A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE PREDICATIVE SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND FULFULDE

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE PREDICATIVE SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND FULFULDE

Abstract:

In this study we attempted to assess the differences that exist across the Predicative systems of English and Fulfulde. We also tried to establish similarities. Some of the differences we found were as a result of the structural differences that exist between English and Fulfulde. First of all, there was the difference of grammatical exponents. While in the case of English there is a clear distinction in the functions of words as opposed to morphemes, in the sense that while words act as purely semantic exponents, morphemes play word-internal functions (morphology), in Fulfulde, morphemes play a predominant role in syntax so that the line dividing morphemes from words is not so clear. One other difference between the two languages was around the VAP (voice aspect polarity) suffix that is found in Fulfulde unlike in English. This Morpheme accounts for a great deal of the difference in the behaviour of the Fulfulde verbal which in effect is responsible for most of the differences in the predicative system of Fulfulde, a category that does not exist in English. In analyzing the data for this project a rather eclectic approach was taken, leaning heavily on Dik’s (1981) framework of Functional Grammar as well as taking a leaf here and another there from other theories especially the Transformationalists as represented by Napoli (1989). This work is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction, containing the statement of the problem of the research which raises some of the central 8 questions in the study. The aims and objective of the study are also stated in this chapter. The scope of the work is also spelt out as focusing on a contrast of the predicative systems of English and Fulfulde. Chapter 2 contains the review of literature that serves as background to the study. There is an in-depth review of literature on Fulfulde as well as on the general theory of Predication as a linguistic concept. The theoretical model for the project is also highlighted here. Chapter 3 is devoted to the methodology or procedure as to how the data for the study was gathered and processed. In Chapter 4, there is the analysis of the corpus collected using the theoretical framework highlighted in Chapter 2. The summary, conclusions and recommendations of the project are presented in Chapter 5 bringing this project to its end.

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF THE PREDICATIVE SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND FULFULDE

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