A STUDY OF THE REPRESENTATIVENESS OF ISOKO PHONETICS BY ITS ORTHOGRAPHY.

ABSTRACT

This project examines the representativeness of the speech sounds in the Isoko language by its orthography. This study was conducted in order to provide a detailed analysis of Isoko phonetics and Isoko orthography, which will aid in identifying any discrepancies in the language's orthography and phonetics. The study is motivated by the paucity of linguistic works done on the Isoko language, especially concerning its phonetics and orthography. Data for this project was collected from Oleh town, in Isoko South L.G.A, Delta State, with the help of 3 informants who were vital to the success of this project. This study employed the "grapheme-phoneme correspondence" theoretical framework, which suggests a systematic relationship between the letters used in writing (grapheme) and the speech sounds (phoneme) of a language. Upon the analysis of data for this study, the following observations were made. There is a lack of tonal marking in the Isoko language's orthography, a speech sound with three different orthographic variations, and a strong grapheme-phoneme correspondence. This study would aid language learners and Linguists who wish to look into or learn the language. The recommendations from the findings of this study are that tonal markings should be adopted in the Isoko orthography to facilitate proper language learning, pronunciation and documentation. Also for the speech sound with three different orthographic variations to have one orthographic representation.