Machine Translation of Noun Phrases from English to Igala Using the Rule-Based Approach

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Machine Translation of Noun Phrases from English to Igala Using the Rule-Based Approach Machine Translation of Noun Phrases from English to Igala using the Rule-Based Approach. Sani Felix Ayegba1, Osuagwu O.E. 2, Njoku Dominic Okechukwu3 1Department of Computer Science, Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria [email protected] 2 Department of Computer Science, Imo State University, Owerri [email protected] 3Department of Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Imo State Polytechnic, Umuag Abstract We live in a multilingual society where large volumes of documents are produced in different languages. Translation is the means by which information generated in one language can be accessed by someone in a different language. Igala is one of the languages spoken in Nigeria. Igala is the ninth largest ethnic group in Nigeria and the language is spoken by about 2.5 million people. The main objective of this research is to model a language processor that can accept as input Noun Phrases in English language and translate same to Igala language. The two core technologies, corpus based and rule based technologies for building machine translation systems were carefully studied. Due to the structural differences between English and Igala, noun phrases coupled with the non- availability of large amount of parallel aligned corpus for English and Igala language, the rule based technology was adopted to develop the model. The model was implemented using VB.net programming language as front end and Microsoft Access as back end. The application was tested on 120 randomly selected English noun phrases using the Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) method for evaluating Machine Translation systems. An accuracy of 90.9% was obtained. Key words: Translation, Igala language, Language processor, corpus based technology, rule based technology, Bilingual Evaluation Understudy. _________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Language is the medium of translating from one language to another is communication. Human language is very crucial contribution to human purposively to communicate ideas, development. Without translation, there can emotions, feelings, desires, to co-operate be no communication, except among those among social groups, to exhibit habits etc who share a common language and many which can be translated along a variety of voices will not be heard without this critical channels [2]. There are over 6,800 living function. languages in the world which reflects the Translation is critical for addressing scope of linguistic and cultural diversity. information inequalities. A study conducted Access to information written in another by Common Sense Advisory on behalf of language is of great interest and the means Translators without Borders finds that of sharing information across languages is translation is critical for the public health, translation, therefore creating tools for political stability, and social wellbeing of West African Journal of Industrial & Academic Research Vol.11 No.1 June 2014 18 African nations [11]. [16] Showed that due wider outreach and bridge the gap of to differences in culture and the language diversity [17]. multilingual environment in India, inter- Igala is the language of the ethnic group language translation was necessary for the located at the eastern flank of the transfer of information and sharing of ideas. confluence of rivers Niger and Benue. They The need for translation is also very glaring are the ninth largest linguistics group in in the business community. It has been Nigeria [12]. Geo-politically, they are observed that language barriers between described as belonging to the middle belt or companies and their global customers are north-central of Nigeria. They are bordered stifling economic growth and in fact, forty- on the north by Benue and Nassarawa nine percent of executives say a language States, on the West by River Niger, on the barrier has stood in the way of a major East by Enugu State and on the South by international business deal, nearly two- Anambra State [5]. Igala land is 120 thirds (64 percent) of those same executives Kilometres wide and 160 Kilometres long. said language barriers are making it It is located approximately between difficult to gain a foothold in international latitudes 60 30” and 80 North and markets, whether inside or outside your longitudes 6030” and 7040” East and company, your global audiences prefer to covers an area of about 13,665 square read in their native languages[18], it speeds kilometers. The population of the Igala efficiency, increases receptivity, and allows people is estimated at two-million in the for easier processing of concepts This late 1990s [5]. Historically, they are said to clearly shows that language translation is a be linked to the Yoruba, the Jukuns and the matter of absolute necessity in the globally Binis (Edo) and the northern Ibos. Owing united and yet linguistically and culturally to their central location, they have mutually separated world in which we live. interacted and lived with the Idomas, The work of translation was originally Bassa-Nkomo, Nupe, Igbirra and Hausa carried out by human translators. At a point people. The Igala ethnic group is densely the supply of translation services could no populated in their settlements around the longer keep pace with the demand for major towns such as Idah, Ankpa and translated content, moreover human Anyigba. They are also found in Edo, translation is costly, time consuming and Delta, Anambra, Enugu, Nassarawa, inadequate for addressing the real-time Adamawa and Benue States. However, the needs of businesses to serve multilingual