Question Formation in Koenoem Language
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the research work is to study question formation i.e. how questions are formed in Koenoem. According to Stockwell (1977) “to study syntax is to study aspects of how sentences are formed and how the are understood”. Question formation is one of the syntactic processes and it can be grouped under the linguistics level of syntax.
CHAPTER TWO
BASIC PHONOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC CONCEPTS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on some phonological and syntactic concepts in Koenoem language. The phonological concepts include the sound, tonal and syllable inventories in Koenoem; the syntactic concepts include phrase structure rules, basic word order, lexical categories as well as sentence types in the language.
BRIEF PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Koenoem language attests forty one (41) speech sounds in its sound inventory: there are thirty one (31) consonants and ten (10) vowel in which five (5) are oral and five (5) are nasal. These sounds are provided below:
[p, b, t, d, k, g, kp, gb, bw, kw ,gw, gj, f, v, s, z, S, x, , sw , ,h, t S, dz, m, n, ŋ , r, r, l, j, w].
KOENOEM SOUND SYSTEM
Using the international phonetic Alpahbet (I.P.A) chart, the consonant sounds can be illustrated as shown on the chart below.
TONAL SYSTEM OF KOENOEM LANGUAGE.
Pike (1948), defines a tone language as a language having significant but contrastive pitch on each syllables.
Martinet (1960: 77), defines tone as a physical reality exploited for distinctive purposes in the form of discrete units. Tone is described as a phonemic or contrastive pitch. In a tonal
language, tone is used to create differences in meaning of words that have the same form.
Koenoem language makes use of three distinctive level tones which are:
High tone (/)
Mid tone (unmarked)
Low tone (\)
Examples of the distribution of tones in Koenoem language are:
CHAPTER THREE
QUESTION FORMATION IN KOENOEM
INTRODUCTION
This chapter will focus mainly on the project topic which is question formation in Koenoem language. How questions are formed and the types of that exist in the language shall be discussed in this chapter.
QUESTION FORMATION IN KOENOEM
Koenoem language like other languages operates different types of question formation including WH, Echo, Yes/No, Tag, Alternative and Rhetorical questions. Radford (1988 402) looks at three types of questions which are WH, Yes/No and Echo question. Radford (1988:402) opines that WH questions are so called because they typically involve the use of an interrogative word beginning with WH in English language e.g. which, where, who, why etc
CHAPTER FOUR
TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES IN KOENOEM
INTRODUCTION
This chapter examines some transformational processes operating in Koenoem language. These transformational processes are: focus construction, passivization, relativization, and question formation (Rhetorical question) in addition to chapter three. The operation of these processes in Koenoem as well as appropriate examples shall be discussed.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives a brief summary of the major issues raised and discussed in this research project. It will also conclude the long essay and gives appropriate recommendation.
SUMMARY
The study presented here deals with “question formation in Koenoem language”. This is carried out from the perspective of Government and Binding (GB) theory of grammar.
The historical background and social cultural profile of the language and its speakers form part of the first chapter. Also, the genetic classification of the language was given and the chosen theoretical framework was reviewed.
Chapter two examined the phonological system of the language as well as the basic syntactic concepts of the language under study which includes; lexical categories (Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective, preposition and Conjunction), phrase structure rule and the basic work order of the language, which is S.V.O. The chapter also discussed the types of sentence attested in that language (simple, compound and complex sentences).
The focus of this research work Question formation in Koenoem language was looked into in chapter three. WH, Yes / No question were the types of question that was examined in this chapter.
Chapter four identified the syntactic transformational processes involving question formation, as attested in the language under study.
The last chapter gives a brief summary of the research findings, conclusion and possible recommendation
CONCLUSION
In this research work, we have been able to discuss the aspect of question formation in Koenoem and we have been able to describe the types of question in operation in Koenoem (WH, yes/no, Focus construction, Relativization, Passivization, and Rhetorical questions). Koenoem is a language like other majority and minority languages we have in Nigeria that needed to be developed to perform either low or high function, but there are so many languages that have not received any attention.
This is the first research work that would be carried out on this language, and it has brought the language to limelight for further researches. Koenoem language like other African languages is a tonal language that attests high, low and mid tones.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Base on the scope and limitation of the present study, we are of the opinion that further researches and studies be carried out on the language, especially in the aspects of phonology and morphology, to bring out more interesting linguistic facts about the language. Such further linguistic investigation on the language will provide opportunities for linguistic development of the language like orthography design.
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