OBOLO CURRENT ALPHABET

The Obolo current Alphabet 

            According to Emananjo (1996:36), alphabet refers to the letters used in writing any language. The letters of the alphabet vary from language to language. Obolo alphabet comprises single letters and digraphs. The language also makes use of diacritics to enable adequacy in their writing system. The Obolo letters of the alphabet are arranged as follows:

Aa       Bb       CH ch            Dd       Ee       Ff        Gg       GB gb GW gw           Hh Ii Jj Kk KP kp      KW kw            Ll         Mm      Nn       NW nw NYny            Ññ       Oo

Ọọ       Pp Ss              Tt        Uu      Ww     Yy      ( Zz)

1.1  The Obolo Vowel

            Obolo has six phonemic vowels which are written as follows:

·                     a [a] as in tap “put”

·                     e [e] as in ebek “neck”

·                     i [i] as in ifet “beard

·                     o [o] as in lom “bite”

·                     ọ [ọ] as in ọkpọlọk “throat”

·                     u [u] as in utọñ “ear”

CONSONANTAL PROCESSES IN OBOLO LANGUAGE

CONSONANTAL PROCESSES IN OBOLO

 A SEMINAR

PRESENTED BY

OKON, INIOBONG ASUQUO

SUBMITTED TO

DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS

UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to explain changes which Obolo consonant undergo due to the environment they occur. Also, this work aims explain the consonantal processes in Obolo. The method of data collection used in this study is descriptive approach. Data was elicited verbally and analyzed before being used to describe the nature of the consonantal processes in the language. From the findings made by the researcher, it has been observed that Obolo consonants have weakening, deletion, and glide formation processes. In Obolo, there are no cases of consonant lengthening and insertion. In the concluding part of this work, the researcher suggests that Obolo should write all the words in their original forms. And there should be consistency in the spelling of words for the learners to avoid ambiguity.  

1.    Introduction

According to Aaron (2000:57), the Obolo language is spoken by 100,000 people living in a riverine area of about 630sq.km on the south eastern coast of Nigeria. The area is administered by three Local governments in two states. The larger part, Western Obolo, is in the Bonny Local Government Area in the Rivers State. While the smaller part, Eastern Obolo is divided into two Local Government Areas, name: Ikot Abasi and Eket Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State. Obolo is a Benue Congo Language of the Lower Cross subgroup of the Cross River group of languages.

There are six major dialect groups in the language, namely: (from west to east): Ataba, Unyeada, Ngo, Okoroete, Iko and Ibot Obolo. Ataba dialect is spoken in all the towns and villages of Ataba while Unyeaba dialect is spoken in all Unyeada and Asarama towns and villages, and in Egendem. Ngo dialect is spoken in all the towns and villages on Ngo Island (except Okoroboile) and the adjacent islands from Oronja through Adaradi to Ebukuma.

Okoroeter dialect is spoken in Okoroboile. Okoroinyong, Ibom Ama Jaaba (except Okorobilom), Obianga, Emeroke, Amadaka Okoroete, Okoromkho and Okoroiti. Iko dialect is spoken in Iko, Atabrikang I, and Ikonta, while Ibo Obolo dialect is spoken in Ibot Obolo. Ntafit, Atabrikang II, Elile and Okorobilom.

He further explained that the first published materials in Obolo language were some almanacs and calendars which were printed in early 1940’s. Writing in the language may have started much earlier. Since the first almanacs and calendars, many hymn and prayer books have been printed by some churches in the area. Apart from these, in 1968, Mr. M. M. Urang wrote the first primer in the Obolo language. it was the first published non-church book in the language.

One thing characterized all of these literary works. Everyone spelled in his own way. There was no standard spelling system. The first professional linguistic analysis of Obolo was done between 1981 and 1983 by Dr. Nickolas Faraclas, of the University of California, Berkeley who was directed to Obolo by Prof. K. Williamson of the University of Port Harcourt and the Rivers Readers Project, to work with the then Obolo language committee. Faraclas analyzed the language and wrote an extensive description of the phonology and grammar to the language, and helped to design the Orthography.

    The Obolo consonants segment range between twenty one and twenty seven. Phonetically, Obolo has twenty seven phonetics consonant sounds according to the following groupings: ten stops, four nasals, eight fricatives, one trill, 1 tap and three approximants.    