bulk of them are indisputably found in prospects, partners and customers. The Idah, Ankpa, Dekina, Omala, Olamaboro, inherent limitations of human translation Ofu, Igalamela/Odolu, Ibaji, Bassa (and made the search for an alternative means of even Lokoja and Ajaokuta) Local translation paramount. The search led to the Government Areas of Kogi State [5]. discovery of what is known today as The aim of this research is to develop a machine translation or computer assisted system for translating Noun Phrases from translation. Machine Translation is the use English to Igala. The specific objective is to of computers to automate some or all of the carry out a computational analysis of process of translating from one language to English to Igala noun phrases translation another [1]. This need has prompted processes and to model a language research organizations and government processor that will have the capacity to agencies to develop tools for automatic accept as input noun phrase in English translation of text in an attempt to achieve West African Journal of Industrial & Academic Research Vol.11 No.1 June 2014 19 language and translate it into Igala multilingual and linguistic expertise. language. Therefore, rule-based systems require large Information Communications initial investment and maintenance for Technology (ICT) has not made any every language pair [7]. Also within the significant inroad in empowering Africans corpus-based paradigm, three other towards development because 90 percent of approaches can be further distinguished: existing content and applications are in the example-based and statistical-based and English language [3]. Igala is not left out of context based. Under the corpus-based this. The impact of ICT among the Igala approach the knowledge is automatically people has not reached a level where it can extracted by analyzing translation examples be said to be significant. This is due to the from a parallel corpus built by human fact that existing contents and applications experts. The advantage is that, once the are in a foreign language. required techniques have been developed The outcome of the research will result for a given language pair, machine in greater access to information in Igala translation systems should (theoretically) language. It will also give Igala language a be quickly developed for new language public profile in the information technology pairs using provided training data. world and provide a platform for people to Although the rule based system requires really appreciate the beauty of their significant amount of linguistic knowledge, indigenous language and also help to the knowledge acquired for one natural develop Igala language and elevate it to the language processing system may be reused level of languages of developed nations. to build knowledge required for a similar This will lead to the preservation of the task in another system. [9] posited that rule- Igala culture and values and also serve as based approach is better than its counterpart the springboard to the much needed corpus-based approach for two main development of Igala society and by reasons: extension, the Nigerian nation, African 1: less-resourced languages, for which large Continent and perhaps the entire globe. corpora, possibly parallel or bilingual, with representative structures and entities are Machine Translation Technologies neither available nor easily affordable, and Machine Translation systems (MT) can 2: for morphologically rich languages, be classified according to their core which even with the availability of corpora methodology. Under this classification, two suffer from data sparseness. Both the rule main paradigms can be found: the rule- based and corpus based technologies have based approach and the corpus-based the strength and weaknesses. Due to the approach. Within the rule based paradigm inherent weaknesses of these technologies three approaches can
Recommended publications
  • English Fricative Rendition of Educated Speakers of English from a North-Central City of Nigeria
    International Journal of Language and Literary Studies Volume 2, Issue 3, 2020 Homepage : http://ijlls.org/index.php/ijlls English Fricative Rendition of Educated Speakers of English from a North-Central City of Nigeria Theodore Shey Nsairun Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife, Nigeria/Federal University Lokoja, Nigeria [email protected] Eunice Fajobi *(Correspondence Author) [email protected] Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife, Nigeria DOI: http://doi.org/10.36892/ijlls.v2i3.321 Received: Abstract 22/05/2020 This paper examines the influence of ethnicity on the realization of the Accepted: English fricatives articulated by selected educated speakers of English 13/08/2020 from four ethnic groups of Ebira, Igala, Hausa and Okun-Yoruba residing in Lokoja, a North-Central city of Nigeria. Data for the study consist of 1080 tokens elicited from 120 informants. The study was Keywords: English fricatives, guided by a synthesis of the theoretical frameworks of Honey’s (1997) ethnicity, Sociophonology and Azevedo’s (1981) Contrastive Phonology. sociophonology, Perceptual and acoustic analyses of the data reveal that, although contrastive phonology, speakers tend to not articulate sounds that are absent in their phonemic acoustic analysis inventory with the dexterity expected of their level of education, co- habitation seems a factor that has robbed off on the respondents’ level of performance in this study. Results reveal further that 80% overcame their linguistic challenges to correctly articulate the test items while 30% generally had difficulty articulating the interdental fricatives /P/ and /D/ and the voiced palato-alveolar fricative /Z/; perhaps, because these sounds are absent in their respective phonemic inventories.
