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- Language Family: Other Benue-Congo
- Topic #1: Verbs
- Topic #2: Typology
Towards a classification of Igbò verbs: the problem of stative verbs in the Orlu dialect of Igbò
The criteria for the classification of Igbò verbs have generated controversies among old and modern linguists and grammarians of indigenous and foreign descents. Some maintain that stative verbs (also called State verbs) are marginal in number and are therefore not appropriate to be used among the criteria for classifying Igbò verbs. This study explores the Orlu variety of Igbò (a dialect spoken by a sizeable population in the Orlu area of Imo State in South-Eastern Nigeria) in order to justify the validity of including stative verbs among the criteria for the classification of Igbò verbs. Our empirical analyses show that though stative verbs are fewer in number than the dynamic verbs, (also called verbs of activity and movement) they have non-negligible, distinctive, morpho-syntactic and semantic behaviours which lend credence to their inclusion among the criteria for classifying Igbò verbs.
Les critères de la classification des verbes en langue Igbò ont fait l’objet d’une controverse parmi les linguistes et grammairiens anciens et modernes d’origines autochtone et étrangère. Certains d’entre eux croient que les verbes statifs (dits aussi verbes d’état) sont trop peu nombreux pour qu’ils soient considérés parmi les critères de classification verbale en Igbò. Ce travail a pour objectif d’étudier le parler d’Orlu (un dialecte Igbò parlé par une population importante dans l’agglomération d’Orlu dans l’Etat Imo au sud-est du Nigeria) afin de justifier la validité de l’inclusion des verbes statifs parmi les critères de classification des verbes Igbò. Notre analyse empirique démontre que quoique les verbes statifs soient moins nombreux que les verbes dynamiques, (dits aussi verbes d’activité et de mouvement) ils ont des comportements morpho-syntaxiques et sémantiques distinctifs non négligeables qui permettent de les inclure parmi les critères pour la classification de verbes Igbò.