GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

This paper aimed at examining the phrasal categories in Ékᴉd, which comprise noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP), adjectival phrase (AdjP), and prepositional phrase (PP), by determining their structures. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study, and the X-bar theory was adopted as the theoretical framework for data analysis. Research data were drawn from the central Ékᴉd via elicitation. The analysis reveals that, every phrasal category (NP, VP, AdjP, PP) is built around the most important lexical category within the phrase. That is, a noun (N) is the head of a noun phrase (NP); a verb (V) is the head of a verb phrase (VP); an adjective (Adj) is the head of an adjectival phrase (AdjP); also, a preposition (P) is the head of a prepositional phrase (PP). Analysis also reveals that, in Ékᴉd noun phrase, determiners such as definite, demonstrative, possessive, quantifier, numerals, serve as post-modifiers of noun. Definite article like ànám ‘the’, and numeral (ordinal) like àkpá ‘first’, do occur before the noun in the NP as pre-modifiers (of noun). This work, thus, serves as a tool for further research in the aspect of Ékᴉd syntax