DEPARTMENT OF
GENERAL STUDIES
EBONYI STATE SCHOOL OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY, NGBO
Abstract
Questions
are puts of some derivative inputs via transformation rules. In Igbo language,
speaking from the perspective of Ezaa dialect, question transformation is
obligatory, involving movement, deletion, substitution or adjunction, or
combination of some or all of these.
This study, focusing on movement
transformation in Ezaa question grammar shows that in Yes-No question, movement
is obligatory if the subject is a referential NP, in which case the underlying
NP moves to SPEC, leaving a phonetically filled trace (a resumptive pronoun).
Wh-fronting is also noted, though this does not strictly apply in the dialect
(and Igbo language generally) as in English. It is also observed that some
instances where wh-words appear sentence initial do not show evidence of
movement.
Introduction
Question is a universal property of human language. No language is
devoid of question. However the mechanisms for realizing strings of utterance
describable as question are language-specific.
Prior to the introduction of transformation grammar (TG), the model of
grammar then in existence had already taken root with the relatively
uncontroversial assumption that the words in sentences are grouped into phrases
which themselves are grouped together into larger, phrase, and so on. This was
during the eras of immediate constituent grammar (IC) and the phrase structural grammar (PSG) which
were both context free grammars.
In the early 1950s, according to Ndimele
(1999;164), it became increasingly apparent that human language is rife with
amazing and interesting syntactic regularities that cannot be adequately
accounted for by PSG being a more powerful grammar as Chomsky claims. PSG
simply tells us how words are combined to form longer expressions and the part
of speech to which each of these word belongs. It has no inbuilt capacity to
tell us, in an explicit manner, how the regularities that exist between
sentences can be captured. It was this pitfall that led to Chomsky’s (1957)
proposal of TG.
TG came as a revolutionary theory for
sentences analysis with superior capacity to deal with some underlying
intricacies in the syntax of human language. With TG, it has always
been shown that sentences exhibiting
superficial syntactic differences
may have a common origin, hence similar
meaning. On the other hand, sentences with striking similarities on the
surface can be proven to come from different
underlying sentences. Question
forms are surface structures relating to some underlying forms. In other words,
questions (structurally referred to as integrative) are products of
transformation. Mbah (2012:63-4) notes the transformation antecedent of
question when he avers that in forming different kinds of question, movement is
usually involved. Partticularising this
to Igbo, he says that the three main kinds of question in the language involve
movement.
This work seeks to account for question
formation in Ezaa, a dialect of Igbo. Since question transformati0n as noted by
Mbah involves movement (and of course insertion, deletion and permutation), the
choice of transformation approach is considered sin qua non.
2.0 Theoretical Framework
This work adopts the principle and
parameter approach. The principle and parameter theory (P&P) is according
to Mbah (2012:205) a brain shield of Chomsky (1981). According to him, Radford
(2006) summarizes the theory as imputing
that natural language grammars include a set of innate universal principles
which account for those aspects of grammar, which are common to all languages
and set of parameters, which are individual language systematic dissension or
observation that account for those aspects of grammar that characterize
individual languages. Of the whole formulation of P&P, this work is limited
to exploring the movement principle and movement parameter.
Movement principle, as Mbah notes,
requires that a natural language has the capacity to move elements from one
position of syntactic structure to another, this movement, of course triggers a
number of reactions in the sentence after it has applied. This principles apply
in varied manner, according to different languages.
On the other hand, movement parameter
defines what get moved and to where with particular reference to a language of
operation. This is to say that movement is not as unconstrained as movement
principle makes it appear. Each language chooses “what moves, the pattern of
movement and what it leaves at the extraction site after movement”. (Mbah
2012:219).
The choice of the P&P theoretic
framework (with specific application of movement principle and parameter)
sterns from the fact already noted that question formation in Igbo involves
movement. It is felt that by using the P&P approach, the intricacies
involved in movement of syntactic element in question formation in Ezza would
be more adequately explained.
2.2 Theoretical Studies
2.2.1
Transformational Grammar
Many scholars and authors have denoted
considerable time and space to discussing T.G. as a concept and theory of
linguistics. Almost all the scholars agree to the fact that TG is an insightful
grammar model which represents utterance in different ways.
TG, specifically known as TGG
(Transformational Genetive Grammar), is so called because, according to Crystal
(2003:471) enables two levels of structural representation to be placed in correspondence.
In essence, as Nwonu (2006) summarizes, TG reflects the results of grammatical
operation at the levels of underlying structure and the derived structure
through transformational rules (T-rules).
Nwala (2004:123), writing on TG,
similarly sees it as one that specifies low utterances are represented in other
ways. According to him, TG consist of symbols rewritten as another sequence
according to certain conventions.
Luraghi and Parodi (2008) have it that
TG attempts to construct a formalized theory of language within a framework
that assumes the existence of rules or devices that modify or transform one
ingartic structure into another structure in order t o explain an array of
phenomena pertaining to human language, mainly syntax.
