Verb Tense Articulation and the Emergent Syntax-Related Problems in Anaang-English Bilingualism

Verb Tense Articulation and the Emergent Syntax-Related Problems in Anaang-English Bilingualism

¹Enang, Edenewo Thomas and ²Ngwoke, Festus Uwakwe* & ³Ozoemena, Johnkenedy Azubuike

¹Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University

²Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

³Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Corresponding Authors

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.907000489

Received: 18 July 2025; Accepted: 24 July 2025; Published: 25 August 2025 

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the challenges faced by non-native English speakers generally, and specifically focuses on Anaang bilinguals, in mastering English verb tense realisation. Employing Contrastive Error Analysis (CEA), the research examines the processes involved in expressing verb tense in both English and Anaang, acknowledging the inherent differences between the two languages and or any other non-Indo-European family language. The analysis of verb tense markers reveals that the structural disparities between Anaang, a language with rich verbal inflexions, and English, which has a more reduced inflectional system, coupled with variations in English syntax, often lead to ungrammatical sentence constructions. The findings highlight how these linguistic contrasts create difficulties for Anaang speakers learning English verb tenses. Furthermore, the study touches upon the complexities of English compound word formation, noting the absence of strict rules to be adhered to by speakers as a common feature in most non-Indo-European languages. Consequently, dictionaries serve as the primary reference, leaving the formation of compound words to linguistic conventions and individual language user preferences.

Keywords: Anaang Bilingual, Verb Tense Articulation, second language situation, Contrastive Error Analysis, and English

INTRODUCTION        

Anaang bilingual, like any other learner of English as a Second Language (ESL), faces countless odds as he tries to make use of the English language in his day-to-day life traffic. It is not enough to completely end the search for the reasons behind these odds on the premise that he is not a native speaker, because most of these odds are non-issues to native speakers who naturally and effortlessly acquire the language from conception (Innateness Hypothesis), Chomsky, (1966, p.24), (Enang, 2017, p.2).

A copious number of these odds could be placed on the list to include the question of insufficient vocabulary, which is the foundation for lexical shortcomings such as phonological deficit and other dialectical factors. These problems persist in spite of the exposure the Nigerian learner received early in life. In Nigeria, English language learning begins from kindergarten and runs through the primary and secondary schools, a level where proficiency is expected with high performance. A pass in English at credit level is compulsory for a would-be undergraduate and this is applicable in many other countries of the world where English is the official language, such as Dominica, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Asian and many African countries (Ani, 2010:2) and (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013). Every academic would definitely expect a minimal dent by these difficulties as one moves higher academically, yet many graduates, postgraduates, and some dons (even of the language specialties) still flaunt errors, displaying a massive level of ignorance with a criminal disregard to acceptable rules of language use.

Among the disturbing areas where English as a Second Language users encounter a lot of hardship is in the use of past and present markers. Speakers, it is observed, tend to omit these markers in both the oral and written forms. But the misuse orally tends to occur at a more frequent rate. English has its approved and recognized standards globally (Enang, E., and Urujzian, V., 2013). Therefore, every language also needs this claim, and users of English must strive to overcome the wrong application of the past and present tense markers (Ani, 2010:2) and (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013). Structurally, English tenses operate in a number of inherent irregularities. These are partly a result of the Roman, French, and Norman millennia of conquests, which gave rise to the imposition of divergent linguistic forms and markers at different periods in the history of the English language and the English people. The imposed linguistic markers have persisted over the years till the modern time.

Another area of difficulty is in the formation of English compound words. There is no approved format for the formation of some British English and American English compound words; whether it should be hyphenated or not. Dictionaries do not stand as the last or final arbiter in matters of this kind. What goes on these days is that compound words is left in the linguistic impressions and the idiosyncratic prerogative of the compiler or language user (P.3)

The verbal group structure of the English language is another area where Anaang bilinguals encounter more chaotic representations. The simple present tense markers [-s, -es and –ies] come up in three different manifestations as phonetic symbols. According to (Udoka, Enang, and. Utin, 2018, p. 4).   “These are: /iz/ as in the words: passes /pa:siz/, catches /kæʧiz /, brushes / brʌʃiz /, and washes /wɒʃiz/ /z/ as in the words:  robs /rɒbz /, calls /kɔ:lz /, talks / tɔ:kz /, and has /hæz/ /s/ as in the words: cuts / kʌts /, cots   /kɒts /, loss /lɔ:s/, and grips /grips/. The source further claims that Anaang bilinguals and many other ESL learners hardly pay attention to these specifications as they find solace or resort to using /s/ for all the classifications. (Udoka, Enang, and. Utin, 2018, p. 12).

Equally problematic is in the phonetic irregularities observed in the past tense markers, [-ed]. This marker also comes in three different forms as follows: /id/ as in the words painted /peintid/, ended /endid/, parted /pa:tid/ and commanded /kɒ’ma:ndid/  /d/ as in the words     claimed /kleimd/,  blamed /bleimd/, grazed  /greizd /, and cleared /kleid/ /t/ as in the words collapsed /kәlæpst /, wished  /wiʃt/, talked /t ɔ:kt/, and rushed /rʌʃt/ (Udoka, Enang, and. Utin, 2018, p. 8). In order to overcome this seemingly aberration or difficulty, an Anaang bilingual resorts to giving all the realizations the strong /d/ articulation (Daniel Jones, 1982), (Udoka, Enang, and. Utin, 2018).

