CHAPTER ONE
1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Language is the universal fabric that holds every individual of a
community together. An instrument, used by man for communication within his
environment, without which there would be no meaningful relationship between
the human world. Language can also be referred to as the medium through which
ideas, thoughts, and other forms of human communication are expressed or
carried out.
In the metal compartment where all possible, meaningful and
acceptable words are formed, there are certain rules that must be followed or
certain conditions met before any word can be viewed as acceptable in any
language. The branch of linguistics that studies the compatibility of such
combinations and proposes the rules for their formation is called MORPHOLOGY.
The basic concept of this branch is the morpheme, the smallest meaningful unit
in grammar which may constitute a word or part of a word.
Every language has its own set of morphological rules which are
strictly adhered to by members of its community. Such members , (Native
speakers) share a great deal of unconscious knowledge about their language
which helps in the acquisition of their first language with little or no formal
instructions. In connection to morphology, the Migili language has been duely
investigated with a view to finding/revealing the aspects of its morphological
set up. The Migili people are a tribal group found in Agyaragu local
government, Lafia, Nasarawa State. The first chapter of this research centers
on areas such as the historical background of the Migili people, their
socio-cultural profile, occupation, religion, festival, mode of dressing,
marriage, genetic classification. Several other aspects will be reviewed in the
latter chapters of the project work.
1.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MIGILI
In an interview with the town chief (ZHE Migili) who is he
traditional ruler and an autocrat, two major facts were revealed. One of them
is the fact that the name of the language popularly known as Mijili is
incorrect rather it is formally known as Migili. The second fact duely noted by
him is that the Migili people are not part of the Hausa tribe as they have been
mistakenly identified by many.
The Migili tribe has a long history which dates back to the old
Kwararafa Kingdom in Taraba State. The Kwararafa kingdom comprised of different
ethnic groups such as Eggon, Algo, Idoma, and the Gomai. Each tribe took turns
in occupying leadership positions of the kingdom and a heir was selected from
the royal home of each ethic group. But things changed when it was time for
Akuka, a Migili descendant who was next in line to ascend the throne . Akuka
was plotted against hence he could not become the next leader. This sparked up
a lot of negative reactions from the Migili people as well as some other tribes
who viewed such an action as unjust, a way through which they were deprived
because of their small population. Together with all members of the tribe,
Akuka moved down to a place called Ukari where they settled down for a while
and later moved to Agyaragu in Lafia, Nasarawa State where they reside
presently.
Today, the Migili people are known as settlers in Obi, Agyaragu
local government, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. They can still be found in
other places such as Minna, Abuja, Kubadha in Kaduna, Zuba e.t.c.The major
population of about 18,000 people constitute about 96% of Obi Agyaragu local
government area.
1.2 SOCIO – CULTURAL PROFILE
The Migili language is rich in both its social and cultural
aspects. Some of these aspects are their festival, religion, marriage,
occupation e.t.c
1.2.1 OCCUPATION
The Migili people are predominantly farmers. This occupation
ranges from young to old, male and female. They produce a lot of crops but
their major cash product is yam. Yams are produced for transportation to
different parts of the country and they also engage in inter – village sales
with their neighbours who do not produce the types of crops that they do.
Migili people also grow crop such as melon, beans, guinea corn, rice and
millet.
1.2.2 FESTIVAL
There are two major festival celebrated by the Migili. These
festivals are very important aspects of their culture as they expose their
heritage and ancestral endowments. First is the farming season in which every
farmer within the village premises is involved. During this farming season,
they move from one indigenes farm to another in large groups cultivating,
clearing and planting different types of crops for one another. After this has
been done, a date is set to celebrate the harvest of these crops and this leads
to the second festival which is the Odu festival.
The Odu festival is celebrated village – wide in Miligi. This is a
period of harvesting of crops, celebration of the harvest, exchange of
pleasantries and entertainment in the village square. During the festival, the
Odu masquerade which represents their ancestral values is dressed in a
colourful attire with which it displays great dancing steps to the amusement
and applause of the villagers.
Another festival that is celebrated in the village is the demise
of an elderly indigene. This is done with a type of dance called Abeni.
