A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF AFFIXATION IN IGBO AND ENGLISH VERBS

ABSTRACT

This research work is A Contrastive Study of Affixation in Igbo and English verbs. The purpose of this study is to identify the different similarities and differences occurring in both the English and Igbo verbal affixation. Both languages are similar as they have the presence of tenses in their languages and are different in the formation of their tenses. The motivation of the study was results of the love for the Igbo’s and to further increase the documentation on the Igbo language as a way of preserve g the culture of the people as well as to point out how the Igbo language works. The method of data collection used in this study is by means of interviews, native speakers of the languages were interviewed, academic books and journals were also consulted. The Contrastive Analysis was used to point out the different similarities and differences between the English and Igbo verbs. It was observed from the study that the verbal affixation in English includes tenses like past tense, present tense and past participle. The present tense in English language is indicated by the combination of (a verb +-ing); the past tense in English Language is indicated by a combination of a verb and a suffix at the end of the word. The suffix used is the –ed suffix indicating that an event occurred in the past. This study provides the specific similarities and differences among the English and Igbo language despite the different linguistic backgrounds and it is found mostly in their tenses. It is therefore recommended that more studies be carried out on other aspects that concerns contrastive analysis.