CLAUSE COMBINATIONS IN GOKANA: A FOCUS ON RELATIVE CLAUSES

Abstract

This paper descriptively investigated relative clauses as a type of complex constructions in Gokana, an Ogonoid language spoken by over 400,000 people in the Delta-Cross of the Cross River branch of Benue-Congo in the Niger-Congo phylum. This work sought to know the structural configuration of relative clauses in Gokana, ascertain the types of relative clauses in Gokana with respect to established parameters and examine how the relativized NP is expressed. To achieve these objectives, oral interview and participant observation methods were used in the study with predetermined interview questions drawn up to account for the relative clause expressions in Gokana. Data was analyzed descriptively using the interlinear method of morpheme-to morpheme glossing. The study found out that Gokana has postnominal, internally headed and headless relative clauses when the position of the relative clauses with respect to the head noun is taken into account. Structurally, a relative clause occurs after the noun it modifies and is introduced by the relativizer e which is always optional. In terms of the mode of expression of the relativized NP, the study found out that Gokana employs a relative pronoun into the relative clause which then assumes the function of the relativizer (when it is deleted in surface structure) and also functions as the internal pronoun referent of the relativized subject NP.