The English verbs are divided into two groups: the regular and irregular verbs. It is of interest to note also that the Irregular verb group is further divided into three subgroups:

Irregular verb (i)

Irregular Verb (ii)

In the above list, there is a recognizable pattern of change.

Irregular Verb (iii)

Note also that this group of Irregular Verbs is very arbitrary in its pattern of change in that there is no recognizable or predictable pattern in the changes, and it is not established or known why it changes in its form. A detailed list of the three types of Irregular verbs shall be presented during the discussion on Past Simple Tense, patterns, and usages.

Normally, English verbs are assumed to adhere to certain conjugation patterns, but some modal verbs notably, ‘shall’, ‘will’, ‘may’, ‘can’, ‘dare’, ‘must’, ‘need’ and ‘ought’ fall short of this requirement; they lack certain forms and so cannot be completely conjugated. They are sometimes referred to as “defective verbs” and show very clearly in the sentences below:

• Joseph can do this
• Dare you see me?
• You need not bother about it
• We ought to see him

As can be observed, the verbs “do”, “see”, “bother”, and “to see” are all infinitives which are used at the objective positions for the defective verbs. This, among other structural irregularities inherent in English verb tenses, poses challenges and difficulties to every ESL and the Anaang bilinguals and so should take its study as an academic enterprise that is most attention-demanding (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013)

Statement of the Problem

English Verb Tense selection, Realization and the Emergent Syntax-Related Errors and Order of the English language constitute a major problem which brings about nonstandard production of the present and past tense patterns of English sentences by Anaang speakers of English (Enang, 2017). The differences between a source language with richly inflected verbal paradigms like Anaang and a target language with a ‘reduced’ inflectional system like English coupled with differences in verb tense order tend to result in ungrammatical sentence patterns, (Dussex, 1976) (Urujzian, V. 2012).

This phenomenon characterizes the grammatical short comings of most Anaang speakers of English as it reflects in their performance on sentence patterning. This gap in the literature in the verbal group has continued to affect scholarship in the area. This study is therefore designed to address this issue by examining the inherent irregularities within the verbal system in order to provide the necessary information for proper teaching and learning of the verbal and the tense patterns (Enang, 2017, P.3). It therefore becomes necessary for this study to proffer solutions in order to bridge the gap between the correct usage and the wrong usage (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013)         

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research instrument used in this study comprised a written production task and a grammatically judged translation task for data collection purposes. For the elicitation procedure, both the elicitation task mode and the elicitation task focus were used for gathering the study’s profiles on performance data in the two languages. The respondents were expected to write an essay in English on the topic: “How Governor Akpabio’s Uncommon Transformation Agenda in Akwa Ibom State has affected the People at the Grassroots.”  The reason for the selection of this type of topic is for the respondents to produce varied structurally determined sentences that would range from simple to complex and or multiple types of sentences. Again, the topic was so selected that respondents were allowed to write on every area that was of interest to them, such as circular religion, politics, economic or social issues, etc. The essence of this topic is for the respondents to generate more complex sentences with various tenses of realisation. This is because researchers’ aim also was to determine respondents’ handling of tenses realisation in a continuous writing atmosphere.

Results and Analysis on Tense Realization

Data indicating respondents’ ability in the production of Past Tense realization are provided in Table 1 below:

Table 1:Table Showing Results of Essay Test on Respondents’ Ability in the Production of (A): Past Tenses

Data indicating respondents’ ability in the production of Present Tenses are provided on table 2 below:

Table 2: Table Showing Results of Essay Test on Respondents’ Ability in the Production of (B): Present Tenses

 Results and Analysis on Tense Realisation

Data indicating respondents’ ability in the production of Future Tenses realisation are provided on Table 3 below:

Table 3: Table Showing Results of Essay Test on Respondents’ Ability in the  Production of (C): Future Tenses

The data that relates to the realisation of Past Tenses in English and Anaang are summarised in Table 1 above. A general look at the table shows that apart from the Past Perfect Continuous tense, which posed the problem of production to the respondents, the other three Past tense types were easy for the respondents to produce. For instance, a total of one hundred (100) respondents wrote the Essay Test, 94 respondents were able to produce Past Continuous tense with appropriate N-heads while six respondents could not, thus, scoring 94% and 6% respectively, Respondents were able to produce Past Simple, Past Perfect Simple, scoring 92% and 81% respectively whereas the respondents who could not produce the two Past Tense types scored 8% and 19% accordingly.  On the other hand, a total of 31% of the respondents were unable to produce the Past Perfect Continuous tense with appropriate tense heads and so could not select the required tense types. The results here agree with Lado (1957), cited in Enang, E. (2023), regarding the difficulties a learner of the L2 is likely to have due to the dissimilarities of the internal structures of the two languages concerned.

Again, a look at Table 2 shows that 61% of the respondents could not produce the Present Continuous tense and the Present Simple Tense with the appropriate heads and correct structure, while 39% and 30% were able to produce the Present Continuous tense and the Present Simple Tense. Going by this distribution, only a few percentages of the respondents produced non-standard complement structures in English and Anaang Present Tense patterns. In the sections that follow, the internal structures that were obtained are presented in Table 2. The results show that in the Present Perfect Simple Tense, 76% of the respondents could not produce the tense pattern, while only 24% of the respondents were able to produce the tense pattern properly. On the other hand, 91 respondents were able to produce the required tenses properly, scoring 91%, while only nine respondents could not produce the required tense structure, thereby scoring 9% respectively.

