ABSTRACT
This work is involved with the study of wh questions in igbo language, it focuses on the types of Wh-question phrases and their complicated characteristics. Previous works has been carried out on this topic such as wh movement in Igbo by SR.M. Angela Uwalaka. Wh movement in the ugbawka dialect of Igbo language by Anih Patrick okwuchukwu and Wh movement is akwukwu igbo dialect of igbo. This study is different from other study because it offers a unified account of wh movement in Igbo wh questions. It investigates a number of phenomena including pied piping, wh movement in direct questions, embedded wh questions, wh movement in Igbo and the complex NP constraint, wh movement in Igbo and crossover effects.
The theoretical framework adopted in this study is that of government and binding theory founded by Noam Chomsky. This theory was adopted for this research work to analyze the phase structure rules in igbo Language. It was used to filter out grammatically incorrect sentence. This theory is useful and well applicable in igbo language. The methodology employed in this research is the primary and the secondary sources.
One of the major findings from this research work is the form and insertion of the ka complementizer in some questions that pose a problem especially to second language learners of Igbo language and also that Igbo language and French has both syntactic wh movement and LF wh movement.
This work has carefully studied wh questions in Igbo language to give a wholesome insight into the Igbo language and sounds peculiar to Igbo language and the tonal patterns and it could be seen that two distinct categories of wh questions exist which are Single wh questions and compound wh questions words. Each with its own peculiarities.
