2015

This study investigates the phonology of Uvwie, an endangered language spoken in parts of Delta State, aiming to construct orthography for the language. Orthography is a system which facilitates the writing of a language, and its documentation. It also facilitates literacy in the language. It refers to the agreed system (of alphabets) used to represent the spoken form of a given language. Literacy as well as documentation as means for revitalising or maintaining an endangered language requires the creation of a writing system for the language (Cf. Grenoble and Whaley, 2006).The study is thus motivated, in part, by the need to codify the language. In addition, implementing Nigeria’s policy on language of instruction in pre-primary and early primary education (See NPE, 2004) in the Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State also requires that a writing system should be constructed for Uvwie, the ‘language of the immediate environment’; hence this study. The process employed in designing the proposed orthography in this work is not haphazard but follows certain principles and procedures: main research tools are Sociophonology (cf. Awonusi, 2007; Milroy, 2001; Ugorji, 2009) and the Principles of Orthography (Williamson 1984). Data were drawn from native speakers using the SIL wordlist, and phonetically transcribed.The outcome of the analyses is an inventory of ‘sociophonemes’ and tonemes, to which orthographic equivalence are assigned for the purpose of writing the language.

This study begin with the first chapter, this chapter shows the historical background of the language and the people. This chapter also went further to talk about the purpose of study, the limitation of study, the method of data collection and also the significance of the study to linguistics in general. The second chapter, features the review of relevant literature as regards to the noun phrases in Etuno language. The third chapter, examines the theoretical framework used in the which is the x-bar theory. The fourth chapter depicts the presentation of data and the analysis of the data using the x-bar theoretical framework. This chapter focuses on examining the internal structure. This chapter focuses on examining the internal structure of the Etuno noun phrase with the aim of investigating how different constituents that make up the noun phrase are combined together. The major results of this study are: - that the language is an headfirst language. - that the language is a tone language. - that the language share linguistic affinity with Igarra and most importantly Yoruba. - With Etuno language shares no linguistic affinity with any of it neigbhouring villages such as Uneme, Okpe Somorika, Ssasaro etc not even with any language in the whole of Edo State.

This study investigates the phonology of Uvwie, an endangered language spoken in parts of Delta State, aiming to construct orthography for the language. Orthography is a system which facilitates the writing of a language, and its documentation. It also facilitates literacy in the
language. It refers to the agreed system (of alphabets) used to represent the spoken form of a given language. Literacy as well as documentation– as means for revitalising or maintaining an endangered language – requires the creation of a writing system for the language (Cf. Grenoble and Whaley, 2006).The study is thus motivated, in part, by the need to codify the language. In addition, implementing Nigeria’s policy on language of instruction in pre-primary and early primary education (See NPE, 2004) in the Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State also requires that a writing system should be constructed for Uvwie, the ‘language of the immediate environment’; hence this study. The process employed in designing the proposed orthography in this work is not haphazard but follows certain principles and procedures: main research tools are Sociophonology (cf. Awonusi, 2007; Milroy, 2001; Ugorji, 2009) and the Principles of Orthography (Williamson 1984). Data were drawn from native speakers using the SIL wordlist, and phonetically transcribed. The outcome of the analyses is an inventory of ‘sociophonemes’ and tonemes, to which orthographic equivalence are assigned for the purpose of writing the language.

This Research effort focuses on some aspects of the phonology of the Igbanke language. a language spoken in the Niger Delta area of Delta State as well as in Orhiomwon Local Government Area of Edo State. The Igbanke language is actually spoken in six speech communities which are: Omulual, Ahe, Igbontor, Obiogba, Ottah and Idumuodin. This work aims at examining the Phonological processes and rules in the language. Data gathered for this study were collected from personal interview with the aid of a digital tape recorder. The study is analyzed using the standard theory as presented by Chomsky and Halle (1968), and the Autosegmental model of analysis as presented by Goldsmith (1976). The major findings of this study however revealed the phonological processes present in the language which are: Vowel Elison, Glide formation and Nasalization.

This work is on the tone system of Ika. In carrying out this research, the researcher was motivated primarily to account for the tonal system of Ika and also to identify the tones used in the language by the native speakers. This study also adopted the autosegmental theory as it theoretical framework by Goldsmith (1976). The subjects for data collection were 3 competent speakers of ika language residing in Agbor, Emuhu, and umunede communities of ika, with the aid of Ibadan 400 word-list. It has brought to the notice of the researcher that the level tones such as the High [ / ] Low[ ] and Mid [ ] are not just present in the language but are also functional, such that when used contrastively
they bring about a meaning difference among lexical item of identical
form. This study has also revealed that contour tones exist in the
language such as rising falling [ ] and falling rising [ ]. This study has
also reveled that all monosyllabic words in ika are majorly high tones. This study is only on the tone system of ika, therefore, other aspect of
study needs to be carried out in ika, such as morphology, syntax, phonology semantics. Etc. this study on the tone system of ika stands as
a reference material to upcoming researcher on the language.

