Optimality Account of Constraints on Lexical Co-Occurrence in the Igbo Language : Focus on “Buy” Verb - Zu
OPTIMALITY ACCOUNT OF CONSTRAINTS ON LEXICAL CO-OCCURRENCE IN THE IGBO LANGUAGE : FOCUS ON “BUY” VERB - ZU
ABSTRACT
The principles and mechanisms that constrain the combinatorial properties of lexical items in some languages of the world have been noted in many works of recent linguistic studies. Igbo language, particularly, has been observed to be consistent with most of the principles of co-occurrence constraints found in many other languages. Some of the combinatorial restrictions that have received attention in the language include, among others, selectional restriction, inherent verb compliment, and collocation. The first-mentioned is the concern of this study. So far, discussions on this topic have always been generative, suggesting that the mechanism is rule-based. This work departs from this traditional approach. It has been argued, with sufficient illustrative back-up, in the study that the acceptable (co-occurable) verb-noun combinations in the output representations of the language are reflections of optimal satisfaction of constraint hierarchy at the input (underlying) level. The instrumentalities of the Optimality Theory are exploited in driving home this argument. The verb “zu” with various bought articles is used to illustrate how sensitive the specific forms of the verb are to the noun object they co-occur with. Data used are drawn from the Izhi dialect of the language (Igbo).
INTRODUCTION
Ìgbò verbs are semantically restricted from promiscuous association with other lexical items in the phrase. In other words, every Ìgbò verb bears some inherent features which must agree with the features that inhere in the adjacent or nearby complex symbol within the same structural unit. This mechanism is dealt with in generative grammar by a principle of selectional rules which specify the restriction on the permitted combinations of lexical items within a given grammatical context. The verb zu, meaning “buy” in Ìgbo has been observed to have
ABSTRACT
The principles and mechanisms that constrain the combinatorial properties of lexical items in some languages of the world have been noted in many works of recent linguistic studies. Igbo language, particularly, has been observed to be consistent with most of the principles of co-occurrence constraints found in many other languages. Some of the combinatorial restrictions that have received attention in the language include, among others, selectional restriction, inherent verb compliment, and collocation. The first-mentioned is the concern of this study. So far, discussions on this topic have always been generative, suggesting that the mechanism is rule-based. This work departs from this traditional approach. It has been argued, with sufficient illustrative back-up, in the study that the acceptable (co-occurable) verb-noun combinations in the output representations of the language are reflections of optimal satisfaction of constraint hierarchy at the input (underlying) level. The instrumentalities of the Optimality Theory are exploited in driving home this argument. The verb “zu” with various bought articles is used to illustrate how sensitive the specific forms of the verb are to the noun object they co-occur with. Data used are drawn from the Izhi dialect of the language (Igbo).
INTRODUCTION
Ìgbò verbs are semantically restricted from promiscuous association with other lexical items in the phrase. In other words, every Ìgbò verb bears some inherent features which must agree with the features that inhere in the adjacent or nearby complex symbol within the same structural unit. This mechanism is dealt with in generative grammar by a principle of selectional rules which specify the restriction on the permitted combinations of lexical items within a given grammatical context. The verb zu, meaning “buy” in Ìgbo has been observed to have
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