There are no nasalized vowel phonemes in Obolo, but all vowels may become slightly nasalized in the environment of a nasal consonant, Faraclas (1987). Obolo does not permit consonant clustering in a word. Instead of clustering to occur, and epenthesis vowel is usually inserted to break the clustering.

Phonemic consonant chart in Obolo

	Bilabial	Labiodentals	Dental	Alveolar	Post Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio velar
Stop	p    b		t	d			k    g	kp   gb
Nasal	m			n			η
Trill				r
Fricative		f		s         z
Affricate					      
Approximant				l		j		w

The chart above, shows twenty one phonemic consonants in Obolo as classified by Faraclas (1983).

2.    DISTRIBUTION OF OBOLO PHONETIC CONSONANTS

Oral stops

• [p]     occurs only in word final position as in

1. [été kóp] - Navel

            [úkúp] - Bone

• [b]     occurs in word initial position as in   

2. [búm] - break. It     also occurs in word medial position as in   [iba] - two                                                  

                 [mbòm]  -  fishing   

• [t]     occurs in stem medial position as in  

3. uton [utη] - hear

        Tap [tap] - put

• [d]     occurs in word initial position as in

4. [duk] - ‘dry something’. It occurs in word medial as in [udun] - back

[odumukot] – heel

It also occurs in word final position as in

[ifet] – beard

• [k]     occurs in word or stem initial position as in

5. [kep] - ‘cut’.         Occurs in word     medial position as in iko [ik] - horn. Also     occur in word final as in ebek     ubok [ebeRubok] - arm

        [akpalek] - skin

• [g]     occurs in word initial as in

6. [ge] - one.

        Occurs in word medial position as in

        ogoon [ogooη] -     mountain

        [uga] - check

• [kp]     occurs in word initial as in

7. [kpo] - look

        Occurs in word medial position as in [ikpa] - book

        It does not occur in word final position

• [gb]         occurs in word initial position as in

8. gbo [gb] - vomit

        Gban uton [gbaη.utoη] – listen.

        It occurs in word medial position.

        [ogbuk] – fountain

        [ugbaha] – blessing

• [kw]         occurs in word initial position as in

9. [kwek] – prevent

        [kwala] – snore

        It occurs in word medial position as in [okwum] - basket

• [gw]     occurs in word initial position as in

10. [gwen] – call

Nasal stops

[m]         occurs in all positions as in

11. [men] - swallow (initial     position)

            [ama] - town (medial position)

            [iwm] - nose (word final position)

[m]       also occur as a homoganic nasal before a bilabial consonant     as in

            [m-bm] - fishing. [mmuη] - I saw

            [n- taak] - I asked

            Niak [n-iak] - palm front

            Nde [nde] – brain

• [n]    occurs in word initial position as in

12. [na] – come

• []     occurs in word initial position as in

13. nyan [an]  sprinkle

        Unyana [uaa] – salvation (word medial position)

• [η]     occurs in word/syllable initial position as in

14. ña [ηa] - my

        Sana [saηa] - remove (occurs in word medial position)

Fricatives

• [β]     occurs in intervocalic position. It serves as variant             form of [p/b] as in

15. [etiβini] - eighty.

• [f]     occurs in initial position as in

16. fana [faηa] - break

            It occurs in medial position as in

            ifana [ifana]  argument.

• [s]    occurs in word initial, and medial position as in

17. [saba] - go over,

        [son] - bitch.

            [isi] - face

• [z]    occurs only in word medial position as in

18. [izek] - hair

                    [eze] - blood

• []     occurs in word initial position as in

19. [ien] - eye

        It occurs in word medially as in

        [ukp] - chien [ukien] - eye brow

• []     occurs only in word medial position as in

20. [eit] - chest.

        It occurs in variant with [z] which is dialectal. [z] is used         in Unyeada but Ibot Obolo prefers [].

• []     occurs intervocalically following front vowels as in

21. iha [ia] – finish

            Iyihi [ijii] “ swelling”

Approximants

• [l]     This is lateral approximant. It occurs in word initial             position as in

22. [lep] - buy

            alom [alm] “tongue”. (It occurs word in medial             position).

• [w]     occurs in word initial position as in

23. [wulu] - jump

        Occurs in word medial position as in [uwu] - house

• [j]     occurs in word/stem initial position as in

24. yiyala [jijala] - scatter

Trill

• []     occurs in intervocalic position following back vowel:     25.    irak otu [iraotu].
• []     occurs in intervocal position and after an obstruent as a variant of t/d as in

    26.    arak [aak].

