Anaphors in Ikwuano Igbo: Binding Theory Approach

Abstract

This work investigates Anaphors in Ikwuano Igbo. Anaphoric expressions are useful in the meaningful interpretations of NPs in a discourse. This study adopts the Binding Theory (BT) approach of GB syntax in examining anaphoric expressions in Igbo. Data for this work were elicited from native speakers of Ikwuano in Ikwuano area of Abia State, Nigeria. This paper was verified for cross-referencing purposes given the researcher’s native speaking intuition and introspection. This study investigates anaphors and antecedents and also demonstrates the concepts of C-command and binding, among others in Ikwuano Igbo. The work reveals that Ikwuano Igbo has two types of anaphors- the reflexive and the reciprocal anaphors. The study demonstrates that the binding theory investigates the syntactic relationship that can or must hold between a given proform and its antecedent. In this respect, anaphors (reflexive and reciprocal pronouns) behave very differently from personal pronouns.  The work demonstrates the concepts of binding, Co-indexation, Co-referentiality, locality constraint and C-constituent command to show dependency between the antecedents and the anaphors in Ikwuano Igbo. This paper also reveals that Ikwuano Igbo has anaphoric expressions that do not mark gender. The Binding Theory shows that the antecedent and the anaphor occur in the same governing category. Also it shows that a pronominal must be free in its governing category and an R-expression must be free everywhere in a sentence according to the regulating principles of the Theory. This paper reveals the descriptive nature of antecedent- anaphor relationship in the study of syntactic structures for grammaticality.