Current Issues in Descriptive Linguistics and Digital Humanities: A Festschrift in Honor of Professor Eno-Abasi Essien Urua

714 Pages·2022·15.247 MB·English

by  Moses Effiong Ekpenyong, Imelda Icheji Udoh

Moses Effiong Ekpenyong
Imelda Icheji Udoh   Editors
Current Issues
in Descriptive
Linguistics and
Digital Humanities
A Festschrift in Honor of Professor
Eno-Abasi Essien Urua
Current Issues in Descriptive Linguistics and Digital
Humanities
fi
Moses Ef ong Ekpenyong Imelda Icheji Udoh
(cid:129)
Editors
Current Issues in Descriptive
Linguistics and Digital
Humanities
A Festschrift in Honor of Professor Eno-Abasi
Essien Urua
123
Editors
Moses EffiongEkpenyong Imelda Icheji Udoh
Department ofComputer Science Department ofLinguistics
Centrefor Research and andNigerian Languages
Development (CERAD) University of Uyo
University of Uyo Uyo,Nigeria
Uyo,Nigeria
ISBN978-981-19-2931-1 ISBN978-981-19-2932-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2932-8
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the University of Uyo, Nigeria, for providing the enabling
environmentandsupporttowardthesuccessofthisFestschrift.Alsoacknowledged
aretheUniversityofCalabar,Nigeria;UniversityofIbadan,Nigeria;Universityof
Edinburgh,UK;andBielefeldUniversity,Germany.Theseinstitutionshavegreatly
impacted the career/profession of Professor Eno-Abasi Essien Urua, to whom this
Festschrift is dedicated.
We are grateful to all the authors, co-authors, colleagues, and friends of Prof.
Eno-Abasi Urua, for their valuable contributions to this book.
We appreciate our Editorial Assistant: Miss Aniefon Daniel Akpan of the
National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAND), Aba, Nigeria, for manag-
ing the huge correspondence and excellent documentation maintained during the
book development phase.
Lastly, we thank the anonymous reviewers whose invaluable comments have
contributed to improving the quality of this Festschrift.
To God be the Glory!
v
Introduction
Descriptivelinguisticsisthestudyofhowlanguageisconstructed.Withinthisfield
ofstudy,thewordsphonology,morphology,andsyntaxareoftenused.Virtuallyall
academicresearchinlinguisticsisdescriptive;likeallotherscientificdisciplines,it
seeks a description of reality, without the bias of preconceived ideas about how it
should be.
Current Issues in Descriptive Linguistics and Digital Humanities therefore
x-rays a variety of language forms and functions, with the introduction of modern
techniques for efficient representation and documentation of language resources
into the future. This book is therefore a convergence of heterogeneous insights
(from languages and literature, history, music, media and communications, com-
puter science/technology, and information studies) which previously went their
separateways;nowunifiedunderasingleframeworkforthepurposeofpreserving
a unique heritage, the language. In a growing society like ours, description and
documentation of human and scientific evidence/resources are improving.
However, these resources have enjoyed cost-effective solutions for Western lan-
guages but are yet to flourish for African tone languages. By situating discussions
around a universe of discourse, sufficient to engender cross-border interactions
within the African context, this book shall break a dichotomy of challenges on
adaptative processes required to unify resources and assist the development of
modern linguistic solutions for the African domain.
This book addresses two hot topics: Modern Descriptive Linguistics and
ComputationalTechniquesinTheHumanities.Itcontains48contributionsdrawn
from various countries of the world, namely: Nigeria, Cote Devoir, Germany,
Poland, UK, and USA. To ease the analysis of contributions, we classify them
under four (4) distinctive parts as follows:
(cid:129) Part One: Formal Linguistics (14 contributions)
(cid:129) Part Two: Riddles, Proverbs, Folktales (6 contributions)
(cid:129) Part Three: Indigenous Language Use, Communication and Status (13
contributions)
(cid:129) Part Four: Language Technology and Documentation (15 contributions).
vii
viii Introduction
Analysis of Contributions
In Formal Linguistics, Akinbiyi Akinlabi examined both complete and partial
vowel-vowel assimilation across consonants in Yoruba, a Niger-Congo language.
