A Contrastive Study of the Progressive Marker in English and Ikwerre Languages

Abstract

The Ikwerre and English languages differ in some linguistic features due to their different linguistic backgrounds. One of such linguistic features is the inflectional markers/affixes which are used to mark different grammatical categories. These differences often create problems to the Ikwere learners of English as a second language. This paper, therefore examines the progressive markers in English and Ikwere languages so as to identify areas of differences in both languages that may pose problems to the Ikwere learners of English as well as areas of similarities that make the learning and proficiency in the use of the progressive marker in the target language easier. The data were collected from the language samples and analysed using the descriptive method. The theoretical framework adopted in this study is Robert Ledo’s contrastive analysis (CA). The findings of this study revealed that in both languages, the progressive inflectional markers are suffixes. The study also revealed that while English language marks the progressive verb form with the “-ing” suffix, Ikwere language marks the progressive verb form with the ‘-ga suffix. This paper further revealed that while English language marks the present progressive verb forms with the present forms of the auxiliary verb (be), main verb and the “ing” marker, the Ikwere language marks the present progressive form with the ‘ga’ suffix. This paper further observes that while English forms its past progressive forms with the past form of the auxiliary verb (be), the main verb and the “ing” marker, the Ikwere language forms it past progressive with the presence of the suffix ‘ga’ followed by the factative rV suffix. This paper therefore recommends that Ikwere learners of English should make conscious effort to master the areas of differences in the use of the progressive markers in both languages so as to avoid transfer of rules to the English language.