Volume 17 Issue 1 (2021) DOI:10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.514 Note: Linguistic Discovery uses Unicode characters to represent phonetic symbols. Please see Optimizing Display for requirements to accurately reproduce this page. Pronouns in Arigidi: A Syntactic
Analysis Boluwaji Oshodi Adekunle
Ajasin University Bolanle
Foluke Adekeye University
of Ilorin, Nigeria 1. Introduction Traditional
grammarians classified lexical items into parts of speech and one of such
classifications is the pronoun. According to Dineen (1967), a pronoun is a part
of speech that can substitute for the proper name of anyone and that indicates
a definite person. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a pronoun as any of a small set of words in a language that are used as
substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or
understood in the context word that can replace i.e. be
used in place of a noun in a grammatical construction. This study examines
pronouns in Arigidi (a little studied) speech form
with the aim of gaining an insight into their forms, structure and function in
line with the classification of traditional grammar. Arigidi
and nine other speech forms classified under Arigidi
Cluster, Lorena (Ethnologue 2012) are spoken in Àkókó region of Ondo state South-west Nigeria where Yorùbá is the major language. However, based on previous
studies such as Greenberg (1963), Hoffman (1974), Bennet and Sterk (1977), Capo (1989), Ohiri-Anichie
(2006), Oshodi (2011a), Lorena (Ethnologue 2012) and Olúwádo̩rọ̀ (2014) their true linguistic status is still
controversial and yet to be ascertained. This is what always makes any study on
any of the speech forms interesting. 2. The
Concept of Pronoun in Yorùbá Prominent
Yorùbá scholars such as Bámgbóṣé
(1967, 1990), Awóbùlúyì (1978) and Yusuf (1995) all define
a pronoun as the word used instead of a noun. Bámgbóṣe
(1967) analyzes pronouns from the angle of syntactic position of occurrence. He
defines a pronoun as a word that cannot have a qualifier in the nominal group.
He observes further that pronouns have a system of number (singular and plural)
and of person (1st, 2nd and 3rd person). Also, they have different forms for
the different syntactic positions in which they occur. Awóbùlúyì
(1978) and Bámgbóṣe (1990) grouped Yorùbá pronouns into three; subject and object pronouns, possessive
pronouns (genitival qualifiers) and the third type which Bámgbóṣe
(1990) tagged “noun-like pronouns” because they possess some attributes of
nouns in the language. Awóbùlúyì (1978) tagged this
third type of pronouns emphatic pronouns. The other pronouns were tagged short
pronouns while the emphatic pronouns were tagged long pronouns. In later grammatical
theories however, these short and long (emphatic) pronouns were changed to weak
and strong pronouns (Manfredi 1987 and Sells 1987). Today, following Ajíbóyè (2004) and Adéṣọlá (2004;
2005), the short/weak pronouns and the long/strong pronouns are also called antilogophor and logophor
respectively. Awóbùlúyì (1978) using a
functional approach observed that in Yorùbá language,
the part of speech traditionally referred to as pronouns is actually a subgroup
of nouns. Awóbùlúyì’s claim is based on some
specific functions performed by some words referred to as pronouns in Yorùbá particularly their position of occurrence and their
relationship with other words in sentences. Though there is the principle of
language universality, there are still language specific rules. Based on this, Awóbùlúyì’s claim needs to be verified with facts from
other African languages thus, the decision to examine pronouns in Arigidi. More so, since studies e.g.
Awóbùlúyì (2008) and (Oshodi 2011; 2013; 2016a) and have
established a strong linguistic affinity between Arigidi
and Yorùbá, it is hoped that findings from this
study would help throw more light on the language subfamily to which Arigidi and the other speech forms belongs and in
particular their true linguistic relationship with Yorùbá. 3. Pronouns in Arigidi Following
the concept of functional analysis, pronouns in Arigidi
can be classified as subject and object as well as singular and plural. In
addition to these, just like in Yorùbá, pronouns in Arigidi can be classified into two main types: short and
long (emphatic) pronouns. There is also another type known as possessive
pronouns (genitival qualifiers). Apart from the main function, which is to
replace a noun in a sentence, pronouns in Arigidi
perform other functions depending on their type and form. These functions shall
be discussed under each type of pronoun. 3.1
Short Pronouns in Arigidi The
short pronouns in Arigidi can be grouped in terms of
function (i.e. subject or object) and in terms of
number (i.e. singular and plural). Below are the forms of the short pronouns in
Arigidi:
Table 1.
