‘S?’ as a pronoun in the Igbo language

Authors

  • Thecla Ngozi Udemmadu Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

Abstract

Pronoun is a nominal and a grammatical category named for its function of standing for (pro) the noun. Pronoun in the Igbo language is a close class. Linguists and grammarians have identified several pronouns in the language but none has included ‘s?’ as a pronoun. Based on this premises, therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether the lexical item ‘s?’ is really a pronoun or not. The investigation will be done based on the distribution, grammatical function and the grammatical relation of the lexical item in question. The test for the linguistic item will be by replacement of the claimed lexical element with nouns. The data were gathered through the researcher’s intuitive knowledge of the language. A descriptive method of data analysis was adopted. The study disclosed among other things that; ‘s?’ can function as a pronoun in the Igbo language; that the word ‘s?’ can take only subject position in constructions; and that it can be classified as an impersonal pronoun. The researcher then recommends further investigation into the claim so that the lexeme ‘s?’ can be popularized as an Igbo impersonal pronoun.

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Published

2015-09-20

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Section

Articles