Uba-Mgbemena (1981) summarizes the
objectives of TG as one which seeks to characterize in an explicit manner the
initiative linguistics knowledge which nature speakers posses that enables them
to produce and understand sentences of their language. In a similar vein, Olateju
(1998:1) writes:
Transformation grammar, which dates back
to 1957 whose exponent was Noam Chomsky, dealt exclusively with how to fully
and explicitly account for everything that is involved in the competence or
intuitive knowledge of the native speaker of any particular language.
These have been several versions or
models of TG since its inception. The first published version of this theory
appears in 1957 with Chomsky’s “Syntactic structures” (Luraghi and Parodi,
2008:47). Most of the changes correspond to changes introduced by Chomsky
himself in several key words:
-
Classical transformational generative theory (1950-1957)
-
Standard transformational generative theory (1965).
-
Extended Standard Transformational Generative Theory (1970)
-
Revised Extended Standard Transformational Generative theory (1973-1977)
-
Government and Binding/Principle and Parameter Theory (1980-1993).
According to Luraghi and Parodi
(2008:47) despite the fact that there were previous modern attempt to develop
transformational grammars, such as Harri s (1951, 1957), Noam Chomsky’s
publication of syntactic structures (1957) was breaking groundwork that changed
the field of contemporary linguistics.
TG has always been traced to Chomsky;
mention of Harris as the first propounder of a variant of TG is always in
passing. There is no elaborate
discussion of Harris’ TG – its features
and scope. Perhaps, the wrong in this is that Harris’ TG is buried
without honour of proper acknowledgement, a situation that presents Harris’ TG
as completely worthless, but which is not true.
2.3 Empirical Studies
2.3.1 Question
in Grammar
Question
is a term used in the description of sentence function, typically used
to elicit information or response. Crystal (2003:384) sees the concept from
both syntactic and semantic perspective. According to him, syntactically, a
question (in English ) is a sentence with inversion of the subject and the
first verb in the verb phrase (for Yes/No questions); commencing with a
question word (wh-question); or ending with a question tag. In some literature,
the use of sentence with a rising intonation to be a class of question.
Semantically, Crystal (2003) continues, questions express a desire for more
information, usually requesting a reply from Listener (with the exception &
rhetorical question).
From Crystal’s definitions above, three
basic classes of question can be distinguished: Yes-No questions, wh-questions
and tag questions.
In characterizing Igbo question
transformation, Mbah (2012) agrees with the Crystal’s classifications above.
According to Mbah, three main kinds of question exist in Igbo. Demonstrating
that question formation in Igbo involves movement of the entire questions from
the end of the tag questions.
1.
Okeke
byara; o bukwa ya?
Okeke came; is
it not true?
He
explains that the proform ‘ya’ in the example given represents the entire
declarative sentence from which the tag question was derived. The tag question may
take the form:
ọ bụkwa Okeke byara?
(Mbah 2002:63)
Movement is also involved in yes/no
question. Mbah illustrates this with the following example:
2.
Okeke
gara Ahya (Okeke went to the market)
Okeke O gara
ahya (Okeke did he go to the market)
Mbah explains that in the question form
above, the subject of the sentence, Okeke, is moved to the SPEC position thus
yielding a resumptive pronoun in its original position.
Similarly in the formation of
wh-question, movement is also involved. Mbah also demonstrates this as follows:
a)
Okereke
lere onye anya?
(Okeke looked at whom?)
b)
Onye
ka Okeke lere anya?
The object of the question form above is
focused and therefore moved to the grammatical subject position.
This study adopts the empirical approach
of Mbah 2012 above, only differing in the dialect of application,
3.1 Data
Data for
this study are drawn from the Ezza dialect, a variety of Igbo spoken by
the Ezza people of Ebonyi State. The data are subjected to transformational
analysis using the P&P framework. P-markers are used to parse the syntactic
forms so as to be able to note the relationship between/among elements of the
constructions .
4.1 Question Formation Movement in Ezza
Transformation or change, according to
Mbah (2012:61) exists in four forms: movement, deletion, substitution and
adjunction. Of these we are interested in movement, not ignorant of the
involvement of perhaps some or all of the rest. Transformation can also be
either optional or obligatory. Question transformation is rather obligatory in
Igbo. In what follow, we are present
structural exemplifications of two of the three types of question noted in Igbo
from Ezza data gathered/
4.2 Yes-No Question Movement in Ezza
Yes-No questions are those that requires
strictly yes or no response from the addressee. Largely, Yes-No questions are
realized by tonal change over the pronominal subject (if the subject is a
pronoun). This, of course, is a kind of transformation, but we will not pursue
such analysis here. We are particularly interested in pure syntactic
transformation in movement.
When the subject of a declarative
sentence is a referential NP-name of person, or thing, movement becomes
obligatory.
4
(a) Nweke rụrụ ụlo
Nweke build-Pst house
Nweke
built a house
(b)
Nweke ọ
rụrụ ụlọ
Nweke
he build-Pst house
Did
Nweke build a house?
5
(a) Nkuta l’ataje nshi
Dog
aux chew-prog excreta
Dogs
eat excreta
(b)
Nkuta l’otaje nshi
Dog
aux it chew-prog excreta
Do
Dogs eat excreta?
