Friday, December 29, 2017

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Account for the verb phrase in English language.



Definition of verb
Are the words which stand to express action, state or an occurance.
Verb phrase
Is the portion of the sentence that contains both verb and either a direct or indirect object (the verbs dependence). A verb phrase contain a main verb (the head word) and any of accompanying auxiliary verbs (is, was, have etc). (Leach 2001)
  1. I may see him
  2. I will see him
  3. I should have seen him.


Aspects of verb phrase
Aspect refers to how time of action of the verb is regarded whether it is complete, progressive or showing duration. (Leach 2001).
There are two aspects of verb phrase
  1. Perfective aspect
  2. Progressive aspect.


  1. Perfective aspect
Perfective aspect is usually formed using forms of auxiliary verbs (have, has) followed by the past participle. For example He has typed several letters.


In past tense
  1. We had seen
  2. I had cleaned
In present tense
  1. I have seen
  2. She has taken
In the future tense
  1. You will have finished
  2. They will have eaten


  1. Progressive aspect
Is form of be followed by a verb in the –ing form
For example: he has been singing
In present progressive aspect
  1. I am going to school
  2. They are working.
In past progressive aspect
  1. Everybody had been singing
  2. He has been working hard.
In future progressive aspect
  1. In that case I will have to change my plan.




Inherent Verb Properties
i)Voice
Refers to the verb form that shows whether the subject performs the actions or the actions are performed by subject. The passive forms are made up of the verb “be” with past participle.
Example: Sakume has cleaned the windows ii(active)
The windows have been cleaned by Sakume.
ii)Modal
Are modal auxiliary followed by a verb in the infinitive (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) followed by main verbs.
Examples
  • They will come
  • He might come
  • He can type quite well.
iii)Tense
Tense is the system of making on the first verb of a finite verb. It is used to indicate whether the event or state held in the past or it holds in present or future. English has two types of tenses which are present tense and past tense.
Example of present tense
  • The sun sets in the west
  • Today Bill is in his office.(Huddlestone 2004)
Past tense
  • Yesterday Bill was at the conference
  • I was writing poetry with a special pen.






iv)Mood
Are verbs expressing a particular attitudes or actions. The mood of a phrase can be grouped into three types based on the kind of general meaning they convey.
a)Factual or indicative mood
They are used for stating and indicating matters of a factual kind.
Example: It is raining. (Huddleston, 2004)
b)Subjunctive mood
It is used to express wishes, conditions and other non-factual situation.
For example
  • I insisted that Hamisi will pay on time
  • We recommended that he will continue with school.
c)Imperative mood
It is used to express directive utterances (commands)
Example:
  • put it down
  • Sit in the corner
Interrogative mood
This normally asks questions. They are two types of question, Yes/No and wh-questions.
Example: Can you help me? (Yes no)
What is your name? (wh-)




v)Polarity
Is the state of being positive or negative or is the situation where by two sentences are opposing each other. It indicates whether the verb phrase is affirmative that is positive or negative. (Huddleston, 2004)
Example: I am writing (positive)
I am not writing (negative).


Types of Verb Phrase
There are two types of verb phrase;
  1. Finite verb phrases
  2. Non-finite verb phrases.
i)Finite Verb Phrases
These are distinguished by containing a finite verb as their first (or only) word. The finite verb is the element of the verb phrases which has present or past tense. For example;
  • He cleaned the class
  • He cleans the class.
Finite verb phrase occurs as the verb element of the main clauses, therefore there is usually person and number concord between the subject and finite verb. Modal auxiliary verb act as finite verb although they have no concord with the subject. . (Leach, 2001)
Example; They can run quickly
He will sing slowly

ii)Non-finite Verb Phrases
Are the infinitive which consists of the “ing” participle and the “ed” participle “en”, “to”. (Brown & Gim, 1991) Also this verb does not show time or verb which is not limited by number, person tense of the subject.
Example: -To study is my hobby.
-I found him cooking.
-After having left the office he went home by car.