Arigidi Short Pronouns To substantiate
the above claim and forms, the pronouns are used in sentences below:
However,
facts from the speech form revealed that the forms in (1-6) attested at the
surface structure in basic declarative sentences as short pronouns in subject
positions were all derived. They were actually derived from their underlying
forms through some phono-syntactic processes. These underlying forms always
occur in specific subject positions in some constructions. The underlying and
surface forms of the short subject pronouns are shown below:
Table 2.
The Underlying and Surface Forms of
Arigidi Short Pronouns Consider
the examples below which show the sequential processes of how the surface forms
(i.e. those listed in table (1) as subject forms) were
derived from their underlying forms:
In
examples (1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b and 7-12), we notice the occurrence of the
morpheme á between the subject NP
and the verb. This element has been tagged the high tone syllable HTS[1]. The HTS assimilates the
last vowel of the pronouns. The HTS is then deleted
and its tone gets transferred to the assimilated vowel of the preceding pronouns
to produce the surface forms listed in table 1. In example (9), the pronoun is
presumed to be covert and the first overt element is
the HTS á thus, the processes of assimilation
and deletion were not applicable. In example (7), the tone of the HTS was not
transferred to the assimilated vowel of the pronoun for a good reason. This was
to avoid metonymy with the second person plural pronoun mán “you(plural)”. If this had
not been done, the two forms would have been realized as (mán).
In (10), instead of assimilation it was merging that took place. The HTS did
not assimilate the underlying form of the first person plural ò “we” in order to avoid metonymy again.
If assimilation had taken place, the first person
plural pronoun would have been realized as á
and the construction in (10) would be realized as Á vè the exact surface form in (9). The
tone of the HTS was however deleted and the surface form was realized as òa. Also, in (11
and 12), there was no need to transfer the tone of the HTS since the underlying
forms carry the same high tone on the HTS. Also,
it was observed that the third person singular pronoun in the object position
is covert. It has no form and it is not realized at
all in Arigidi. This is why it is represented with
the null sign (Ø) in example (3b). Another
very important observation has to do with the actual form of the 3sg subject pronoun. The morpheme á which appeared in that position in
(3a) has a question mark in front of it. This was purposely done to draw
attention to its controversial form. Oshodi (2011b, 2013) claim that the form á is not the 3sg short subject pronoun in Arigidi
but the same HTS which assimilates or merges with the underlying forms to
produce the surface forms as shown in (7-12). He (Oshodi) also failed to
propose a form for the 3sg short
subject pronoun. In
this study, the vowel [í] with a high tone is proposed
as the underlying form of the 3sg
subject pronoun in Arigidi based on its occurrence in
some positions where the 3sg
subject pronoun usually occurs in Arigidi
constructions. Consider the examples below:
Example
(13) is a simple sentence while (14) is a question. Also, the form wẹ́ is proposed as the underlying form of
the third person plural subject pronoun in Arigidi
based on its position of occurrence in constructions where the third person
plural subject pronoun normally occurs. Consider examples (21 and 22) below:
Proposing
wẹ́ as the underlying form of the third
person plural subject pronoun can be substantiated by the fact that it is the only
form that can occur in the position of the third person plural subject (21 and
22) in constructions where the other underlying forms can occur as shown in
examples (13-20). As
shown in examples (1-22), the major function of the short pronouns in Arigidi both in subject and object positions is to replace
a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence. For example, (14, 22, 3b and 6b) above
can be rendered as (23, 24, 25 and 26) below:
In
