LEXICAL SENSE RELATIONS IN IBIBIO

ABSTRACT
This study examined all the aspect of sense relations in Ibibio language. The Ibibio language presently has over two million speakers and live majorly in Akwa Ibom State and some parts of Cross River State. The aim was to ascertain the various
degrees of relatedness between lexical items of Ibibio language. The objectives included to bring out the degree of relatedness among lexical items in Ibibio. The method used in collection of data consisted of both the primary and secondary methods, one on one interview with a competent speaker and gathering of more information from books from very many authors. The instrument used in collecting data were pen, writing pad and a digital voice recorder, the data were verified by competent speakers who are also teachers of the language. The theoretical method adopted was the basic linguistic theory theoretical framework which is a descriptive theoretical framework. The Basic Linguistics theoretical framework dates back to Dixon R.M.W.(1997). The nature of the theoretical framework is that it focuses majorly on the data presented. The major findings included that there are really no absolute synonyms in Ibibio language when used in a sentence, various types of
antonyms were also discovered among many others. Illustrative examples were used to explain all the aspect of sense relations and their various degrees of relatedness. In conclusion, the study has done justice with the data presented and has shown the
various degrees of relatedness between lexical items of Ibibio language with examples that are self explanatory.