Tense And Aspect In Ogbunike Igbo

CHAPTER FOUR 4.0

ASPECT IN OGBUNIKE

This chapter surveys aspect and how they are realized in Ogbunike Igbo based on already established categories of aspect in chapter 2. The categories include the Progressive Aspect (Aspeekiti Ngawanye), the Perfective Aspect (Asipeekiti Mmecha) the Stative Aspect (Asipeekiti Mfe) and the Habitual Aspect (Aspeekiti Mmaahu).

4.1 (ASPEEKITI NGAWANYE): (Emenajo 1978:173) refers to this category, as a set of Verbal constructions which has been variously called the “Na-form” by many people. The construction talks about an on-going event as at the time of utterance. It starts from the time of utterance (Now) to an unknown completion of the event. In Ogbunike Igbo, Aspeekiti Ngawanye is marked by the auxiliary verb “na” with the main verb just as it is in Standard Igbo. 59 Below is the presentations of the Data on this. The data is divided into the subcategories of Affirmative and Negative. This also applies to the other categories of aspect.

Affirmative
(1) iri nri – to eat
O na - eli ji
He/She aspectual Main yam
marker verb
He is eating yam

(2) ibe akwa – to cry
Ekene na - ebe akwa.
Ekene aspectual main
marker verb cry
Ekene is crying

(3) isi nri - to cook
O na - esi nri.
He/She aspectual main
marker verb food
He/She is cooking food.

(4) isu - to wash
Okechukwu na - asu akwa ya.
Okechukwu aspectual main
marker verb clothes his/her
Okechukwu is washing his clothes.
Negative

(5) O na + ro eli ji
He/She aspectual neg main
marker suffix verb yam
He/she is not eating yam.

(6) Ekene a + na + ro ebe akwa
Ekene verbal aspectual negative main
prefix maker suffix verb cry
Ekene is not crying

(7) O na + ro esi nri
He/She aspectual negative main
marker suffix verb food
He/She is not cooking food.

(8) Okechukwu a + na + ro asu akwa ya
Okechukwu verbal aspectual negative main
prefix marker suffix verb clothes him
Okechukwu is not washing his clothes.

There is no inflection o the verb in this category in Ogbunike Igbo as well as in Standard Igbo except in the negative forms which show a morphological change in their verb roots, however both still portray an on-going action/event.

4.2 ASPEEKITI MMECHA The Perfective Aspect indicates an action that has been completed, that is a past action which has some relevance to the Present Time. Mazi J.C. Onuora (2000:169) avers that Aspeekiti Mmecha signifies a past action but the actual time of the event is not known. In Ogbunike Igbo, this category, makes use of the Verbal suffix – gwo unlike, the Standard Igbo that uses the suffix VLV. The presentation of the data are as follow:

Affirmative
(9) iri nri - to eat
Ada e + li + gwo ede
Ada verbal verb aspectual
prefix root marker cocoyam
Ada has eaten cocoyam

(10) iza uno - to sweep
Ifeoma a + za + gwo uno
Ifeoma verbal verb aspectual
prefix root marker house
Ifeoma has swept the house

(11) isu akwa - to wash
O su + gwo akwa ya
He/She verb aspectual
root marker clothes his/her
He/She has washed his/her clothes.

Negative
12. Ada e + li + ro ede
Ada verbal main negative
prefix verb suffix cocoyam
Ada has not eaten cocoyam.

13. Ifeoma a + za + ro uno
Ifeoma verbal main negative
prefix verb suffix house
Ifeoma has not swept the house

14. O su + ro + akwa ya
He/She verb negative
root suffix clothes his/her
He/She has not washed his clothes

There is an inflection of the verb root in Ogbunike Igbo as well as with Standard Igbo on how this category is realized. However, both show a regular morphological change that expressed a past action that has relevance to the future.

4:3 ASPEEKITI MFE: This category talks about the state of things. Enemor and Osinomumu (2005:76-77) assert that the category tells the state or nature of things and that Aspeekiti Mfe makes use of a special type of verb called the “Stative Verb” this verb, as the name implies, refers to state of things. It states a fact as in: dị, bụ e.t.c . This category of aspect is in 2 forms. a. Those that have – no suffix (sentences 21 and 22). b. Those that have – rv suffix like Tensi Ndinaazu. In Ogbunike Igbo this form expresses itself through the use of –Lu suffix just as in Tensi Ndinaazu (sentences 23 and 24).