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)
YORUBA LANGUAGE Spring 2011~TESL 539 Infrmatinal Reprt By Kaitlin Francis
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. http://www.michaelbackmanltd.cm/845.html
Reginal Varieties There are an estimated 12-26 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.
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)
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. (http://www.mtherlandnigeria.cm/languages.html) (http://www.africa.uga.edu/yruba/sunds/alphabet/the_entire_alphabet.wav)
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/
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.
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.
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.
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 http://www.kwintessential.c.uk/resurces/glbal-etiquette/nigeria.html
Surces Bks and Internet Sites African study Institute, University f Gergia. (n.d.). An intrductin t aspects f Yruba grammar. Retrieved frm: http://www.africa.uga.edu/yruba/grammar.html Ager, S. (2008). Yruba. Omniglt: Writing systems & languages f the wrld. Retrieved frm: http://www.mniglt.cm/writing/yruba.htm Kwintessential. (n.d). Nigerian: Language, culture, custms and etiquette. Kwintessential. Retrieved March 21,2011, frm: http://www.kwintessential.c.uk/resurces/glbal-etiquette/nigeria.html Onike, R. (2009). Interference Phenmenn in the English-Yruba Bilingual Cntext, Retrieved March 21 2011, frm: http://rahaman.wrytestuff.cm/swa556725-interference-phenmenn-in- Yruba-English-Bilingual-Cntext.htm
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: http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/ Images Michael Backman LTD. Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Himalayan, Tribal & Sutheast Asian Art. Map f Nigeria. [Map]. Retrieved frm: http://www.michaelbackmanltd.cm/845.html
M.Ed. in TESL Prgram Nancy Clud, Directr Educatinal Studies Department Rhde Island Cllege, HBS 206 #5 600 Mt. Pleasant Avenue Prvidence, RI 02908 Phne (401) 456-8789 Fax (401) 456-8284 nclud@ric.edu The M.Ed. in TESL Prgram at Rhde Island Cllege is Natinally Recgnized by TESOL and NCATE