A SYNTACTIC DESCRIPTION OF AGATU PERSONAL NAMES

Journal of Arts and Contemporary Society Volume 4, December 2012 © 2012 Cenresin Publications www.cenresinpub.org ISSN 2277-0046 A SYNTACTIC DESCRIPTION OF AGATU PERSONAL NAMES Umaru Jacob yakubu Department of languages and linguistics Nasarawa State University Keffi E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The paper gives an insight into the syntactic structure of Agatu personal names. The linguistic act of naming is a unique human trait and medium for conceptualising and interpreting human experiences and essence. It primarily constitutes a dominant means of endorsing reality and acting out the human perception of the world;through the act of naming, the human race is able not only to enact being, but essentially engage the world. The aim of this paper is to syntactically describe the structures of those names. The findings of this paper show that the structure of Agatu personal names are in words, phrases as well as sentences, which are desententialized. Appreviations Intterog Rel Con IPsg Poss 3rdpl interrogation relative conjunction first person singular possessives third person plural INTRODUCTION The practice of naming is a phenomenon that is universal as it is age long and perhaps as practised by people for as long as there has been social relationship among human beings. Perhaps one of the earliest activities of human beings could have being the act of naming. From the Judeo-Christian perspective, God started the process of naming, albeit identification, followed by the first man on earth, Adam. In Africa, naming system abounds as all the cultures of Africa attach importance to names, such that researches are carried out on the structure and semantics of personal naming system. The structure of a languageas well as the internal structure of sentence is within the domain of syntax. Syntax is often referred to as a part of the internalised linguistic knowledge of language, which enables the native speaker to produce as recognized acceptable stretches of utterances in the language(Chalker and Weiner, 1992). According to Prasad (2008:6), syntax is defined as a branch of grammar, which studies the arrangement of words into sentences and by the means by which the relations such as inflection and word order etc. To Adeyanju, (2010:163) “words are not directly combined into sentences, but rather into intermediate units called phrases and this serves an important role in establishing relations within sentences”. Syntax spells out a set of finite rules that a user of a given language follows in generating an infinite number of acceptable sentences. (Chomsky,1965:144). There is a basic assumption that the native speaker has underlying competence in his generation and comprehension of utterances. The manifestation of this competence can be seen when a 82 Journal of Arts and Contemporary Society Volume 4, December 2012 native speaker can produce and understand unlimited number of novel sentences. Naming system in Agatu has the structural component of grammar,with the constituent structures. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NAMING Culture has a significant role to play in the structure of names. The people’s culture is their entire way of life as a social group. This includes what they think of themselves, their social organisation, institutions, religions and ideas. (Etuk2002:13) in (Mark, 2011:40). These aspects of culture are expressed and transmitted through language; for language is the medium and vehicle of culture. As we find in other human cultures, proper names are employed in Europe and America for the purpose of identification. Unlike Africa and Jewish names, English does not go beyond functioning as identification tags.(Lyons, 1968 Palmer, 1976, Kempson,1977 and Alege,2008). It therefore means that English names are mere referring expression, even though, they point out people as distinct individuals, but they do not have any sense in themselves. In other words, they do not communicate; they are connotative and not denotative. Such cultural values as the importance placed on child bearing in Africa, for instance does not occur in European culture, and therefore, no special importance is attached to a child’s name. In English, names of animals, objects etc are used by human beings as identification tag. Examples of such names include; Bush, CookJolly,Lindaetc,. With the advent of Christianity, English and Americans bear such names asDaniel, Benedict, Emmanuel etc. It must be pointed out however, that such names belong to one word noun constituent. It is often asserted that Africans inspite of differences in culture