Finally, the data related to the production of Future Tenses in English and Anaang are summarized in Table 3 above. As shown in the table, the general performance of the respondents is poor. The respondents had difficulty in producing and selecting appropriate heads. A look at the table shows that out of one hundred (100) respondents who wrote the essay, 66 of them could not produce Future Continuous Tense, thus scoring 66% while 82 were able to produce the Future Simple Tense and so scored 82%. On Future Perfect Simple Tense 77 respondents were unable to produce it and as such scored 77% while the remaining 67 were able to produce expected the Future Perfect Continuous Tense type scored 67%.  Tenses introducing participles, generally known as “Participials” were observed to have posed the problems of production to the respondents on the three clause types since they were not easy for the respondents to produce. For instance, a total of one hundred (100) respondents wrote the Essay Test, 34% of the respondents were able to produce Future Continuous Tense with appropriate heads, while 18% of the respondents could not, thus scoring 18%. 23% was scored under Future Perfect Simple Tense, while 62% were unable. On Future Perfect Continuous Tense, 33% were unable to produce the tense correctly. The entire table 3 reveals that out of the four tense types in the future time, respondents performed well in two and performed poorly in the other two.

Theoretical Framework

There are many theoretical frameworks in language, but each is used according to the roles and functions it performs with suitability. This study is focused on Contrastive Error Analysis and Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar as the Theoretical Frameworks. While Contrastive Error Analysis (CEA) is used to examine and analyse errors that arise from the similarities and differences in the verb tense markers of the two languages: English and Anaang, the Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) is used in the syntactic description of the verb tense patterns of the two languages. This is in line with Enang, E., Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. (2013), Eckman (1977) stance.

Review of Related Literature

Language acquisition is a term that was originally and traditionally used to describe the way in which the individual gets to acquire the native language or the first language spoken in his immediate speech community without stress or effort. On the other hand, second-language learning, or L₂ learning, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second language refers to any language learned in addition to a person’s first language. Enang (2017:26) adds that “although the concept is named second-language acquisition, it can also incorporate the learning of third, fourth, or subsequent languages.  Second-language acquisition refers to what learners do; it does not refer to practices in language teaching”.

People born into the same language inherit the same set of meanings, standards and lifestyle. The learning and use of a people’s language puts the learner or user in a better frame of mind to appreciate the culture of the people and the social ties among the users. A reverse of this places the learner or user, no matter his place of birth or origin, in the same difficult position the Anaang bilingual finds himself. This, of course, lends credence to Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. (2013) and Abercrombie’s (1968) assertions that:

The mastery of both spoken and written media is essential to proper language use and is central to nationwide socio-cultural integration. On the other hand, differences in learning pose problems of interference for the L₁ user of L₂. The differences in the two languages are responsible for negative or positive performance.

This is so because whenever one is confronted with the words, phrases, clauses and or sentences of a strange language or come into contact with a language one does not understand, he only reads it as a rambling of unintelligible and incomprehensible sound devoid of meaning.

Taking a look at errors in English tenses with a mild impression, Deval Motka, (2009) cited in Enang, E. and Urujzian, V. (2013) state that: “for most of us (Indians) English is still a challenge. With all its irregularities, exceptions and rules English is a very difficult language to master”. To check the excesses of this difficulty, Deval Motka develops “English Bloopers Series” where articles on written and spoken mistakes are collected, examined and analysed by peer reviewers for publication in an Indian-based journal, entitled Great Ahead Readers. This frantic effort offered Indian bilinguals a great way to review the basics, clarify issues that posed challenges for the Indians.

According to Enang, E., and Utin, I. (2023), another group of scholars, Samuel J. Keyser and Paul M. Postal (1976) of Thomas Watson Research Centre IBM, while analyzing the prologue of their publication, concede that “here is, however, every reason to avoid giving the impression that linguists today can provide the student of English with a fixed, well-worked-out systematic description of the language”.

By so doing, they likened linguistic study suffering with dogmatism, claiming that “Dogmatism is Dogmatism”, whether wrapped in the concepts and terminology of an outmoded Latin tradition or in those of what claims to be modern science.  While accepting that a great deal is now known about English grammar, nevertheless, they point out that far more is not known, simply because “New Insights, new facts and the concomitant revisions of previous views they require are now the everyday norm”. Based on this proposition, they declare that apart from what they call “superficial regularities” [e.g. articles precede nouns, etc.]:  (Enang, Urujzian and Udoka, 2013) and (Utin, I and Enang, E. 2020).

To present a technically complete set of rules would be misleading and misguided. For no fact, there is simply no available understanding to construct such a system at the moment. Elaborate bodies of formal rules are thus, at this stage, necessarily deemed to be artificial and arbitrary to a great degree.

The above expression shows the extent to which English grammatical rules were and ignored and the effect of such absence on the growth, experimentation and the actual put to use of what would have been put down as rules or patterns. According to Boadi (1981), cited in Enang (2017:2)

Even in England itself, English language was long neglected mainly because it did not have any “grammar”. Writers such as Dryden and Swift of the later half of 17th century were said to have complained of the “barbarity” of the English tongue, by which they meant the absence of “grammar” in the form of set rules which were to have been patterned after the Latin grammar of the day. Swift’s complaint that “English offends against every part of grammar” was taken up by others, notably Bishop Lowth, who published in 1762 a Grammar and agreed with Swift’s contention.

It is an established fact that the problem of English language is never handled or discussed on the table of guess work arguable prescriptions or commentaries, but on that scientific laboratory of descriptive analysis that fully reflects a native speaker’s agreement to such linguistic analysis. That is why Onuigbo (2006) in Urujzian, V. (2016) and Enang, E. (2017) note that:

The reality of English language in Nigeria and other countries where it serves as a Second Language is that as the frontiers of the language increase, it continues to acquire new significance and to place new demands on the users.

