VERB SERIALISATION AND CONSECUTIVISATION IN IGBO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page

Approval

Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

List of Abbreviations

Abstract

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the study

1.2       Statement of the problem

1.3       Purpose of the study

1.4       Scope of the study

1.5       Research questions

1.6       Significance of the study

1.7       Limitations of the study

1.8       Methods of data collection

1.9       Tone marking convention

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1       Theoretical studies

2.1.1    Transformational generative framework

2.1.2    Non- transformational generative framework

2.2       Empirical studies

2.3       Theoretical framework

2.3.1    Standard theory (ST)

2.3.1.1 Limitation of standard theory

2.3.2    Extended standard theory (EST)

2.3.3    Revised extended standard theory (REST)

2.4       Justification of the choice of REST

2.5       Summary of the literature review

CHAPTER THREE: SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF VERB SERIALISATION AND CONSECUTIVISATION IN IGBO

3.1       Re-visitation of verb serialisation and consecutivisation in Igbo

3.1.1    Defining features of verb serialisation in Igbo

3.1.2    Defining features of consecutivisation in Igbo

3.2       Semantic classification of verb serialisation and consecutivisation in Igbo

3.2.1   Instrumental verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.2   Accompaniment/comitative verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.3    Directional verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.4    Manner verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.5    Purpose verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.6    Comparative verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.7    Resultative verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.8    Benefactive verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.2.9    Simultaneous verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.3.      Verb sequence in verb serialisation and consecutivisation

3.4       Summary

CHAPTER FOUR: SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF VERB SERIALISATION

4.1       Argument sharing in verb serialisation

4.1.1    Subject sharing

4.1.2    Object sharing

4.2       Tense and aspect marking in verb serialisation

4.2.1    Tense marking in verb serialisation

4.2.2.1 Simple past tense marker

4.2.2.2 Simple future tense marker

4.2.2    Aspect marking in verb serialisation

4.2.2.1 Progressive aspect marker

4.2.2.2 Perfective aspect marker

4.3       Negation marking in verb serialisation

4.4       Derivation of verb serialisation

4.5       Summary

CHAPTER FIVE: SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF CONSECUTIVISATION

5.1       Argument sharing in consecutivisation

5.1.1    Subject sharing

5.1.2    Object sharing

5.2       Tense and aspect markings in consecutivisation

5.2.1    Tense marking in consecutivisation

5.2.2.1 Simple past tense marker

5.2.2.2 Simple future tense marker

5.2.2    Aspect marking in consecutivisation

5.2.2.1 Progressive aspect marker

5.2.2.2 Perfective aspect marker

5.3       Negation marking in consecutivisation

5.4       Derivation of consecutivisation

5.5       Summary

CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONs

6.1       Summary of findings

6.2       Conclusion

6.3       Recommendations

            REFERENCES

ABSTRACT

The research investigates verb serialisation and consecutivisation in Igbo. The objectives of the study are to: (i) determine the semantic types of verb serialisation and consecutivisation in Igbo, (ii) establish the syntactic structures of verb serialisation and consecutivisation in Igbo within Revised Extended Standard Theory (REST) and (iii) find the differences and similarities between verb serialisation and consecutivisation in Igbo. The study adopts descriptive-analytical design. It collects data from primary and secondary sources. The primary sources comprise researcher’s intuition and personal interviews from the eight major dialect clusters of Igbo while the secondary source is library materials. The study identifies nine types of verb serialisation and five types of consecutivisation using semantic criteria. The syntactic structures of verb serialisation and consecutivisation identified are argument sharing, tense-aspect marking, negation marking and auxiliary marking on the verb sequences. The analysis of verb serialisation and consecutivisation within the framework of REST and Semantic Component Rule shows that verb serialisation and consecutivisation are derived from two or more underlying sentences via some transformational rules. The study finds out seven differences between verb serialisation and consecutivisation based on intervening variable, forming V-V compound, semantic notions present, object sharing, occurrence with –rV past tense suffix, progressive and continu ous actions and sources of derivation. The study also reveals five similarities between verb serialisation and consecutivisation based on subject sharing, symmetry in tense and aspect, behaviour of subject NPs in perfective aspect constructions, placement of auxiliary and negation markers. The study recommends further research on the verbal categories involved in verb serialisation and consecutivisation and the functions they perform, and also on the explanations of what main and subordinate verbs are in verb serialisation and consecutivisation.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1              Background to the study

The term verb serialisation has been called by various names such as “combination of verbs” (Christaller, 1875), “verbs in series” (Westermann, 1930), “serial verb construction (SVC)” (Stewart, 1963), “strings of verbs” (Ansre, 1966), “compressed sentence construction” (Awobuluyi, 1967) and “seria l verbs” (Stahlke, 1970). Verb serialisation is “essentially a surface sentence co ntaining a row of two or more verbs or verb phrases without any overt connective word between them” (Ge orge, 1975:1). It is a complex structure, and Stahlke (1970: 60) describes it as “a very perplexing type of surface structure”. This type of construction was f irst identified by Christaller (1875) in Twi, a Ghanaian language and later reported by Westermann (1930) in Ewe, another Ghanaian language. The phenomenon of verb serialisation is widely found in the languages of West Africa, Southeast Asia, Amazonia, Oceania, New Guinea, as well as in many pidgins and creoles (Aikhenvald, 2006). According to Dixon (2006:338), verb serialisation is not restricted to a particular linguistic typology. It is widespread, clearly recognisable robust grammatical construction found in perhaps one-third of the languages of the world. However, there appears to be none in Europe, north or central Asia, and rather few in North America or Australia.

A historical account of the studies on verb serialisation from 1875 when it was identified by Christaller in Twi till date would reveal a period of about one hundred and thirty nine (139) years of continued relevance and sustained interest in this aspect of grammar of language. The question is, why the sustained interest in verb serialisation? Interest in verb serialisation persists because of the intricacies and the multi-dimensional...

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