Other Types of Verb Phrases in English Language
1.Transitive Verb
Is a verb which is normally has direct object to be complete.
Example: Kate hugged the baby.
Jenny hit him.
However none of which can be used in a verb phrase without an object NP. (Thomas, 1993).
2. Intransitive Verb
Is a class of verb which does not take an object. It requires nothing else to complete the verb phrase. They are used in construction of SV as compulsory elements. (Thomas, 1993)
For example; The baby cried.
She moved.
Ken snores.
S V
However what has been said so far does not mean that nothing else can appear in a sentence with an intransitive verb. There other constituents which can occur with this class of verb. These are optional rather than obligatory. In other word can appear, but unlike the NP in a verb phrase using a transitive verb. (Thomas, 1993).
3. Monotransitive Verbs
These are verbs which carry only one object. They are used for construction of SVO as a compulsory element.
For example: They played football.
S V O
4. Ditransitive Verb
This type of verb requires two objects (“di” means “two”) one of this familiar is direct object and other is indirect object “iO”. (Thomas, 1993)
For example; Ray told the children a story.
S V iO dO
5. Intensive Verbs
They are also called linking or copular verbs. Intensive verb is the one which does not express an action but expresses a state or attribute of a thing or a person. Intensive verbs uses the verb to be and its forms (is, are, was, were) to indicate a state or attributes of a thing. (Huddleston, 2004)
For example; James is a teacher
S V Cs
Sally becomes a doctor.
It is important to note that verbs in the intensive verb class, like transitive and ditransitive verbs are incomplete on their own. In other words, some sort of Cs is obligatory, as can be seen in the following sentences. (Thomas, 1993)


  • They appeared smart.
  • It seems seasonable.
6. Prepositional Verb
Is the one which requires a prepositional phrase in order to be complete. Verbs like glance, lean, refer, fall into this class. In fact they are so closely linked with a preposition that it is ease to think as verbs consisting of two parts, as in glance at, lean on, refer to. They are certainly incomplete without a prepositional phrase as can be seen below.
  • Sally leant on the table
Sally leant
  • The children glanced at the pictures
The children glanced.
In prepositional phrase we cannot transfer the particle to the end of the noun phrase.
For example; Maganga commented on the paper but not Maganga commented the paper on.
7. Complex-Transitive Verbs
These are verbs which carry an object and a complement or adverbial as compulsory elements. They are used to construct SVOCO and SVOCA as obligatory elements in this type of verb the complement relates to the object, not the subject. The complement is therefore an object complement and the shorthand version is oC. (Thomas 1993)
For example
  • The voters elected Mary president
S V O oC
  • Kate thought John a fool
S V O oC
The class elected him chairperson yesterday.
S V O oC A


Function of Verb Phrases in English Language
Verb phrases have various functions in English as follows:-
1.Function as an object complement
An object complement is a word, phrase or phrase that directly follows and describes the direct object.
Example: The teacher has pronounced the extra credit writing an additional report.
My grandmother considered her favourite past time observing nature.
Only verbs in the form of present participle can perform the nominal function of object complement.
2. Function as indirect object
Verb phrases function as indirect objects. An indirect objects are words, phrases or clause that follows a ditranstive verb and answers questions. (Thomas 1993)
For example: Juma bought him a car.
iO dO
3. As adjective phrase complement
An adjective phrase complements are words, phrase or clause that completes the meaning of an adjective.
For example; His wife is afraid to fly
My puppy is eager to learn new tricks.
Other grammatical forms that can function as adjective phrase complement includes prepositional phrase and noun phrase.
4. As verb phrase complement
It functions as verb phrase complement. It is the word or phrase that completes the meaning of the verb phrases.
For example: We can afford to buy a new car.
5. Function as subject
A subject is a word, phrase or clauses that performs the action of or acts upon the verb.
For example
  • Reading stimulates the mind
  • Drinking milk is healthy.















