Aspects of the Tense System of Efik

Abstract

The Efik language has grammatical tense, inarguably. In most literature on Efik (and Ibibio, a sister language) however, a tripartite or multifarious division is always proffered (cf. Ward 1933; Jeffreys 1935; Essien 1983, 1990, 1991, 1999; Cook 1985; Udosen 2004; Okon 2006; Offiong & Mensah 2003; Mensah 2008). Our argument in this paper is in direct contrariety with these earlier postulations. Data for this work were elicited from native speakers (using instruments like structured sentences, essays) and the library. Our analysis, using a simple descriptive approach, fleshes out a compelling argument for a binary tense division, past and future. Part of our hypotheses is that me, the so-called present tense marker, is a completive aspectual morpheme. And, if, when, me tends to encode a temporal function, it is usually the recent past. A more detailed analysis of the Efik tense corpus is recommended, however, to engender more profitable insights to a definitive tense categorization.