A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SÍKỌ́ AND NÍÍNLÁ AS OCCURRING IN IFẸ̀ DIALECT AND THEIR VARIANTS, ŃKỌ́ AND ŃLÁ IN STANDARD YORÙBÁ LANGUAGE

Adekunle, Moses Adédire

IJOLTL (Indonesian Journal of Language Teaching and Linguistics)
Vol. 8 No. 2 (2023): Mei

This study focuses on the descriptive modeling of Chomskyan linguistic analysis on síkọ́ and níínlá as occurring in Ife dialect of Yoruba language in variance with ńkọ́ and nlá in the standard Yoruba. We argue that the basic form of ń in ńlá and ńkọ́ is ín which is still traceable through síkọ́ or sínkọ́ and níínlá in Ifẹ dialect of Yorubá language. We present the basic phonetic features of ín as in: vowel, high, syllabic, nasal and front. The lost of vowel, front and high features produces the orthographical representation of n in ńlá and ńkọ in the standard Yoruba. Our findings therefore, serve as a solution to one of the fundamental issues in the grammar of Yoruba language which intuitively does not allow consonant cluster in syllabic formation. The language basically does not endorse a high tone to be the first syllable of a word with VCV sequence. Keywords: feature stability, syllabicity, grammaticalization, extension phrasal interaction and decategorization.