He proposed that spreading through coronal [n/l] on the one hand and through [r]
on the other hand are cases of incomplete vocalic assimilation. Otherwise, he
proposedtheircaptureusing“singlefeaturespread”.IbokP.Offiongpresentedthe
morphologyofsimplenounsinBete(aBantoidlanguage)withintheframeworkof
lexical morphology theory; elaborating the process of deriving the nominal mor-
phology of Bete. Ahmadu Shehu discussed the grammatical evolution of lexical
items denoting body part items into grammatical markers of various grammatical
notions in Fulfulde, a Niger-Congo language. Willie U. Willie explored
subject-verb agreement in Ekid, a Benue-Congo language. He observed that Ekid
exhibits subject-verb agreement in some astonishing ways, in contrast with the
claim in Chomsky’s Minimalist Programme that proposed only one agreement
projectionfortheclausestructure.Resultofadataanalysisrevealsthatsubject-verb
agreement in Ekid is heavily marked on the verbal structure, hence, its ubiquity in
the language. Unyime I. Udoeyo, Glory I. Hanson, and Victoria S. Enang
examinedthestructureofnon-basicsentencesinEkid,todeterminetheirformation
andtransformation.Theirworkservesasatoolforfurtherresearchontheaspectof
Ekid syntax. Ogbanna Anyanwu and Juliet Udoudom examined and classified
inherent complement verbs (ICVs) in Ibibio (a New Benue-Congo language)
comparing them with lexical transitive verbs in the language. They found that
IbibioICVscaneitherbetransitiveorintransitive.Basedonthesyntacticbehavior
of Ibibio IC, they conclude that Ibibio ICs are not ‘true’ objects with regard to
‘affected’ objects of lexical transitive verbs. Escor Udosen and Emmanuel A.
Okon adopted the Minimalist Programme of Chomsky (1995) and conceptualized
onKayne’s(1994)linearcorrespondingaxiom,toexaminecomplementsandheads
in Ibibio nominal compounds including the syntactic and semantic bond between
constituents of a nominal compound. Monday O. Akpojisheri and Ochuko
Okpan presented a contrastive analysis of the verbal group structures of English
andUrhobo(aNiger-Congolanguage),foreffectivelearning.Theyfoundthatthere
are phenomenal differences between their VG structures with few similarities.
Enoima E. Etteokon and Rosemary E. Benjamin examined verb juxtaposition
with special focus on aspect of serial verb construction in Ibibio. Using a
descriptivemodel,theyfoundthattheorderofoccurrenceoftheverbsisparamount
to the understanding of the envisaged meaning of the sentence. Shirley O.
Yul-IfodeproposedaSTRUCTGENAUTICapproach(c.f.,Yul-Ifoldeetal.,2016)
to illustrate tonal phenomena peculiar to Isoko, an Edoid language. Celestina
P. Kekai evinced that Izon (a Niger-Congo language) is patterned toward the
vigesimal numeral system. Specifically, addition, compounding, multiplication,
deletion,andumlautareproductiveinthederivationalprocessofnominalsinIzon.
Lynice I. Walter-Amadi provided a description of polar interrogatives and dis-
cussed the various strategies Obolo (a Niger-Congo language) employ to derive
Introduction ix
them; including the positions polar interrogative markers occupy in the language.
Merosobo Lawson-Ikuru examined the underlying tonal contrast in Ogbia (a
Niger-Congo language)—investigating the tonal alternations in phonological and
grammatical constructions as they interface, with tone playing an important role.
AniefonD.AkpangaveaphonologicaldescriptionofIbibiopersonalnamesusing
the Onset-rhyme theory and analyzed the syllable segments of Ibibio personal
nameswithspecialreferencetothename‘Eno-AbasiEssienUrua’.Shefoundthat
the name has a CV(V)C syllable structure and is classified under gratitude,
supreme, and place of birth categories of Ibibio names.
In Riddles, Proverbs, Folktales, Ojonugwa N. Johnpaul provided a mor-
phologicaldescriptionofproverbialnamesselectedfromIgalapersonalnames.He
discovered that Igala (a Niger-Congo language) proverbial names do not only
contain philosophical and cultural values but are morphologically compound,
complex and compound-complex words embedding rich linguistic information for
understanding the grammar of the language. Using data obtained from participants
observation and interviews of elderly respondents, Peter Silas and Bassey Okon
investigated the use of proverbs and chauvinism in Anaañ (a New Benue-Congo
language) society and recommend that male chauvinism should be discouraged.
