ASPECTS OF SENSE RELATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF YORUBA

ABSTRACT

This work examines some aspects of sense relations, in the Yoruba language. The aim however of this study is to show the degree of relatedness among lexical itemes in Yoruba. Yoruba is a language popularly spoken in the western part of Nigeria.The number of speakers of the Yoruba is approaching 30 million. It is spoken principally in Nigeria and Benin with communities in other parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas. Yoruba is closely related to the Itsekiri language and to Igala.” It is spoken majorly in the western part of Nigeria in the following states: Ogun, Oyo, Lagos, Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and some parts of Kwara. In order to achieve the goal of our research effort, and adequate descriptive analysis of this phenomenon, appropriate descriptive approaches were employed. Method for collecting data comprises both primary and secondary sources of collecting. The primary data were gotten from the competent native speakers and users of Yoruba language. (Mr. Agunbiade Sunday Abiodun and Mr. Akinbundade Samson Tosin to be precise) which consisted of oral data. These informants are resident in Ona-ara local government in Oyo State and have lived in the community for not less than 22 years.The work is divided into the following chapters .In chapter one, the work entails the general introduction of the work and presents the background to the study which consist of three parts: introduction, the language of the study and linguistic classification of the language of study. The chapter proceeds in discussing the method of data collection, purpose of the study and significance and justification of study. Chapter two focuses on the review of relevant literature and is organized into three basic parts: conceptual review, previous studies and on the cocern of the present study. For chapter three, the theoretical framework adopted for the study being descriptive framework is discussed. Descriptive framework or descriptive approach talks about what languages are really like. They are approaches about what tools we need in order to provide adequate descriptions of individual languages. Much of the work that is labeled ‘descriptive’ within linguistics comprises two activities, i.e. the collection of primary data and a (low-level) analysis of these data. Chapter four therefore presents the data collected for the study which are analysed accordingly.The last chapter being chapter five presents the summary of the work done, conclusion and the recommendations. This is followed by the references and appendices sections respectively.