i UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, IGBO AND OTHER NIGERIAN LANGUAGES LINGUISTIC VARIATION AND CHANGE IN EDEM (A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH) A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE AWARD OF M.A IN LINGUISTICS BY ENETE, AUGUSTINA NGOZI PG/MA/05/39669 PROJECT SUPERVISOR: DR CHRIS UCHENNA AGBEDO FEBRUARY, 2008 ii TITLE PAGE Linguistic Variation and Change in Edem (A Quantitative Approach) iii CERTIFICATION This is to certify that Enete, Augustina Ngozi, a postgraduate student in the Department of Linguistics, Igbo and other Nigerian Languages, University Of Nigeria, Nsukka has satisfactorily completed the requirements for the courses and project work for the degree of the Masters of Arts (M.A) in Linguistics. The work embedded in this project is original and has not been submitted in part or full for any diploma or degree of this or any other university. ___________________ ________________________ Supervisor Head of Department Dr. C. U. Agbedo Dr. B. M. Mba _____________________ _________________________ External Examiner A Member of the Postgraduate Graduate Committee __________________________ Dean of Faculty iv DEDICATION I heartily dedicate this work to: late Mrs. Alice O. Enete and Mrs. Josephine .O. Agboke who deprived themselves of personal comfort and pleasure and trained their children but could not live to reap the fruits. May the good Lord pay them back with His heavenly kingdom. Amen. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS What am I that the Lord is so mindful of me. In His infinite mercy and goodness, He gave me the wisdom, strength of mind and body with which I was able to carry out this research work. To him is the glory eternally. My sincere and profound gratitude goes to my project supervisor, Dr. Chris Uchenna Agbedo. His concern, availability, support and encouragement helped me to choose the project topic, carry out the study and finish without much difficulty. I am ever grateful. Equally, I cannot thank enough Dr. and Dr. (Mrs.) B. M. Mba for their unquantifiable support to me during the research work. They were the brain behind the success of this work. May the good Lord continue to strengthen you people to be of more assistance to human kind and bless you with your heart desires. My special thanks go to my mentor, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Onuoraegbunam Agboke. In the face of hopelessness and difficulty, he helped me to forge ahead. Infact, you are my father and father indeed. I still remain indebted to you. Thanks a million times. Of great assistance were many people to the completion of this research work. Their assistance, advice, and encouragements were inspiring and I am highly indebted to them. My gratitude goes to my siblings, brothers and sisters-in- law. My friends, Chukwuma Okeke (Ebekue), Hon. Uche Ugwu, Nonye, OC, Nonye, Nwaitem, Jacinta, Chukwudi, Lawrence, Gina, Uche, Tina, Rita, Cordelia, Jacinta, Tony Eze, and Jane who typesetted this work. I am grateful to you all. Finally, my gratitude goes to all those who have contributed in one way or the other to the successful completion of my master’s programme; especially the academic and non-academic staff of the Department of Linguistics, Igbo and other Nigerian Languages, the library attendants, my roommates, friends and well wishers. Chukwu gozie unu niile. Enete, Augustina Ngozi Dept. of Linguistics, Igbo and Other Nigerian Languages, UNN vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- i CERTIFICATION --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ii DEDICATION --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- --- --- --- --- --- --- iv TABLE OF CONTENTS --- --- --- --- --- --- --- v ABSTRACT --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1 1.0 Preamble --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1 1.1 Background to the Study --- --- --- --- --- --- 2 1.2 Statement of the Problem --- --- --- --- --- --- 3 1.3 Scope of the Study --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 4 1.4 Purpose of the Study --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 4 1.5 Research Questions --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 5 1.6 Research Hypothesis --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 5 1.7 Significance of the Study --- --- --- --- --- --- 5 1.8 Limitation of the Study --- --- --- --- --- --- 6 1.9 Historical and Geographical Location of Edem --- --- --- 6 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 7 2.1 Definition of Terms --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 7 2.1.1 The Concept of Language --- --- --- --- --- --- 7 2.1.2 Dialect --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 10 2.1.3 Speech Community --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 12 2.1.4 Linguistic Variable --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 14 2.1.5 Language Variation --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 15 2.1.6 Social Variable --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 20 2.2 Theoretical Study --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 22 2.3 Quantitative Paradigm --- --- --- --- --- --- 22 2.4 Dynamic Paradigm --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 25 2.5 Acts of Identity Model --- --- --- --- --- --- 26 vii 2.6 Empirical Studies --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 27 2.7 Summary of Literature Review --- --- --- --- --- 33 CHAPTER THREE 3.1 METHODOLOGY --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 34 3.2 Methodological Problems --- --- --- --- --- --- 36 3.3 Selection of Speakers, Circumstances and Linguistic Variables --- 36 3.4 Collection of Texts --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 36 3.5 Identification of Linguistic Variables and Variants --- --- --- 38 3.6 Processing the Figures --- --- --- --- --- --- 39 CHAPTER FOUR 4.1 QUANTITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION --- 41 4.2 Calculating Scores of the Variables for the Texts --- --- --- 41 4.3 Calculating Scores for Individual Texts --- --- --- --- 42 4.4 Tables --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 52 4.5 Inference --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 63 CHAPTER FIVE 5.1 INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS --- --- --- --- 64 5.2 Review of the Procedure --- --- --- --- --- --- 64 5.2.1 Major Steps in Hypothesis Testing --- --- --- --- --- 64 5.3 Test of Hypothesis --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 65 5.4 Findings --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 69 5.5 Summary of Findings and Conclusion --- --- --- --- 70 REFERENCES --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 72 APPENDIX --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 87 viii Abstract This work examines the concept of language variation in Edem speech community of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. This was achieved through systematic observation and analysis of the speakers’ use of language in natural situations. Hypotheses were raised to test the linguistic variables of (d), (t), (n) and (gbo) and the social factors of age, region, and education influencing them. Speakers were subcategorized into two distinct regions of Edem Enu and Edem Ani and were tape-recorded during unstructured interviews. The collected data were quantitatively studied and the results showed that variable (n) with its variants (n) and (l) has the highest variable output and lowest variable (gbo) is used in the speech community. Again, it showed that the educated speakers scored highest in the use of variant [n] of variable (n) while the uneducated had the highest frequent output in variant [n] of variable (n). The younger and the old speakers scored highest in the use of variant [n] of variable (n). The results were interpreted by subjecting them to statistical analysis of hypothesis testing. The results further showed that the social variable of region is likely to be the major variability in Edem dialect of Igbo speech community. The results proved that age and education as social variables do not influence variability significantly. Based on the result of the analysis and statistical test, it is pertinent to conclude that the linguistic variables of (d) and (t) can be said to have direct link with the social variable of region. Since region is discovered to influence language variation and potential change within the Edem speech pattern, we recommend further linguistic investigation at the morphological and phonological levels to determine their variability and possible change in Edem language. 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Preamble Variety, they say, is the spice of life. This holds true of every aspect of human life and language is no exception. Again, the only thing that is constant is change. Change is a common experience in man’s activities. Language as a process of communication inherently changes from place to place, time to time and person to person. In this work, attention will be focused on the concept of linguistic variation and change in Edem speech community with special attention to quantitative approach. Linguistics is the scientific study of language which comprises very many fields of investigation. This research is based on sociolinguistics, which is the study of the relationship between language use and the structure of the society. It also takes into account such factors as the social background of both the speaker and the respondent, that is their age, social class and region that have been observed to influence the choice of variants of the variables as would be seen later in this study Everyone knows that language is variable. In other words, every language exhibits considerable internal variations and speakers, who are aware of their social significance make use of the many possibilities offered to them. Variability is everywhere in language from the unique details in each production of a sound or sign to the auditory or visual processing of the linguistic signal, (Agbedo, 2008:1). In fact, one of the amazing facts about human communication is the demonstrated ability to normalize the inherent variation