AN EXTENSIVE STUDY OF REDUPLICATION IN KENYANG AND EJAGHAM

ABSTRACT

This research entitled ‘A Comparative study of Reduplication in Kenyang and Ejagham aim at comparing Reduplication in both Languages, to achieve this aim we identify the various forms of Reduplication which are Total and Partial in these languages and then compared them, We also looked at how the tones behaves in their reduplicated states. The data use for this work include both Primary and Secondary data. Primary method includes the Elicitation of Various forms from Pidgin- English through the monolingual approach with English as intermediate language.

Secondary method involves the use of written sources and the internet. The data collected was later analysed, as findings it was discovered that both Kenyang and Ejagham have Reduplication but Kenyang has only total reduplication and partial reduplication does not exist and the tones in reduplicated words in kengany do not change, while in Ejagham it has two forms of Reduplication both Total and Partial reduplication and their tones change. The work then accounts using the morpheme doubling theory to account for the data.

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1Introduction

This research aims at comparing Reduplication forms in Kenyang and Ejagham. Reduplication is a Morphological process in which the root, Stem of a word or part of it is repeated. Reduplication according to Marantz (1982) is a morphological process, relating a base form of a morpheme or stem to derived from that may be analyzed as being constructed from the base form and the affixation (or in fixation) of phonemic material which is necessarily identical in whole or in part to the phoneme content of the base form.
In this work, we will focus our attention on the forms of reduplication in both kenyang and Ejagham languages respectively.

They are; Total and Partial Reduplication in which Total Reduplication is the copying of the whole word which marks change in meaning or create new stem types. While Partial Reduplication is the copying of Segments which are sounds, tones, words. By so doing, we will look at how the tones behave in each language when the words are reduplicated that is, is the change in when the word is in isolation and when the words become reduplicated. To achieve this aim, we will use both primary and secondary methods of data collection; Primary method which entails the collection of raw data from language consultants and secondary method which entails the collection of already analysed and published data both on the internet and in books.

This chapter serves as a general introduction to the research entitled “A comparative Study of Reduplication in Kenyang and Ejagham” .This study looks at the various forms of Reduplication that exist in both Kenyang and Ejagham and describes how different they are from each other. Considering the fact that both languages belong to the same Language family, we shall glance through the morphology of the two languages since it will enable us discuss the various forms of reduplication in both languages. The objectives of this study are to explain the forms which reduplication takes in Kenyang and Ejagham language, and also this study seeks to find out how tones behave in their reduplicated forms in both languages.

This general introduction provides background knowledge to the languages under study. This is important since it will help us to know what has been done by other authors and set a scene for this study. This chapter accomplishes the following: Section 1.1 which gives a general introduction, 1.2 which shows background to study 1.3 Problem Statement 1.4 Research questions, subsections 1.4.1 the main research question, 1.4.2 sub research question,1.5 Aim and objectives, 1.5.1 Aim, 1.5.2 objectives, 1.6 scope of the study,1.7 Significant of study,1.8 Historical Background which throws light on the historical background, 1.9 geographical background, 1.10 socio-economic background, Section 1.11 linguistic classification, 1.12 Definition of key term,1.13 organization of thesis 1.14 Conclusion which gives a general conclusion to the entire chapter. To ease understanding, since are comparing Kenyang and Ejagham, we will examine the two languages simultaneously in this chapter.
1.2Background to study
1.3 Problem Statement
After Studying the Literature in Kenyang and Ejagham (Mbuagbaw 1999, Agbor&Grabriel) (Bakume,2002,) though they are sister languages, their reduplicated patterns seem to differ from each other.
1.4 Research Questions