| Yoruba, has, for the most part, been analyzed by earlier grammarians from the perspective of English, thus leading to an English-oriented analysis of the language. This study presents a strictly aspect-based analysis of Yoruba and its application to Tutuola's work and Nigerian English. Twelve identified aspects are subdivided into two main categories comprising five simple and seven complex aspects.; This dissertation makes an original contribution to Yoruba grammar by its presentation of Yoruba as an aspect-based language, rather than a tense-based one, as previous analyses have often tended to suggest. A closer look at Tutuola's English reveals that many of the idiosyncracies of his language are a result of the unconscious transfer of the aspectual system of his native Yoruba into the English of his writings. What this shows is that in Nigeria, the Yoruba language has influenced the way English is written and interpreted. Data from The Palm-Wine Drinkard, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and The Brave African Huntress, three of Amos Tutuola's earliest novels, were used to demonstrate this important influence on the work of Tutuola, a native of Yorubaland who, in choosing to write in English, also chose not to leave behind many of the features of his first language.; The implications of this study are several. At the disciplinary level, the study affords the opportunity to capture linguistic data as they develop and to provide fresh insights into the internal workings of the Yoruba verb phrase in general and aspectual relations in particular. These insights enhance our understanding of the Yoruba language as a linguistic system. The study has implications for the history of the English language. The study also leads to an understanding that language contact is a two-way process. When two languages come into contact, mutual influences at various levels of grammar and usage are inevitable.; At the national and international levels, our understanding of the language of Tutuola's work can affect the way English is taught in nations where English is a second language. Our understanding also can affect the way Yoruba is taught to speakers of English as a first language. The results of this study also have general implications for the theory of second language learning and teaching and for the science of language in general, as it could lead to a better understanding of the role the mother tongue plays in the acquisition of a second language in non-native contexts. |
