INFLECTIONS IN NGWA DIALECT OF IGBO LANGUAGE

Abstract

This study investigates inflection in the Ngwa dialect of Igbo. It examines how inflection that predominantly falls on verbs in the dialect express different grammatical categories of tense, person, number and gender. As a tonal dialect, the study will also examine morphophonemic inflection in Ngwa dialect. A descriptive approach is adopted. The data used were obtained from primary sources via interviews with natives of Ngwa, while some of the data were obtained from secondary sources such as textbooks and journal articles. The study adopts the theory of Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM). The findings of this study reveal that inflections in Ngwa dialect are mostly and commonly marked on verbs. It also reveals that this inflection on verbs are affixes which can be prefixes or suffixes, so that such verbs can fit in with the syntactic structures in order to express different meaning in the Ngwa dialect. The study also reveals that inflections of verbs in the Ngwa dialect finds expression morphophonemically, that is, change in forms are dependent on change in sound or tone. The study concludes that inflection in the dialect enables morphing of verbs and forming new meanings through prefix, suffix, and tonal variations which allow speakers to convey a wide range of grammatical information in a compact and efficient manner. Also, the limited coverage of inflection in Ngwa dialect the study recommends more research works be carried out in the verbs of the dialect and how the inflected forms express new meanings, which will enhance the growth and development of the dialect.