Itoro Michael, Ima Immanuel, and Ebuk P. Etim focused on fowl-related pro-
verbs in Anaañ. They found that the activities, experiences, fate, and destiny of
humans at most times are shaped by their environment and can be likened to the
metaphoric instances of the fowl. Uwemedimo E. Iwoketok using an
Animal-Animaltale:NtakÑkpekpemasekkeadiaudiaakonayo‘whythebathunts
forfoodatnight’,discussedthecallousnessoftheBatwhotreacherouslykilledhis
bosomfriend,theRat,resortingtonocturnality,anewandweirdlifestyle.Thestory
condemnstreacheryandwhy we shouldbewaryofthose we call ‘bosom’friends.
NgoziI.Ugo-OchuloexaminedthecreativeuseoflanguageinChimamandaNgozi
Adichie’s ‘the thing around your neck’—a collection of 12 short stories. Findings
fromanalyzeddatarevealthat:(1)thecode-switchedwords/expressionsaremostly
content words; (2) loan blends are adjectival nouns with few noun-noun blends;
(3) loan blends are endocentric; and (4) reduplicated words mark the degree of
emphasis in the context they are used. Willie U. Willie and Moses B. Isong
examined and described the semantic functions of metaphor in Oro riddles. They
found that metaphors are deployed in Oro riddles to exemplify realities.
In Indigenous Language Use, Communication and Status, Emmanuel I.
Asonyearguedthattheadoptionanduseofindigenoussignedlanguage(s)andthe
implementation of early detection, early intervention program are the lacking
solutions totheperceived languagegapamong deaf childrenin Nigeria.Usingthe
Austinian speech act theory, Happiness Uduk and Michael Gunn presented a
pragmatic investigation of selected Internet-based entertainment contents (also
knownasmemes)asdigitaltoolsforcreatingawarenessonCOVID-19,particularly
from Facebook. They conclude that social media as a digital tool are used by
netizens to exhibit speech acts for expressing generic opinions about government
and co-existence. Uwem J. Akpan departed from the views of those conceptual-
izingNsìbìdìasaculturalphenomenonwhichoriginatedasaformofgesturebythe
x Introduction
ekpe secret society before it developed and crystalized into writing. He concludes
that even though Nsìbìdì has declined in its utility and value, it indicates the
creativity of the people of the Cross River region before the era of imperialism.
FrancisO.Egbokharepresented aproposalfortheunificationandharmonization
oftheAfenmai(aNiger-Congolanguage)spellingsystemsusinglinguisticfeatures.
PeterA.AchaduexaminedthedecliningstatusofindigenouslanguagesinNigeria,
enunciating the factors responsible for the declining status and preference for
English language, including possible suggestions for reversing this decline.
Okokon Akpan and Aniefon D. Akpan surveyed Ibibio songs to examine the
significance of indigenous music using data generated primarily through structural
interviews.Theyfoundthatindigenousmusicconveysmessagesofbeliefs,values,
and other fundamental philosophies of the Ibibio people and heritage. Akpobome
Diffre-Odiete studied the interplay between religion and language use.
A percentage analysis of primary data collected from church leaders in rural
communitiesinNigeriashowsthatthetypeofrhetoricalstyleortechniqueusedby
church leaders and the frequency at which they apply such rhetoric may influence
the growth of their churches. Stella I. Ekpe and Juliet N. Ekpang evaluated the
effectiveness of language use by the campaign speeches of the Mass Mobilization
forSelf-reliance,SocialJustice,andEconomicRecovery(MAMSER)organization
inrelationtoitsgoalofmassinformationforitslargeheterogenoustargetaudience.
Friday E. Ude and Victoria S. Enang adopted a descriptive/qualitative design
using Morris (1964) conceptual framework. Audio evidence involving naturally
occurringdiscourseofstories,narratives,andculturalactivitiesinItuMbonUso(a
New Benue-Congo language) reveals the neglect by the language community;
hence, contributing to the attrition and disappearance of the language’s folktale.
