Patterns of Phonological Variations in the Standard Igbo and Ukwulu Variety of Igbo

Abstract

This study hinges on the patterns of phonological variation in the Standard Igbo and Ukwulu variety of Igbo (hereafter S.I and U.V). The study was carried out to enhance the preservation of the U.V and to bring to limelight the phonology of Ukwulu. It highlights the differences perceived in the phonology of the S.I and U.V. The study adopts the descriptive approach. It employs the purposive sampling technique. The Ibadan 400 wordlist of basic items amongst other wordlists were adopted. Data were also drawn from the recorded speeches of the respondents of U.V which were collected through semi structured interviews and also through the recording and listening in their naturally occurring speeches during conversations. The study adopts the Classical phonology theory for the analysis of the data. The Green and Igwe’s (1963) tone marking convention was adopted. The International Phonetic Alphabet was also adopted for the transcription of data. The findings of this study reveal that there are perceived differences and similarities in some aspects of the phonology of the S.I and U.V. In their differences, the U.V phonemes were established by the use of, basically the minimal pair test. It was observed that the phonemes of S.I and U.V differ in quantity as the S.I has thirty-six phonemes comprising eight vowels and twenty - eight consonants, whereas U.V has a total number of thirty - two phonemes comprising eight vowels as in the S.I and twenty-four consonants. The difference in the quantity of their phonemes is as a result of the absence of /h/ /f/ /r/ and /?/ in U.V which they substitute with /v/ /l/ and /j/. The findings of this work will serve as a reference material for further studies on the S.I and U.V of Igbo.