Semelfactivity in Igbo

• 作者: Sopuruchi Christian Aboh Amarachi Jennifer Onuorah
• 来源期刊: 宏观语言学
• 学科: 教育
• 关键词: semelfactivity semelfactive verbs adverbials IGBO COMPLEMENTS
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（2）
• 页码范围: 56-63
• 页数: 8页
• 分类号: G62

摘要

This paper examines semelfactivity in the Igbo language. It seeks to highlightsemelfactive verbs and other semelfactive sentential elements. The data for the study wereobtained through introspection which were confirmed by two native speakers of Igbo andwere analysed descriptively. From the study, it was discovered that the semelfactive verbsin Igbo that co-occur with bound verb complements for emphasis are takwu ‘whisper’, lo‘swallow’, nwụ ‘die’ and hụpe ‘glimpse’ whereas kọ ‘scratch’, tabi ‘blink’, ze ‘sneeze’, kụ‘knock’, ti ‘shout’, wuli ‘jump’ (wu ‘jump’. -li ‘upward’ as opposed to wuda ‘jumpdownwards)’, gba ‘kick’, nyụ ‘fart’ and kwa ‘cough’ that take inherent complement verbs.The research also revealed that na mberede ‘suddenly’ and na ntabi anya ‘in a twinkle ofan eye’ are semelfactive adverbials in the Igbo language. Based on the findings, the paperconcludes that in Igbo, semelfactivity entails a one-time action and a spontaneous orinstantaneous action.