CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0      Background to the Study

One of the principal uses of language is for communication. People often use a language to signal their membership of a group and to construct different aspects of their social identity. Language is at the centre of every human activity. Communication through language is the principal activity that differentiates humans from lower animals. Language is primarily spoken and every language has a homeland from where it spreads to other areas. Every language is characterised by various features regardless of who speaks what and where. Not everyone who speaks a particular language speaks it in the same way as others: that is, no two people speak exactly the same way. There are different sources of variations in speech. Some features of speech, however are shared by groups and become important because they distinguish one group from another. The same way different languages often serve a unifying and separating function for their speakers, so do speech characteristics within languages. The most important desire and act of every ethnic group is to protect their language in order to maintain their identity and culture.

Every language that is spoken over any significant area is spoken in somewhat different forms in different places; these are its regional dialects. Besides, even in a single community, a language may be spoken differently by members of different social groups. This is to say that, no human language is fixed or uniform, all languages show internal variations. Actual usage differs from group to group, and speaker to speaker in terms of the pronunciation, the choice of words and the meaning attached to those words. The differences found within a language can be mutually intelligible among speakers of the language. If they are mutually intelligible, the speakers consider themselves speaking different dialects of the same language but if the differences are not mutually intelligible among speakers, it is obvious that they are speaking different languages. Variations which are found in a language and are peculiar to particular speech forms of people living in a speech community are known as dialects. A dialect is a distinct form of a language which is either regional or social in origin and differentiated from other forms of the language by specific linguistic features. In this research, effort is made to examine the speech forms of a particular language, which is the Idoma language spoken among the Idoma people. The research is based on the fact that certain variations are found in the speech forms of the language because, naturally, the speakers live in different environments. They also interact and socialise differently in different contexts for different purposes. The work sets out to study the Enone and Enochi speech forms of Idoma language spoken in Benue State, Nigeria.

1.1       Location of the Idoma People

The Idoma people are an ethno linguistic group that primarily inhabit lower in the western areas of Benue State: kindred groups can be found in Cross River and Nasarawa States. According to Idoma National Forum (2014), the Idomas are the second largest ethnic group in Benue State and the native speakers occupy nine Local Government Areas. Working with the National Population Census (NPC) (2006), the population of the Idoma people is 1,307,627 (since the previous census figures are controversial and so not available in the Benue State NPC Office). They occupy areas of land which lie within both the broad valley of the Benue River and the Cross River Basin. As Erim (1981:3) explains

The main thrust of Idomaland is an elongated belt of territory from Benue River to the Northern fringes of Igboland. Averaging about two hundred and eight kilometers from North to South slightly over forty-eight kilometers from East to West, the area is flanked by the Tiv and the Igede to the East and the Igala to the West.

The geographical contours of this region, according to Ochefu (2002) cited in Okpe and Ochefu (2012) had been clearly established by the mid-nineteenth Century. As a result, regardless of the administrative and political changes introduced during and after the colonial era, Ochefu (ibid) noted that the Idoma ethnic label and territory has, by and large remained virtually unchanged.

1.1.1 Brief History of the Idoma People

The name „Idoma‟ refers both to the people and the language. There are various views about the origin of the people. Different authors have made attempts to explain the origin and history.

In the view of Ode (1981), the Idoma people are of four main groups namely: the Idoma, the Igede, the Ufia and the Akweya. Of these four groups, the Idoma and the Akweya have a tradition of migration from the confederacy of Kwararafa which the Idoma refer to as Apa. Igede tradition is silent about Apa, and Ufia tradition is definite on their migration from the Cross River to their present location. The ancestors of modern Idoma were by no means one. From available evidence, it can be deduced that some ancestors of modern Idoma migrated from east of Wukari in present day Taraba State and moved along the Benue River: some groups reached modern Igala land before they finally moved into Idoma division. Erim (1981) is of the view that the migration was in three phases. In the first phase, the earliest group left between 1625 and 1685; the phase two was movement from the north of Igala land between 1655 and 1745; and the last phase was a large scale emigration from Ankpa kingdom north-east of Idah between 1685 and 1745.