    [Show full text]
  • Multilingualism and the Ethnic Identity of the Ette People
    Mgbakoigba: Journal of African Studies, Volume 4, 2015. MULTILINGUALISM AND THE ETHNIC IDENTITY OF THE ETTE PEOPLE Martha Chidimma Egenti Department of Linguistics Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka [email protected] Abstract Due to their diverse nature, the classification of indigenous languages in Nigeria ranks some of them as major, main and small group languages. The Ette people speak two main, and one major, Nigerian languages namely: Idoma, Igala and Igbo respectively. This paper sets out to examine the Ette people in the light of their ethnic identity and also to ascertain which of the languages spoken has the highest percentage with regard to its status and level of proficiency. Primary data were collected from native speakers of Ette resident in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State using Phinney’s (1999) Ethnic Identity measure questionnaire. The findings show that the Idoma language has the highest percentage with regard to language proficiency and use, followed by Igala and then Igbo which is also spoken in Ette perhaps because it shares border with Enugu and Kogi States. The paper in discussing the relationship of language and identity observes that language does not mark the ethnic identity of the Ette people because of their multilingual nature. Also, the geographical location which situates them in other ethnic groups does not give them a sense of belonging. This has resulted to different forms of agitations. Introduction Nigeria is made up of diverse indigenous languages which rank them as major, main and small group languages (Bamgbose 1991:4). Ejele (2007:160) states that languages that are formerly called minority language are now made up of „main‟ languages and „small group‟ languages.
    [Show full text]
  • Fundamental Linguistic Information on English, Igala and Hausa Languages
    World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development WWJMRD 2017; 3(12): 409-419 www.wwjmrd.com International Journal Peer Reviewed Journal Fundamental Linguistic Information on English, Igala Refereed Journal Indexed Journal and Hausa Languages UGC Approved Journal Impact Factor MJIF: 4.25 e-ISSN: 2454-6615 Unubi, Sunday Abraham, Yusuf, Sadiya Unubi, Sunday Abraham Abstract Department of Igala Language This paper explores the fundamental linguistic information on English, Igala and Hausa languages. and Culture, School of As it is often said, information is power. The fundamental information on these languages as Languages, Kogi State College of Education, P. M. B. 1033 provided by the researchers here includes how their names came to be, their locations and Ankpa, Nigeria ethnographies, their genetic and typological classifications as well as their sociolinguistic profiles and dialectal issues. Of course, this typological and philological linguistic information is highly necessary Yusuf, Sadiya for linguists and language enthusiasts as it brings to their fingertips in just a single article such Department of Hausa information that is basic for any kind of study in these languages under focus here and other Language, School of languages of the world. Languages, Kogi State College of Education, P. M. B. 1033 Keywords: English, Igala and Hausa. Ankpa, Nigeria Introduction At any level of linguistic study (whether phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics or sociolinguistics) of any language, supplying the basic or fundamental linguistic information about such language is of utmost importance, and should be the usual practice. This is because such language did not just fall from the sky. It actually belongs to a particular branch of the tree of family of languages typologically.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconstructing Benue-Congo Person Marking II
    Kirill Babaev Russian State University for the Humanities Reconstructing Benue-Congo person marking II This paper is the second and last part of a comparative analysis of person marking systems in Benue-Congo (BC) languages, started in (Babaev 2008, available online for reference). The first part of the paper containing sections 1–2 gave an overview of the linguistic studies on the issue to date and presented a tentative reconstruction of person marking in the Proto- Bantoid language. In the second part of the paper, this work is continued by collecting data from all the other branches of BC and making the first step towards a reconstruction of the Proto-BC system of person marking. Keywords: Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo, personal pronouns, comparative research, recon- struction, person marking. The comparative outlook of person marking systems in the language families lying to the west of the Bantoid-speaking area is a challenge. These language stocks (the East BC families of Cross River, Plateau, Kainji and Jukunoid, and the West BC including Edoid, Nupoid, Defoid, Idomoid, Igboid and a few genetically isolated languages of Nigeria) are still far from being sufficiently studied or even described, and the amount of linguistic data for many of them re- mains quite scarce. In comparison with the Bantu family which has enjoyed much attention from comparative linguists within the last decades, there are very few papers researching the other subfamilies of BC from a comparative standpoint. This is especially true for studies in morphology, including person marking. The aim here is therefore to make the very first step towards the comparative analysis and reconstruction of person markers in BC.
