THE STUDY OF IGBO AND CHINESE NEGATIVE MARKERS

Abstract

Igbo is a native language or mother tongue (MT) in Nigeria; while Chinese is a foreign language to the Igbo learners. In this paper, the similarities and the differences between negation patterns in Igbo and Chinese have been determined. The contribution of this is that Igbo L1 scholars learning Chinese as well as the Chinese teachers teaching them are better guided towards resolving any difficulty arising from the differences in le arning Chinese. We believe that with negation, there will be remarkable improvement on the understanding and interaction between both languages. The findings of the work reveal that each language has a peculiar way of expressing negation. Igbo negative markers are -ghi; - beghi; and a-le- … -la/-le. Whereby Chinese has many negative markers, including bu, fei, wu, fou, wei, mei etc but bu and mei (you) are the most commonly used in standard modern Chinese. The research work is based on comparative study of negative markers in Igbo and Chinese language. The researcher uses native speakers in Chinese intuitive knowledge to supply the data primarily. As well, some data were gathered over a period of time conversations with other native speakers. Printed materials served as secondary data.