Rhode Island College

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1 Rhde Island Cllege M.Ed. In TESL Prgram Language Grup Specific Infrmatinal Reprts Prduced by Graduate Students in the M.Ed. In TESL Prgram In the Feinstein Schl f Educatin and Human Develpment Language Grup: Yruba Authr: Kaitlin Francis Prgram Cntact Persn: Nancy Clud (nclud@ric.edu)

2 YORUBA LANGUAGE Spring 2011~TESL 539 Infrmatinal Reprt By Kaitlin Francis

3 Intrductin Yruba is part f the Niger-Cng family f 1,419 languages spken in Central and Suth Africa. It is ne f mre than 400 languages spken in Nigeria, spken by abut 19 millin peple. Nigeria is ne f the 22 mst linguistically diverse cuntries in the wrld. Abut 22 millin peple wrldwide are native Yruba speakers. The Yruba Diaspra includes: Benin, Tg, United Kingdm, United States, Cuba, and Brazil.

4 Reginal Varieties There are an estimated Yruba dialects that are spken in different parts f Nigeria. There are 3 majr dialect areas: Nrthwest, Sutheast, and Central Yruba. The areas exhibit majr differences in phnlgical, lexical, and syntactic prperties.

5 Orthgraphy Yruba first appeared in writing during the mid 19 th century. Until then it had been little knwn utside f West Africa. By 1850, English Christian Missinaries started t develp a writing system based n the Rman alphabet. It became ne f the first West African languages t have a written grammar and a dictinary. The standardized written frm helped t create a unifrm Yruba identity despite differences in dialect. (UCLA Language Materials Prject)

6 7 ral vwels 5 nasal vwels Yruba is a tnal language with 3 tnes: high, mid, lw. Additinal letters ç, ô, ÿ and gb Des nt use the letters c, q, v, x, z Diacritic marks are placed with certain letters t prduce distinct sunds fund in the Yruba language. ( (

7 Prblems with Phnlgy Vwels- Yruba has a cmparatively simple vwel system (7). N distinctin is made in vwel length. All are prnunced shrt. Native Yruba speakers ften experience difficulty with lng vwels in English. Example: pull and pl & sit and seat Cnsnants- Yruba language lacks cnsnant clusters. Vwels almst always fllw a cnsnant directly. In English cnsnant clusters may sund indistinct r may be mitted. Example: they/day, tree/three, thin/tin, knees/needs At the syllabic level, Screwdriver might cme ut this way t the Yruba speaker. su/ku/di/ra/fa/

8 Prblems with Phnlgy (cnt.) Stress & Rhythm- Yruba is tnal and syllable timed, while English is stress timed and intnatinal. This may create sme prblems fr the English learner. In Yruba, the stress is n the first syllable and syllables are assumed t be equal in length. Thus a Yruba-English bilingual ften stresses every syllable in the utterance he prduces in English. This strngly affects the rhythm f English (Onike, 2009). Example: cha'ra'cter instead f character r Ma'ry instead f Mary. This ften causes speakers t experience a jerkiness in timing & intnatin.

9 Prblems with Grammar Native Yruba speakers ften experience prblems with quantifiers and prnun/gender. Als, Yruba has n definite r indefinite articles (Swan & Smith, 2001). Uncuntable nuns are ften wrngly classified. Ex: We had a rain this mrning. Other nuns that are cmmnly mistaken: firewd, fd, furniture, luggage. Definite articles are ften mitted with names and titles. Ex: D yu want t speak t Teacher? There is n class system f nuns in Yruba. Therefre, learners ften experience cmmn errrs with prnuns. There is a tendency t avid prnuns in writing and it ften sunds wrdy and repetitive.

10 Prblems with Grammar (cnt.) The verb system (such as tense) and the expressin f passive. Chice f apprpriate tense frm can cause prblems. The regular endings and use f auxiliaries in the simple present and past are ften cnfused. (Swan & Smith, 2001). She want t speak English, but she dn t knw hw. He desn t ges t schl. He didn t came back. I was having n mney.

11 Cmmunicatin Styles The fllwing features are cmmn amngst Yruba speakers: animatin & emtinal expressin humr direct eye cntact, althugh they may gaze at frehead r shulders if they d nt knw yu well, as very direct eye cntact can be cnsidered intrusive nn-verbal gestures utging & friendly slightly luder tne direct cmmunicatin lengthy persnal greetings may smile t mask true feelings especially when disappinted r cnfused

12 Surces Bks and Internet Sites African study Institute, University f Gergia. (n.d.). An intrductin t aspects f Yruba grammar. Retrieved frm: Ager, S. (2008). Yruba. Omniglt: Writing systems & languages f the wrld. Retrieved frm: Kwintessential. (n.d). Nigerian: Language, culture, custms and etiquette. Kwintessential. Retrieved March 21,2011, frm: Onike, R. (2009). Interference Phenmenn in the English-Yruba Bilingual Cntext, Retrieved March , frm: Yruba-English-Bilingual-Cntext.htm

13 Surces Swan, M., & Smith, B. (2001) Learner English : A teacher s guide t interference and ther prblems. Secnd editin. New Yrk: Cambridge University Press. UCLA Internatinal Institute. (n.d.) Yruba. UCLA language materials prject: Teaching resurces fr less cmmnly taught languages. Retrieved frm: Images Michael Backman LTD. Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Himalayan, Tribal & Sutheast Asian Art. Map f Nigeria. [Map]. Retrieved frm:

14 M.Ed. in TESL Prgram Nancy Clud, Directr Educatinal Studies Department Rhde Island Cllege, HBS 206 #5 600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue Prvidence, RI Phne (401) Fax (401) The M.Ed. in TESL Prgram at Rhde Island Cllege is Natinally Recgnized by TESOL and NCATE