    [Show full text]
  • The Use of Conjunctions in English and Igala: a Contrastive Analysis
    Int. J. Adv. Multidiscip. Res. (2017). 4(8): 34-62 International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Research ISSN: 2393-8870 www.ijarm.com DOI: 10.22192/ijamr Volume 4, Issue 8 -2017 Research Article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22192/ijamr.2017.04.08.006 The use of conjunctions in English and Igala: A contrastive analysis Unubi, Sunday Abraham Department of Igala Language & Culture, School of Languages, Kogi State College of Education, PMB 1033, Ankpa, Nigeria Corresponding Author: [email protected] Abstract Keywords This research analyses the use of conjunctions in English and Igala, using the linguistic tool English, of contrastive analysis. Conjunctions are words that link or connect two words, phrases, Igala, clauses or sentences together, either in speech or in writing. Conjunctions which are one of conjunctions, the eight parts of speech of the English are also found in other languages, according to the contrastive analysis traditional grammar. Over the years, this important area of language study has received less attention from language scholars, students and linguists in comparison with other parts of speech like nouns, verbs, adjectives and prepositions. In Igala, some scholars have pointed out that conjunctions are few in the language when compared with English, without suggesting reason(s) for their fewness. The resolve of the researcher to fill this gap necessitated the present study. This research, which is qualitative in nature, collected its data based on a text of twenty-two English conjunctions (that comprised coordinating, subordinating and correlative conjunctions) which was produced in copies and distributed to some selected Igala informants for translation from English into Igala.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Analysis of English and Igala Morphological Processes by Andrew-Ogidi, Rakiya Christiana December, 2006
    A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND IGALA MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES BY ANDREW-OGIDI, RAKIYA CHRISTIANA DECEMBER, 2006 A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND IGALA MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES BY ANDREW-OGIDICHRISTIANA RAKIYA MA/ARTS/38422/02-04 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER DEGREE. (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF ARTS AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA NIGERIA DECEMBER, 2006 ii DECLARATION I Andrew-Ogidi, Rakiya Christiana do solemnly declare that, this Thesis has been written by me and that it is a record of my own research work. It has not been presented in any previous application for higher degree. All sources of information are duly acknowledged by means of references. ………………………………..…………. …………….……… Andrew-Ogidi, Christiana Rakiya Date iii CERTIFICATION This is to certify that, this thesis, entitled ‘A comparative analysis of English and Igala Morphological processes’ submitted by Andrew-Ogidi, Rakiya Christiana meets the regulations governing the award of the Degree of Master of Arts of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and literary presentation. ……………………………………….. ………………… Dr. Joshua A. Adebayo Date Chairman, Supervisory Committee ……………………………………….. ………………… Dr. Gbenga Ibileye Date Member Supervisory Committee ……………………………………….. ………………… Dr. Joshua A. Adebayo Date ……………………………………….. ………………… Dean Post-graduate School Date iv DEDICATION To Faith Eneole Ogidi – my beautiful daughter v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Glory belongs to God who sees the intents of a mans heart, life up the humble, and debases the proud. In Him is the fullness of all knowledge. Without Him, this research would have been a mirage. Once again, by Him, I have lept over a well.
