(29) ~ & i , m rj ebe h.- Tomorrow, I am here. Just like in most languages, in Ika, there are various types of

futurity.

- - -Future Simple (30) Be rfi je - I will go.

Fut lsg go. '

(31) h k i k j - I will go. lsg fut/fut go.

Future progressive (32) kit+ Cte of& - I will be cooking soup.

Isg fut still be cooking soup.

In Ika, the auxiliary for marking progressive is ra- rather than the standard Igbo progressive, na-.

Example (33) 0 rairi ihe o i r t - He/she is eating food.

3sg prog eat food. Another way'of expressing progressive is by the use of the progressive suffix, -kg. (34) Chiki c h ~ k b /. - Chika is looking for you.

Chika seek prog 2sg. From sentence 32 we see that neither of these two ways of expressing progressive is used in future progressive. Rather future marker, ka- and the word, a r i (still) are 'used. Thus the transliteration of sentence 32 should read as follows: (35) I will still be cooking soup.

* Futureperfect.

Examples (36) Be m jeele. - 1 will have gone.

Fut lsg go perf. (37) Ih ka-/ji ka. - ejelle. - I will have gone.

lsg fut/fut go perf.

The difference in the verb forms of the verbs in sentences 36 and 37 is observable. While the one in sentence 36 has the verb-root being affixed to the 'e' suffix and the perfective - le suffix, sentence

., JOURNAL OF LIBERAL STUDIES, VOL. 11, NOS. 1 & 2 OEC.. 2003.

37, in addition to these, has the harmonizing open vowel prefix I attached to the verb root.

Unfulfilled future.

Examples (38) M te ka - eje kin! enwii fi egho. - I would have gone but

I didn't have money. lsg failed attempt h t go.

' (39) 0koro te cho ni ~ j e . - Okoro wanted to go. (40) &l te chQ ni fi j6. - I wanted to go.

Zsg failed attempt want that lsg go. . .

. The constructions seen in sentences 38-40 are all unfulfilled future. Sehtence 38 however, is the aptest. Te usually denotes unfulfilment whether used for past, present or future. , .

2 . . . . . > % . . , . .-. Example : . . . . . . . . , ,

I % .

t ; Unfulfilled present. . ,: . . . . F - ' ! I

4 (41) &l t$ bja bja b'kd1 I imii rR n'i Q t k g L - .- lsg (unfil) have come to greet him I did not not h o w that he will not be in , . . . . . . .

, . :' . . . . . . . i( ." ; ' Unfulfilled past. . . . . . I . _ 1 . ! . (42) ~ t e bia m nj rii kdi i; imii'fi ni o rjko a. ' !

Unfulfiled come lsg that lsg greet him h o w not I that he is not in.

Translation I had come to greet.him, I did not know that he was not in. It can be noted that the unfulfilled past has the same structure as the future simple (the one with be'as the future marker). Both have the auxiliaries beginning the sentence and coming before the subject NP and the Verb Phrase respectively (see sentences 30 and 42). Thus they have the stnrcture, V-SVO and VSO respectively rather than the normal SVO which obtains in the dialect.

1 Ika, the future markers also function as modals to show .. intention, obligation, ability and possibility.

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238 joy Oluchi Uguru

, Obligation: Only ka - is used for this. '(43) &I kii - emefifi a. - I must (compulsorily) do it.

If on the other hand, ji ka- is used, the suffix, rid i s omitted as ji ka - already has a note of oblgtion, compulsion and emphasis. Hence it does not go with any emphatic suffix.

Intention (44) Ek5 15 mC 71. - Iwilldoit. (45) &I ki -em& a. - I willdoit.

Possibility (46) ke bk m bh. - Possibly/perchance, I will come. (47) 0 me be fi bia bl r f ~ gwa i.

If it happens fut I come fut I tell you.

Translntim: If (it happens that) I will come, I will let you know. Ka- and ji ka- are not usually used in denoting possibility. This may probabIy be because they carry emphatic implication on their own. It will therefore be incongruous to use them to denote possibility. In fronting, ka- is used. Ji ka- is not used. Also be- is not used since it must rebin its position - before the subject NP. . .

? . ' . . ,

(48) Bd we brichi - - They 'will put water. inversion - & kd wc ki - &birch6

Translaiim: It is water that they will put. It is only in reported speech that be can occur in the sentence medially but it still comes before the second NP of such a construction.

