Igala Grammar

Disclaimer

This wiki is currently under construction. The information on this page stems from the research that began with the field methods class taught at the McGill Department of Linguistics in Winter 2021.

Cultural Information

Background Information

Igala, known to the Igala people as “àbó ígálâ [àbóogálâ] in their language” is both an ethnic nationality and language (Ẹ̀jẹ̀bá 2016:1). Certain cultural groups such as the Bassa people maintain an Igala identity while other groups such as the Inoma or Ebu do not view themselves as Igala people (Ẹ̀jẹ̀bá 2016:2). These divergent identities result from different historical interactions between these groups and the Igala people of the Kogi State (Ẹ̀jẹ̀bá 2016)

Spoken by approximately 1,600,020 people (Ethnologue), Igala is one of the nine main languages in Nigeria (Williamson 1990). The name Igala refers to the people as well as their language (Boston 1968, Williamson 1989b, Ukwedeh 1989 and Etu 1999). The Igala language belongs to the New Benue-Congo branch within the Niger-Congo phylum. It is coordinate with such languages as Yoruba, Itsekiri, Igbo, and Idoma. (Ẹ̀jẹ̀bá 2016). Igala is distantly related to other Yoruboid languages.

The Pear Story

The Pear Story is a six-minute film that was produced at the University of California at Berkeley in 1975 and shown to speakers of a number of languages, who were asked to tell what happened in it. In the meantime it has been used in a variety of other studies across other languages. The goal has been to present cinematically a series of more or less natural events to multiple viewers, who are then asked to verbalize what they remember. (UCSB Linguistics) [1].

A native (first language) speaker of Igala, recorded herself telling the pear story. The Winter 2021 Field Methods class, transcribed the story based on her recording [2].

Phonology

The phonology of Igala consists of a mid sized inventory of consonants and vowels. Igala is a tonal language. (Main page: Tone)

Phonological Inventory

Consonants

The consonants in Igala are given below.

Igala Consonant Phonemes

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Co-articulated velar labial	Glottal
Plosive	p pʲ b bʲ	t d				k kʷ g gʷ
Nasal	m mʲ		n		ɲ	ŋ ŋʷ
Fricative		f fʲ						h
Affricate				tʃ dʒ
Approximant	w		ɹ		j
Lateral Approximant			l lʲ

As shown above, Igala contains labialized plosives such as /gʷ/ and palatalized plosives such as /lʲ/.

Igala additionally contains the co-articulated phonemes /kp/ 'voiceless labiovelar plosive' and /gb/ 'voiced labiovelar plosive'.

Vowels

According to Ejeba (2016), there are seven vowels in Igala. The vowels in Igala are given below.

Igala Vowel Phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	ɛ e		o ɔ
Low	a

Syllable Structure

Syllables in Igala are in the form V, VC, or CVC. The maximal syllable in Igala is CVC.

The majority of syllables in Igala are open syllables of CV or V form.

There are distributional restrictions on where each syllable can appear. According to Ejeba (2016), CVC form is limited to ideophones. CV can occur word-initially, word-medially, word-finally, or in isolated form . V can occur in all cases except for word medially. Negation in Igala occurs as a syllabic nasal: /n/.

Phonotactics

Vowel Hiatus

From a preliminary overview of Igala, it appears that Igala does not tolerate vowels in hiatus. Resolution usually consists of the deletion of the initial vowel of the VV. Take for example, the following:

(1) ɹɔ ākʷū > [ɹākʷū] ‘cry a cry’
(2) ra ɔ́mɛ̀ > [rɔ́mɛ̀] ‘pay debt’
(3) kɔ uɲi > [kuɲi] ‘build a house’
(4) kpɛ útʃɛ̀ > [kpútʃɛ̀] ‘send message’
(5) wɔ ɛ́dɔ̀ > [wɛ́dɔ̀] ‘get angry (lit. foam heart)’
(6) gba ìlɛ́tà > [gbìlɛ́tà] ‘receive a letter’
(7) du ēdʒū > [dēdʒū] ‘take eye (part of a SVC)’

Note: The deleted vowels are put in bold

The exception to this pattern of deletion is when the initial vowel of the sequence is i, in which case the hiatus becomes diphthongized. In other words, the initial high front vowel becomes a glide and yields a jV string, as seen in the following:

(8) li ɛ > [lʲɛ] ‘see you’
(9) hi odʒe abatʃa > [hʲodʒabatʃa] 'cook cassava morsel'
(10) bi ɔ̌nà> [bʲɔ̌nà] ‘open door’

There are other instances where hiatus is not repaired such as between a subject and aspect marker.