1.1.2 Idoma Language

One of the first linguistic scholars involved in classifying West African languages was Diedrich Westerman (a German). Odumuh (1994:8) states that in 1927, he (Westerman) isolated “a phylum which he referred to as Western Sudanic and distinguished six sub-branches: (1) West Atlantic (2) Mandingo (3) Gur (4) Kwa (5) Togo Remnant (6) Benue Cross”.

After Westerman, Joseph Greenberg, an American Linguist in 1955 classified all mainland

African languages into four major families, namely: Khoisan, Nilo-Sahara, Afroasiatic, and Niger-Kordofanian (initially called Niger-Congo).

What is important for this present study is their recommendation about names and terminology.

Williamson (1987) cited in Odumuh (1994:8) reports of such reforms names for more closely-related groups avoid geographical names that have been used at a higher level instead use the suffix -oid which was introduced by Greenberg in the term Bantoid to mean „the group of languages which includes Bantu‟ and in Jukunoid to mean „the group of languages which includes Jukun‟. Elugbe (1979) introduced Edoid, Akinkugbe (1980) introduced Yoruboid, and Armstrong (1981) Idomoid, for the groups which include Edo, Yoruba and Idoma respectively.

What this means is that Idoma belongs to a group of languages. It belongs to a language cluster called Idomoid. This language cluster includes Yala, Akweya, Doma, Idoma, Igede, Akpa, Ufia etc. Armstrong (1955) classifies Idoma language as belonging to “the Kwa family”, of which, „along with Ibo and two or three less widely spoken languages, it forms the easternmost extension.‟ The Kwa language family according to Greenberg (1963) extends along the Guinea Coast from Liberia to the Cross River of Nigeria and inland for about 200 miles. Ethno linguistic studies according to Okpeh and Ochefu (2012) have shown that the Idoma language belongs to a larger family group – the Niger-Congo language family. According to them, within this NigerCongo family, some languages including Idoma, Igala, Yoruba and Igbo belong to another subgroup, the Kwa language family. The Idoma, Igala and Yoruba are related languages. However, the languages differ phonetically and structurally. Their phonetic and structural make up are not the same. To some extent, Idoma is related to Igala, but Igala is more closely related to the Yoruba than the Idoma.

The first grammar of Idoma language appeared in 1935. This was put together by Captain R. C.

Abraham. He printed 20 copies of “the grammar of Otukpo dialect of Idoma” in bound form (Odumuh, 1994). This was edited and revised in 1954 and 114 copies were printed this time. The text contained extensive wordlists, proverbs and a chrestomathy in addition to the grammar. The book was republished in 1967.  According to Odumuh (ibid), Abraham adopted the International Phonetic Alphabet of the International Phonetic Association. In 1967, Abraham did a classification of the Idoma language and grouped it into five varieties which are:

1.              The Okpoga variety: this variety is spoken by the Okpoga and Edumoga people of

Okpokwu Local Government Area.

2.              The Enone variety: the Otukpa, Orokam, Owukpa and Ichama people speak this variety.

3.              The Otukpo (Enochi) variety: speakers of this dialect include the inhabitants of Ohimini and Otukpo Local Government Areas which comprise the Otukpo, Ugboju, Adoka, Oglewu, Ochobo, Onyangede, Okpiko and Aume districts.

4.              The Agatu variety: the inhabitants of Apa and Agatu Local Government Areas speak this

dialect.

5.              The Igumale variety: this is spoken by the people of Ado Local Government Area, which is made up of Igumale, Agila, Ulayi, Ijigban districts.

Idoma language according to Abraham (1967) in the above explaination is divided into five varieties but with a critical look at them, one can say that the Idoma language is divided into:

Central Idoma (which Apeh (2012) calls „Idoma proper‟) and the Idomoid. The Central Idoma comprises two major speech forms – Enochi and Enone. Enochi is spoken in the eastern part of

Idoma land, while the Enone is spoken in the western part. The Enochi and Enone variations as Apeh (ibid) says form the two major speech forms with sub-varieties under them. This is because there are different districts or villages under each of them. „Enochi‟ literally means „morning sun‟ and „Enone‟ means „evening sun‟. Enochi and Enone are mainly differentiated through the predominant use of the alveolar lateral /l/ and the roll /r/. While the /l/ is mostly used by the

Enochi, the /r/ is mainly used by the Enone speakers. The districts under Enochi include; Otukpo, Ugboju, Adoka, Oglewu, Onyangede, Agadagba, Okpiko, Ochekwu with Agatu which has a relative difference. Under Enone are; Otukpa, Okpoga, Orokam, Owukpa, Ichama with Agila as relatively variant (Apeh, ibid).

