Comparative Study of English and Hausa Nominal Phrases

ABSTRACT

This studies the occurrence of the constructions and functions of NPs in English and Hausa languages and finds out the similarities and differences that exist between them.

Data are collected from primary and secondary sources, i.e. published Grammar, , and Comparative Analysis, unpublished lecture notes; internet-based material as well as personal observation.

The data are analyzed by presenting well-formed and ill-formed , which were compared, to find areas of differences and similarities. An analysis was also made, using a linguistic tree diagram, tables, and asterisk symbols (*) to mark ungrammatical expressions.

This work is placed within the of existing literature on “Hausa and English Grammar and Linguistics” and the teaching and learning of both languages.

This will help the researchers in with a concise knowledge of Hausa and English NPs construction, functions and enable them to know the similarities and differences that exist.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page     i

Approval page/certification             ii

Dedication                iii

Acknowledgments iv

Table of content            vi

Abstract       viii

CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION

• Background to study 1
• Statement of problem 2
• Aims and Objectives 3
• Significance of study 3
• Research Questions 4
• Scope and limitation 5
• Methodology 7
• Conclusion 8

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

• Comparative Analysis 9
• Noun Phrase 13
  • Functions of NP in Hausa and English Languages 23
  • Classifications of Noun 24
  • Concrete or abstract 25
  • Common and proper nouns 27
• Other classes of noun 28
• Types of pronouns 29
• Adjectives 43
• Determiners 46
• Conclusion 50

CHAPTER THREE

• Introduction 51
• Presentation of Data and Data analysis 53
• Head Minimal constitution 53
• Head + Numeral structure 57
• Head + Adjectives 59
• Demonstratives 62
• Possessives/Genitives 64
• NP + Qualitative Nouns 67
• Pre-modification 68
• Post-modification 71
• Conclusion 74

CHAPTER FOUR

• Introduction 75
• Summary of findings 75
• Conclusions 82

References   83

INTRODUCTION

Background Of Study

The study of grammar has become very important as far as are concerned. This is because, in our daily use of language, we try to put every part of speech (noun, verb, etc.) in its appropriate position to avoid misinformation in the course of writing and communication.

The English language is a widely spoken language almost everywhere in the world, and Hausa is a language spoken in some parts of Northern Nigeria and even outside Nigeria.

Both are taught as subjects in public and private schools. These two languages interrelate and contrast with each other morphologically, syntactically, and even semantically.

This work is based on the syntactic level, i.e. (the comparative study of English and Hausa Nominal phrase). Typologically; Hausa and English share the same order of arranging words to form phrases and sentences (SVO).

REFERENCES