Tone

Main page: Tone

There are four level tones (Low (à), Mid (ā), High (á), and Super High (a̋)) and two contour tones (Falling (ǎ) and Rising (â)).

In Igala, tones are involved in morphological processes.

Morphosyntax

Igala is a dominantly isolating language. The main word order in Igala is SVO. However, in certain cases alternative word orders, such as SOV, may occur. For instance, in the presence of fV the word order is modified. This morpheme appears to surface in the usual verb slot, while the matrix verb appears sentence-finally. See fV & mV for futher information.

Morphological Processes

Main Page: Morphological Processes

fV & mV

Main page: fV & mV

tʃɛ/tʃe

The morphemes tʃɛ and tʃe appear as verbal elements in Igala.

tʃɛ adds the meaning that something has already been done to a sentence.

(1)

ū	gbɔ̋	kàkīnī	ɛ̀	tʃɛ̀	wā	mɛ̂
1SG	hear	C	2SG	already	come	now
‘I heard that you have already come.'

(2)

The morpheme tʃe is a copular element translated as do/does.

ido	e	ta	tʃe	ɛŋʷu	ɔla	mi
dance(N)	NMLZ	dance(V)	do	thing	body	1SG.OBJ
‘Dancing is my favorite thing (to do).'

In certain cases tʃ(e) seems to note additional emphasis in a situation. Often added to reinforce past tense with eventives and statives. It possibly takes a nominalized VP (tʃ+e VP).

(3)

i	tʃe	uwɛ	dʒɛ	ɔda	lɛ	i	n	:
3SG.NEG	do.EMPH	2SG.STR	eat	pear	DEF.DIST	EMPH	NEG.SFP	?
‘Are you not the one who ate the pear?’

Negation

When a sentence is negated in Igala, the subject of the negation bears an super-high tone. Additionally, sentence-finally a syllabic nasal n 'NEG' occurs.

(1)

i̋	l	ɛ́ŋwú	du:	n̋
3SG.NEG	buy	thing	every	NEG.SFP
‘He didn't buy anything’

When there is A'-movement, negation surfaces as ma (example 3) before the verb but tone does not appear on the subject anymore.

(2)

ɛ̋n(ɛ)	ɛ̋ɛ̀	lí
who	2SG	see
Who did you see?

(3)

ɛ̋n(ɛ)	ɛ̋ɛ̀	má	ꜜlí	n̋
who	2SG	NEG	see	SFP.NEG
Who did you not see?

When extracting from the embedded sentence, ma surfaces in and only in negated phrases. This is evidence for movement occurring in phases.

(4)

Context: Peter’s wife only knows that Peter did not talk to his ex-girlfriend named Jane, but Peter also did not speak to Mary.

Qst: Which one does Peter’s wife know that Peter did not speak to?

i̋dʒe̋nì

o1.5ŋʷū

ɔ̀jà

pítà

mà

kàkíní

pítà

má

k(a)

ɔ̀là

kp(ai)

o᷄ŋʷū

nî

Jane

3SG.STR

wife

Peter

know

C

Peter

NEG

speak

word

with

3SG.STR

SFP.NEG

It is Jane(i) that Peter’s wife knows that Peter did not speak to (her(i)).

Nominalization

Main page: Nominalization

In Igala, nominalization occurs with the addition either the morpheme ɛ/e or the morpheme a, as shown in the examples below.

In this example, ido ta alone means 'to dance,' while the additional of the morpheme e gives the nominal meaning 'dancing' to the word.

(1)

ido	e	ta	tʃe	ɛŋʷu	ɔla	mi
dance(N)	NMLZ	dance(V)	do	thing	body	1SG.OBJ
‘Dancing is my favorite thing (to do)' (D:193).

(2)

é	n(ɛ)	ɔ́bē	álādì	n(ɛ)	ɔ́bē	kp(a)	ādʒūwɛ̄	lɛ̀
NMLZ	use	alado	use	knife	kill	chicken	DEF.DIST
‘It was the use of knife that aladi used knife to kill the chicken’

Reduplication

Often non animate nouns that may be reduplicated for plurality (Ejeba 2016).

(1)

úwó

mountain

mountain

(2)

úwó	úwó
mountain	mountain
mountains

Full reduplication can be used derivationally in Igala to mark added intensity (Ejeba 2016).