1.2.3 RELIGION
Before the arrival of the missionary, the Migili people were
ardent traditionalists. They worshipped their ancestors some of which are Odu
and Aleku. They had separate seasons at which sacrifices were made and
worshipped them with dancing and entertainment. But things gradually began to
change after the missionaries arrived thus most of them were converted to
Christians, though a small population remain strictly traditional worshippers
while some are Muslims.
1.2.4 MARRIAGE
Marriage as an entity was approached from the early stages of
childhood amongst the Migili people. Before the Missionary arrived,
intercultural marriage was forbidden amongst them with serious consequences or
punishment allotted the violation of such law. Marriage between indigenes was
formally approached, by the father of the suitor, who informs the mother of the
admired girl of his intention. Once an agreement has been reached, the first
payment is made to confirm the betrothal of the female child who continues to
live with her parents until the due age has been reached. The male child
(suitor) then pays his first installment of her dowry and engages in farming
activities for his in-laws once every year. But today the order of things have
changed and marriage within and outside the tribe is now by choice hence
enhancing inter-cultural relationship.
1.2.5 MODE OF DRESSING
The Migili dressing mode displays their cultural heritage, though
their dressing is quite similar to that of the Hausa. Women wear short vests
that expose their belly and long skirts that cover their legs, then they adorn
their hands, forehead, lips and ankles with beads and bracelets. An interesting
feature about their dressing is the plaiting of hair by both male and female
indigenes. Though a bit of civilization has been introduced into their culture,
hence influencing their dressing, a typical Migili indigene would still appear
in colourful beads and bracelets.
1.3 GENETIC CLASSIFICATION
This is the arrangement of languages into their different
categories according to their relationship with other members of their
category.
NIGER KORDOFANIAN
NIGER CONGO KORDOFANIAN
Mande Atlantic Congo
Atlantic Ijoid Volta Congo
Kru Kwa North Volta Congo Benue Congo
Akpe Platoid Defoid Edoid Nupoid Idomoid ukumoid Igboid Cross
river Bantoid
Tarokoid
Beremic Southern Adunic Alumic Ninzic West East North
Yeskwa Ayongie Koro Hyame Jiju Tyap Irigwe
Adapted from Roger Blench (2006)
Koro Zuba Koro Ija Jijilic Koro-Makamei KORO MIGILI koro
Lafiya
1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY
As earlier mentioned, the purpose of the research project is to
closely and carefully examine the Migili language and hence, expose its
morphological aspects. Investigation would be carried out on the various
morphological processes attested by the language. Various steps, theories and
methods would be used and considered in the analysis and exemplification of the
morphemes and their processes. Also, an accurate compilation of the alphabet in
the language has been carried out in order to justify the compilation of the
data and its analysis thereof.
1.5 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY
This long essay has been divided into five different chapters,
each containing certain aspect of the research work. Below is a highlight of
the chapters and their contents;(i) Chapter one deals with general introduction
into the background of the study, the historical background and socio –
cultural profile;
(ii) Chapter two deals with literature review on the chosen aspect
of the research work;
(iii) Chapter three deals with the presentation and analysis of
data on the chosen work;
(iv) Chapter four centers on the processes involved in the branch
of study;
(v) Chapter five deals with summary of the work done, observation,
conclusion and recommendation of references.
1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In the execution of this research, both the informant and
introspective methods/approach have been adopted for data collection. Two
native speakers have been approached, hence providing the researcher with
complete and accurate data from the Migili language. Also, a library/internet
research has been adopted, serving as a guide on some primary aspects of the
research such as, the geographical location of the language and its speakers,
its genetic classification, its population size e.t.c.
Below is a brief information about the two informants whose help
was sought;
Informant 1
(i) Name: Ayuba Osibi Haruna
(ii) Age: 40 years old
(c) Occupation: Personal assistant to the
chairman, local government
(iv) Aspect: Data collection (400 wordlist)
Informant 2
(a) Name: Dr Ayuba Agwadu Audu (JP)
(b) Age: 62 years
(c) Position: Village chief
(d) Aspect: Historical Background and
socio-cultural profile.
The Ibadan four hundred (400) wordlist served as the basis for
data analysis. In it comprises a list of words in English language for which
equivalent meaning has been substituted in Migili language. A frame technique
has also been used in order to find out the use of words in into sentence
context. A series of sentences have also been translated from English language
Migili.