share some common dominant values, which identify them as African languages in the aspect of naming. Egbokhare, (2003:27) as cited in (Mark 201140) “African languages are in an essential sense of living repositories and data banks of the history and culture of the African people’’. Language, therefore, is an embodiment of African native languages, as embodied in names, beliefs, history and worldviews of the people. Yoruba culture attaches great importance to children and child bearing, because of the traditional role children play as helping hands on the farms, but more importantly because they are the propagators of the family name and line. Naming among the Yoruba is a revered tradition usually brought about by careful observation of the child’s background, and family history, the situation surrounding his birth and the religion of his parents. Commenting on the structure of Yoruba names,Idowu(1996) says “every Yoruba name has a character and significance of its own....every one of the names is almost invariably a sentence, or a clause or an abbreviation of a sentence, which can be broken into component parts’’. Odudoye (1972) said that names in Yoruba tradition, therefore, are not arbitrary labels.Rather, they convey a sense of identification and belief and act as a vehicle of communication. They convey or speak volumes about the identity of the bearer and worldview of parents. Odudoye(ibid) recognizes the following categories of Yoruba personal names: reincarnation, circumstantial, religious, occupational, mystic birth aural, royalty andsocial cultural. Naming system in Igala is not only a means of identification; rather, they convey a sense of history and beliefs as well as act as a vehicle of communication. They speak volumes about the identity of the bearer and worldview of the parents as well as other members of the family. Aside that,Igala names reflect the grammar of the language as well. According 83 A Syntactic Description of Agatu Personal Names Umaru Jacob yakubu to Timonye (1991) cited in Omachonu(2001), Igala language uses the grammatical process known as “calque or desententialization’’, which he describes as “the process of nominalization, which involves writing or reducing a whole phrase or sentence to form a single noun’. Here are some examples: 1.1.0i.Ẹnẹ ma ọna? Who know tomorrow? Pro verb adverb Who knows tomorrow? ii.OnuuchẹOnuchẹ King message Noun noun “A messenger” Ẹnẹmọna Ubahakwe (1981:1) opines that African names form partof the grammar of the language and it is possible to learn basic Ibibio through collection of names. He further states that African names express values as in God and deities, social relationship, social entities, calendar, plants, animals,physical environment, natural phenomena, social virtues and vices, titles, occupation, material assets, and parts of the body. Below are examples; 1.1.1Abstract Noun i. Aban Essien “a woman’s dance” “lineage, clan, family”etc 1.1.2 Proper Nouns ii Akpan Nwa “first son” “second daughter” The name Aban in the above example shows an abstractness of the name as well as a noun phrase structure. The second exampleEssien is a single noun reflecting abstract nouns of lineage, clan or family. Akpan and Nwa are proper nouns.The Ibibio examples show that both abstract and proper nouns are present in the naming system. Jaba personal names reflect the grammar of the Jaba people and the structure of the names may be said to constitute a minimum grammar of Jaba language.To understand the structure of Jaba personal names, it is essential to understand the grammatical structure of the language.(Kerem2011:15). The syntactic structure of Jaba reflected in personal names is as follows; One word names 1.1.3 Nouns i. Sim Je Nom 1.1.4 Verbs ii. Yem Thyamo Youk “Love” “power” “God” “talk” “to deceive” “to find” 84 Journal of Arts and Contemporary Society 1.1.5 Adjectives i. Fain ii.Lim 1.1.6 Noun + Noun i.Men-dwos Peace mind iiGyunom World God 1.1.7 Noun+ verb i. Nom-kyak ii. God know 1.1.8 Adjective + noun i. Fu –nem Wise person ii. Leo Volume 4, December 2012 “fine” “taboo” “peace of mind” “the world belongs to God” “God knows” “wise person” “trouble maker” The data reveal that names in Jaba are world classes or phrases, which are combined to convey certain meanings. Syntactic Analysis of Agatu Personal Names The Agatu personal names reflect the grammar, culture etc, but the focus of this work is on the grammatical structure of Agatu personal names. Agatu personal names reflect the grammar of the Agatu people and the structure of Agatu personal names may be said to constitute the grammar of Agatu language. To understand the structure of Agatu personal names, it is essential to understand the grammatical structure of the language. The lists of the structural properties of Agatu reflected in names are as follows: A Noun Phrase B Sentential names i.questions ii.declaratives iii. calquing or desententialization Names as Noun Phrase Noun phrases are generally the distribution into which nouns most commonly enter and of which they are the head word. The structure of the noun phrase consists minimally of a noun or noun substitute as a pronoun.