(23), the NP subject ginrin ukọrẹn “this
man” was replaced with the 3sg
subject pronoun í in (14) while in (24) the NP subjects Òjó and Títí were replaced with the pronoun wẹ́ in (22). Also, in (25), the NP object Títí was replaced with the 3sg
object pronoun represented with Ø because
it is always covert in Arigidi in (3b) while in (26)
the NP object àkùkù ìgbẹ́ẹ̀ji àwọ́rín “all the children” was replaced with the
pronoun wá in (6b). 3.2 The Long (Emphatic) Pronouns in Arigidi There
is another set of pronouns in Arigidi known as long or
emphatic pronouns. Apart from the fact
that they are differentiated for number and person, pronouns in this class
function and behave just like the ordinary nouns in the language. Awóbùlúyì (1978) referred to them as a sub-class of nouns
in standard Yorùbá. This set of pronouns in Arigidi behave exactly like those in Standard Yorùbá. The long (emphatic) pronouns are attested only in the
subject position and they are shown below:
Table
3. Forms of the Long (Emphatic) Pronouns in Arigidi The
long (emphatic) pronouns in Arigidi perform some
specific grammatical functions. One of such functions is that they (long or
emphatic pronouns) are the only types of pronouns that can be focused just like
nouns in Arigidi. Consider the examples below:
In
examples (27-32), the long (emphatic) pronouns all in bold form were the
focused items which were immediately followed by the focus marker wọ́n which is
italicized. The interesting thing about focusing in
relation to pronouns in Arigidi is that it is only
nouns and verbs that can be focused in the speech form. In actual fact, it is
only nouns that can be focused in their basic form.
Verbs must first be nominalized through partial reduplication just like in
Standard Yorùbá and then moved to the initial part
of the sentence before they can be focused (see Oshodi 2011a, 2016a). Also, the
long (emphatic) pronouns in Arigidi can take modifiers.
Consider the examples below:
In (33-36), the long (emphatic) pronouns in bold form
took the modifiers which were italicized. Furthermore, the long (emphatic)
pronouns can also be questioned by the interrogative word ṣìré “what”, a feature which is only possible with nouns in Arigidi. Consider the examples below:
As
shown in examples (37-41), the long (emphatic) pronouns in Arigidi
were all questioned by the interrogative word ṣìré “what” just like nouns. Based on the fact that the long
(emphatic) pronouns in Arigidi can be focused, can
equally take some qualifiers and also be questioned by the interrogative word ṣìré “what” just like nouns in the speech
form (see Oshodi 2011a), it would actually be correct to put them in the class
of nouns in Arigidi as suggested for Standard Yorùbá (Awóbùlúyì 1978). Also,
notice that the 3sg long
(emphatic) pronoun in Arigidi has two forms úwọ́n and ẹ̀rẹ̀n. These two
forms perform different syntactic functions. As shown in (27-32), úwọ́n is used in
focusing, it is also the form that can take modifiers as shown in (33-36) and
the form that can be questioned with the interrogative word ṣìré “what” as shown in (37-41). However, in logophoric construction which
requires that a particular pronoun be used when someone’s perspective is being
reported, it is ẹ̀rẹ̀n that must be used in such context.
Consider the example below:
In example (42), which involves the
third person singular long (emphatic) pronoun, it is ẹ̀rẹ̀n that is used as the perspective of Kọ́lá
is being reported. This is because the pronoun here must refer to Kọ́lá. Thus, (43) below is not acceptable in
the language.
However, (43) above can be rendered as
(44) below:
The example in (44)
becomes grammatical because the 3sg long (emphatic)
pronoun úwọ́n
in this context took a modifier gọn-ọn which made it clear that the person in reference is
not Kọ́lá. 3.3 Possessive Pronouns (Genitival Qualifiers)
in Arigidi Just
like in Standard Yorùbá, there is another type of
pronouns in Arigidi tagged possessive pronouns also
called genitival qualifiers. As the name implies, pronouns in this class are
used sorely to indicate ownership or possession when used with nouns. Consider
the sentences below where these pronouns are attested in Arigidi.