On their part, Hornby (1975) and Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. (2013)   realizing the difficulty experienced by learners of ES made this declaration as follows “my object in writing this book was to provide help and guidance for advanced students of English as a Foreign or Second Language”.

There is a consensus among linguists that whenever two or more languages come in contact, there is bound to be some developments, positive or negative, to the three major levels in language study: morphological, phonological, semantic and syntactic, as far as their imports are concerned. Consequently, all instances of nonstandard productions of target language material by L₂ learners can be attributed to observable differences between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL).

Moreover, Enang, E. (2017) adds that “learning a language can be conceived as learning a task; e.g. riding a bicycle, with possibilities of one task interfering with subsequent tasks”, where differences between learner’s L₁ and L₂ were held accountable for misproductions in L₂ learner’s performance in the target language and similarities between the two languages were considered to be learning-enhancing. The phenomenon of transfer was assumed to be the result of interference. Differences and similarities between the learner’s L₁ and the target language resulted in negative or positive transfers. Enang (2017) in his agreement with the consensus presented above, also cites Lado (1957:69) and concludes that:

The learner tends to transfer the habits of native language structure to a foreign language; we have here the major source of difficulty or ease in learning the structures of a foreign language. Those structures that are similar will be easy to learn because they will be transferred and may function satisfactorily in the foreign language and will, therefore, have to be changed.

Eyisi’s (2004) effort, cited in Enang, E. (2017):  in painstakingly treating “Common Errors in the Use of English” is seen as a magnum by Fodeh Baldeh of the University of Gambia while writing the forward of the text, makes the following commendation, “I commend…this magnum opus and recommend it to everyone – both young and old – who not only wish to have their linguistic appetite whetted but also crave to extricate themselves from the tyranny of common errors in English”.

In what follows, a careful look at the twelve tenses of English and the forms of verb that are used in sentence construction will be better treated one after the other consecutively as follows:

The Past Tenses

Past Continuous Tense

This is a tense used in describing an action that was going on in the past for some time in a non-stop or continuous form, expressing two parallel actions and for expressing an event intervening while the other was going on for some time (Enang, E. 2017), (Utin, I and Enang, E. 2020).

Pattern: Subj. + Was/Were + V-ing (Gerund)

Usages:

To express an action going on in the past for some time.

Examples:

All through the morning, Utobong was reading.

Ke afru mbakansen ade, Utobong ake kod nwed

To express two paralleled situations.

While Comfort was cooking, Ankon and Dopse were singing in the parlour.

Idaha Comfort ake teme ndidia, Akon nde Dopse ekekwo ikwo ke eka ufok.

To express events intervening while the other was going on for some time.

The Doctor arrived when he was gasping for breath.

AwiaIbokmbakara ade akedok ali ini anye aketokoke toko anwuek inwuek

Note also that All through, when and while used in the construction of the various English sentences in the above examples mean Akpaimo, Kini and Idaha respectively in Anaang language. Therefore, the semantic and syntactic imports of these adverbs are of one-to-one equivalence in the two languages (Utin, I. D. 2016, Enang, 2017),

Past Simple Tense

This tense, according to Solarin (1982) and (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013) “is used to express event or action, state of being and or condition which took place in the past”. In short, the past simple tense expresses events, states or habitual actions in the past. The verbs used in this tense are divided into two groups (Enang, E. and Urujzian, V. 2013) The Regular and Irregular verbs. It is of interest to note also that the Irregular verb group is further divided into three subgroups as mentioned earlier, and they are shown in a tabular format below:

Irregular verb (i)

Irregular Verb (ii)

In the above list, there is a recognizable pattern of change to be [ i, e, e,].

Irregular Verb (iii)

Note also that this group of Irregular Verbs are very arbitrary in that there is no recognizable or predictable pattern in their changes and it is not established or known why they change in their form. (Urujzian, V. 2012) and (Enang, E. and Utin, I .2023).

Pattern: Subj. + Simple Past + (Adjunct)

Usages:

To express an action completed at a point in time in the past.

 Examples:

Yakubu founded the school twenty years ago.

Yakubu ake siak ufoknwed ade siua erib ke elem

To express Habitual activities in the past.

Ufokobong danced beautifully during her school days.

Ufokobong  amase inek njaiya unek idaha ake kaha ngwed

To express a state in the past

The soup went sour before dawn. 6b.  Afere ade ama amang nte ajo achiere

Your statement offended everybody.  7b. Iko afo ajia jiad afure agwo echid.

Past Perfect Simple (Past in Past) Tense:

In his words, Enang, E. (2017) cited in Utin, I and Enang, E. (2020) maintains that “This tense is also called Past in Past tense because HAD is already a past marker whereas the past participle of the verb that follows it is an indicator of the past”. This tense is used to describe an action completed in the past before other events took place or occurred. In expressing actions using this tense, the completed action is always in the past while the subsequent event is often express in the simple past (Enang, E. and Utin, I. 2023).

 Pattern: Subj. + Had + Past Participle While (Subj. + Simple Past)

Usages:

To express an earlier of two events in the past.

Dr. Kelvin had died before his Doctor arrived.

Dr. Kelvin ama kpakpa nte Dockto amma aligwuo

Used in changing the Present Perfect Simple tense into Past Perfect Simple Tense in the Reported Speech.