~ x a d ~ l e (49) 0 si be we biiche mi;. - He said that they will put water. The semantic distinction between Ki- (and ji k&) and be is that k& and ji kk appear to be more emphatic than bC The latter, b4 has a milder note as far as the enforcement of the future event referred t? is concerned. K C and ji h+ seem to have higher degree of probability than bti

JOURNAL OF LIBERALSTUDIES, VOL 11. NOS. 1 8 2 DEC.. 2003.

THE SYNTAX OF IKA FUTURE MARKER: b6 ' 239 The Syntactic Analysis of be and some Igbo Dialectal Future ~ a r k e r s '

In standard Igbo as well as most Igbo dialects, tense is usually marked by bound morphemes (affixes). The prefixes which include g4- and m-, and the suffixes such as -rv and -le/ha, are affixed to the verb roots to denote present, future and past time references. However, there &ems to be an exception in 1ka dialect where the future marker, bc'is a free morpheme and occurs sentence - initially, before the subject NP. The sentences below illustrate this. (50) E% 15 jE dQ. - I will go home.

Fut lsg go home. (51) Be b j6 dQ. 7 He/she will go home.

Fut 3sg go home. (52) Ek Chili je $1~. - Chika will go home.

Fut Chika go home. Thus in this dialect, be (future marker) is a free morpheme and is not contextually - related to the verb. This is contrary to the other two Ilea future markers, Ka- and ji ka- and those of most Igbo dialects which are either affixes or bound morphemes attached to the verb. In fact, most tense markers (past, present or future) in Igbo are either affixes or boundm&pFTemes. Tense is part of INFL in ~overnment and Binding Theory. LNFL is the portmanteau bearing tense, concord or agreement. This can be illustrated with the structures below.

+tns n*bel I (past ) lgender

Source: Riemsdijk (1 986:274).

The tense features are contextually related to the verb only while agreement features are contextually related to the verb (by aftix hopping) and also to the NP by the rule of agreement. However, agreement features are contextually dependent on the presence of the feature [+tnsj.

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240- joy Olrrclri U,prrrrr-

In CB theory, Chomskv shows that INFL case-marks to the left in SVO languages. cons[dering the position in which bboccurs in Ika sentences, it is obvious that it case-marks to the right, assigning the nominative case to the subject NP. We therefore draw two conclusions: First, it appears that Ika is not purely an SVO language. This deduction is made, based on the fact that be usually occurs in kernel sentences thus it cannot be claimed that it occupies the position before the subject NP as a resuit of subject - Aux inversion. In EngIish, the subject - Aux inversion takes place in the'process of transforming a declarative sentence into an interrogative one.

E x a ~ ~ p l e Underlying sentence - subject auxiliary You will be here - Will you be here? Above, the process of subject - Aux inversion has moved the auxiliarv verb, will to the immediate left of the subject NP. This however does, not occur in Igbo generally and Ika in particular. Rather, question formation is by change of tone and use of morphw syntactic markers like bu ..., Onye ... e t cetera. Sentences containing the beauxiliary are usually in thedeep structure. When they undergo transformation into the Surface Structure be'is neither retained nor placed in another position. Rather, it is replaced by another auxiliary..

Example Deep structure Surface structure

(53) Be menwi bia - menwa ka-abia. fut lsg (emphatic) come - lsg (emphatic) fut come Will myself come - Myself will come.

I ! The 'be" always maintains its position (before the subject NP) which

appears to suggest that Ika shares some charactetristics with VSO lansuages. This is further confirmed by the structure of unfulfilled past seen in sentence 42 where the particle denoting unfulfilment and also the main verb come before the subject NP.

Ete bia m... Unfulfilled came 1

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THE SYMAX OF IKA FUTURE MARKER: b~ 241 Here, we see the verb, b.ia coming before the subject NP, 'M'. In this case, hdwever, a transformation may have taken place since it. is possibie to say the following: . (54) +&I tq bbja ebe ihu - I (unfulfilled) had come there ... One may not however say: (55) *$I be bja ebe ihu. Also the negative particle, which naturally belongs to the verbal slot, usually comes before the grammatical subject.

Example , I

(56) $I@ nwa ~ g o . f , - It is not Ngozi's child. Not child Ngozi

(57) €11? 0kbrb kii-achi. - Okoro is'not the one to lead.

