HIATUS RESOLUTION STRATEGIES IN IGBO

ABSTRACT

A study of hiatus as concept shows that many languages of the world disprefer hiatus while some  completely  avoid  it.  Some  device  strategies  for  resolving  it  is  cited.  Hiatus  is  a phonological phenomenon  where two different vowels occur in a  juxtaposition without an intervening consonant  has different repair strategies which  include vowel assimilation and vowel deletion.  Different  languages use different  strategies  in resolving  hiatus to suit the nature of their grammars while some use just  one of the strategies, some use a few while others may use all of these strategies. Potential vowel hiatus in the Igbo language is resolved by a number of strategies just like other languages of the world. This study establishes the occurrence of hiatus in the Igbo language as well as identifying the hiatus resolution strategies as are applicable in the  language. The hiatus resolution strategies in the language includes:- vowel assimilation and vowel deletion are identified a number of words that make up the data obtained.  The  analysis  of  the  data  is  the  keyed  in  one  of  the  most  current  models  of phonology-Optimality Theory (OT) whose emergence has brought about various changes in the theoretical trend of phonological subfield and other areas of linguistics. In conclusion, this work is summarize by establishing that Igbo language is hiatus prohibiting language and uses a number of strategies to resolving the disprefered configuration.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

Phonology is the study of the system of speech sounds in a language. The systematic study of this speech sound in language brought  in renewed  scholars—  Smolensky,  Prince Allen, McCarthy, Kagar and others who researched upon various strategies used in languages in dealing with speech sound. The discovery of hiatus in language led to the study of hiatus resolution strategies  in various languages of the  word. This research work deals with the various strategies used in resolving hiatus in the Igbo language. The phonological theory used in this work is Optimality Theory (OT). Due to the fact that the topic under research requires a theory that is universal in nature owing to the fact that constraints are universal.

According to Casali (1996) Hiatus is a way of breaking vowel clusters. It is a sequence of adjacent  vowels  belonging  to  separate  syllables.  Allen  (1987)  also  notes  hiatus  as  the hetrosyllabic adjacent of two syllabic nuclei.

Furthermore,  hiatus  is  a  phonological  term  referring  to  the  lack  of  a  consonant separating  two  vowels  in  a separate  syllables  which  has  been  a subject  of  considerable theoretical and empirical discussion and it has generally been observed that hiatus is not an acceptable configuration in many languages of the world including the Igbo language. The Igbo language has a situation whereby certain words or expression contain syllables that are adjacent to each other and which have vowels that  are not separated by a consonant. This constitutes the violation of a structural requirement which need to be resolved using a variety of strategies.   Some languages do prevent it is occurrence while others seek it’s resolution where it occurs using strategies which may include assimilation, elision, epenthesis and vowel glides.  This study therefore investigates these strategies, thus with a view to pine down and explaining these relevant strategies for resolving hiatus in the Igbo language.

1.2      Statement of the Problem

Constraints are structural requirements that may either be satisfied or violated by an output (kager 2009). This means that a form may satisfy a constraint  if it fully meets the requirements of that structure, whereas if a form does not meet this requirement, it is said to have violated it. Hiatus is therefore created at the violation of a structural requirement that there must be an intervening consonant between two adjacent vowels. In the Igbo language, hiatus is barred by elision and assimilation using Optimality Theory (OT).

1.3      Purpose of the Study

The aim of this work is to study hiatus resolution strategies  in Igbo language  within  the framework  of the optimality theory (OT).  To achieve  this, the following  are the  specific objectives:-

(1)  Identifying the occurrence of Hiatus in the Igbo language.

(2)  Presentation of an overview of hiatus resolution strategies  in the Igbo language.

(3) demonstrating the extent to which the OT model can be applied for the resolution of the hiatus in the Igbo language.

1.4     Research Questions

Following the purpose of the study, the under listed research questions are drawn for investigation.

(1) In what ways can we determine the existence of hiatus in the Igbo language.

(2) To  what  phonological  strategies  can  be  used  for  resolving  hiatus  in the  Igbo language.

(3) To what is extent can optimality theory be used to account for the resolution of hiatus in the Igbo language.

1.5 Significance of the Study

Numerous groups of people are expected to benefit from this work. The target beneficiaries are listed below:

(1) This work will be of a great asset to researchers in linguistics department for further study of hiatus resolution strategies.

(2)  It will serve as a guide to those who may wish to carry out similar researches in other languages, which have a similar process.

(3)  This will serve as a reference point to both teachers and students in the teaching and learning of phonology.

1.6       Scope and the Limitation of the Study

This research work tends to study hiatus resolution strategies in the Igbo language. Due to time factor for this research, it is cumbersome to study the entire Igbo speech communities, We therefore selected some varieties of Igbo. The varieties are the Obollo dialect of Northern Igbo,  Onitsha  dialect  of the western  Igbo,  Abakaliki  dialect  of the  Eastern  Igbo  and the standard Igbo. The Standard Igbo forms the major reference point. Other dialects are brought in only in situation where there is a difference in what is obtainable in the standard form.

Related Project Topics :