It should be noted that every statement made by a speaker should be enclosed in a double inverted comma (quotation marks) because it is a direct statement of the speaker, while the reported version of the speaker should be paraphrased or put in the sentences of the reporter because it is a speech indirectly presented by the reporter (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013) and (Enang, E. and Utin, I.2023).

Direct Statements:

“Ubengama has left for France to study medicine”, said his father.

“Ubong ama adaka France aka ikod ibok”,     Ete amo akebo..

Reported Speech

To change the sentences in example 15 into Reported Speech, the sentences will now appear in the two languages, thus:

His father says that Joseph had left for France to study medicines

Ete amo abo daad ke Joseph ama adaka France sekekod ibok

Direct Statements

“Mr. Bills Etuk has died two months ago”, Magdalene informs us

“Adede Bills Etuk ama akpa afiong iba ke elem”, Magdalene akiloko jire.

Reported Speech

To change the sentences in example 16 into Reported Speech, the sentences will now appear in the two languages thus:

Amagdalene informed us that Mr. Bills Etuk had died two months before.

Amagdalene akiloko jire abo daad ke Adede Bills Etuk ake kpa afiong iba ke elem

Direct Statements

“Udeme has never spoken the truth all her life”, said Engr. Caleb.

“Udeme itanga akpaniko sa asuk amana”, Engr Caleb aketang.

Reported Speech

To change the sentences in example 17 into Reported Speech, the sentences will now appear in the two languages thus:

Engr. Caleb says that Udeme had never spoken the truth all her life.

Nsinia Caleb abo daad ke Udeme itanga akpaniko sa asok amana

Here, “has left” ,” has died”, “has never spoken”in the Present Perfect tense in examples 15, 16 and 17 become “Had left”, “had died”, and “had never spoken” in the same examples respectively in the Past Perfect Tense.

Note also that in each statement, the speaker is interested in giving the information but not considering the time. (Ronald Forrest, Revision English)

Past Perfect Progressive or Continuous Tense:

The Past Perfect Continuous or progressive Tense is a tense used in expressing completed events or actions in the past which was in a continuous or progressive form), (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013, p.8) (Utin, I. D. 2016).

Pattern: Subj.+ Had been + -ing (Gerund) + Adjuncts

Usages:

To express completed actions/events in the past which was in a continuous form.

Mary had been taking care of us.

Mary ake suk iche jire anyin mfonmfon

To expressing habitual actual actions or activities in the past, making use of “Used to”.

Barr. Shaibu had been used to drinking hot drinks.

Ngwong ufiop ukod amehe Ajari igwaad Shaibu (syntactic variation)

The man and his wife had been used to fighting each other.

Uwana anwan ama amehe Ete ade nde agwonwaan amo (syntactic variation).

To indicate that event happened before another event in the past and that the event was in a continuous form.

By 1958, Dr. Eyo Ita had been studying English for four years before he joined Politics.

Tongho 1958 ke Dokto Eyo Ita ake akod iko makara isua inang nte anye adok mire abolbolo

Joseph had been living in London for three years when his people knew that he travelled abroad.

Joseph amalung ke London ijoho isua ita ante mbon amo eliongo ebo ke anye  amada abio makara

To express an action from some definite point in the past till now, (using “since”)

Chief Udom had been living in this village since 1970.

Udom akelong the abio ami tongho isua 1970

To express a specific number or length of time from the past till now, (using “for”)

The boy had been training for 4 hours now.

Akparawa ade aketongho mbengheidem  ke agwa inang idahaam

Note the use of “had” and “been” plus the verbal Nouns before “since” or “for” in the last two usages, i.e., 4 and 5. Remember that “since” means “from some definite time” while “for” means “a specific period of time”.

The Present Tenses

The Present Continuous/Progressive or (The Real Present) Tense:

 Enang, E. and Utin, I. (2023) state that “This tense is used to express an action in a continuous or progressive form at the time of speaking”. In short, it expresses an action that is taking place at the moment of speaking. In a more technical way, this is a tense which is used for actions one is performing, will perform (in a short period), and for habituality), (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013, p.10), (Utin, I and Enang, E. 2020)

Pattern: Subj. + is/am/are + -ing (Gerund) + Adjunct.

Usages

To express an action that is going on the moment of speaking.

I am washing my clothes.

Ami njied affong ila or affong ami

Uduak is reading in her room.

Uduak akod ngwed k’ufok ama idahaam.

To express immediate future or futurity (e g. 1 day- 4 months).

I am traveling to Lagos tomorrow.

Ami medaka Lagos mkpong

They are leaving for Oron next week.

Ammo ela edaka Oron urua mfen

To express habitual actions (using “Always”)

Sister Idongesit is always crying in the night.  26b.  Idongechid ejaka ami ase atua tua akonejo

I am always singing in the midnight. 27b.  Ami nse ngwaak  nkwo ikwo akon ejo

Note: There are some verbs + -ing (Gerund) which are not present participles by their grammatical function. Let us look at the following examples.

This girl is a crying baby. (a) Ajen agwonwanaan ade adara nsek etok iban

Mr. Anderson is a struggling man.   (b) Adede Anderson ade anwana idem agwo

There is a stinging gutter near our house.  (c) Atewe utewe agota amode ke mkpere ufok ajid.

