A COMPARATIVE LEXICOSTATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF AKURE AND OWO DIALECTS

ABSTRACT

This Research A Comparative lexicostatical Analysis Of Akure and Owo dialects studied the differences and similarities in the lexicon of Standard Yoruba,Owo and Àkúrẹ́ dialects. We examined the lexicostatistics comparison of the lexicons in Standard Yorùbá, Owo and Àkúrẹ́ dialects. The project work aims at gaining more insight into the similarities and differences in the vocabularies of these two dialects by conducting a comparative analysis of both dialects lexicon . The objectives of this study were: (i)to determine the main vocabulary distinctions and similarities between the Yoruba dialects spoken in Akure and Owo, (ii)to identify the differences in  phonetics between the  dialects. (iii) to determine the cognate percentage of relatedness among the three dialects. The data for this paper were collected from four native speakers using the 1952 Swadesh 200 list of basic lexical items. The basic numerals, nouns and body parts  were compared and analyzed using the lexicostatistical method. The comparative method and the lexicostatistics analysis were used as the framework for Standard Yorùbá, Owo and Àkúrẹ́ dialects to determine the level of lexical correspondence among them. The findings of this study revealed that there is a higher cognate percentage between Standard Yorùbá and Àkúrẹ́ with  83% cognates, with Owo and Àkúrẹ́ having 67.5% cognates and Standard Yorùbá and Owo with76% cognates. This paper concluded that there is a higher level of mutual intelligibility between Standard Yorùbá and Àkúrẹ́ than Standard Yorùbá and Owo while the level of mutual intelligibility between Owo and Àkúrẹ́ is low.