Standard Igbo - (58) Q bljghi Okoro gii-achj. It is possible to have & occuring sentence - medially as seen below. (59) Y u l~+ Chika ele ibe. - You and Chika are not mates.

2sg and Chika are not mates. From sentence 59, it is obvious that & is a verbal element. Its occurrence before the subject NP (sentence 57) confirms that Ika shares character@tics with VSO languages.

The second conclusion we can draw is that Chomsky's proposal that INFL case-marks to the left in SVO languages may not be universal if Ika is categorized as a pure SVO language. The tree structure of sentence 52 shown below establishes that.

JOURNAL OF LIBERAL STUDIES. VOL. i t . NOn. 1 & 2 DEC,, 2063,

Here b e structurally case-marks Chiki, the subject NP, which is to its right, hence assigning the nominative case to it. Comparing the structure above with some structures from other Igbo dialects shows the difference between b e and other time markers.

Standard Igbo Example

Inherent (60) Structural

Father fut give 3sg a car

l - l I I (Object) (subject) Accusative

nominative case case

In this sentence, the ga-auxiliary assigns case to the subject NP, m a , (which is by the left) while the verb, &ye case-marks ya (indirect object NP) structurally, and assigns inherent case to the object NP, u g b ~ d l i . Hence it is obvious that be' case-marks differently from ga- the Igbo future marker. Other illustrations appear,below.

Standard Igbo (61) a . - I wiU go home. - I . .

lsg fut go home ..

(62) Aga m4je $0. - I will go home. Fut lsg go home

(63) Aga ha-eje $6. - They wiU go home. Fut 3plu go home.

(64) 0 galje UIQ. - He/she will go home. 3sg fut go home

(65) Chih ga4je $Q. - CKka will go home. .

Olokoro (Umuahia) dialect (66) Aga m Sgi lihu. - I will go home.

fut 1 to go home

.. JOURNAL OF LIBERAL STUDIES, VOL. 11, NOS. 1 8 2 DEC., 2003.

4

THE SYNTAX OF IKAFUTVRE MARKER: M 243 (67) 0 ga igi tihi. - He/she will go home.

3sg h t to go home (68) Aga we tihu. - n e y will go home.

Fut 3plu to go home (69) Chika gi /gii tihri. - Chika will go home.

It can be observed that there is a lot of difference between be future marker and those of most Igbo dialects. There are however, some structural similarities between it and some Igbo dialectdike Olokoro with regards to some constructions involving first person singular pronoun and third person plural pronoun. Though such constructions also feature in most Igbo dialects, in Olokoro, it is more of a grammatical rule. It is very rare and unpopular to say the following in Olokoro.

(70) fi ga jg2 tihi. - I will go home.

Rather, in Olokoro dialect, when these pronouns are involved irr a. future declarative sentence, it usually, takes the future marker, aga: It comes before the subject NP, thereby moving rightwards to mark the subject NP. This is illustrated in sentences 66 and#. h both Olokoro and other Igbo dialects, adopting this ~angemenb with any subject NP other than the first person singular and, thitdr person plural pronouns will result in ill-formed structures as sem below.

Ol okoro (71) *Aga 0 @a M. - He/she will go home.

Standard Igbo (72) 'Aga Chiki-kje do. - Chika will go home. It is also observable that the verb form varies in the three dialects under consideration - Ika, Olokoro and other Igbo dialects. Ika, when beis involved, uses the verb root only. This can be represented. as follows:

Be (NP) verb root Fut 0 je

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The verb root retains its form. There is no inflection of any kind to show tense. Contrarily, in co~huctions involving other Ika future markers, ka- and ji ka- and also in most Igbo dialects where ga- is the future marker, the verb is inflected. The illustrations come below. (73) a - I will go.

lsg fut go. '

Most igbo dialects (including Standard Igbo) . . (74) Ag6 61 kje. - I will p. (75)' () ga-ejl. - He/she will go. I ~ I the examples atlove the open vowel prefix is affixed to the verb root, , I .. ie.

. I . .

Olokoro (76) ~ g a m igH. - Iwillgo.

Fut lsg to go (77) C M ga-igi. - Chika will go. I ~ = W Chikafut-1togo. , .