Okonkwo is my running mate.  (d) Okonkwo abi nda ke elem ke mbuba aboloboloem

Dancing is interesting.   (e) Uneek ase anyone inem

Seeing is believing     (f) Nkuk ke anyen ade nim ke akpan iko

I like dancing.  (g)     Ami mema nek unek

That soldier is struggling to make ends meet. (h) Agwoekong ade anwanidem mbak akud sedia

Deval Motka, (2007) and Enang, E. and Utin, I. (2023) stated that “the underlined words in a – d ‘crying’, ‘struggling’ ‘stinging’ and ‘running’ are adjectives”. They are called verbal adjectives and they must either be present participle or past participle before qualifying the nouns found after them; baby, man, gutter and mate respectively. In examples (e) and (f) ‘interesting’ and ‘believing’ are not objects instead they are subject complements. They cannot be objects because of the auxiliary verb “is” (verb to be). They merely complete the idea portrayed by subjects in the two sentences, (Lee Mckay, 2002), (Enang, E. Urujzian, V. and Udoka, S. 2013)   Again, these examples:

Barr. Udombana is my learned friend. From ‘learn’  

Ajaraigwaad Udombana ade adiongho ngwed ufan ami. From “adiongho”

Mr. Kingdom bought a stolen car. From ‘steal’

Adede Kingdom amadep ujipunyam amuto. From “ujip”

Present Simple Tense:

This tense is used to express action or event which started in the past and completes now. It is also used in the expression of eternal truth, futurity and habitual activities. Enang, E. and Utin, I. 2023).

Pattern: Subj. + -s /-es /-ies /infinitive + adjunct.

Usages:

To express completed action now.

We know Dr. Jerry                    28b.  Ajid imidiongho Dokto Jerry

Regina loves swimming.            29b. Regina amma egwuook

To express habitual actions. (using “adverbs of frequency”)

Akaninyene often goes to school early.

Akaninyene ase lalak aka ufokngwed

Bishop Kris frequently visits our Parish.

Aku awasi Kriss asedi ebohoi ajid afru ini

To express Immediate Futurity (under a condition where there is a Timetable, Itinerary, Schedule or Programme)

The New York bound plane leaves London airport at 10.am..

Ubon anyong asi se nka New York ase adaka London ke nkanika duop 10 ubaha nsen

The Head of State attends a conference in Uganda tomorrow.

Ada iwuod ukara ala ka mbono ade eke Uganda mkpong

To express Natural Laws/Internal Truth

The sun rises from the east and sets in the west.

Utin ase aska ke elem edere anung achop ke elem usuuk

Oil floats on water.    35b.     Adan ase ado adoro ke anyong ngwoong

The Present Perfect Simple Tense:

 It is a tense which describes events which happened in the past but are closely connected with present.

Pattern: Subj. + has / have + Past Participle form of the verb

Usages

To express completion or perfection of an action now.

Mr. Otu has done his homework.   36b.    Adede Out ama anam utom echid ufok amo.

We have arrived at the airport.          37b.  Ajid ima ikigwuo anwa ubom afum 

To indicate a period of time beginning in the past and continuing up to present. (using “yet, not yet, ever, never).

Utobong has not read this book of mine yet. (Have you read this book yet?)

Utobong iki koto ngwed ami anyem nduon (Afo ama akot ngwed nyem anyem nduon?)

My son has never been to Paris.    (Have you ever been to Paris?)

Ajeniden ami akaha ka Paris sa atie (Afa ameka ka Paris sa afo’tie?)

Also, these words are almost always used with the Present Perfect simple tense: “Just, Already, Recently, Lately”.

Aniedu has recently got married.  (a) Aniedu asok ado ndo ke mkpere mkperem.

The result has just been announced. (b) Esok enangs/esio iboro ade idahaam

Present Perfect Continuous Tense:

This is a tense used to an action which started in the past but continues up to the present.

Pattern: Subj. + has / have + been + -ing + since / for + time

Usage

To express any event/activity that took place sometime in the past and has continued up till now.

The students have been reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth for 2 years.

Ntoufokngwed ade eke tongho ekod ngwed Shakespears akereke Macbeth ke isua iba idahaam.

Note

Verbs of static nature are rarely used in the present perfect continuous tense. Such verbs include: “Shut”, “cut’, “open”, “bind’, “believe” etc.

She has been shutting the door since morning. (ungrammatical and unacceptable).

Automatic Verbs are rarely used here too. Examples are: “see”; “hear”, “purpose”, “understand”, “have”, “meet”, “listen”, “follow”, etc.

The Future Tenses

The Future Continuous Tense:

This is a tense used to describe an action that will be going on in the future.

Pattern:  Subj. + Shall/will + Be + V-ing +Adjunct

Usage: 

To express an action that will/shall going on in the future.

 Examples:

I will be leaving for Kaduna next week Sunday.

Ami nduak ika Kaduna urua mfen

The Future Simple Tense:

This tense expresses actions or events that will hold in future.

Pattern: Subj.+ Shall / Will + Base form of the verb + Adjunct

Usage:

To describe an action or event that shall or will take place in the future.

Examples:

We shall see Dr. Okono after lecture tomorrow.

Ajid ilaikud Dr Okono k’udomo ama kwere mkpong

The Future Perfect Tense:

This is a tense that describes an action or event that will/shall be completed in the future before a certain time.

Pattern:   Subj + Shall / Will + Have + Past Participle form of verb + Adjunct.

Usage:

 To express or describe an action or event due for completion or perfection in the future.

Examples:

After today, Udimobong shall have worn that shoe for three days.

Mfin ama foro, Udimobong ala sine ikpa ukot om ke usen ita

The Future Perfect Continuous Tense:

 It describes actions or events considered already completed at some time in the future, but will be in a continuous form till then.

Pattern: Subj. + Will / Shall + Have + Been+ V-ing (Gerund) + Adjunct.

