MORPHOSYNTAX OF NEGATION IN OKIGWE IGBO

Abstract

This paper examined the morphosyntax of negation in Okigwe dialect of Igbo. The descriptive research design was adopted. The study found out that simple declarative sentences in Okigwe Igbo are negated through the suffixation of the negative marker –hu/hụ on verb roots, which is realized in standard Igbo using -ghi negative marker. The study further found out that imperative sentences in Okigwe Igbo are negated through the suffixation of the negative maker –la/le on verb roots. While perfective sentence type in Okigwe Igbo is negated with the suffixation of the negative marker –bé, it is realized as –beghi in standard Igbo. The study concludes that negation is a very rich morphosyntactic construction in Igbo. The suffixation of a negative marker to a verb form or verb root in Okigwe Igbo is followed by a harmonizing verb prefix e/a if the subject of the sentence is a noun phrase (NP).