    [Show full text]
  • Shades of Meaning Associated with Personal Names and Naming in Igala
    SHADES OF MEANING ASSOCIATED WITH PERSONAL NAMES AND NAMING IN IGALA BY ACHENYO ACHOBA MA/ARTS/0957/2009-2010 AUGUST, 2015 SHADES OF MEANING ASSOCIATED WITH PERSONAL NAMES AND NAMING IN IGALA BY ACHENYO ACHOBA MA/ARTS/0957/2009-2010 A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POST GRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE, IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA, NIGERIA. AUGUST, 2015 ii DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis was written by me and that it is a record of my own research work. It has not been presented in any previous application for a higher Degree. All quotations and sources are acknowledged by means of reference. ………………………………………. ……………………………….. ACHOBA, ACHENYO DATE iii CERTIFICATION This thesis entitled Shades of Meaning Associated with Names and Naming in Igala by ACHOBA ACHENYO meets the regulation governing the Degree of Masters of Arts in English Language of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and literary presentation. Dr. G. Y. Sadiq Date Chairman, Supervisory Committee Dr. A. Abdullahi Date Member, Supervisory Committee Dr. A. A. Liman Date Head of Department Prof. KabirBala Date Dean, Postgraduate school iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to God Almighty who speared my life and the life of my family all through the years. And to my beloved parents who gave me a push in life to make me a useful member of the society. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Any piece of work that is useful to knowledge and literary presentation as this one is successful by the combined efforts of a number of good hands.
    [Show full text]
  • The Example of Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria
    ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 1181-1186, November 2015 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0606.04 Functional Definition of Roles in Complex Multilingualism: The Example of Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria Gbenga Ibileye Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University Lokoja, Lokoja, Nigeria Bunmi Balogun Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University Lokoja, Lokoja, Nigeria Abstract—Lokoja, Nigeria is arguably one of the most multilingual communities in the world. The multilingual situation of Lokoja, North Central Nigeria is intriguingly much for its complexity and Lokoja which connects the broad geographical regions of Nigeria as a result of its centrality is resident to people of diverse multilingual backgrounds, such that a typical inhabitant can speak as many as nine Nigerian languages. In the midst of this multilingualism arises the problem of domain of influence and functions of the respective languages which the inhabitants speak and the different functions which the respective languages serve are dependent on a variety of factors which range from formality, familiarity to strict informality. However, there is sometimes role conflict as a result of multi-lingual complexity. The goal of this paper is to examine the socio- linguistic motivational differentials in the functions of the languages in contact in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria. Index Terms—functional roles, domain influence, role conflict, motivational differentials, code switching and code mixing, language conflict, domain-speaker conflict, multilingual complexities I. INTRODUCTION Multilingualism is a prevalent linguistic phenomenon in Lokoja, Nigeria. This is as a result of the convergence of various people with different linguistic backgrounds in the domain.
    [Show full text]
  • 116 the Igala Traditional Religious Belief System
    THE IGALA TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEF SYSTEM: BETWEEN MONOTHEISM AND POLYTHEISM Isaiah Aduojo Negedu* http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/og.v10i 1.7 Abstract Specialists on African Traditional Religion and culture hold the position that the concept of the Supreme God is embedded in the religious life of the African people long before their contact with the Western world. The Igala traditional culture is not left out in this search. There is an enduring problem of situating the religious worldview of the Igala people. This work stands as a blueprint into the nature of most of Africa’s religio-cultural belief systems. Using the Igala traditional concept of the supra-sensible in the light of the African Traditional Religion, we situate the belief system within either polytheistic or monotheistic structures, but not without some sense of hermeneutics and critical discourse. In the final analysis, we aver that the Igala traditional belief system falls within the category of inclusive monotheism. Introduction Igala is an ethnic group in Nigeria. The home of Igala people is situated on the Eastern side of the river Niger and Benue confluence. They are the major ethnic group in present Kogi state of Nigeria, West Africa. As Africans they belong to the Kwa subgroups of the Niger Congo language family. 1 The Niger Congo languages constitute one of the world’s major language families and Africa’s largest in terms of geographical area and number of speakers. Igala is a language of the Yoruboid branch of the Defoid. The defoid languages constitute a branch of the Benue Congo language family.
