A PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOUND SYSTEM OF JABA LANGUAGE (ENGLISH AND LINGUISTIC PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
This study focuses on describing the sound system of Jaba. The research comes under the purview of phonology which is a branch of language study. Language is a major cultural phenomenon in the human society and therefore, an important regulator of individual consciousness and social interaction. It is vital in human existence that there is hardly any situation or human function where language is not required. Language as a means of communication is essential in all speech communication. There is power in language (speech). It is in recognition of this fact that Omachonu (2011) cited a philosopher, Daniel Webster who once remarked that, “If all my talents and power were to be taken away from me by some inscrutable providence, and I had my choice of keeping but one, I would unhesitatingly ask to be allowed to keep the power of speaking; for through it, I will quickly recover all the rest”
The above philosophically sums up the efficacy and indispensability of language. Language is the facilitator of human essence. All inventions and achievements ever recorded in human existence have their roots in language as a veritable instrument of thought and an indispensable channel or a tool for communication. Many scholars have given different definitions as to what language is. Prominent among these, is that which was put forward by Edward Sapir as quoted in Omachonu (2011) which states that “language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols”. In other words, language is simply a system of communication.
Omachonu (2011) defines linguistics as “the scientific study of language(s)”. This short but precise definition will lead to the question of what does it mean to do a scientific study of language or study language scientifically? In attempting this question, one will have to consider the role(s) of science in the study of language. By the scientific study of language, it is meant that linguistics as a discipline seeks “to study language through investigations by means of controlled and empirically verifiable observations, and with reference to some general theory of language structure” (Lyons, 1998). Science, after all, is that body of knowledge obtained or acquired through observations and testing of facts. To say that linguistics is scientific, “it means that linguistic study, in a nutshell, is characterized by three major phenomena or principles; these are explicitness, systematicity and objectivity” (Omachonu, 2011)
