A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF TIV AND ENGLISH PLURALISATION PROCESSES

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A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF TIV AND ENGLISH PLURALISATION PROCESSES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

This work is basically on A Contrastive Analysis of English and Tiv Sentence Structures. Sentence is a constructional unit at a higher level or equivalently a simultaneous bundle of ‘positions in grammar’; a bundle of ordered elements beyond the plerematic level. It is also recognized as a syntagm (Mulder qtd. in Akwanya 109). According to Azubike , sentence is the highest form of realization in language(89) which exists only where there is communication. All these point to the fact that sentence is an orderly organizational and constructional unit in verbal communication with standing structures, elements or components.

The English language is rated in the multilingual nation, Nigeria, with about five hundred and ten living languages (Crozier and Blench qtd. in Fakeye 183) and (Tomori, Elugbe, Bamgbosi, Akindele and Adegbite qtd. in Farinde,94) as an indispensable, prestigious and official language of education, politics, judiciary, legislature, commerce, journalism, etc. Making a contrastive analysis of English sentence structures with the Tiv sentence structures becomes imperative as a result of the status of English in Nigeria vis-à-vis the mental preference of most Nigerian parents. Accordingly, Ogbonna confirms that parents have higher preference for the English medium than for out-right Mother Tongue (MT) medium (qtd. in Izuagba and Nwingwe 17).Babajide (1) substantiates the view that positive attitude for another language (English) can be due to the fact that the language integrates the speakers into a class higher than where they socially belong to or that it will be a lunch pad to their dream career or will lead to their social emancipation. This situation according to Arasanyin cited in Izuagba and Nwingwe (16) has led to a preference for English language in Nigeria and the result is the state of schizoglossia existing between English and indigenous languages which Tiv is a part.

The term ‘Tiv’ in this work is restricted to its meaning referring to a language spoken by the Bantu splitter group of Niger-Congo language family. Unlike the English language, it is principally spoken by the Tiv people in about thirty-three local government areas across Benue, Taraba, Nassarawa, Cross River, Plateau states and some significant number in Cameroun (Gbor 9-10; Udu, Dooga and Isa 2; Udu 4). This language of the migrants from the Central Africa hill is today spoken by well over three million people with their spiritual headquartres in Gboko, Benue State.

The majority of this population is in rural areas and their medium of communication and every life transaction remains Tiv. However, Nigeria as a multilingual country has approved the conduct of every official function in English to avoid several predictable and unpredictable ugly developments. Examining the exalted position of English in the education system in Nigeria, the National Policy on Education (NPE 2004), sections 4 and 5 did not only recommend English language as the language of instruction from primary four to the tertiary level of education, it is also a compulsory subject to be studied and passed with a credit level in the secondary school. Moreover, most universities and other tertiary institutions now emphasize a credit pass as a sine qua non for admission. This situation agrees with the popular educators’ remark that poor performance in English language leads to poor performance in other subjects since the language has been ‘the barometer with which the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of our school curricula are measured’ (Eyisi 3). Emphasis on English language in Nigerian education system shows that competence in the language gives an individual some identifiable benefits nationally and internationally. Kachiru confirms the view that:

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