From
the examples in (45-53), we can identify the forms of the possessive pronouns
in Arigidi. The forms are shown in table 4 below:
Table
4. Forms of the Possessive Pronouns in Arigidi Possessive
pronouns in Arigidi can be classified as short
pronouns because they do not possess any attributes of the long (emphatic)
pronouns. Also, the third person singular possessive pronoun in Arigidi has no definite form. In examples (45-48) where the
third person singular possessive pronoun occurs, it was observed that the last
vowel of the noun (i.e. the possessor) is always
reduplicated with a low [ ̀] and high [ ́] tone respectively to indicate
possession or ownership. It is the reduplicated vowel that functions as the 3sg possessive pronoun in Arigidi. 4. Conclusion This
study presented a functional analysis of pronouns in Arigidi
with focus on their forms and functions. It was revealed that just like
Standard Yorùbá, Arigidi attests three types of pronouns; short pronouns,
long (emphatic) pronouns and possessive pronouns. Findings revealed that the
forms attested as the short subject pronouns were derived from their underlying
forms through some phono-syntactic processes. It was also discovered that á the first element in the position of
the 3sg subject pronoun in certain
constructions in Arigidi is not a pronoun but a
preverbal element similar to the Yorùbá HTS which
marks tense and aspect (Awóbùlúyì 1992, Oshodi 2011b,
2013). Furthermore, the 3sg short object
pronoun in Arigidi has no definite form and it is
always covert. The same thing goes for the 3sg
possessive (genitival) pronoun which also has no definite form. It usually
reduplicates the last vowel of the noun (i.e. possessor) which precedes it to
express possession or ownership. Pronouns in Arigidi were
also discovered to perform similar functions like those in Standard Yorùbá and act more like nouns in their relationship with
other lexical items in sentences. These findings further confirm the strong linguistic
affinity between Arigidi and Standard Yorùbá. Finally, it was revealed that the lexical items
tagged pronouns in Arigidi perform more functions
beyond the main function assigned to them in traditional grammar unlike what
happens in European languages like English and French. This further confirms
that language specific rules are needed to affirm the functional role of
lexical items based on their relationship with other lexical items in
individual language. References Adéṣọlá, O. 2004. Coda
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and relations in Yorùbá. Unpublished Ph.D.
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P., & Sterk, J. P. 1977. South Central
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Languages of the world, SIL International. Retrieved on September 28, 2011,
from the Website temoa: Open Educational Resources
(OER) Portal at http://www.temoa.info/node/24358 Manfredi, V. 1987.
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Communications Ltd and Emai Press. Oshodi, B. 2011a. A reference
grammar of Arigidi.
Montem Paperbacks. Akure, Nigeria. Oshodi,
B. 2011b. The HTS (high tone syllable) in Arigidi: An
introduction. Nordic Journal of African Studies University of Helsinki. 20(4), 263-275. Oshodi, B. 2013. Is ó HTS (high tone syllable) a
pronoun or a preverbal element in Yorùbá? Further evidence
from Ọ̀wọ̀ Dialect. Ruwaza Africa: A Journal of Contemporary Research in Humanities & Social
Science, Egerton University, Kenya. Vol.
2. No 1, 212-223. Oshodi, B. 2016a. The epenthetic vowel and negation in
Arigidi and Ò̩wò̩: Another evidence of Arigidi-Yorùbá affinity. Studies in Linguistics, Kangwon National University, Republic of
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Publications. [1]The HTS is an overt element which
occurs between the subject NP and the verb in Arigidi
declarative sentence. It is similar to the one found in Yorùbá
and its dialects. Oshodi (2011a, 2011b, 2013 and 2016a) in corroboration with
the claim of Awobuluyi (1992) refers to it as a
preverbal element, a tense and aspectual marker. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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