A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF IMPERATIVE MARKERS IN THE EGGON, IGBO AND TANGALE LANGUAGES

Abstract

This paper examines the imperative construction markers in Eggon, Igbo, and Tangale languages. Imperative marker is an integral part of speech in every language. Many studies have been done on imperative markers in English, Igbo and some other languages of the world, but none has been comparatively and contrastively carried out in English, Eggon, Igbo, and Tangale languages. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to carry out a comparative study on the imperative markers in Eggon, Igbo, and Tangale languages with a view to identifying the types of imperative markers in these languages, stating the functions
of imperative markers and point out the differences and similarities in them. The study adopts the Contrastive Linguistic Analysis (CLA) theory as a framework, which is one of the tools produced by Structural Grammar. It involves contrasting the grammatical system of two or more languages. As native speakers of these languages, the researchers use their intuition as sources of data for the study and also consult other literatures related to the research. The findings show that three types of imperative markers are found in Eggon, Igbo and Tangale as established in English.

These are affirmative imperative marker, negative imperative marker and imperative with question tag. Igbo is more productive on imperative markers followed by Eggon. Imperative with question tags are found in all the languages which make use of the same term for English will and would. This shows how languages can be similar in spite of their different typology. This study adds to the existing literature in the study of imperative markers across languages, and specifically in linguistics. It also enhances documentation of under-researched languages, and in the same vein, strengthens the preservation and literacy development of minority languages in Nigeria.