It is observable that in Olokoro, the verb takes the infinitive form. These are the various verb forms that the three dialects use, in addition to future markers, to indicate fuhire time reference. The ahalysis of theb aga fonn of the ga future tense marker, may be pertinent. ' - - 1 . -

(78) Aga m aga #ii. - I will go to the market. Fut lsg to to market , i

. . . . < . , . Olokoro (79) Aga h iga Bhia. - I will go to the market.

Fut lsg'to go to market . .

In the structures. above,. it may be onsidered that the first 'a' of aga could be part, of the pronoun It is also used for the third person plural pronoun.

(80) Aga h i agalejl ah/a. - They will go to the markel Fut 3plu go market

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. . THE SYNTAX OF I);(A FUTURE MARK^: b~ 245 ' Olokoro . ., . , . , . ! -,,., : . ;

. (81) Aga we igi &i- . - ' They will go tothe rnarkei .. .. r L

Fut 3plu to go market. These are the only pronouns which take ago future marker (mu(;)

. and ha/we) This is part of agreement feature, where the auxiliary verb form, aga is restricted in use to certain persons and number. In Ika however, b e future marker maintains its position (before .the subject NP) in all constructions irrespective of the number or person of the subject NP. This is illustrated below. + . . - - ., .

(82) Be m ri ji. - I will eat yam; Fut l sg eat yam . . % . . . . . . , ' r.

(83) Be n' ji. - \-. You will eat yam;. . .. '. ,:, .. . ,,: . .. . ... .. Fut 2sg eat yam ... . . , . .,... ? . .. . . . . , .< ,. :: : . .. ..t j - -

(84) Be we ri ji. - They will eat yam. Fut 3plu eat yam . . . : i : $, ,, z

(85) Be Oyibo h ji. - :, Oylbo will eat yam. . ! .. ,; : ..;> . ,:.*

Fut Oylbo eat yam. ..,., r,.. ,:,. y . ,;.?;.

One of the striking features of b e is that it retains the non- finite verb (verb root). Other future. markers in Ika and most Egh dialects occur with finite verbs (inflected verb rootsb ...+f> . :.'> a. ...

~ ,;:,w .. .,-! ?,,,?. 4" ' 'q . - . - (86) 6k&h ~ + j h : -.: .: : ok& go t m o m w r , ' . ; % :

; ...'I ,.. . ' ; , 3 . . , , , , . . .. ' : :< iil, v;;: ..., ., .::::,<r 8 ,i ,$ . .- .I

If b& is 'used, we.havb he following ' ' . : 8 j i t~l, - . '': '. .*'

' .,,. '. (87) B l 0 k ~ r 6 j6 &. " . - Okoro will go tbmorrow. ' .,,'- --.

In sentence 86 it can be observed that the verb root is inflected. The harmonizing open vowel prefi, 'e', is affixed to the verb root, je. I[n sentence 87, the verb root is retained without any phonological or morphological change taking place. 'It may also be important to point out that in Ika, the verb root, depending on the context, may retain its morphological form but usually undergoes tonal changes. This is contrary to what happens when be marks the future. In this case, the verb root retains its tone. This can be seen below. (88) Okoro je unyaihu. - Okoro went yesterday. (89) Be 0k6r6 jC echi. - Okoro will go tomorrow.

JOURNAL OF LIBERAL STUDIES. VOL 11, NOS. 1 8 2 OEC.. 2003.

In bntence 88, past tense is reflected by changing the inherent high tone of the verb .root to a low one. Thus je becomes je. In sentence 89, the inherent tone of the verb root, @is retained.

Conclusion The words that make up the sentences of any language are

not placed haphazardly, rather they follow a particular patterning or arrangement. This is what syntax is all about. Speakers of different languages follow these patterning in order to achieve a semantic goal - meaningful: communication. To carry out its function as a future marker in Ika, the modal auxiliary verb, bQ has to be placed at some positicm which is usually, sentence - initial and before the grammatical sutqed (subject Ph"). .

lhmple . (90) I% ikpbho je. - Women will go.

Fut womengo. . ,.

Any alteration of this order will result in ill-formed expressions like the one below. '(91) -ho E je. The puzzle then is why ather future markers in Ika (ka- and ji ka-) occur after the subject NP and bi occurs before the subject NP. It thus appears that bebreaks the SVO order existent in Ika. It may also be one of tfie markers whose origin is not known.

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