References
Brown, K. & Miller, J. E. (1991). Syntax: A linguistic Introduction to Sentence Structure 2nd Ed. London UK: Harper Collins Academic.
Thomas, L. (1993). Beginning Syntax: A Grammar, Comperative and General-syntax. UK: Blackwell Publishers.
Huddleston, R. (2004). Introduction to the Grammer of English. Newyork: Cambridge University Press USA.
Leach, G. (2001). A Communicative of English. Oxford University Press.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Tanzania is a stage 2 country


Tanzania is a stage 2 country. Tanzania has a very high crude birth rate (41 births per people) and a fairly high crude death rate (11 deaths per 1,000 people). The national increase rate of Tanzania is very high at 30 people per 1,000. The population growth rate is high at 2.8%. Tanzania is also a farming country. Tanzanian families also depend a lot on children. A lot of children work in the fields growing food, raising livestock, killing livestock, hunting, and fishing for their family
These are characteristics of stage 2 countries as it is shown in illustration below:

The Demographic Transition:


The concept of demographic transition (population dynamics) got its origin from the essay paper of Malthus on the Principle of Population. Thomas Malthus, the English clergyman, believed that human population is growing geometrically; whereas, the production (food production) is increasing arithmetically. Thus the population growth will always surpass the food production. And when the population surpasses production, the checks (intervening forces) will operate to bring the population balance with the production (food).

Demographic transition is governed by two natural factors – fertility and mortality; however, if the advancement of technology (technology revolution) is put in consideration, than the real wage (income level) is also play an important role. Smith added another factor of division of labor as the factor operating together with the real wage at an equilibrium state, when the population increases with the increase of wage. The fertility and mortality factors of demographic transition are the results of positive and preventive checks respectively. The checks which work to maintain the equilibrium state between population and production.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Environmental disasters are threats to development and environmental sustainability

MEANING OF ENVIRONMENT
The word environment is derived from the French word “environ”, which its meaning relates to the words “encompass” or “encircle” or “surround”. There are a lot of definitions for the word environment in the literal and scientific contexts, but one of the most acceptable definitions is given below;

Environment; are all the conditions, circumstances and influences surrounding and affecting the development of an organism or group of organism.
 It also means that the complex of physical, chemical and biotic factors that act upon an organism or ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival (Pavithran 2008)
Biotic such as flora (plants/ natural vegetation), fauna (animals) and microbes (or micro organisms).

A biotic components, Non – living things  include
 The atmosphere (air),
 Hydrosphere or water bodies,
 weather and climate,
soils, rocks and landforms like mountain, hills, valleys, ridges, escarpments and plains

 is the ability to meet the current human need for natural resources without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their needs (Peter R 2007:10)
Disaster; Is a calamity which have adverse impact within our environment. It is called a disaster if it has negative impact in various  aspect such as political, social , economic and environmentally.


Environmental disaster; is the serious disruption of the function of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental looses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.


Friday, May 29, 2015

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENGLISH PHONOLOGY AND SWAHILI PHONOLOGY


INTRODUCTION
PHONOLOGY
According to Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, phonology the study of the pattern of speech sounds used in a particular language.
Also we can define phonology as the study of how sound is structured in languages -- for instance, which of all possible speech sounds a language uses to build its words, how syllables are built in a particular language, and other phenomena.
Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages. It has traditionally focused largely on study of the system of phonemes in a particular language.
The mission of phonology is to understand how speech sounds and phonetic features are organized in a language so that they can be used to create contrast from phoneme.
PHONEMES
These are the different sounds within a language. Although there are slight differences in how individuals articulate sounds, we can still describe reasonably accurately how each sound is produced. One sound rather than another can change the meaning of the word. It is this principle which gives us the total number of phonemes in a particular language. (Fremkin, 2007)
Features of phonology:
  • Look beyond the individual segments at the sound system of a language
  • Features to characterize speech sounds in the language of the world
  • Some features are relevant only for consonants while others are only for vowels
There is relationship between systematic organization of sounds in English and in Swahili language. Therefore following are the comparisons between these two languages
VOWELS
Sounds that you make when you speak without closing your mouth.( Macmillan English Dictionary, 2004)
There are five vowel phonemes (distinctive sounds) in Swahili a, e, i, o and u .there are important differences between English and Swahili vowels. For example the Swahili vowels are short and not diphthongized as are the comparable of English ones. For instance Swahili “e” is comparable to the English vowel say without the lengthening or diphthong it also similar to the vowel in set but not quite as low with these differences in mind, note the following comparison.
Swahili
English
Examples
a
ah!
Baba
Father
e
Say
Wewe
You
i
Be
Kiti
Chair
o
Ho
Moto
Fire
U
Too
Tu
Only Just
Standard Swahili have five vowels phonemes: /a/, /∑/, /i/, /ↄ/,/u/. The pronunciation of the phoneme [u] and [o]. Vowels are never reduced, regardless of stress. The vowels are pronounced as follows:


