An account of the syntax of Igbo reconciliation verbs

Abstract

This paper sets out to examine the syntax of Igbo reconciliation verbs, their morphological structures and how they manifest in the syntactic structures of the language. The data for this work were obtained through oral interviews and also through recording of natural speech of the Igbo native speakers. The paper adopts a descriptive method in the analysis of the data. The findings show that Igbo reconciliation verbs are overtly morphologically marked in the syntactic structures of the language. It is observed that not all the verbs are used in making reconciliation between human beings. The verbs involve two or more participant NPs. The verbs are: [+ human] and [+ concrete noun]. The verbs can be employed to express reflexive and reciprocality notions in the language. They can also be used to express imperative in Igbo.