PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ANGLICIZED IGBO PERSONAL NAMES

Abstract

Name points to the bearer which could be humans, trees, places, concepts. It makes the thing named distinct from others of their kind. It is a remarkable fact that every person has a name. Surely, no one in the entire world is nameless, poor or noble, hence; parents give a name to every child at birth. A personal name is a name that belongs to an individual and which serves as a label for him or her. It is the distinct identity which every individual bears. Anglicism is the adaptation of the linguistic features of English to other languages and cultures. Some issues necessitated the researchers’ investigation into this study; one of which was the fact that some Igbo people tend not to be proud of their Igbo names as well as Igbo language. To them, Igbo names appear to be too local for the modern world. So, in a bid to appear modern and civilized, and to also show prestige, they anglicize their names. This study is essential for understanding the impact of language contact on indigenous language like Igbo. It aims to investigate the phonological changes that occur when Igbo personal names are adapted into English. The study was carried out in three primary schools in the Ukwulu community which are: Udodimma primary school, Central school and Amagu migrant farmers’ school Ukwulu. It also focuses on online social network Facebook, for data collection. It employed the purposive sampling technique for the selection of Igbo personal names. It adopted the Knobelauch’s (2008) Phonological awareness theory for the analysis of data. The Green and Igwe’s (1963) tone marking convention was adopted. The International Phonetic Alphabets (IPA) were employed in the phonemic transcription of data. The findings reveal that Igbo personal names have undergone significant changes in their sound patterns, including the adoption of English phonemes, syllable structure, and stress patterns. One of the phonological processes adopted in the analysis of the Igbo personal names and their anglicized versions is manipulation of sounds or syllables which is equivalent to substitution. Some sounds are substituted with other sounds; for example the diphthongs /ʊi/ in Chibụike /tʃibʊike/ to /aɪ/ in Chibyke /tʃibaɪk/, /i/ in Obinna to /aɪ/ in Ọbaịno /Ɔbaɪno/ and other phonological processes. These changes have resulted in the loss of indigenous Igbo phonological features and the emergence of new, anglicized forms. There is need for language preservation and promotion efforts to safeguard the phonological integrity of indigenous languages like Igbo. Further research should be conducted to explore the impact of Anglicism on other aspects of Igbo language and culture.