/a/ is pronounced like the ‘a’ in father
/∑/ is pronounced like the ‘e’ in bed
/i/ is pronounced like the ‘I’ in ski
/ↄ/ is pronounced like the ‘o’ in cord
/u/ is pronounced like the ‘u’ in rule


Consonants
Consonants in Swahili generally have English values but as in the case of vowels there are considerable differences note the following.
  1. P, t, k.
There are similar to English voiceless stops, but they can be aspirated or unaspirated. That is speaking the first two words below would release a burst of air that would rustle a sheet of paper held in front of the speaker’s mouth. For the second set of words, the sheet of paper would remain still.
Generally initial p, t and k of class 9/10 nominal are aspirated in contrast to initial p, t and k of class 5 nominal.
For example:
Paa [p(h)aa] ‘gazelle’
Kaa [k(h)aa] ‘crab’
Versus:
Paa (roof) passport
Kaa (piece of charcoal) car
  1. b, d, g.
as English voiced stops but they are imploded that is in their pronunciation the air is sucked into the mouth as they are released. The ‘g’ is always hard as in English ‘goat’ versus the ‘g’ in gin.
For example,
Baba (father) Barber
Dada (sister) diet
Gumu (hard) goat
  1. F, v, s, z.
F as in English ‘far’
V as in English ‘very’
S as in English ‘sister’
Z as in English ‘zoo’


Fupi (short) fine
Kavu (dry) calm
Vizuri (well) virus
Sasa (now) sun
  1. M, n.
As in English .in some cases where they occur before other consonants ‘m’ and ‘n’ are pronounced as full syllables but without inserting a vowel sound either before or after. The first two examples are syllabic but not the second two.
Mtu (person) import
Nta (wax)
Versus
Mboga ‘vegetable’
Ndege ‘bird, airplane’
  1. ny.
As the segment ‘ni’ in English ‘onion’
Nyanya (grandmother)
Ninyi ‘you’ (plural)
  1. ng.
As the ‘ng’ in English sing, single (not as finger).
Example, ngo’mbe (cow)
The same sound but spelled with ‘n’ is also heard before ‘g’ e.g. ngoma ‘drum’. Linguist represents this sound with the phonetic symbol for a velar nasal, thus ngo’mbe is [ (symbol) + ombe] and ngoma is [(symbol) + goma]
  1. ch
As the first sound in English ‘cheek’ not as in chemist
Example,Chakula (food)
Chache ‘few’
  1. j
as in English ‘job’ but without the audible friction associated with the English consonant, some speakers of English hear this sound when pronounced by a native speakers as ‘y’ however a fairly accurate pronunciation can be achieved by pronouncing it as the sequence ‘dy’
Hujambo (hudyambo) ‘hello’
Jana (dyana) ‘yesterday’
  1. W, y, h.
Some people are spell Swahili ‘h’ with ‘kh’ which symbolized (s) a sound similar to the ‘ch’ in Scottish ‘och’. This occurs frequently with Arabic borrowings but is not the practice followed in this manual.
Watu (people) water
Yeye (he or she) yesterday
Huyu (this one or this person) whole


