Negation in English and Igbo Languages

This paper investigates negation in English and Igbo languages by contrasting the grammatical and syntactic structure, particularly in how both languages express negation. The study adopts a qualitative approach drawn from descriptive and contrastive linguistic techniques. The theoretical framework adopted is the contrastive analysis theory which provides a basis for predicting areas of difficulty in second language acquisition by comparing L1 and L2 structures. The data for the analysis were drawn from the users of the languages, existing literature and grammatical corpora. The findings of this study reveal that both languages use negative imperatives, negative concord and negative pronouns. It also reveals that the English language separates its negative markers from the verbs, while the Igbo language integrates its negative markers into the verb. Also, the English language considers expressions with double negatives as awkward and informal, whereas the Igbo language sees it as a way of laying emphasis which helps learners comprehend with ease. The findings further reveal that the English language places negative markers after the auxiliary verbs and before the main verbs, while the Igbo language uses morphological marking on the verb. The study therefore recommends that negative markers be discussed in textbooks, considering the formation, placement and usage. The study further recommends that teachers should carefully explicate the disparities in English and Igbo negations to avoid translation errors.