    [Show full text]
  • THE CASE of IGALA LANGUAGE Habiba Oma Alhassan English Language
    International Journal of Education, Learning and Development Vol.3, No.7, pp.35-46, September 2015 ___Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org) REVIVING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES THROUGH TEACHING AND LEARNING: THE CASE OF IGALA LANGUAGE Habiba Oma Alhassan English Language Department, Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa, Kogi State, Nigeria Ali, Abubakar Kadiri Department of Arts Education Kogi State University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria ABSTRACT: The paper highlights the world’s language situation especially in Africa, where majority languages have better chances of survival than the minority ones in the face of dominant languages of the ex-colonial masters like English, French and Spanish. It analyses the state of indigenous languages in Nigeria in particular with the position of Igala language in the country and in the educational sector. The paper examines language planning ideology and the language policy in Nigeria. It discovers that there is lack of interest by government and school administrators to implement the national policy on education concerning language. Consequently, it feels that teaching and learning in indigenous languages and in Igala in particular need to be revived to save hundreds of Nigerian languages from going extinct as well as to turn around the poor state of education through early mother tongue instruction. It recommends that government at all levels should ensure the implementation of the mother tongue instruction in early education by providing funds, equipment, teaching aids and supervision. KEYWORDS: Multilingualism, Majority Language, Minority Language, Kogi State, Nigeria, Mother Tongue Instruction, Language Ideology, Language Policy, Igala Language, Linguistic Rights, Policy Implementation, Extinction of Languages, Revalorization.
    [Show full text]
  • Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
    Towards Proto-Niger Congo: Comparison and Reconstruction Paris 18-21 September 2012 A Comparative Phonology of the Olùkùmi, Igala, Owe and Yoruba Languages Arokoyo, Bolanle Elizabeth Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. [email protected], [email protected] Abstract This study presents a comparative analysis of the phonological systems of the Yorùbá, Owé, Igala and Olùkùmi languages with the objective of comparing and finding a reason for their similarities and differences and also proffering a proto form for the languages. These languages belong to the Defoid language family and by default a constituent of Niger Congo language family. Owé along with the other Okun dialects is traditionally regarded as a dialectof Yorùbá. The paper examines what constitutes their similarities and differences that make them to be regarded as different languages. A comparative approach is adopted for the study. Data were collected from native speakers of the languages using the Ibadan Four Hundred Word List of Basic Items. Using discovered common lexemes in the languages, the classification of the languages sound systems and syllable systems are carried out in order to determine the major patterns of differences and similarities. Some major sound changes were discovered in the lexical items of the languages. The systematic substitutions of sounds also constitute another major finding observed in the languages. We have been able to establish in this study that there exists a very strong relationship among these languages, with the discovery of some common lexemes. We, however, discovered that the languages are mutually unintelligible except for Owé that has a degree of mutual intelligibility with Yoruba.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Use of Igala Language in Teaching Statistics to Sample of Selected Primary Six Learners
    EXPLORING THE USE OF IGALA LANGUAGE IN TEACHING STATISTICS TO SAMPLE OF SELECTED PRIMARY SIX LEARNERS Emmanuel Edoja Achor Christiana Dele Akor Department of Curriculum & Teaching, Benue Department of Mathematics, College of State University, Makurdi Education, Oju, Benue State Nigeria Nigeria [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT- The observed poor performance in statistics aspect of mathematics has been traced to inability to communicate the subject effectively at the primary school level being the foundation. This study therefore explores the use of Igala language in teaching statistics to primary six learners. The study adopted a quasi-experimental non equivalent pre-test and post-test research design. The sample (N=380) made of boys (N = 235) and girls (N=145) was drawn using a multistage sampling technique. Primary School Statistics Achievement Test (PSSAT) with the reliability coefficient of 0.82 was used to collect data. Analyses show that pupils taught statistics using Igala language only achieved significantly higher than those taught using Igala combined with English language as well as English language only group. Pupils taught statistics using Igala combined with English language also achieved significantly higher than those taught using English language only. There was no significant difference in terms of achievement between male and female pupils taught statistics using Igala language and also Igala language combined with English language group. It was recommended among others that school authorities and Ministry of Education should encourage mathematics teachers to teach primary school mathematics to pupils’ in the affected Local Government Areas in Igala. Key words: Language of instruction; mathematics teaching in primary schools; pupils’ achievement in statistics; indigenization of mathematics instruction; gender 1.
    [Show full text]