  1. r
Swahili (r) is quite different from the English one it is similar to the Spanish tapped ‘r’ as in ‘pero’ but or ‘daro’- of course.
For example:
Habari (news) rim
Heri (good will, blessing, and good wishes) read
  1. l
As in English when in initial position e.g. ‘leak, loud, lesson’ second language learners tend not to distinguish r and l.
Lala (sleep)
Leo (today) l
  1. th
As in English “thought, think”
Thelathini (thirty)
  1. dh
As in English though, thy, thee, then,
e.g.
Dhani (think)
  1. gh
This sound is pronounced by pronunciation ‘g’ as in a fricative it is similar to the in Scottish ‘loch’ but voiced
E.g.
Ghala ‘storehouse’
Ghali ‘expensive’
  1. sh
As in English ‘push’. This sound plus kh, dh and gh are in words that have been borrowed into Swahili predominantly from Arabic e.g. of ‘sh’.
Ishirini (twenty)
Mshahara (salary)
  1. mw
A combination of m followed immediately by w
Example,
Mwalimu (teacher)
Mwanafunzi (student)
  1. bw
A combination of b w and w
Example,
Bwana (sir or Mr.)
Mbwa (dog)








CONCLUCSION
According to the observation which we have done, Kiswahili language seems to lack diphthong sounds and this may be the big difference from English language with eight(8) diphthong sounds as we have seen above. This may be even in other languages which we have not included in our study instead we have based only in these two languages, Kiswahili and English.
















































REFERRENCES
Fremkin, V. (2007) An introduction to language.USA Michili Rosemberg
Jean, O. (1994). Reading, language, and literacy: instruction for the twenty-first century. Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum.
Macmillan English Dictionary For Advanced Learners, (2004).Michael Rundell.London
















The contributions of IPA in aiding teaching and learning of English speech sound


    1. English speech sound
As far as the study of phonetics is concerned, it refers to phonetic production of English words originating from Received Pronunciation. When the English words are spoken following the rules of IPA, it is where English speech sound is produced. (Ashby, P. 1995)

    1. IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
It is an alphabet system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by international phonetic association as a standardized representation of spoken language sound. It is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech- language pathologist singer actors, constructed language creators’ translators. The following are the IPA of English language. (O’Grady, W. et al 2010)
CONSONANTS VOWELS
IPA
Examples


IPA
Example
b
bad lab


ʌ
cup, luck
d
did, lady


ɑ:
arm, father
f
find, if



cat, black
g
give, flag


е
met, bed
h
how, hello


ә
away, cinema
j
yes, yellow


ɜː
turn, learn
k
cat, bock



















ɪ
hit, sitting
l
leg, little
i:
see, heat
m
man, lemon
ɒ
hot, rock
n
no, ten
ͻ:
call, four
ŋ
sing , finger
ʊ
put, could
p
pet, map
u:
blue, food
r
red, try

five, eye
s
sun, miss

now, out
ʃ
she, crash

say, eight
t
tear, getting
əʊ
go, home
ʧ
check, church
ɔɪ
boy, join
θ
think, both
еә
where, air
ð
this, mother
ɪə
near, here
v
voice, five
ʊə
pure, tourist
w
wet, window




z
zoo, lazy




ʒ
pleasure, vision




ʤ
just, large




(Ball, M. & Rahilly, J. 1999)
  1. The contributions of IPA in aiding teaching and learning of English speech sound
    1. IPA helps to differentiate phonetic symbols from spellings of words.
IPA shows the way the spellings of the word is being transcribed; for example in English,
Th’ in the word ‘this’ is pronounced as /ð/
Th’ in the word think is pronounced as /θ/
Ph’ in the word ‘philosophy’ as /f/
Ch’ in the word ‘church’ as /ʧ/
O’ in the word ‘Monday’ as /ʌ/
O’ in the word ‘women’ as /ɪ/
(Ball, M. & Rahilly, J. 1999)

    1. IPA provides phonetic symbols both for vowels and consonants.
IPA helps to provide phonetic symbols which are used by teachers and learners in transcribing English words. The transcription of words become consistently regardless the variation of other aspects like geographical location as well as cultural exposure; for example,
Vowel - monophthongs (/ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/, /iː/, /uː/, /ɑː/)
- diphthongs (/eə/, /ɪə/, /ɔɪ/, /aɪ/, /eɪ
-Consonants (/ʒ/, /ʤ/, /f/, /ŋ/, /g/)
(Ball, M. & Rahilly, J. 1999)

