A Syntactic Analysis of ‘fa’ in Ilorin Yorùbá Dialect

Abstract

The prevalence of the grammatical constituent ‘fa’ in the conversational speech of Ilorin Yorùbá speakers is so unique that such feature is not observable in any other Yorùbá dialects. Hitherto, no tangible academic work has been done to give account of this phenomenon within the context of syntax. Thus, adopting the Principles and Parameters approach to linguistic theory, this paper examines the syntactic status of ‘fa’ in Ilorin Yorùbá Dialect with a view to proffering answers to two paramount questions: (a) Under which syntactic category can ‘fa’ be classified in the grammar of the dialect, and on what basis? (b) Does ‘fa’ have a syntactic license to head its own syntactic structure? Employing researcher’s observation cum oral interview, the data analyzed in this study were obtained from ten (10) indigenes of Ilorin who possess an appreciable competence in the dialect. From the survey carried out, there was uniformity in the responses of the speakers that the particle ‘fa’ is usually employed as a tool of emphasis in conversational settings. Similarly, it is observed that the speakers use it to exert prominence on the entire massage conveyed in the sentence rather than on a specific lexical or phrasal constituent. Therefore, this paper concludes that ‘fa’ expresses pragmatic focus in the dialect; meanwhile it is proposed that the particle be classified as a Quasi-Focus Marker on the basis of its function. Hence, being a functional constituent, it is ‘qualified’ to head its own syntactic structure, named in this paper as ‘Quasi-Focus Phrase’.