(3)

imɔtɔ	onɛkɛlɛ	lɛ	rulɛ	ti	itʃekbulu	jè	jè	jè	jè
young boy	DEF.DIST	run(V)	run(N)	to	school	slowly	slowly	slowly	slowly
‘The young boy ran to school very slowly'.

Verbs & Verb Phrases

Verbs in Igala begin with a consonant.

Verbs

Igala has multiple verb phrase constructions, such as serial verb constructions, split verbs, and cognate objects.

Verb Tense

Eventive verbs by default are interpreted as past tense (example 1). Stative verbs are by default interpreted as present tense (example 2). Other tenses are created with strategies other than tense marking, such as aspect.

(1)

ù	fɛ̄dɔ̄	má
1SG	love	3PL
‘I loved them.’

(2)

ì	m(a)	eli	lɛ́
3SG	know	song	DEM.DIST
‘He knows that song.’

Serial Verb Constructions

The serial verb construction, also known as (verb) serialization or verb stacking, is a syntactic phenomenon in which two or more verbs or verb phrases are strung together in a single clause.

There are multiple types of serial verb constructions in Igala. One that is clearly a serial verb construction such as example 1. Igala additionally has potential serial verb constructions such as example 2 and example 3.

Below is an example of a serial verb construction in Igala that is clearly a serial verb construction, as all verbs share the object.

(1)

aladi	kpa	adʒuwɛ	dʒɛ
aladi	kill	chicken	eats
Alali killed and ate the chicken.

(1b)

álādì	l(a)	ádʒūwɛ̄	kpá	hì	dʒɛ̄
aladi	buy	chicken	kill	cook	eat
'Aladi bought chicken, killed, cooked and ate [it]'.

In the example below, unlike in a typical serial verb construction the object is not shared, the object goes only with the first verb.

(2)

álādì	k(o)	ɔ́tàkīdā	lɛ̄	wà
Aladi	take.PL	book	DEF.DIST	come
'Aladi brought the books.'

Example 3 is an instrumental serial verb construction. The subject of the sentence is shared but the verbs do not necessarily share an object.

(3)

álǎdì	d(u)	ónà	lɛ̄	kpɔ̄	fɔ́
aladi	take.SG	door	DEF.DIST	break-	-break
'Aladi broke the door/Aladi took the door and broke it.'

Splitting Verbs

Verbs in Igala can be split in two parts with one part occurring before the object and one part occurring after the object. See [fV and the splitting verbs] for more details on how fV interacts with splitting verbs.

Below are example sentences containing split verbs in Igala.

(1)

ū	t͡ʃɛ̌	kp(ɔ)	ɔ̄nà	lɛ̄	fɔ̄	ɔ̄nàlɛ̀
1SG	already	break	door	DEF.DIST	break	yesterday
‘I broke that door yesterday.’

(2)

Ǒtʃálā	k(ɔ)	ēlā	lɛ́	da
Ochala	cut	meat	DEF.DIST	cut
‘Ochala cut the meat’

Cognate Objects

"In linguistics, a cognate object (or cognate accusative) is a verb's object that is etymologically related to the verb. More specifically, the verb is one that is ordinarily intransitive (lacking any object), and the cognate object is simply the verb's noun form" ( [3] ). In Igala, cognate objects are true arguments of their predicates.

(1)

ǒtʃálā	t(a)	īdó
Ochala	dance(V)	dance(N)
‘Ochala danced (a dance).’

(2)

álādì	r(a)	ūlɛ́
Aladi	run(V)	run(N)
Aladi ran (a run).

Nouns & Noun Phrases

Nouns in Igala begin with a vowel.

Pluralization

In Igala, the morpheme àma pluralizes an animate noun. An example of noun pluralization in Igala is shown below.

(1)

ū	tʃě	n(ɛ)	ám(a)	ēwú
1SG	do	have	PL	goat
‘I have goats’.

According to Ejeba (2016), the morpheme abo means 'the people of'. The morpheme abo is used to pluralized nouns that are human.

(2a)

ìgbɛ̀lɛ́

young.woman

'Young woman'

(2b)

àbó	ǐgbɛ̀lɛ́
PL	young.woman
'Young women.'

Determiners

Igala has indefinite and definite articles.

Indefinite Article

There are usually no indefinite articles in Igala. Optionally (o)ka 'one' an occur after a noun.

(1)

ú lʲ a̅bʲà (o)kǎ n

1SG see dog one NEG

‘I didn’t see one dog.’