(Randolph,1972:61). The noun or noun phrase is at the head of Idoma sentence structure with SVO pattern. The following examples show the structure of Agatu personal names. 2.1.0 Noun i. ada “father” oco “God” enẹ “mother” abali “a male twin” 2.1.1 Noun + Noun ii. ada ọle adọlẹ Father home 85 A Syntactic Description of Agatu Personal Names Umaru Jacob yakubu “The head of the family” iii. ọcẹanya ọcanya King women “A queen” iv. ada ọyi adọyi Father child “The child’s father” To derive the names, the process of vowel elision occurs. In the example number, it is the /a/ sound that undergoes deletion and that goes for all other examples. 2.1.2 Noun + Adjective i. ọcẹọlam ọcọlam Persongood “A nice person” ii. adahe adahe father small “A father is a father no matter how small’’ iii. ẹnẹkwei ẹnẹkwẹi mother finish “A wicked mother is not worth having”. 2.1.3 Noun + Verb i. ococẹ ococẹ God agree “God’s will” iii.ikwuta ikwuta Death refuse “Death spared” SENTENTIAL NAMES In Agatu language, some names are either clauses, or sentences. These sentences are in form of interrogatives, indicatives etc. 2.2.1. Names as Question This is a grammatical property of Agatu personal names where an interrogative sentence is reduced to a name.Below are examples; i. ọnyẹ jeocigọọnyẹọha? ọnyẹjoci interog know tomorrow of person another “Who knows tomorrow?’’ ii.ọnyẹ jeẹfunibiọlajoaluce? ọnyẹjẹfu Interog know wood Rel hold fire for public? “Who knows the child’s destiny?’’ iii.ọji numya nowẹelan? ojinya InterogIpsg do con is trouble not “What will Ido that won’t be problem?” In the above examples, the interrogatives (Wh-question formation) are desententialised to form personal names surrounding the current situation. 86 Journal of Arts and Contemporary Society Volume 4, December 2012 Names as Declarative Sentence.ọ i. ocowẹupu gum Godis forestposs “God is my fortress’’ ii. ikwuwẹọcẹ Death is king “Death reigns over the people.’’ iii. ẹdọgaacẹibin. seed of people lost neg “Human race does not end.’’ ocowupu ikwuọc  ẹdacẹ Calquing or Desententialization Calquing as described by Timoye,(1991) cited in Omachonu(2001), is a process of nominalization, which involves writing or reducing a whole phrase or even a sentence to form a single noun. This process is very common mostly in the realm of human nouns in Agatu. Examples of names in this category are shown below. i. ajẹkaọnyẹ imanyigọọnyẹ ajẹkọnyẹ Land cover person 3rdpl forget of person. “Once a person is buried, he is forgotten.’’ ii.ọyi hoi lo ma ọ hoi lokwun child good to born it remain to die neg. “A child worth given birth to, but need not to die.” iii.ẹnọgọincẹibin Day of today near neg. “Seeing today is divine.” ọihọma ẹnẹnchẹ CONCLUSION This paper, examinesAgatu personal names, their grammatical structures, where words or phrases are creatively combined to convey certain meanings as a special form of cultural identification. Agatu personal names convey meanings, that is, they carry semantic weight and communicative values in their structures. The cultural personal naming system of Agatu as reflected in the aspect of grammar is done based on allegory (parable); this explains the nature and the lexical meaning of the names. Personal names in Agatu therefore, are not ordinarily labelled; rather, they convey a sense of history, beliefs and acts as a vehicle of communication.Agatupersonal names, like most African naming systems constitute a minimum grammar of the language. The grammar of the language could determine the naming system. The syntactic description of Agatu personal names is found within words,compounds phrases, and sentential names such as interrogatives, declarative sentences as well as calquing or desententialization. 87 A Syntactic Description of Agatu Personal Names Umaru Jacob yakubu REFERENCES Adeyanju, T. K. 2010.Development in syntax and syntactic analysis. inOmachonu G.S NSUK Text general linguistics vol. 1 Rosen publication Ltd. Chalker, S and Weiner, E. 1994.Oxford English grammar dictionary of linguistics. London Oxford University Press Chomsky, N.1965. Standard theory and revised extended standard theory. 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