UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA

FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, IGBO AND OTHER NIGERIAN
LANGUAGES.
TOPIC: ENGLISH AND IGBO PHONEMES

COURSE TITLE: CONSTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND IGBO

PHONEMES

COURSE CODE: LIN 512

NAME: NJOKU, ONYEKACHI DAVID

REG NO: PG/MA/20/94348

LECTURER: DR. UGURU

DATE: FEBRUARY 6th, 2023

Abstract
This work strives to contrast the consonant phonemes, vowel phonemes and
tones of English and Igbo in order to describe their similarities and differences.
English consists of ten vowels and fourteen consonant phonemes, while Igbo is
made up of eight vowels and twenty-eight consonants.
The results of contrastive analysis of the two languages showed that there are
similarities as well as differences in the sound systems of the languages. There are
some sounds in English which are not present in Igbo.  This exploration is a
contrastive assessment of the sound systems of the English language and Igbo
language. It highlights areas of similarities and differences of the two tongues in
order to predict the difficulties that Igbo speakers of the English language would
experience in the study of the English Language as a second language. This inquiry
therefore, concentrates on the similarities and differences found at the segmental
level of both languages.
INTRODUCTION

English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, with

its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named
after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island
of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then most closely
related to the Low German and Frisian languages, English
is genealogically Germanic. However, its vocabulary also shows major influences
from French (about 28% of Modern English words) and Latin (also
about 28%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary
influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are
called Anglophones.

Igbo is one of the four official languages of Nigeria and is a member of the Volta
Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages. It is spoken in Nigeria and
Equatorial Guinea by about 25 million people (Wikipedia). In Nigeria, it is spoken
in the South Eastern part of the country in states like Abia, Enugu, Delta, Imo, etc.
According to Omniglot (an online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and
Languages), there are numerous Igbo dialects some of which are not mutually
intelligible but the standard written form of Igbo is based on the Owerri and
Umuahia dialects, and has been in use since 1962. Every language has its own
sound patterns. Contrastive analysis (CA) is concerned with the similarities and
differences which result from the comparison between two different 3 languages.
In consonance with the assumption of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH),
Ibibio learners of Igbo and vice versa are prone to make errors bordering on
interference, especially when they come across sounds which are not found or
distributed the same way in their mother tongue respectively.
Contrastive Analysis

In linguistics, the term “contrastive analysis” refers to “a theoretically grounded,

systematic and synchronic comparison of usually two languages, or at most no
more than a small number of languages”. Such comparisons frequently reveal
similarities and dissimilarities between or among those languages.

The purpose is not only to understand the languages themselves better, but also
to understand characteristics that might make language learning easier or more
challenging for speakers of those languages. For example, contrastive analysis of
English and Igbo would reveal that while the two languages share the same word
order (Subject-Verb-Object), igbo–unlike English–does not have a system of
definite and indefinite articles (a, an, the). Consequently, when instructors or
tutors see an English language learner from igbo struggling to produce articles or
place them correctly, a little research and analysis would reveal that the L1 in this
case is causing some L2 interference because of linguistic transfer.

English Phonemes

In English, there are 44 phonemes, or word sounds that make up the language.
They’re divided into 19 consonants, 7 digraphs, 5 ‘r-controlled’ sounds, 5 long
vowels, 5 short vowels, 2 ‘oo’ sounds, 2 diphthongs.

This guide will help you learn and understand those 44 sounds along with some
other blended and special sounds used in English. If you’re ever unsure of how to
pronounce phonemes in English, you can refer back to this guide and piece
together any word or phrase confidently.
19 Consonant Phonemes
 C-sounds that make a /k/ in crop, crack, creep and 

 C-sounds that make an /s/ in central, cent, and cite.

 Q-sounds are also in words that contain the letters ‘kw’ as in walkway,
parkway, and awkward.

 X-sounds are also in words with ‘cks’ as in backstop, rocks, and necks
 

/b/ – beg and bag

/d/ – doe and deal

/f/ – fall and fit

/g/ – goal and gill

/h/ – has and him

/j/ – job and jolt

/k/ – cap and kite

/l/ – lip and load

/m/ – map and moth

/n/ – net and nip

/p/ – pin and plot

/r/ – run and rope

/s/ – sat and small

/t/ – toe and tale

/v/ – vin and volt

/w/ – wait and wind

/y/ – yam and yet

/z/ – zip and zoo

 7 Digraph Phonemes
Digraphs form when two consonants work together to create a completely
different sound. The two consonants have different sounds on their own and are
most often—but not always—seen at the start or end of a word.

/ch/ – watch and chime

/sh/ – shift and short

/ng/ – ring and sting

/th/ (voiced) – weather and thin

/th/ (unvoiced) – thing and thunder

/zh/ – genre and division

/wh/ (with breath) – what

5 R-Controlled, or Influenced, Phonemes

These phonemes are controlled or influenced by the letter r. 

