A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE PREDICATIVE SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND FULFULDE
A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE PREDICATIVE SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND FULFULDE
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Date
2014
Authors
MOHAMMED, ALIYU BABAYO
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Abstract
In this study we attempted to assess the differences that exist across the
Predicative systems of English and Fulfulde. We also tried to establish
similarities. Some of the differences we found were as a result of the structural
differences that exist between English and Fulfulde. First of all, there was the
difference of grammatical exponents. While in the case of English there is a
clear distinction in the functions of words as opposed to morphemes, in the
sense that while words act as purely semantic exponents, morphemes play
word-internal functions (morphology), in Fulfulde, morphemes play a
predominant role in syntax so that the line dividing morphemes from words is
not so clear. One other difference between the two languages was around the
VAP (voice aspect polarity) suffix that is found in Fulfulde unlike in English. This
Morpheme accounts for a great deal of the difference in the behaviour of the
Fulfulde verbal which in effect is responsible for most of the differences in the
predicative system of Fulfulde, a category that does not exist in English.
In analyzing the data for this project a rather eclectic approach was taken,
leaning heavily on Dik’s (1981) framework of Functional Grammar as well as
taking a leaf here and another there from other theories especially the
Transformationalists as represented by Napoli (1989).
This work is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction, containing
the statement of the problem of the research which raises some of the central
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questions in the study. The aims and objective of the study are also stated in
this chapter. The scope of the work is also spelt out as focusing on a contrast
of the predicative systems of English and Fulfulde.
Chapter 2 contains the review of literature that serves as background to the
study. There is an in-depth review of literature on Fulfulde as well as on the
general theory of Predication as a linguistic concept. The theoretical model for
the project is also highlighted here. Chapter 3 is devoted to the methodology or
procedure as to how the data for the study was gathered and processed.
In Chapter 4, there is the analysis of the corpus collected using the theoretical
framework highlighted in Chapter 2. The summary, conclusions and
recommendations of the project are presented in Chapter 5 bringing this project
to its end.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Post Graduate School, Ahmadu Bello
University,Zaria, in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the
Award of Degree of Master of Arts in English Language
Department of English,
Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria – Nigeria
Keywords
CONTRASTIVE,, STUDY,, PREDICATIVE,, SYSTEMS,, ENGLISH,, FULFULDE,