This study aims at identifying the phonological influence of Yoruba language on English language. The need for this study is to find out the features that are peculiar to Yoruba speaker of English as a second language. Recorded speeches of thirteen speakers were analyzed and evaluated. The data was gotten from the international corpus of English, Nigeria. The theoretical framework employed in the analysis of data is the preference operations Grammar (ugorji 2010, 2013). The study discovered that Yoruba speaker who use English as a second language tend to substitute sound segments which are not functional in their language with those that are functional in their language, and they also make use articulatory simplification in other to articulate English word with ease. This study concludes that the features of Yoruba language reflect in the use of English of Yoruba speakers

This study explores politeness strategies and the use of oral abuse in Ika. Communication is the exchange of meaningful information between individuals or a group of individuals in a community. Communication among human involves the use of language and there are various ways human beings use language and these difference in the ways of language use, constitute a difference in the ways the expressions are interpreted. This study is about a particular way language use constitutes difference in the ways the expressions are interpreted. The focus in this study is to investigate how older women in Ika use abusive expressions in a polite manner without hurting the feelings of those persons towards whom the utterances are directed. The study also
sets out to examine the types of abusive expressions and their contextual meaning. This means the different meanings these abusive expressions might have depending on the environment or situation where the utterance (s) occurs.

This work is a study in stylistics. It goal is to examine the languageofcomedy in our society. It shows the effect of the language of comedyontheaudience and what the audience has to benefit fromthe language usedbycomedians. The theoretical framework, ‘’ethnography of communication’’ usingthespeaking model, is used to accurately and satisfactorily describe anyspeechevent, more especially the joke extract for this study. The data for thestudyare joke extract, the sources of the data were fathered fromvarious comedyshows and radio station in Nigeria. The work shows, through critical analyses that comedy is beyondentertainment, it mirrors the society. It also shows what makes a comedianspecial from other character, by examining their style of language andthemessage; what it communicate. In conclusion the main contribution of this work is that it suggest re-examination of people towards comedy. It is also noticed that there is alinkbetween linguistics and literature. Hence, there is need for other linguist towork on literature.

The study examined the influence of advertising on indigenous cosmetic products in the Nigerian market using House of Tara Intl. Benin City as a case study. Four research questions were raised for the purpose of the study. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 100 respondents. The research questions were carefully answered through self-structured questionnaires, which consist of demographic data and question items. The instrument was validated by the project supervisor and two other experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined by test-retest method. The researcher personally administered the questionnaire to the selected sample himself. The data collected were subjected to simple percentages and frequency count. The result of the study shows that advertising has a significant amount of influence on indigenous cosmetic
products in the Nigerian market. However, the findings also show that the influence of advertising on cosmetic products is best chosen through outdoor advertising medium due to its advantages over other advertising mediums. Conclusions drawn based on these findings and appropriate recommendations were made.

This paper undertakes a study of the problems emerging from
indiscriminate waste disposal as perceived by householders with a
view toward finding ameliorative measures that would help reduce
their negative effects on urban beautification and sanitation. Inadequate and un-scientific municipal solid waste management
practices and the poor state of sanitation in most cities of the
developing countries have resulted into the pollution of the
environment: contamination of both surface and ground water which
is in turn a serious human health risk. Nigeria’s major urban centre’s
are today grappling with the problems caused by mounting heaps of
solid wastes from their environments. To study the phenomena, a literature on problems emerging from
waste disposal was undertaken. the stratified random sampling
techniques is applied based on the division of the study area, the
districts include Ekosodi, Oluku, Iguosa, Uhogua, Utekon, in each of
11
these communities, households were chosen using stratified random
sampling, the first house is selected at the beginning of each Street
and the next two houses are skipped before the fourth is also sampled. This method is applied on both parts of the street. In each of this five
(5) districts, 20 questionnaires were administered to the selected
streets. The observation was that householders perceive ill-health as the
most severe problem that emerged from indiscriminate waste disposal. Recommendation were made that communal refuse containers
should be provided at approved sites within every 100 meter radius. The local authorities should ensure that householders should
participate actively in monthly environmental sanitation imposed by
the federal government