Obolo Phonetic Consonant Chart of Obolo

	Bilabial	Labio-Dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial velar	uvular	Labialised velar
Stop	p        b		t	d		k    g	kp   gb		Kw gw
Nasal	m			n		η
Trill				r				R
Fricative	β	f		s          z
Affricate				        
Approximant				l	j		w	ʶ
syllabic nasal				ṇ

The chart above, shows twenty one phonetic consonants in Obolo as classified by Faraclas (1983).

3.    CONSONANTAL PROCESSES IN OBOLO

    A number of consonantal processes are associated with the consonant as presented in the chart and distribution. This process includes:

• Weakening: In Obolo, word final plosives become weakened to their homorganic continuants intervocally at a morpheme boundary. The weakening process is common and frequent since all the verbs in Obolo end in voiceless consonant. Examples of consonant weakening in Obolo are illustrated below:

Table 2:

	Underlying form	Surface form	Gloss
27.	Irakotu íràkòtú	[íràRòt ]	Palate
28.	Akpat ubok	[akpaRubk]	Fore arm
29.	Etighi	[etiRi]	Okro
30.	Etib-ini	[etiβini]	Eighty
31.	Ukupoga	[ukuβaga]	Jaw
32.	Ukupudom	[ukuβúdòm]	Back bone

In example (27) above, voiceless velar plosive [k] becomes weakened at morpheme boundary. It is weakened to uvular trill. This weakening occurs due to the influence of the vowels. This could further be illustrated using the formal notation

/K/             [R] /

Voiceless bilabial plosive [P] becomes weakened when it occurs intervocalically. This could also be illustrated using the formal notation as in /P/                           [β]  /v-v

• Deletion: This refers to the omission of one or more sounds in a word. Sometimes, sounds are elided to make a word easier to pronounce. Consonant deletion is attested in Obolo. Though, there are very few cases. Example:

    33.        Ukup chien    [ukuien] -    eye brow

      34.        Nan-chien    - [naien] - blind

     35.        Kwak akwak- [kwaakwa]    - beat drum

    36.        Udon    atat    - [udaatat] - ant hole

    In example (33) above, the voiceless bilabial stop [p] is deleted when it occurs before post alveolar affricate at morpheme boundary.

    In example (35 & 36) above, the voiceless velar stop is deleted when it preceeds a low back vowels at morpheme boundary.

Other types of consonant deletion in Obolo include:

• Glide Deletion: Glide is a sound that has the quality of a high vowels and functions as consonant before or after vowels. Urua (1987:96) asserts that a glide which is homorganic to a preceding vowel may be deleted when it occurs between two vowels. This is applicable to both the palatal and labial velar. The data below shows palatal glide deletion in Obolo
• Palatal Glide Deletion

37.    Biye        bije    -    [bie] – lean (against)

38.    Ufiye egit    - [ufijeit]        [ufieit] – palpit (of heart)

From the data above the palatal glide [j] is deleted when it occurs intervocalically.

• Labial-velar Glide Formation:  In Obolo, the voiceless bilabial plosive and bilabial nasal at the end first word become labial velar approximant [w] in morpheme boundary, as in

a.    Tap akpa - [twaakpa] “put maize”

b.    Tem inorie - [twiinorie] “cook food”

c.    ogu + ataak - [ogwataak] “traitor”

d.    ogu + okot –[ogwɔkɔd] “musician”

   

CONCLUSION

    In conclusion, this study has explained the various consonantal processes that occur in Obolo language. In this study, it has been observed that voiced consonant in Obolo never occur at the end of a word. Only the voiceless plosives and nasals occur in the word final. Also, there are no cases of  consonant germinates, insertion and consonant clustering. Formal notation has been used to explain some of the rules governing the Obolo consonant system. It is advisable for Obolo to write all the words in full with their original forms for clarity.

               

REFERENCES

Aaron,E.(1983)  Inter-propositional Relations in Obolo: An MA, thesis present to the Faculty of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, University of Texas at Arlington.

Emananjo , N. (2000) Orthography of Nigerian Languages: Abuja. Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council.

Ene-Awaji, E. (2015) History of Obolo Language: Bible Translation Organization. Agwut  Obolo, Rivers State.      

Faraclas, N.  (1983) A Grammar of Obolo: Indiana University Linguistics,         Bloomington.

Lyons, J. (1981) Language and Linguistics: Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Urua,E.(2000) Ibibio phonetics and phonology: Port Harcourt. Grand Orbit Communication Ltd.