Affixes and Tone in Aguata Igbo: A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

This work sets out to investigate the behavior of tone in the affixes involved in the formation of three aspects in Aguata Igbo. The dialect group comprises of three main dialects; Amaiyi, Orumba and Aguata. Three respondents are selected to represent each dialect. The data are collected through personal interview and analyzed descriptively to find out how these aspects are realized in each dialect to ascertain their level of similarities and differences. In the findings, there are variations both in the affixes and in the tone patterns indicating that they are different (though related) dialects of the Igbo language, contrary to popular notion that they all speak the same dialect.