On the other hand, the Idomoids are the varieties that share very little mutual intelligibility with the “Idoma proper” dialects.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Language is not a uniform and unchanging system of communication. It is expected that a language spoken by a group of people in the same speech community should be understood by all, but with societal change, migration and other factors, it is a natural phenomenon for variations and changes to occur. The variety of language used by groups of people in neigbouring communities can be different depending on a number of reasons such as ethnic, regional, political, social, age and educational status. When talking about dialect variations, it is essential to note whether the speech forms have linguistic affiliations and whether or not they are mutually intelligible. Enone and Enochi speakers in Idoma land have lived as neigbours, and their speech forms are in varying degrees mutually intelligible. Sometimes, among the people, there are intelligibility problems during communication. At times, when a person who speaks Enone communicates with a person who speaks Enochi, there tends to be misinterpretation and a break in communication because some of the lexical items used by the Enone speakers are not known to the Enochi speakers and vice versa.

The misunderstandings that arise as a result of differences in the lexis and phonology of these speech forms have also affected the younger generation (especially those born and brought up outside Idoma community): some of the young people find it difficult to identify which variety is being spoken at any particular time. These difficulties call for an examination of the two speech forms with a view to ascertain whether they are dialects of the same language or whether they are distinct languages.

1.3       Research Questions

This study sets out to examine the variations that exist between Enone and Enochi speech forms.

Below are questions put forward which the study seeks to provide answers to:

1.              What are the differences in the areas of lexis and phonology in these speech forms?

2.              What factors are responsible for these variations?

3.              What is the level of mutual intelligibility between speakers of the two speech forms?

4.              In what ways do the neigbouring languages influence the speech forms that are selected for this study?

5.              What do the speech forms selected for this study reveal concerning dialects and languages?

1.4       Aim and Objectives of the Study

This research is generally aimed at identifying the areas of differences that exist between Enone and Enochi in Idoma land. Specifically, the research intends to achieve the following objectives:

1.              to examine the lexical and phonological variations in the two speech forms;

2.              to find out the reasons for the variations in these speech forms;

3.              to determine the level of mutual intelligibility between the speech forms;

4.              to determine the level to which Enone and Enochi are being influenced by the surrounding languages; and

5.              to find out what the two speech forms reveal about dialects and languages.

1.5       Justification and Significance of the Study

Different researches have been carried out around the world in different languages, for example, studies on English language, Chinese language, Spanish language, African languages etc have been done by different scholars. Even within Nigeria, studies on language and dialect variations have been carried out. An example of work on Nigerian languages is Twelve Nigerian Languages by Elizabeth Dunstan in 1969. Studies have been done on Idoma langauge by scholars like Abraham (1935), Armstrong (1950) and also researches have been carried out by undergraduate students on Idoma language. Different studies have been carried out on Otukpo, Agatu, Orakam, Owukpa, Agila, Otukpa, Adoka and Ugboju varieties.

The choice for Enone and Enochi is because, to a large extent, based on our investigation, no study has being carried out on comparing the lexis and phonology of Enone and Enochi varieties. Again, lexis and phonology are strong signifiers of speech forms and that is why the research focuses on them. Variations can also hinder or aid understanding and a number of these variations can be found in the two speech forms selected for this study.

The researcher who is from Enone has also lived with the Enochi people and has observed a number of differences that hinder mutual intelligibility found in the two speech forms. This study will help in understanding some of the variations and also to bridge the gap by examining the lexical and phonological variations left by previous researches, thereby giving new insight into the differences found.

A research of this nature will also offer a scholarly opportunity to contribute to the linguistic information available in the language. In addition, a documenting of these differences will help further studies on Idoma language.

1.6       Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study focuses on the lexical and phonological variations in Enone and Enochi, bringing out the similarities and differences that exist between them. Even though there are other subvarieties, the Owukpa variety will be used in this study as the norm for Enone while the Otukpo variety will be used for the Enochi.

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