2.3 It helps in identification of individual sound in a word.
It is not only checking on how the words are transcribed but also looking and checking on the individual sounds when pronouncing word. In words each spelling have its own sound for example the phoneme ‘p’ it occurs in phonetic transcription of ‘pin’ and ‘spin’ in the word ‘pin’ this phoneme ‘p’ is pronounced with aspiration (breathing), this aspirated /p/ sound has its own special symbol in the IPA as /ph/. In the word ‘spin’ the phoneme ‘p’ is pronounced normally. This normal /p/ sound is represented by /p/ in IPA. Other examples are such as,

Aspirated stops
[th] in the word ‘tick’ is transcribed as /thɪk/
[ICh] in the word ‘keep’ is transcribed as/khi:p/
[Ph] in the word ‘pit’ is transcribed as /phɪt/
(O’Grady, W. et al 2010)
    1. IPA helps students to know the meaning of words and their sounds.
Fore xample: mad as an infinitive verb is transcribed as /mæd/, the word read in simple present tense it is transcribed as /ri:d/ and in past and past participle it is transcribed as /red/.
Words ‘wright’, ‘write’ and ‘right’ have the same transcription, but have different meanings and spellings, they are all transcribed as /rt/
(Ashby, P. 1995)


    1. IPA style is used in transcribing English vocabulary-words in the dictionary.
The vocabulary found in dictionaries such as in Advanced Oxford Dictionary, Macmillan dictionary and Collins dictionary have been given transcription; for example,
Vocabulary such as English /ɪŋglɪʃ/
Phonology/fənɒləʤi/
Work /wɜːk /
Library /laɪbrəri/
Laboratory/ləbɒrətri/


    1. IPA is used by non native speakers of English when learning to speak English.
Orthography of English is different to the pronunciation of such words. So IPA is used to identify their differences. And therefore such learners use the English words properly in pronouncing and spelling the words correctly thus contributing to English speech sound production due to such difference; for example,
Spelling Pronunciation
Money /mʌni/
Man /mæn/
Mine /maɪn/
Good /gʊd/
(Ashby, P. 1995)
    1. IPA has led the linguist to transcribed English words consistently and accurately.
This is seen in the use of phonetic alphabets with a one to one correspondence between sound and symbol. For example; there is no one to one correspondence between symbol and a sound in English language, the pronunciation of a symbol ‘o’ which is pronounced differently in
Go /əʊ/
Hot /ɒ/
Women /e/
More/ɔː/
The pronunciation of symbol “ough” which is pronounced differently in,
rough /ʌf/
through /u:/
bough //
Though /əʊ/
(O’Grady, W. et al 2010)
    1. IPA helps in classifying English language sounds as consonants and vowels
It helps to know the classification of vowel sounds as indicated in the vowel trapezium below.
monophthongs -short vowels
-Long vowels
Diphthongs -centring diphthongs
-Front and back closing diphthongs
Also consonant sounds are classified by voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation as indicated in the figure below.
(Ball, M. & Rahilly, J. 1999)

    1. IPA helps all learners of English language to speak the same BrE because all acquire the same transcription of words. For xample in pronouncing words such as,
Book /bʊk/
Might / maɪt/
Valley/væli/
(Ball, M. & Rahilly, J. 1999)
Leaner of such BrE will pronounce the words in the same way because of the IPA they were taught.

  1. CONCLUSION
IPA contributes very much in providing transcription symbols of various languages’ words in the world such as Greek, French, German and other many languages. This is to say IPA has provided Phonetic alphabets not only to English but also to other languages like ‘th’ in Greek it is /θ/ in the word ‘θeos’ meaning God.











REFERENCES
O’Grady, W. et al (2010). CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS: An Introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Ashby, P. (1995). Speech sounds. London: Routledge.
Ball, M. & Rahilly, J. (1999). Phonetics: The science of speech. London: Edward Anold.