The Conditional Sentence. A Three Way Analysis of English, Fante, and Pidgin

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR

INVESTIGATING THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

NATURE OF FANTE

NATURE OF GHANA PIDGIN ENGLISH

RESEARCH METHODLOGY

ANALYSIS OF DATA
ZERO CONDITIONAL SENTENCE
FIRST CONDITIONAL SENTENCE
SECOND CONDITIONAL SENTENCE
THIRD CONDITIONAL SENTENCE

RESEARCH SUMMARY

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT

Conditional sentences play key roles in discourse. In the home, parents tend to use conditional sentences to influence their children's behaviour. This research looks at the conditional sentence and its formation. The analysis looks at how conditional sentences are constructed in Fante, English and Ghanaian Pidgin English (GPE). The research listed three examples each of the four types of English conditional sentences and translated them into GPE and Fante. The analysis found out that all three languages use the same format for the construction of the zero conditional sentence. With respect to the first, second and third conditional sentences, the study found out Fante had a different tense and aspect system and thus realised the three types listed above but its subordinate clause was more contextual and phonologically based(stress) . On the other hand, GPE uses forms from its substrate, Ghanaian languages, and its superstrate. Its subordinate clause for the three types of conditional sentence listed above are contextual and phonologically based just as is in Fante. However no matter the formation process , the research has proved that the four types of conditional sentences can be realised in both GPE and Fante. The research proves that grammar has universal properties. Grammatical construction method may differ but same meanings can be realised in all languages , or in this case the three languages under review. The study has proved that conditional sentences exist in Fante, GPE and English and the same meaning can be expressed in all three languages.

INTRODUCTION

This study investigates the conditional sentence. A Conditional sentence has two parts or clauses that give a condition in the dependent clause and a result in the independent clause. The condition clause usually contains an “if” statement. There are several different forms of conditional sentences that allow the writer to express various meanings using different tenses., (Madonna University Writing Center 2022). Linguists and philosophers have devoted whole conferences to the study of conditional sentences. What is interesting about this from a linguistic perspective is that conditional clauses are not all that much more interesting linguistically than are any of the other types. The reason for this special interest is surely that conditional sentences play a key role in reasoning, at least the sort of reasoning that interests philosophers Geis (1985). The subsequent paragraphs will give a proper grammatical analysis of the conditional sentence after key concepts in this study have been well presented. The focus of this research is to find out the ways English , Ghanaian Pidgin English , and Fante construct Conditional Sentences.

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR

Generative grammarians believe that the human species evolved a genetically universal grammar common to all peoples and that the variability in modern languages is basically on the surface only, Thus for such grammarians , universal grammar is a linguistic concept which elaborates that all children are born with an innate and defined ability to learn, develop, and understand language and this theory applies from the most basic foundations of a language to the most complex laws found within, otherwise known as grammar itself ( Study.com 2023). Nordquist (2018) also defines universal grammar as the theoretical or hypothetical system of categories, operations, and principles shared by all human languages and considered to be innate ; since the 1980s, the term has often been capitalised. The term is also known as Universal Grammar Theory. Nordquist posits that the concept of a universal grammar (UG) has been traced to the observation of Roger Bacon, a 13th-century Franciscan friar, and philosopher, that all languages are built upon a common grammar. The expression was popularized in the 1950s and 1960s by Chomsky and other linguists.

This theory believes that languages have a basic grammar but more importantly , humans are born with an innate ability to learn languages and understand the basic grammar of language. A toddler can tell the difference between the words 'mom' and 'mop,' for instance, without necessarily knowing what the two words mean. The idea that explains this is known as universal grammar theory. Universal grammar theory clearly shows that all children are born with an innate ability to acquire, develop, and understand language. Thus this theory can be summarised to mean that all humans are born with an understanding of the laws that govern languages. The relevance of this theory in this study is the underlying believe that languages have structures that are similar to other languages. Thus, this research will use this theory to compare the three languages to see the similarities and differences in the formation of conditional sentences.

INVESTIGATING THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

Geis (1985) posits that although English has a number of different types of adverbial clauses, it is rather conditional clauses that have attracted the most attention from philosophers and linguists. In his paper, he presents a syntactic analysis of a wide range of conditional sentences. He provides the syntactic argumentation and details of its formalization for his analysis. He argues that some sentences may not have the “if” embedded in it but still carry the same meaning as a typical conditional clause. He concludes that conditional sentences are adverbial clauses and the “if” is part of the clause it introduces.

Narayanan , Liu and Choudhary (2009) investigated sentiment analysis of conditional sentences. Their aim was to determine whether opinions expressed on different topics in a conditional sentence are positive, negative or neutral. Conditional sentences are one of the commonly used language constructs in text. They posit that a typical document has around 8% of conditional sentences. Due to the condition clause, sentiments expressed in a conditional sentence can be hard to determine. This paper first presented a linguistic analysis of such sentences, and then built some supervised learning models to determine if sentiments expressed on different topics in a conditional sentence are positive, negative or neutral,

Gorat and Prijambodo (2013) investigated the effects of using deductive and inductive approach in teaching English to students on their conditional sentence mastery. This study compared the effectiveness of deductive and inductive approach in teaching conditional sentences. The findings from the study indicated that inductive teaching approach is more effective than deductive approach when used to teach conditional sentences. The result of the questionnaire indicated that students like the inductive approach and they are satisfied taught using inductive approach

Conditional statements play a key role in discourse. The earlier paragraphs defined conditional sentences. This section of the work will briefly discuss the four types of conditional sentences.
The first type of conditional sentence is the zero conditional
The zero conditional is a type of conditional sentence that uses the present tense in both clauses . They are used to talk about something that is always
or generally true. Thus such sentences use both present tense to show that these actions are both possible and typical.
Form: If + simple present, simple present

The second type of conditional sentence is the first conditional

The first conditional uses the present tense in its if clause . While it main clause uses the future tense . This form is used to talk about something that is a probable future result of a condition.

Form: If + simple present, will + base verb

The second conditional is the third type of conditional sentence. They use the past tense in the if clause and a modal and base verb in the result clause. This form is used to talk about a hypothetical situation that cannot happen or is unlikely to happen.

Form: If + simple past, modal + base verb

The third conditional is another type of conditional sentence uses the past perfect in the if clause and a modal and present perfect in the result clause.

This form is used to talk about a hypothetical situation in the past that did not happen , typically with an outcome that did not happen and is perhaps the opposite of what did happen.

Form: If + past perfect, modal + present perfect

NATURE OF FANTE

Study.com (2023) describes The Fante people (also spelled Fanti) as a subgroup of Akan people who live primarily in coastal areas of present-day Ghana. The other larger subgroup is the Asante. The Akan people are grouped together on the basis of their linguistic relationship, belonging to the Akan language cluster of the larger Kwa branch of Niger–Congo language family.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2023) defines Akan languages as dialect cluster of the Nyo group within the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Akan’s principal members are Asante (Ashanti), Fante (Fanti), Brong (Abron), and Akuapem. The Akan cluster is located primarily in southern Ghana, although many Brong speakers live in eastern Côte d’Ivoire. Altogether speakers of Akan dialects and languages number more than seven million. Written forms of Asante and Akuapem (both formerly considered to be Twi), as well as Fante, were developed in the 19th century. Also, the term Akan is sometimes used inexactly to refer to other related Kwa languages located west of the Volta River, including Anyi, Baule, and Nzema. These peoples share cultural features, but they do not constitute a single language or dialect cluster.

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