/a(r)/ – car and far

/ā(r)/ – fair and chair

/i(r)/ – here and steer

/o(r)/ – core and door

/u(r)/ – fern and burn

5 Long Vowel Phonemes

/ā/ – day and eight

/ē/ – beet and sleep

/ī/ –  pie and sky

/ō/ – boat and row

/ū/ – hue and chew

 

5 Short Vowel Phonemes

/a/ –  bat and laugh

/e/ – medical and bread

/i/ – sit and lip

/o/ – hot and orange

/u/ – shut and cut

2 ‘oo’ vowel Phonemes

/oo/ – took and could

/ōō/ – moon 

2 Diphthongs
A diphthong is two vowels that work together to form another sound.

/ow/ – mouse and cow

/oy/ – coin and toy

 THE SOUND SYSTEM OF IGBO

The standard Igbo has thirty-six phonemes comprising twenty-eight consonants and eight vowels.

Igbo Vowels

There are eight phonemic vowels in standard Igbo. The vowels, their phonetic
description and distribution are shown below:
1. a /a/ open front unrounded vowel. áká ‘hand’, àkwá ‘egg’, àlà ‘land’

2. e /e/ half-open front unrounded vowel. éké ‘python’, égbé’ ‘kite’, éféré ‘plate’
3. i /i/ close front unrounded vowel. ìtè ‘pot’, ìsé ‘five’, ìrí ‘ten’

4. ị /ɪ/ half-close front unrounded vowel.ìgbà ‘wooden drum’, íkpà ‘to weave’

5. o /o/ half-close back rounded Vowel. òròmá ‘orange’, ótù ‘one’, ólú ‘neck’

6. ọ /ɔ/ half-open back rounded Vowel.ᴐ́kʊ́ ‘fire’, ᴐ́kʊ́ kᴐ̀ ‘fowl’,ᴐ́nʊ̅‘mouth’

7. u /u/ close back rounded vowel. ùgwù ‘honor’, élú ‘up’, ùdó ‘peace’

8. ụ/ʊ/ half-close back rounded vowel.ʊ́ sʊ́ ‘bat’, ázʊ̀ ‘fish’, ánʊ́ ‘meat’
Standard Igbo has twenty-eight consonants, their orthographic representation, phonetic description
and distribution are shown below:
1. p /p/ voiceless bilabial plosive. pá ‘carry’, àpà ‘scar’, pàpá ‘father’
2. b /b/ voiced bilabial plosive. bìá ‘come’, bàá ‘enter’, mbᴐ́ ‘nail’
3. t /t/ voiceless alveolar plosive. tá ‘chew’, tòó ‘praise’, átʊ́ rʊ̅ ‘sheep’
4. d /d/ voiced alveolar plosive. dèé ‘write’ dàá ‘fall’, ńdʊ̀ ‘life’
5. k /k/ voiceless velar plosive. kèé ‘share’, kámà ‘but’, àkʊ̀ ‘wealth’
6. g /g/ voiced velar plosive. gàá ‘go’, gòó ‘buy’, ágʊ̅ ‘tiger’
7. kp /kp/ voiceless labial-velar plosive. kpᴐ́ ‘call’, kpʊ̀ ‘mould’, àkpà ‘bag’
8. gb /gb/ voiced labial-velar plosive. gbàá ‘kick’, àgbà ‘jaw’, ìgbé ‘box’
9. kw /kw/ voiceless labialized velar plosive. kwú ‘say’, kwé ‘agree’, ákwá ‘cry’
10. gw /gw/ voiced labialized velar plosive. gwú ‘dig’, ígwè ‘iron’, àgwà ‘beans’
11. m /m/ bilabial nasal. mbè ‘tortoise’, àmà ‘witness’, ímí ‘nose’
12. n /n/ alveolar nasal ńnà ‘father’, nèé ‘see’, ánʊ́ ‘meat’, éné ‘deer’
13. ny /ɲ/ palatal nasal. ɲàá ‘drive’, ɲé ‘give’, áɲá ‘eye’,èɲò. ‘mirrow’
14. ñ /ŋ / velar nasal. ŋʊ́ ‘drink’, áŋá ‘cane’, áŋʊ̅ ‘bee’
15. w / ŋw/ labialized velar nasal. ŋwʊ́ ‘die’, ᴐ́ ŋwá ‘moon’, èŋwè ‘monkey’
16. f /f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative. fópù ‘uproot’, fùó ‘get lost’, áfᴐ́ ‘stomach’.
17. v /v/ voiced labio-dental fricative. Àví, ìvó ‘names of towns/people’
18. s /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative. sʊ̀ ᴐ́ ‘pound’, sèé ‘draw’, ósè ‘pepper’, àsᴐ́ ‘lie’
19. z /z/ voiced alveolar fricative zèé ‘dodge’, zᴐ̀ ᴐ́ ‘plant’, àzʊ́ ‘back’, ázʊ̀ ‘fish'
20. sh /ʃ/ voiceless post-alveolar. ʃá ‘crayfish’, áʃà ‘weaver bird’
21. gh /ɣ/ voiced velar fricative. ɣᴐ́ ‘pluck’, ɣé ‘fry’, áɣá ‘war’
22. h /h/ voiced glottal fricative. hʊ́ ʊ́ ‘see’, há ‘they’, àhʊ́ ‘body’, áhà ‘name’
23. ch /ʧ/ voiceless post-alveolar affricate. ʧèé ‘think’, ŋ́ ʧà ‘soap’, íʧè ‘different’ 11