Definite Article

Definiteness is encoded in the morpheme lɛ. lɛ seems to have a similar meaning to English's 'the' or 'that.' Definiteness is encoded in the morpheme lɛ.

An example of lɛ

(2)

ɔnɛkɛlɛ	lɛ	nɛ	imoto
man	DEF.DIST	drive	car
‘The man drove a car.’

In Igala, ji is a proximal definite article.

An example of ji.

(3)

tʃɔ́tʃì	jī
church	this
‘This church.’

The determiner follows the head noun:

(4)

ɔ̋nɛ́kɛ̄lɛ́	l(ɛ)	a̋	f(a)	ītébùlù	lɛ́	ī:
man	DEF.DIST	IPFV	pull	table	DEF.DIST	EMPH
What does this sentence mean?

Personal Pronouns

The citation forms of Igala personal pronouns are on initial low and final mid tones for subjects/objects, and on initial rising and final mid tones for genitive pronouns. In discourse reference however, cliticized forms of the subject, object and genitive pronouns are used. The genitive pronouns are formed from the sequence of the genitive clitic and any of the pronominal genitive clitics – ordered as genitive Clitic+ Pronominal genitive clitic combination. (Ẹ̀jẹ̀bá 2016).

Personal Pronouns

Person	Number	Personal Pronouns	Gloss	Subject Clitics	Gloss	Object Clitics	Gloss
1st	Singular, Plural	omi, awa	'I/me', 'we/us'	u, a	'I', 'we'	mi, wa	'me', 'us'
2nd	Singular, Plural	uwɛ, amɛ	'you(sg)', 'you(pl)'	ɛ, mɛ	'you(sg)', 'you(pl)'	ɛ, mɛ	'you(sg)', 'you(pl)'
3rd	Singular, Plural	oŋʷu, ama	'she/he/it/her/him', 'they/them'	i, ma	'she/he/it', 'they'	U, ma	'she/he/it'/'them'
Non-Person	Non-Number	~	~	V	~	~	~

Possessives

Possession is not marked tonally. Possessives in Igala are marked by a tonal downstep.

Compounding

There are two types of compounding in Igala noun+noun to create a compound noun and noun+adjective compounds. All words used in compounds have meaning independently.

(1) Noun + Noun Compounding

ɔ̀là	ɔ́dʒɔ́
word	God
'The Gospel'

(2) Noun + Adjective Compounding

ómi	òfòfo
water	ordinary
'Ordinary water'

Multiplier Morpheme

Main page: Multiplier Morpheme

Adjectives and Adverbs

The morphemes mɛ and gɛ in Igala pattern as adverbs.

mɛ

The morpheme mɛ patterns as an adverb meaning now or already depending on the context.

An example of mɛ with the meaning 'now.'

(1)

ma	wa	mɛ
3PL	come	now
‘They are now coming.’

An example of mɛ with the meaning 'already.'

(2)

ū	gbɔ̋	kàkīnī	ɛ̀	tʃɛ̀	wā	mɛ̂
1SG	hear	C	2SG	already	come	already
‘I heard that you have already come.’

gɛ

The morpheme gɛ patterns as an adverb in Igala meaning 'again.'

An example of gɛ.

(3)

a	dabi	ta	ido	gɛ
1PL	turn.back	dance(V)	dance(N)	again
‘We danced again.’

Sentence-Final Particles

More information on Sentence-Final Particles: Sentence-Final Particles

Focus and Topicalization

Topicalization

In topic constructions, topicalized DP always comes before focused one Topic is marked by a following tʃe, which separates it from the following focus

(1)

ùdʒɛ̄ŋʷū	lɛ́	tʃ(e)	òkʷɔ̄	mì	ònòbȕlɛ̀	hȉ	í
meal/food	DEF.DIST	AUX	grandparent	1SG.POSS	female	cook	EMPH
“(What about the lamb curry?) [That dish]TOP was cooked by my grandmother.”

Focus

Focused DP always appears sentence initially. Focused DP is optionally followed by a strong pronoun coindexed with the focused DP (in the above sentences this is òŋʷū). When there is a focused DP, the sentence must appear with an SFP i.

(2)

i̋ î	ōdʒ(i)	[ɔ̄lɔ̀	ŋʷū]i	òŋʷūi	ì	gʷù(gʷú)	ì
No	top	[neck	3SG.POSS]i	3SG.STRi	3SG	sit(.sit)	EMPH
“No, she’s sitting on his neck.”