ABSTRACT This article uses synchronic evidence to show that the interfix in Igbo does not always ... more ABSTRACT This article uses synchronic evidence to show that the interfix in Igbo does not always divide its host into two equal parts. It recognises the differences in the form classes of the source words and their co-occurrence potentials due to semantic or syntactic peculiarities as the major determinant of the morphological environment of the interfix. The theory of lexicalist morphology was used as the theoretical framework in data analysis. The article's findings show that lgbo interfixes serve to link outputs of two distinct morphological rules: reduplication and prefixation, and that only reduplication-motivated interfixes divide their host into two equal parts because they are found between a stem and its reduplicant. The structure of the interfixes is also found to be basically a consonant segment which is phonologically motivated to fulfil a basic lgbo syllabification requirement after the rule of word formation has taken place in the lexicon.
20 Years of EUROCALL: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future, 2013
This paper studies students' experiences and expectations on the use of podcasts in learning Engl... more This paper studies students' experiences and expectations on the use of podcasts in learning English pronunciation in Igboland. The Igboland is made up of five states in Southeastern Nigeria where Igbo is spoken as a mother tongue. The states are Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The study is a survey research where two universities were studied. A proportional sampling technique was used with the aid of a structured questionnaire that was used to elicit information. The data gathered were analysed using mean, standard deviation, t-test, and ANOVA with the aid of Statistical tool for the Social sciences. The study concluded that the students agreed to the fact that podcasts improved their English pronunciation. The hypotheses tested generally showed that there was no significant difference in the internet background, level of students or gender in the use of podcasts. Thus, technology was indispensable in learning a second language.
This study aims at describing the language needs of computer learners. Needs analysis is describe... more This study aims at describing the language needs of computer learners. Needs analysis is described as an act of finding out the necessity for which the trainees or learners desire language in order to study efficiently. Due to the fact that the English language is an official language in Nigeria, the computer trainees find it difficult to use English for the Computer appropriately. This paper suggests ways of tackling the difficulty. The trainees' needs are grouped into three categories: communicative needs, grammatical needs and lexical needs. The trainees need to be motivated and committed to the act of learning the computer jargon. The findings reveal that while communicative needs are beneficial in increasing verbal interactions between learners; the grammatical needs are useful in discriminating grammatical categories and their functions and in learning simple sentences; and the lexical needs are useful in mastering the code used in the computer. Grammatical, communicative and lexical needs are important to the learners in order to attain proficiency in their training.
Journal Of The Linguistic Association Of Nigeria, 2010
The paper studies the activities of tone in noun reduplication. It observes that when some nouns ... more The paper studies the activities of tone in noun reduplication. It observes that when some nouns are reduplicated, some inherent tones of the nouns change. Of all the five different tonal structures of nouns studied, four have tonal changes. The tonal structures and their changes are: two low tones change to low high low low tones, low high change to low high downstep high, high downstep change to high high downstep high, and high high change to high high downstep high. The only situation where the tone does not change is if and only if the noun has a combination of high and low tones. The tonal structures are guided by some principles. With the principles, some constraints on tones are used to determine the adequacy of optimality theory in accounting for tonal changes in noun reduplication. By promotion and demotion of IO and BR constraints a certain type of reduplication is achieved. Promotion of IO constraints yields partial tonal reduplication, on the other hand, if the BR const...
ABSTRACT This article uses synchronic evidence to show that the interfix in Igbo does not always ... more ABSTRACT This article uses synchronic evidence to show that the interfix in Igbo does not always divide its host into two equal parts. It recognises the differences in the form classes of the source words and their co-occurrence potentials due to semantic or syntactic peculiarities as the major determinant of the morphological environment of the interfix. The theory of lexicalist morphology was used as the theoretical framework in data analysis. The article's findings show that lgbo interfixes serve to link outputs of two distinct morphological rules: reduplication and prefixation, and that only reduplication-motivated interfixes divide their host into two equal parts because they are found between a stem and its reduplicant. The structure of the interfixes is also found to be basically a consonant segment which is phonologically motivated to fulfil a basic lgbo syllabification requirement after the rule of word formation has taken place in the lexicon.
20 Years of EUROCALL: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future, 2013
This paper studies students' experiences and expectations on the use of podcasts in learning Engl... more This paper studies students' experiences and expectations on the use of podcasts in learning English pronunciation in Igboland. The Igboland is made up of five states in Southeastern Nigeria where Igbo is spoken as a mother tongue. The states are Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The study is a survey research where two universities were studied. A proportional sampling technique was used with the aid of a structured questionnaire that was used to elicit information. The data gathered were analysed using mean, standard deviation, t-test, and ANOVA with the aid of Statistical tool for the Social sciences. The study concluded that the students agreed to the fact that podcasts improved their English pronunciation. The hypotheses tested generally showed that there was no significant difference in the internet background, level of students or gender in the use of podcasts. Thus, technology was indispensable in learning a second language.
This study aims at describing the language needs of computer learners. Needs analysis is describe... more This study aims at describing the language needs of computer learners. Needs analysis is described as an act of finding out the necessity for which the trainees or learners desire language in order to study efficiently. Due to the fact that the English language is an official language in Nigeria, the computer trainees find it difficult to use English for the Computer appropriately. This paper suggests ways of tackling the difficulty. The trainees' needs are grouped into three categories: communicative needs, grammatical needs and lexical needs. The trainees need to be motivated and committed to the act of learning the computer jargon. The findings reveal that while communicative needs are beneficial in increasing verbal interactions between learners; the grammatical needs are useful in discriminating grammatical categories and their functions and in learning simple sentences; and the lexical needs are useful in mastering the code used in the computer. Grammatical, communicative and lexical needs are important to the learners in order to attain proficiency in their training.
Journal Of The Linguistic Association Of Nigeria, 2010
The paper studies the activities of tone in noun reduplication. It observes that when some nouns ... more The paper studies the activities of tone in noun reduplication. It observes that when some nouns are reduplicated, some inherent tones of the nouns change. Of all the five different tonal structures of nouns studied, four have tonal changes. The tonal structures and their changes are: two low tones change to low high low low tones, low high change to low high downstep high, high downstep change to high high downstep high, and high high change to high high downstep high. The only situation where the tone does not change is if and only if the noun has a combination of high and low tones. The tonal structures are guided by some principles. With the principles, some constraints on tones are used to determine the adequacy of optimality theory in accounting for tonal changes in noun reduplication. By promotion and demotion of IO and BR constraints a certain type of reduplication is achieved. Promotion of IO constraints yields partial tonal reduplication, on the other hand, if the BR const...
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