On tense, aspect and negation markings in Ògbahù dialect of Ìgbò

Abstract

This paper presents a descriptive account of some grammatical categories in gbahù dialect of the Ìgbò language, one of the three major languages of Nigeria, West Africa. The purpose of this study is to show how these grammatical categories operate in gbahù dialect. These grammatical categories (functors) are Tense, Aspect, Negation and Agreement. The study reveals that both Tense and Aspect exist as functional categories in gbahù dialect, contrary to earlier works on Ìgbò which claimed that Aspect rather than Tense is explicitly marked in Ìgbò. The -lV suffix clearly instantiates past tense in different constructions in gbahù. The study further reveals the existence of the E-/Aprefix as a default agreement marker which occurs only in negative constructions.

Keywords: gbahù, tense, aspect, negation