Syntactic Problems Among Igbo Speakers of English (a Case Study of Lagos State University Undergraduates)
CHAPTER ONE
PURPOSE OF STUDY
The study is primarily concerned with the syntactic problems encountered by Igbo speakers of English and how their first language affects subsequent acquisition of other languages, particularly English language. The methodology will enable us determine for instance, the collocational possibilities and the degree of problems encountered by students as there is no clues (morphological or syntactic) to fix precisely the acceptable collocational patterns.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter is designed to review related studies ion the area of study. The review is categorized under the following sub-heading:
The concept of language acquisition.
Some syntactic features of Igbo language and how they interfere with the English usage of Igbo speakers.
Methodology and Research Procedure.
THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
The major purpose of all human language is to communicate meaning. Man by nature does not and cannot exist in isolation. He needs language to reach out to his fellow man in the environment in which he finds himself for the purpose of interaction and in order to make life more meaningful and purposeful.
In this view, Language acquisition is important.
Gleitman and Gleitman (1970:49) claim that:
‘Language acquisition begins at birth and unfolds as the child matures. This is why it is believed that in every human being there exists a language acquisition device (LAD) which can be developed as the child progresses in life.
Language acquisition is the process of unconscious internalization and use of a given language. Mackey (1991:9) explains that: ‘At the age of about one, a normal child, not impaired by hearing loss or speech
impediment will being to say words …..children acquire full knowledge of
The grammatical system of their native language.
This stunning intellectual achievement is routinely performed
by every pre-school child ‘
In the course of acquisition of the mother tongue, the young child makes numerous errors. This fact shows that language acquisition is a trail and error process until the child masters the rudiments of his mother tongue.
Baldeh (1990:50) remarks that:
‘Every human being is genetically
pre-disposed to acquire language.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH PROCEDURE
This unit is designed to give a description of the procedure used in carrying out the study. The discussion will come under the following sub-headings:-
Design of study
sample and sampling Technique
procedure
Data Analysis Technique
DESIGN OF STUDY
The study is primarily aimed at taking a constructive look at syntactic features of English and Igbo languages and how the latter interferes with the English usages among Igbo speakers who take language courses. To enable the success of this work, the design used as a guide is the restriction that Igbo speakers whose Ll is not Igbo should not participate.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA PREAMBLE
The objective of this chapter is to present and discuss the result of responses to the questionnaire administered to a sample population of eighty students of the University of Lagos. The questionnaire contains twenty questions.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULT
This chapter deals with the findings and results in the preceding chapter.
There consists of the interpretation of data, the implication of study, recommendations and possible research questions that are suggested for further research.
As shown in Table 2, items 001 and 004 showed that ‘Igbo English’ is certainly a regional variation of Nigerian English recognizable by most language students. An approximate of seventy-six percent of respondents disagreed that this kind of English among Igbo speakers is not distinguishable of its peculiar accent only, though it is equally a significant future. It cannot be described as merely ungrammatical, but as form features which characterize Nigerian English usage. The analysis of items 005 to 020 revealed that although there are notable similarities between English syntax and Igbo syntax, there are nevertheless many remarkable differences between them which constitute major interference problems. For instance, there is no single word adverb in Igbo; unlike English that has many prepositions, there is only one preposition in Igbo – ‘na’. Reduplication of modifiers is also restrictive to Igbo syntax. More so, the co-occurrence of demonstrative with possessive determiners, which is ungrammatical in English language, do not attract any unusual attention when used in Igbo structures.
Following these interpretations of results as shown in table 2, it has been possible to conclude that there are indeed some syntactic problems peculiar to Igbo speakers of English in Nigeria.
THE IMPLICATION OF STUDY
Based on the findings of this study, many educational implications can be pointed out.
- The poor English syntax development of students, result not only in the problem of the use of English in our tertiary institutions, but also affects other disciplines, where English language is used as a medium of instruction.
- Word formations learnt in our indigenous languages cannot always take direct transfer to any second or foreign language that we subsequently acquire, without negative effects. Thus, there is need for a contextual study of the structures involved.
- Ineffective teaching method is one of the major factors militating against syntactic development and communicative competence of English among Igbo speakers. The data analysis showed that most students are not even aware of the existence of this contrastive syntactic features of the two languages in contact.
- It is equally observed that most of the users of English restrict the usage to formal settings more than in their informal gatherings. The implication of this is that there can never be adequate mastery of the language, which can only manifest in its unpremeditated or spontaneous uses, and this often occurs in informal settings. Therefore, efforts should be made to encourage students to use English frequently outside the classroom, to internalize its features in order to achieve competence and performance. Then, and only then would it have become ‘normal’ among the speech communities concerned.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Syntactic analysis should be more highlighted and emphasized in our language schools so that its importance to the individual student in the school system and his future progress outside the school could be elevated.
- The government should subsidize cost on specific textbooks on the acquisition of foreign languages.
- New and specific methods of teaching the languages should be established.
This will make the lessons more interesting for students and more rewarding to lecturers.
- Emphasis should be placed on reading, listening, use of the library and other methods that will enhance syntax development of students. This invariably means an adequate development of the four skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking.
- Linguistics should insist on utilizing of mother tongue experiences for effective second language learning and teaching in Nigeria. There should equally be in place a language education policy in Nigeria whose total commitment will rest on the supervision of language development in Nigeria.
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
- This research involves analysis of some syntactic problems among Igbo speakers of English in Lagos State University. It will be worthwhile and interesting to examine this situation in the entire Universities in Nigeria.
- Researchers are encouraged to do research work on utilizing mother tongue experiences for effective second language teaching in Nigeria.
- Equally, a study can be designed to check relationship between English syntax and the three major Nigerian languages: lgbo, Hausa and Yoruba.
- The methodology employed is considered relatively adequate in projecting critical analysis of syntactic problems among Igbo speakers of English. Be that as it may, it is pertinent to carry other researchers along in relation to this work.
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