A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND ADARA TENSES AND ASPECTS: A CASE OF EWA DIALECT
A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND ADARA TENSES AND ASPECTS: A CASE OF EWA DIALECT
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Date
2021-05
Authors
AMBATU, SOLOMON DANTAWAYE
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Abstract
This thesis is titled ―A Contrastive Study of English and Adara Tenses and Aspects:
A Case of Ewa Dialect‖. The study aimed at contrasting the syntactic relationship
between the structures of tenses and aspects of English which is an Indo-European
language with Ewa dialect of Adara, a Nigerian (African) language which is
classified under the Benue-Congo sub-group. The contrasts hinged primarily on the
verb elements of both languages to provide information relevant for pedagogical
purposes as it affects the Adara learner of English language, and for the furtherance
of linguistic studies. Dialects of Adara are many but the ‗Ewa‘ dialect has been
chosen for the contrastive study since the researcher is its native speaker. The data
for this study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Speeches by
native speakers of Adara through their spontaneous utterances, interviews and
observations constitute the primary data, while other items from research works on
English, Nigerian languages and textbooks constitute the secondary data. The
theoretical framework is eclectic which comprise Chomsky‘s Transformational
Generative Grammar and Whitman‘s model of Contrastive Analysis. The findings
show variations in the internal structures of sampled data indicating tenses and
aspects in the structure of verb elements of English and Adara respectively. Where
English tense markers for example feature by the addition of –s in present tenses,
or–ingin progressive tenses, or –d in simple past tenses as final elements in verbs, to
mark, present, past or progressive tenses; Adara uses auxiliaries such as ‗sa‘ (past
perfect), ‗ku‘(simple past), ‗su‘(present progressive), ‗ki‘ (future). There are no
inflections in Adara verb elements. The use of irregular verbs in English such as
‗went‘and ‗did‘ to express past is not obtainable in Adara. Instead, auxiliaries are
used before the main verb including ‗ku‘ for general past, ‗ba‘ for past ‗yesterday‘
and ‗sa‘ for past ‗beyond yesterday‘. There are variations in the location of negative
particles in English and Adara verb phrases. In English, negation is marked by the
‗not‘ element which occurs between the auxiliary and the main verb as in ‗I will not
come‘. In Adara, the negative particle ‗ba‘ occurs as a final element separated from
the main verb by a pronoun as in ‗Ime (I) ki (will) ba (come) mi (me) ba (not)‘
meaning ‗I will not come‘. The differences noted in the findings have a lot of
pedagogic implications in the teaching and learning of English as a second language
and adds to the existing linguistic literature in Adara. The thesis therefore concludes
with a recommendation for further studies of the entire sentence structure since this
study is limited to tenses and aspects structures within the verb phrase. Also, there
is the need to study the phonology, semantics and morphology of Adara language in
comparative or contrastive fields with English or as a separate investigation of
Adara language.
Description
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) DEGREE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, FACULTY OF ARTS, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH,, ADARA TENSES,, EWA DIALECT,