A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HEADS DIRECTIONALITY IN ENGLISH AND RIGWE LANGUAGE PHRASE STRUCTURES

Abstract

In order to have a full grasp of English language by nonnative speakers, many attempts have been made and among these is the learning of the structure of its phrase in comparison to other languages. So, the phrase structure cannot be ignored in learning the appropriateness of English language by second language learners and this is what this study is set to do. The study adopted the X-bar sub-theory of Chomsky's Principles and Parameters Theory as theoretical framework. The Rigwe data for this study were primarily derived from two sources: the first was the recording of expressions made by people in social and informal gatherings (festivals, local pubs, churches and markets) and the secondary source was from Rigwe New Testament Bible and How to Read and Write in Rigwe Language. Likewise, some relevant English structures were borrowed from the English syntax materials. The following are the findings: NPs function as subject, object and complement in English and Rigwe language; both languages have specifiers. The heads of NPs of both languages could be nouns or a pronoun and both languages' head of NPs could be qualified by adjectives. However, There are differences whereby English takes it determiners and adjectives pre-nominally whereas Rigwe takes its post-nominally; Rigwe pronouns functioning as heads do not indicate gender or neuter; Rigwe has double subject, but the second subject is a resumptive pronoun; where common nouns serve as heads in Rigwe they do not take determiners whereas in English, common nouns occur with determiners. Also, Rigwe NPs do not have complex NP structure. The specifiers of the adjective phrase of both languages are adverbs of degree. The head of Adjective Phrase in English comes last in English whereas in Rigwe it comes first with some exception. English has several kinds of adverbs of degree unlike Rigwe. The preposition a in Rigwe could be used as on, in, at, by and depends on context. Finally, the head of a verb phrase in English can have more one specifiers but in Rigwe one specifier is allowed. That is, not more than one auxiliary verb is expected to precede the lexical verb in Rigwe whereas in English more than two auxiliary verbs can precede a lexical verb. English and Rigwe show similarities and differences in their heads directionality. Hence, teachers of English in Rigwe speaking communities should emphasize on the areas of differences which would constitute learning difficulties Rigwe learners of English may encounter and how these problem areas can be tackled.