ABSTRACT
This project is a descriptive analysis and syntactic analysis of the numeral system of the Mein dialect of Izọn. The Mein dialect of Izọn is the language spoken by the Izọns of the Niger Delta region. The aim of this study is to account for the morphological and syntactic structure of the language.
Data for this study were drawn from several discourses, such as family meetings, market places, marriage ceremonies, schools, political gatherings, amongst others to get a fair account of the use of numerals in the language. The sources of data were both primary and secondary. The primary data was collected from three competent speakers of the Mein dialect of Izọn by personal communication. Secondary data comprises published and unpublished materials on the numeral system of related languages like Yoruba, Edo e.t.c
The study was based on descriptive linguistics framework of the Basic Linguistics Theory. The study observed that the numeral system of Izọn is adopts methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and the mixed method which is further divided into four types;
- The addition subtraction
- The subtraction multiplication
- The addition multiplication
- The addition subtraction and multiplication
Also it is observed that the Izọn numeral system derives its numbers on base 10, base 20 and also on a base 10 and 20 together, contrary to the claim in Kekai (2013) that the Izọn numeral system operates on a base 10.
This work would serve as reference material for linguistic research in Izọn. It would fill a gap in the study of our local languages which most have been listed as endangered, at the verge of dying off and also improve on documentation of the language.
This work is an improvement on linguistic research in Izọn. It would serve as a motivation for further research on the language and other such related languages.
