ESTABLISHING THE LINGUISTIC STATUS OF OKELUSE: A LEXICOSTATISTICAL APPORACH

ABSTRACT

This study aims at establishing the linguistic status of a speech form used in a community known as Okeluse located in Ovia North East LGA in Edo state. This was done to ascertain if this speech form (Okeluse) is a dialect of two neighboring languages (Edo and Yoruba) or a separate language. This project also seeks to determine the language group this speech form falls into (either the Yoruboid or Edoid group of languages). This speech form has not been given any linguistic status in terms of whether it was a dialect or a language of its own despite its obvious resemblances to Edo and Yoruba languages. Okeluse is not included in the Edoid or Yoruboid group of languages, hence this study employs both primary and secondary data. The primary data were in form of oral data which were collected from native speakers of the languages under study (Edo, Okeluse and Yoruba), these oral data were collected through an interview method where native speakers of the languages were questioned with a 400 word list, their responses were written down on a book while a tape recorder was used alongside to ensure accurateness of the data collected. The secondary data comprises forms from already published works such as Journals, articles on line, and text books. The collected data were analyzed using Lexicostatistics method. We found that Okeluse is indeed a language of its own but under the Yoruboid group of languages.