Maria-HelenEkahprovidedapurelydescriptiveanalysistoexaminegenderforms
in English and Ibibio. Her analysis espouses how the grammatical category of
gender occurs inthe two languages. Golden Ekpo and Benjamin Nyong through
direct observations and interviews obtained from the Oro (a New Benue-Congo
language)communityfoundthatthedecisiontousemultiplelanguagesinchurches
with the community stems from creating understanding among worshippers from
different language backgrounds and by this understanding, they are converted to
boost the economy and power of the church. Nneoma F. Ugorji examined the
thought patterns of the Igbo people to derive the semantic implication of Igbo
inscriptions. She applied the use theory of meaning in documented data of Igbo
expressionsinscribedontricyclesinAba,Nigeria.Shefoundthattheseinscriptions
are idiomatic and informative. Furthermore, not marking tones may influence
assimilation/understanding of the inscriptions by non-natives of the language.
IniobongI.Ukobelievesthatcertainactivitiesandtendenciesengenderpowerfor
a person; and this power is enhanced by some factors including educational
attainment, professional affiliations, natural endowments, and more.
In Language Technology and Documentation, Dafydd Gibbon presented an
exploratory analysis of Ibibio speech rhythm with the goal of providing a theo-
retical basis for future quantitative studies of the language’s rhythms and its
neighboring languages, as well as their relation to other languages in Nigeria and
Introduction xi
beyond. John Harris and Larry M. Hyman hypothesized that segmental
phonology of wide range of West African languages shows clear contrastive
asymmetries between different positions within the prosodic stem. They conclude
that the notion of relative consonantal strength is hard to define using standard
featureclassificationsbutcaneasilybecapturedbydrawingonthemodelofspeech
as a modulated carrier signal. Moses E. Ekpenyong, Aminu A. Suleiman, and
Murtala Salihu reported on the creation of massive parallel corpus—toward
developing a Hausa-to-English machine translation(MT) system. Theypresentthe
methodsforachievingtheirfirstparallelcorpususingthe‘Ibadan400wordlist’—a
set of basic English words selected from common (everyday activities). Their
research is certain to revolutionize MT research in Nigeria and unleash the
numerous potentials of achieving multilingual MT for low-resourced languages.
Nadine Grimm reflected on aspects of dictionary making from the perspective of
understudied, under-resourced, and possibly endangered languages of Africa. She
provides an overview of the growing number of publications on documentary
lexicography with the vast body of literature in general lexicography; arguing that
these mostly disconnected perspectives could benefit from each other.
EmemObong O. Udoh and Moses E. Ekpenyong developed a tonal pattern
recognition framework that exploitsa two-tape finite state machine and supervised
learning, for tonal pattern recognition in Anaañ nominal constructions. The pro-
posed framework could serve as a byproduct to related NLP tasks and as peda-
gogical material for educational and research purposes. Using phonetic features
such as r-fulness, flapping, contraction, and intonation extracted from acoustic
signals of Nigerian entertainment and news broadcasts, Japhet Ajani showed that
entertainment news broadcast is more Americanized than traditional news broad-
cast. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Deborah Ojo and Tunde
Adegbola investigated the use offrequency and spread of words to automatically
extractindextermsfromtheYorubabook:‘Aké:NíÌgbàÈwe’meaning‘TheYears
of Childhood’, written by Wole Soyinka and translated by Akínwùmí Ìsòlá.
Olúfé mi D. Ninan, Samuel M. Aládé, Karen C. Olúfokùnbí, Adékúnlé O.
Afo lábí, Isaac O. E lé sè moyò and O dé túnjí A. O dé jo bí reported on an
ongoing-research, interrogating the principle and theories for digitally rendering
and animating stories from the perspective of the indigenous Yoruba culture; with
theviewtoencode,asmuchaspossible,theauthenticcontentsofthemessagesand
nuances of the stories. Joseph A. Ushie, Moses E. Ekpenyong and Richard O.
Ajahre-echoedtheurgentmissionfordocumentingaspectsofouroralheritageand
transmitting same through modern tools and techniques, for wide consumption by
our African youths. They proposed a conceptual model for encouraging partner-
ships, and domesticate the curation of community collections; transforming them
through technology into enhanced digital collections for efficient learning and
dissemination of oral traditions. Isaac O. E lé sè moyò and O dé túnjí A. O dé jo bí
discussed the operations regarding base and arithmetic computations that occur in
the Yoruba, Roman, Chinese, Hindu-Arabic, Hausa, and Igbo counting systems.
They recommend the appropriate lens from which the counting system can be
viewed for formal learning and use. Adam B. O ló runlóme rúè and O dé túnjí A.