Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,206,860 members, 7,997,053 topics. Date: Thursday, 07 November 2024 at 09:05 PM

Igbo Grammar Questions - Culture - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Culture / Igbo Grammar Questions (802 Views)

Brave New World: Overhauling Igbo Grammar / Atyap People: A Kaduna Minority group (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply) (Go Down)

Igbo Grammar Questions by Godream: 12:12am On Apr 04, 2017
Yes, I posted this already in the translator thread but haven't received any responses yet so just wanted to try here smiley

Just working on some basic grammar and I can't seem to figure out the difference between:

"anyị chị anụ" and "unu akwọghị anyị"

I understand the difference in unu, anyị etc, but why use akwọ instead of chị ? for the negation in the second sentence would "unu achịghị anyị" work as well? or am I misunderstanding chị vs akwọ in the use of the meaning 'carry'?

In addition is there any reason why ọ is used instead of o? such as in this example sentence? "ọ na-esi anụ"

Still just trying to grasp the basics so I'd appreciate any assistance, also trying to figure out which dialect, Onitsha vs. Owerri, I am actually trying to focus on, since alot of material and books do not seem to indicate which dialect they are explaining..making it overly difficult to figure out verb stems etc

biko, achị m wink
Re: Igbo Grammar Questions by bigfrancis21: 5:49am On Apr 04, 2017
Godream:
Yes, I posted this already in the translator thread but haven't received any responses yet so just wanted to try here smiley

Just working on some basic grammar and I can't seem to figure out the difference between:

"anyị chị anụ" and "unu akwọghị anyị"

I understand the difference in unu, anyị etc, but why use akwọ instead of chị ? for the negation in the second sentence would "unu achịghị anyị" work as well? or am I misunderstanding chị vs akwọ in the use of the meaning 'carry'?

In addition is there any reason why ọ is used instead of o? such as in this example sentence? "ọ na-esi anụ"

Still just trying to grasp the basics so I'd appreciate any assistance, also trying to figure out which dialect, Onitsha vs. Owerri, I am actually trying to focus on, since alot of material and books do not seem to indicate which dialect they are explaining..making it overly difficult to figure out verb stems etc

biko, achị m wink

Nice one. From my understanding in Igbo so far, 'chi' is rarely used to refer to 'carry', only in limited sentences/usages such as 'nne okuko chi umu...' or 'nwanyi anwa chi umu ise', etc. In both usages, the 'chi' could be better described as more of the possessive 'has'/'have' rather than 'carry'. I'm not sure I've heard of the usage of 'chi' as in 'anyi chi unu' before. Igbo words for carry are more like 'bulu', 'palu', 'bute', 'kworo' etc. 'kworo' is more common in Southern Igbo dialects like Owerri. Another common usage of 'chi' would be 'onye fulu gi ebe I na-aba mba ga-eche na o nwelu ive I chi' (anyone who sees you shouting will thing you have/possess something' or referring to someone who has nothing in terms of material possessions but makes a lot of noise like he does. Basically, from my understanding 'chi' could be precisely translated to 'possess' or 'have' in English.

Also, the usage of 'chi' as in possessive seems to be more common in northern igbo dialects whereas 'nwere' would be more used in the south.
Re: Igbo Grammar Questions by chijiblaze(m): 10:07pm On Apr 06, 2017
Godream:
Yes, I posted this already in the translator thread....and I can't seem to figure out the difference between:

"anyị chị anụ" and "unu akwọghị anyị"

I understand the difference in unu, anyị etc, but why use akwọ instead of chị ? for the negation in the second sentence would "unu achịghị anyị" work as well? or am I misunderstanding chị vs akwọ in the use of the meaning 'carry'?

Kwọ is to carry someone, either on the back, Ọ kwọ nwa n'azụ. or carry in some kind of vehicle A na-akwọgharị ya na moto.
Chi as a verb to carry (bearing in mind other unrelated meanings of the word chi) can stand for to grasp something in the palm of ones hand. Or to hold a lot of items of a countable object. Chịrị okwute.
Or to heard/ lead animals. Ọ na-achị nnama.
Or a possessive characteristic that one has. O nweghi ihe Ọ chị

Godream:
In addition is there any reason why ọ is used instead of o? such as in this example sentence? "ọ na-esi anụ"

The rules of vowel harmony ndakọrịta udaume dictate that the pronoun must correspond with the same group as the vowel in the root verb.
O deela, heavy vowel O goes with another heavy vowel E in dee
Ọ pụọla, light vowel Ọ goes with another light vowel Ụ in pụọ
But in the present tense, the use of the auxiliary verb na- changes everything to light vowels to correspond with the A in na- so you have
Ọ na-eri light vowel Ọ goes with another light vowel A in na-. Not minding the heavy vowel I in ri.

Godream:
Still just trying to grasp the basics so I'd appreciate any assistance, also trying to figure out which dialect, Onitsha vs. Owerri, I am actually trying to focus on, since alot of material and books do not seem to indicate which dialect they are explaining..making it overly difficult to figure out verb stems etc

biko, achị m wink

Just learn central Igbo. That's the one written in books and used by the media. And it's understood by all Igbo and Igboid people.
Anambra Igbo is kinda marginal and restricted to Onitsha people. With time you'll get to understand both.

Godream: "anyị chị anụ"

Now this looks Ikwerreish! Unu not Anụ
Re: Igbo Grammar Questions by Godream: 2:31am On Apr 28, 2017
Thanks bigfrancis21 and chijiblaze,

So it seems much of the grammar I have found is central (or so called standard Igbo?) but in regards to proper pronunciation it seems I will have to go with whichever native speaker I can finally get ahold of (using a few online language sites as all of the dvd and audio cd material seems to be quite poor quality Eurotalk products with no information on the spearks or which/what accent/dialect being used..if it is all actually the same dialect which I am not able to figure out anyhow)

Thanks again, and I'll definitely follow up here as I uncover more mysteries in the near future that I can't seem to find answers from other sources aside from Nairaland. There doesn't seem to be very much online or even textbook materials on Igbo.

Thanks again!

(1) (Reply)

What Habit Do You Have That You Want To Drop ? / Difference Between Urhobo Accent And Warri (wafi )accent? / Oluwo Of Iwo As A Boy (photo)

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 30
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.