Negation in the Batonu Language
Loading...
Date
2020-05-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Linguistics Association of Nigeria with support from TETFUND
Abstract
Negation is a syntactic phenomenon which is attested cross linguistically by linguists. Invariably, every language has a way of contradicting or denying its affirmative as established by linguists ; its realization in some languages may comply or violate the theoretical requirements propounded by scholars. This paper explores the scope of negation in Batonu a Niger- Congo of Benin, which dialect is spoken in Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State within the theoretical requirements of Minimalist Program propounded by Chomsky. We observed from our analysis that in Batonu, the unified negative derivation account complies with the theoretical requirements of analysis despite its -OV word order. We equally found out that Batonu has 5 unique negative Markers which are in complementary distribution. We also discovered that the second person plural pronoun which must be non-overt in negating imperative in English, Yoruba and some other languages must compulsorily be overt of such will be grammatically acceptable in the language. We also noticed that these markers function as both the tense and aspectual Markers in the course of their interactions. Our findings revealed that the movement of the whole lexical VP to the DP position of the TP triggered by word order the language a SVO instead of the SOV order.
Description
Nil
Keywords
Citation
Tella Samson Adekunle, Negation in the Batonu Language