SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF RELATIVE CLAUSE IN GHÒTÙỌ̀

Abstract

Relativisation is the process of inserting a relative clause in front of the Noun Phrase which precedes it. The structure of the Relative clause remains controversial, as current attempts to replace adjunction theories are fraught with conceptual difficulties. This work examines the relative clause as a syntactic process in Ghòtùọ̀. Chomsky’s Minimalist Program was adopted as a framework. Ethnographic design was used. Twenty-four resident native speakers between the ages of fifty and seventy-nine, two from each of the twelve quarters of Ghòtùọ̀, Owan North Local Government Area of Edo State, were purposely selected. Primary data were elicited through oral interviews using the Ibadan Syntactic Paradigms and the Ibadan 400 Wordlist, while secondary data were sourced from primers and recorded audio clips. Data were subjected to inter-linear glossing, syntactic and qualitative analysis. Our study reveals that the language does not allow adjective as one of the constituents of NP but rather the N will be relativised. Sentence also cannot be relativised. Also, nhi the operator head in the language has some contrastive features which often trigger movement into the Spec which is contrary to some of the already propounded theories. Relativisation is a projection of the head NP and movement is by copy and Paste which is in accordance with language acquisition process. Ghòtùọ̀, being a minority language which the native speakers are gradually desserting by shifting to neighbouring languages may be lost forever if not documenting.