Igbo Tonal System

The Igbo language is a register tone language with three level tones- the high tone, low tone and
downstepped tone (a reduced high tone). They are marked using acute accent [ˊ], grave accent [ˊ] and
a raised macron over the letters [ˉ] respectively (Emenanjo, 2015). Like in Ibibio, a word may have
different lexical meanings depending on its tone.
The high and low tones can occur at all positions- initial, medial and final the downstepped tone
cannot start a word in isolation and cannot follow a low tone. The downstepped tone can only occur
in the middle of a word and at word final positions.
Examples of Igbo words bearing these tones are shown below:
15. ákwá ‘cry’, H-H
24. j /ʤ/ voiced post-alveolar affricate. ʤàá ‘praise’, ʤʊ̀ ᴐ́ ‘ask’, àʤà ‘sacrifice’
25. l /l/ voiced alveolar lateral. lèé ‘look’, lòó ‘swallow’, ílú ‘proverb’
26. r /r/ voiced alveolar trill rèé ‘sell’, èrí ‘thread’, érʊ̅ ‘mushroom’
27. y /j/ voiced palatal approximant. jᴐ́ ᴐ́ ‘beg’, já ‘him/her/it’, mjᴐ̀ ‘sieve’
28. w /w/ voiced labialized approximant. wèré ‘take’, ìwú ‘law’, íwé ‘anger’
Igbo Labiod Alveola Post Palatal Velar Labial
Conson entals r Alveola Velar
ant r
Chart
Bilabia
l

The two languages will be contrasted under the following headings:

1. Orthographic letters: Alphabet

2. (a) Vowels

(b) Diphthongs

(c) Tone / Intonation

The Igbo alphabet consists of eight vowels, thirty consonants, and two
tones - high and low. • The official Igbo orthography (known as Onwu) uses
a Roman script.
 Phonology Vowel Use • Igbo English language learners lengthen the vowel
sounds in words, which does not change the semantics. • Igbo learners
tend to lengthen English vowel sounds. Although this assists the Igbo
learner with the ease of speaking, it is not the correct English
pronunciation. i.e. English Igbo stew situu.

Syllables • The Igbo language has open syllables • The English language has
open and closed syllables • The Igbo has no consonant clusters • The
English language has consonant clusters • The basic Igbo syllable is CV: si-
cook, zu-buy • The basic English syllable is VC: am, is, on

1. Consonants

1.1 Orthographic letters: Alphabet

The orthographic letter of English

abcdef
ghijkl
mnopqr
stuvwx
yz

The above orthographic letters of English language are twenty-six in

number. It is from them that English developed its vowel sounds and
consonant sounds.

The orthographic letter of Igbo

a b ch d e f
g gb gh gw h i
ị j k kp kw l
m n ñ nw ny o
ọ p r s sh t
u ụ v w y z

The above orthographic letters of Igbo language are thirty-six in

number. It is from them that Igbo developed its vowel sounds and
consonant sounds.

1.2 Vowels

English language is an example of twenty-vowel languages. It has

twelve (12) pure vowels and eight (8) diphthongs.

Orthographic: i e a o u
some vowels: /a, i, I, u, e, 3/

Some diphthongs: /ai, au, ei,/

The Igbo language on the other hand has eight vowel sounds which
obey the vowel harmony rule. It has Advanced Tongue Root sounds
(+ATR) and Retracted Tongue Root sounds (-ATR).
orthography: a, e, i, ị, ọ, o, u, ụ.

(b) Diphthongs:
While English language has /ai/, /ei/, /au/ etc as diphthongs, Igbo
language has no diphthongs. Igbo language only has monophthongs
otherwise known as pure vowels.
(c) Tone / Intonation

Whereas English is an intonational language, Igbo is a tonal language.

2 Consonants of the two languages
English has twenty-four consonant sounds. Igbo language has twenty
eight consonant sounds.
2.1 Similarities in the consonants phonemes of the languages

1. The two languages share some features in their place of

articulation. These include: bilabial, alveolar, palatal, velar, labio-
velar.
2. The two languages share these consonants phonemes: /b, d, k, t,
w, y, z, g, h, n, r, s/.
3. The two languages bear a striking similarity in their manner of
articulation: plosive, fricative, lateral, affricate, nasal, trill and
approximant.
4. English has sounds resembling similar Igbo phonemes in the Igbo
language as in: /b, d, n, r, z/. They also share these voiceless
phonemes: /k, t, /.
5. The vowel phonemes /a, e, i, o, u/ are basically in the two
orthography.
2.2 Differences in the consonant of the languages
6. English has twenty-four consonant sounds, while Igbo has twenty
eight.
7. The dental sounds are not present in Igbo while labialized velar
sounds are not in English.
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C Eme, E Uba

A Contrastive Study of the Phonology of Igbo and Yoruba

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