In the examples above, (4a) and (5a) are
declarative while (4b) and (5b) are question forms. The question form show the
referential NP and pronominal NP in apposition. The transformational
explanation to this is that the original subjects, Nweke and Nkuta are moved to
the SPEC positions respectively leaving behind an overt trace in pronominal
form. This movement can be represented in a p-marker as below
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The
above explanation and tree diagram cannot be straightforwardly applied to
example (5b). Example (4a&b) are habitual. Due to the use of auxiliary
la\le, the movement transformation applied becomes somehow different. Consider
the tree diagrammatic representation below:
This
is the atomic syntactic formation of the question structure “Nkụta l’orije
nshi?
4.3 Wh-Movement in Ezza Question
Wh-movement, otherwise known as a
wh-word to the initial position of the clause in which it appears. There are
various types of wh-movement treated in linguistic literature. However, for our
purpose in this study, only wh-question movement is considered.
It shall be noted that wh-words in Ezza
are not orthographically words starting with ‘wh’ as in English. The label ‘wh’
is a metaphoric generalization influenced by the English orthographical
structure of question word. Wh-word (ie question words) in Ezza include the
following items:
gụnụ (what) ‘nteke ole (when), ‘nde
(how), nde eka (where), onye(who), awe(where), ole (which), nke gụnụ (why), ole
(much) and agha (how). As can be seen not all the items interpreted as wh-words
are single forms: some are phrase, thus we can refer to such items as
wh-phrases. It is also pertinent to point out that the wh-word/phrases listed above are used for diverse grammatical
and semantic imports – not only for asking question although, we will explore
only the question or interrogative use. Again, the translation into English of
those items are authentic only in their isolated forms as above. When used in expressions, the
combination, and the contexts determine their meaning, which may differ from
the translation above. For merobation purpose, we will consider only few of the
wh-words/phrases above.
8
(a) Ỉgbỏkè mèrù gùnù
Igboke
do past what
What
did Igboke do
The obligatory wh-word movement
condition in English language does not apply in Igbo. Igbo language has been
shown to exhibit both wh-insitu and wh-initial tendencies. This is why the
above structure with the wh-word (gùnù) occurring sentence finally is
acceptable. There is no movement involved in the above. However, the structure
can be optionally transformed via wh-movement as follows:
8(b)
gùnù be Igboke meru
What comp Igboke do past?
What did Igboke do
8
(c)
9(a) I sụrụ le I je awe?
You
say past that you go where
Where
did you say you are going
9
(b)
There
is no movement involved in the above.
Wh-words
can be generated anywhere within the sentence, depending on the position of the
entity questioned. Thus it is not in all case that the wh-word is generated
sentence. Finally, as it seems reading from our examples so far, consider the
following:
10(a)
Nworie yeru gunu le ekpa?
Nworie put pst what in a bag
What did Nworie put in the bag
(b) Gunu be Nworie yeru le ekpa?
The
data presented in 8-9 above shows that Ezaa wh-words have privilege of
occurring insitu or clause-initial. The movement to the SPEC position as shown
in the transformed forms is optional. The movement involves insetion of
complimatizer ‘bè’. It has been argued that for a non-echo question, a wh-word
which occurs internally within the sentence must be moved to an empty position
at the left of the complemaintizer slot. This is a case for English. But this
has been over-stretched to seem a universal property of every language of the
world. From the data available to us in Ezaa-Igbo, it is not all instances of
wh-word in the initial position that is a product of movement. In other words,
there are few instance, in which wh-words in the sentence initial position do
not show any evidence of movement. Such wh-words appear in the subject positions
not in the pre-complematizer slot (SPEC).
Examples:
11(a)
Nkụta tarụ Nwọrụ
Dog
bite past Nwọrụ
A
dog bit Nwọrụ
If the nominal NP of the above
sentence is questioned, the q uestion word involved does not undergo movement.
Hence, questioning ‘Nkuta’ above would yield a structure as below
11(b)
Gunu taru Nwọrụ
What
bite past Nwọrụ
What
bit Nwọrụ
This situation holds true for
English,
Igbo and Ezaa
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5. Conclusion
Yes –No questions and wh-questions in
Ezaa have been found to be products of transformation. In yes-no question
formation in Ezaa, the subject NP usually moves to SPEC position, leaving
behind a phonetically filled trace at the extraction site, the overt trace is
called a resumptive pronoun. This overt movement applies only when the subject NP is a named entity; if a
pronominal NP, tonal variation is employed.
The dialect also display both wh-initial
and wh-in-situ grammar, wh-words both at the SPEC position and anywhere else in
the sentence are grammatically acceptable in non echo question, unlike what
obtains in English.
It has also been argued that not every instance of wh-words in the
sentence initial position can be attributed to movement. In fact, when a
subject NP is questioned, the substituting question word is placed at the same
subject NP position. This observation contradicts the general notion that every
appearance of wh-word clause initially
is a product of movement transformation both in English and other languages.
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