Usage:

 To describe action considered already completed in the future, whereas the action will be in a continuous form till then.

Examples:

Atobot shall have been eating her supper in New York by this time tomorrow.

Atobot ekpena adia mkpo ndubi ke New York mkpong idahaam

Emperical Studies of Anaang in other Linguistic Levels

Morphology of Anaang

Anaang, like other languages has morphemes which can be classified in relation to two structures. First, they can be represented by segments and supra-segments. Secondly, there are cases where a particular function of meaning is not always represented by the phenomena. These assertions can clearly be illustrated in the way Anaang marks present tense: m-me-mfon: ‘I am good’. The present tense me, is appropriately represented by the segment [m] and supra-segmental element (the rising tone). But in the sentence m-mfonno: ‘I am not good’, the present tense is not in any way represented.

Morphology of Specific Languages

In recent times, lots of researches have been done on comparative studies of languages. These researches have given the study of languages a boost because according to Baucr (1987) ‘when two languages are juxtaposed and the differences and similarities identified, the researchers and learners of the language will benefit from the findings’, in the light of this, Enang and Urujzian (2020) attempts a contrastive analysis of English and  Anaang morphological systems. The study aimed to investigate how the word structure of Anaang and English can hinder the performance of the Anaang-English bilingual in the use of English words. One of the tests was an achievement test, which was to determine what the informants knew about the morphemes and word-forms in their mother tongue.

The research sample was divided into groups – the secondary schools group and the University students group. The study found that inflexion in Anaang may be approached through the prefixation process.

The work identifies Anaang ‘inflectional’ morphology as a structure of language analyzable under phonology and approached through vowel elision tone marking and vowel harmony. This is in agreement with Spencer’s (1981) observation of inflectional morphology as often enmeshed with phonology (p.85).

The study also elaborates on derivation in Anaang and deals extensively with conversions, compounding and reduplication processes of word-formation. Some of the findings of the work are:

• English is largely more inflectional than Anaang.
• Anaang is largely agglutinating while English is not.
• English marks the genitive case morphologically, while Anaang indicates it syntactically.

The study concludes that the problem of Anaang -English bilinguals maybe minimized if Anaang learners of English were adequately exposed to the morphological processes of English and Anaang by competent teachers. Essien (1990), which is often regarded as one of the major works on Ibibio grammar titled: The Grammar of Anaañg Language, makes a case for morphology. He begins by examining morphemes in relation to other languages.

Morphemes are expressed or represented by segments together with the supra-segmental such as tone, length, and stress in many languages (Essien1990: 70). It cites an Anaang morpheme wák: ‘be many’ as being identified not just by the segments /w/, /a/ and /k/, but also by the high tone/’/. Similarly, the morpheme /wàk/: ‘tear up’ is identified not only by /w/, /a/ and /k/, but also by the low tone /’/. It clarifies two points in relation to the structure of morphemes.

That in the majority of cases in Anaang, Ibibio and most other languages, morphemes are represented by segments and some supra-segmentals.

That morphemes are not always represented as a sequence of segmental and supra-segmental.

Essien further notes that inflectional morphemes in Anaang are characteristically prefixes while derivational morphemes are typically suffixes. He demonstrates that among the features of morphology in Anaang, several prefixes and sometimes suffixes can occur in a sequence such that a whole sentence can just consist of a word. He cites: Amaasuyem (á-màá-srú-yém): ‘He used to look for you’ as an example of a sentence in Anaang which contains five morphemes.

The Phonological Systems of the Anaang Language

Udondatta (1993) compares English mid Anaang phonological systems, using the synchronic model. He uses both a production and a recognition test to find out, among others, how the differences existing between English and Anaang segmental features can hinder the production of English sounds by Anaang speakers.

One hundred and twenty final year secondary school students drawn from twelve secondary schools in the then six local government areas where Anaang is spoken were used, for the study. The author in a detailed survey of the sound systems of the two languages identified and compared the segmental features of English and Anaang and noted among other differences that the alveolar lateral /l/ occurs in English but is only realized in some dialects of Anaang but the alveolar liquid (rolled) /r/ which occurs in English is nonexistent in Anaang. These differences will be noted in our study during the analysis of Anaang word-formation processes. The work also noted that the nasals /m/ and /n/ are realized in initial, medial and final positions of word in both Anaang and English. The source further discusses non-segmental features of stress, tone, and intonation in the two languages, and notes the differences between accentuations in the two languages. Though no work has been done on Anaang morphology, this study on phonology will be useful since the formation of Anaang morphs, will be done using the already identified sounds of Anaang

Essien (1983) and Utin, I. and Enang, E. (2020) started by criticising research on Anaang conducted by S.W. Koelle, a colonial missionary in Sierra Leone, published in 1854. According to Essien, Koelle’s informant in Sierra Leone was a slave from Nkwot in Etim Ekpo who had lived in Sierra Leone for eighteen years, during which period he had lost contact with his original linguistic community. The source also observed that the linguistic data supplied by Koelle’s informant are disputable. Moreover, the fact that Koelle used the word-list method in his data collection brings a number of problems in the research (Essien 1983: 182). In the light of this, Essien subjected Koelle’s work to a number of criticisms and finally came up with the following modifications.

Adapted from Udondatta (1993: 34)

Utip (1989) in a comparative study of Ibibio, Anaang and Efik vowel systems cited in Utin, I and Enang, E. (2020) identify Anaang as belonging to the lower cross group of languages and forming a cluster with Ibibio and Efik. Utip identifies seven vowels for Anaang. But her versions of Anaang sounds are questionable. This could be traced to her informants. To this, Udondatta made modifications to some information from her data.

