CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND IGBO TENSE FORMATION

ABSTRACT

This study examines the tense formation of the English and Igbo languages with a view to predicting the interference problems a learner of either language as a second language will encounter while forming tenses in the target language.   The English and the Igbo languages differ in structure in many respects.  As a result of these differences, the native speakers of both languages, transfer the features of the native language to the target language while forming tenses in the target language.   Hence, it is quite obvious that

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

Contrastive analysis is concerned with the way in which the first language (L1) affects  the  target  language  (TL)  learning  in  the  individual.    Contrastive  analysis  is founded on the assumption that TL learners will tend to transfer to the TL the formal features of their L1 (James, 1980:9). In agreement with this, Lado (1957:2) puts it thus:

Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture.

Williamson  &  Blench (2000:103-104)  note that  Nigeria  is  a country with over  450 languages.   Among these languages are Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba.   These three major languages were elevated to the official language status (NPE, 1998:18).

Igbo is spoken natively in an area that covers the present Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu,  Ebonyi  as  well  as  parts  of  Delta  and  Rivers  states  of  Nigeria  (Ofomata,

2002:252).  It is also spoken or understood by a good number of the neighbouring ethnic populations.    On  the  other  hand,  the  teaching  and  learning  of  English  in  Nigeria, according to Otagburuagu (2002, 83), dates back to the early days of European trading expeditions as well as British colonization efforts: the introduction of Christian religion and western education by the early Christian missionaries.  Early European political and commercial quests in Nigeria thus became a period of linguistic experimentation and language transfer  for  the nation.    The term transfer  is used to  describe the process whereby a feature or rule from a learner’s first language is carried over to the second language grammar (O’Graddy, Dobrovolsky & Katamba, 1996:504).

The learner of a second language experiences errors and difficulties that occur as a result of mother tongue interference.  Wherever the structures of the foreign language

differ from those of the mother tongue, we can expect both difficulties in learning and error in performance.  Learning a foreign language is essentially learning to over-come these difficulties.  Ibe (2007:261) notes that a major area of defect in the performance of second-language learners is in the command of grammatical structure and as such, the learners transfer literally and without meaning the structures of the first language into the second  language.     For  instance,  grammatically,  the  usage  of  tense  as  posits  Ibe (2007:206) is one area where the performance of second  language learners is rather woeful and continues to get worse.

1.2      Statement of the Problem

The learning of a second language is no doubt with its own problems.  O Grady (1996:504) notes that one of the most easily recognizable traits of a second-language learner’s  speech  is  that  it  bears a  certain  resemblance  to  the  first  language.    Thus, someone whose first language is English is likely to sound different from someone whose first language is Igbo when they both speak either of the languages.

In the grammatical structure, it has been observed that the usage of tenses is one major area where the performance of second-language learners is woeful (Ibe, 2007:26). This is as a result of the differences in the structures of the native language and the target

language.  For example:

Si ya bia                           

*Tell him/her come.

Jee zaa ulo                       

*Go sweep house.

Nwoke ojii                       

*Man black.

The structures of the above sentences show that the learner is carrying over patterns of the mother tongue into his target-language performance.   Moreover, such a carryover seems to result in the large number of deviant sentences in areas where the structures of the native language and the target language differ the most (Fisiak, 1981:210).

1.3      Research Questions

This study seeks to find solutions to these questions:

1.         What is tense?

2.         What role does tense play in the syntax of the Igbo and the English languages?

3.         What similarities and differences are there between the Igbo and English tense formation?

4.         What  problem  does  a  native  speaker  of  the  Igbo  language  encounter  while forming tenses in the English language?

1.4      Purpose of the Study

In Nigeria, Igbo is spoken as a first language by the Igbo ethnic group while English is spoken as the second language of the nation.  The English and Igbo languages differ in structure in many respects.  On the basis of the above, Wilkins (1982:190) states that people who are learning a foreign language often make mistakes in pronunciation, spelling, grammar and vocabulary.   Equally, Oller (1971:79) posits that contrastive analysis is seen as a device for predicting points of difficulty and some of the errors that the learners will make.

Therefore, this study aims at describing tense formation in the Igbo and English languages, using contrastive analysis to predict possible errors and exposing the Igbo native speakers to the problems they will encounter in learning tense formation in the target language.

1.5      Significance of the Study

The aim of contrastive analysis is to identify differences between the learner’s source of language and the target language in order to predict where errors would likely occur (Fisiak, 1981:197).   It is also concerned with the effects exerted by the native language on the language being learnt.  The conclusion is that the strength of interference

is  greatest  in  the  direction  of the  native  language  or  mother  tongue  to  the  foreign language (James, 1980:9).

To  avoid  interference and  minimize difficulty in learning, the study seeks to expose the different ways the formation of Igbo tenses differ from English tenses and vice versa.   The study of the second-language grammatical tense formation will make productive contributions available to the teaching and learning of the target language. This will be of immense use to the learners, teachers, curriculum planners and text book writers.  The work will also be of use to the researchers who will be conducting research in any related field.

1.6      Scope of the Study

This work is expected to investigate particularly tense formation in the English and Igbo languages, its role in target-language learning, the similarities and differences and make predictions of the difficulties the Igbo learners of the English language will encounter.  This work is limited only to the tense formation of the Igbo and the English languages, the role of tense in the syntax of both languages.  It covers all the pedagogical tenses of both languages.

1.7      Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, the researcher faced challenges which included financial constraint, lack of materials and time as well as distance.  These predicaments no doubt delayed this work.

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