Udondatta (1993: 35).

Though Essien’s criticisms of Koelle’s work and Udondatta’s criticisms of Utip’s research are on the sound system of Anaang, this study on word-formation will find this section useful when discussing aspects of phonologically conditioned morphemes. As evident from the literature review, there has to my knowledge been no work done on the morphological system of Anaang. This study will fill this gap.

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION

This study has been carried out on English and Anaang verb tense realisation and the emergent syntax-related problems. a case of Anaang bilingual in a second language situation. The work has shown that English has more verb tenses than Anaang and it has revealed that Anaang verbal patterns tend to exhibit more variations in most of the syntax -related equivalence with the target language (English).

The work has also revealed that where there is a marked absence of direct equivalence during translation, the combinatorial possibilities in the source language readily yield to coinages and loan words to facilitate communication and intelligibility rather than inhibit and/or impede communication. This is so because in English, some verb tenses generally follow their associated patterns with arbitrary unpredictability of change, while this is the reverse in Anaang, which operates agglutinating and centrifugal structural patterns.

Finally, this study has revealed that Anaang verbal, adverbial, and adjectival systems are often realized by the reduplication of the categories involved. In most cases, two different categories are combined in order to bring about the expected lexical items. English language, on the other hand, has the combinatorial possibility of separating the verbs and the adverbs, thereby accommodating one word for each object; specifically, a specifier for a specified.        It has therefore been concluded that these features not impede communication; rather, they facilitate and proffer answers to the emergent syntax-related problems confronting the Anaang bilingual in a second language situation by making it possible for construction of sentences in English devoid of mistakes arising from wrong usages of the past, present and future tense patterns and markers

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCHES

Based on the above research findings, it is suggested that future research include a larger and more diverse sample of bilingual speakers with the aim of enhancing the validity and generalisation of such findings. It is also recommended that other comparative studies with other indigenous languages should be carried out, and that they also provide broader linguistic insights into the Anaang language.

Secondly, such research should incorporate both qualitative and quantitative types, such as interviews and also adopt the syntactic error analysis, which would easily offer a more comprehensive understanding for the reading public. Additionally, collaboration with native Anaang speakers and language experts would enrich the analysis.

In the third place, Educational implications should be explored, especially in curriculum design, development and implementation, which would go a long way to supporting bilingual learners in mastering verb tenses and syntax in both languages.

REFERENCES

1. Abercrombie, D. (1956). Problems and principles. London: Longman Books.
2. Ani, J. A. P. (2010). Realization of tense in the English verb and the problems to a second language learner (Unpublished master’s dissertation). University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
3. Boadi, L. A. (1981). Grammatical structures and its teaching. Ibadan: African University Press.
4. Deval Motka. (2007, July 27). English errors: Tenses aren’t so difficult. Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/getahead2007/jul/27eng.htm
5. Enang, E. (2017). Complementation systems in English and Anaang languages (Doctoral thesis). University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
6. Enang, E., Eshiet, C., & Udoka, S. (2013). Politeness in language use: A case of spoken Nigerian English. The Intuition, 5(1), 272–285.
7. Enang, E., Urujzian, V., & Udoka, S. (2013). Selected aspects of the syntax of educated Nigerian English. Academic Discourse: An International Journal, 6(1).
8. Enang, E., & Utin, I. (2023). Theoretical considerations of the second language acquisition profiles of the Anaang bilinguals. Akwa Ibom State University Journal of Arts, 4(1), 58.
9. Essien, O. E. (1990). A grammar of the Ibibio language. Ibadan: University Press Limited.
10. Essien, O. E. (1983). Anaang in the Polyglotta. African Language Review Magazine, 9. London: Frank Cass.
11. Eyisi, J. (2004). Common errors in the use of English. Enugu: Africana.
12. Forrest, R. (1968). Revision English. London: Longman Group Limited.
13. Hornby, A. S. (1975). A guide to patterns and usage in English. London: Oxford University Press.
14. Keyser, S. J., & Postal, P. M. (1976). Beginning English grammar. London: Cambridge University Press.
15. Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
16. Onuigbo, S. (2006). English language: A grammatical description. Nsukka: Afro-Orbis Publications Ltd.
17. Solarin, S. (1982). English grammar and comprehension. Lagos: Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Ltd.
18. Udoka, S. T. (2006). Lexical items in Anaang and English in distributional equivalence (Doctoral dissertation). University of Uyo.
19. Udoka, S. T., Enang, E. T., & Utin, I. D. (2018). Consonant combinations in Anaang and English languages: A look at final clusters. International Journal of Communication and Culture, 9(2–3), 59–74.
20. Udondatta, J. P. (1993). English and Anaañ phonological systems: A comparative study (Master’s thesis). University of Uyo.
21. Udo, U. E. (1983). The history of the Anaang people. Calabar: Apcon Press Ltd.
22. Urujzian, V. (2012). Issues in English language teaching and learning: Problems and prospects. Academic Scholarship Journal, 4, 182–189.
23. Urujzian, V. (2016). The gap between teaching and research in English semantics: A study of tautology in English and Anaang languages. The Intuition, 7(1).
24. Utin, I. D. (2016). Information and communication technology: A tool for the teaching of the English language in the open educational resources development in Nigeria. International Journal of Academia, 1(1), 78–87.
25. Utip, E. (1989). A comparative study of Ibibio, Anaañ and Efik vowels (Master’s thesis). University of Port Harcourt.