Abstract

In dictionary production, the primary aim of a lexicographer is the satisfaction of both the
reception and production needs of a dictionary user. For this to be effectively achieved, the
dictionary has to have certain information on the possible inflections of a particular language.

INTRODUCTION

A dictionary sometimes referred to as a 'word book' is a collection of words in one or more

specific languages often arranged alphabetically which may include information on definitions,
usage, etymologies, pronunciations and translations. The lemma also known as the headword is
the most important element of a dictionary, it is a known fact that without the lemma there is no
dictionary. Usually, the dictionary contains all the possible vocabulary of a language and seeks to
define and explain these words to the satisfaction of a user.

In linguistic studies, words are studied and examined based on their make-up i.e. how they are
formed, their relationship with other words and analysis on the structure of words and parts of
words such as stems, root words, prefixes and suffixes and this branch of linguistics called
morphology has a direct link with lexicography because while morphology studies the words, the
dictionary collects and analyzes these words.

Furthermore, in dictionary making, morphology is divided into two categories; inflection and
word formation; word formation is the process of deriving a new word or compound through
addition of prefixes or suffixes while inflection is the modification of the form of a word to
express a different grammatical category.

Verbs are the most commonly inflected words, changing forms to reflect grammatical tense, as
well as mood, voice, aspect, person and speech. Collectively, this is known as conjugation. The
other parts of speech that can undergo inflection are nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs.
Most inflections are done according to consistent rules and patterns but there are many words
that are irregularly inflected.

This research paper will be divided into four parts first, the literature review which would define
the concept of inflection and other authors' Opinions. The second part which is the methodology
which would explain the data collection method employed in the realization of this research
paper, the third part will be for the data analysis, where the method of presentation of inflectional
information in G Egeme Igwe's dictionary would be discussed and examined, the last part would
be the conclusion containing the findings of this research paper.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

What is inflection?

According to the free dictionary, "grammatical inflection (sometimes known as accodence or

flection in more traditional grammars) is the way in which a word is changed or altered in form
in order to achieve a new specific meaning.

The word "inflection" comes from the Latin "inflectere" meaning "to bend"; inflection refers to a
process of word formation in which items are added to the base form of a word to express
grammatical meanings.

According to the Oxford living dictionaries; inflection is a change in the form of a word typically
the ending, to express a grammatical function or attribute such as tense, mood, person, number,
case and gender.

In dictionaries, grammatical information is sometimes equated with syntactic information.

Jackson (1985:54) however lists four kinds of grammatical information in dictionary entries:
inflection, word class, syntax and illustrative examples. Mugdan (1989: 126) chooses to
distinguish between inflection, word class and syntax while defining grammatical information.
Mugdan also adds another area of grammar namely word formation, in other words, Mugdan
distinguishes between morphology (including inflection) and syntactic information. In
lexicography, word formation and inflection are the two categories into which morphology is
divided. Concerning word formation, Bergenholtz & Tarp (2006b:581) state that in modern
dictionaries hyphenated lemma -meaning, parts of words, stems and affixes can be found.

A lexicographer would consider a few consider a few factors which would determine the amount
of inflectional information which would determine the amount of inflectional information which
would be contained in his dictionary; these factors include

 -lexicographer's decision as to what information he would seem necessary

 - the type of dictionary and function of dictionary
 -Expected knowledge of his target users
Mugdan (1986b:519) points out that in older dictionaries it was common policy not to include
inflectional information ,however ,this has changed so that now only the smallest and cheapest
general dictionaries contain no information on inflection.

Mugdan also states that the general contemporary dictionary contain information on irregular
inflections ,meaning that the user is expected to know the regular patterns of inflection or be able
to look them up in a grammar text.
Bergenholtz & Tarp (1995:113) and Bergenholtz & Pedersen (1994:353) clearly state that there
is no need to include regular inflectional forms in the dictionary entries, as that would imply that
a language is full of irregularities. Besides, the dictionary user would be expected to be familiar
with the regular grammatical rules. Likewise, Mugdan (1989a:127) claims that there is no need
to mention regular “cases” in the entries. Jackson (1985:54) repeats that assertion.

All of the above mentioned authors instead recommend a dictionary grammar in which the
regular cases are explained. Only irregular inflectional forms ought to be indicated in the entries,
while regular inflections should only appear in the dictionary grammar, it is worth noting that
Bergenholtz & Pedersen and the others only refer to printed dictionaries, while no one mentions
electronic dictionaries and the new possibilities they bring in terms of the inclusion of
information on inflection in the entries.

This is no doubt a consequence of the fact that the articles/books date back to the eighties or mid-
nineties. Bergenholtz & Tarp (2006a:579), however, do state that, in connection with inflectional
information, space restrictions are not an issue in electronic dictionaries in the same way as in
printed dictionaries. Therefore, they say, it would be possible to include all lexicographic data on
inflectional morphology in an electronic dictionary – presumably it should be shown in the
dictionary entries, though they do not state that explicitly.

Bergenholtz & Tarp (2006a:577) claim that “Problems in terms of inflectional morphology arise
when users don’t recognize a specific inflectional form, and also if they don’t understand
it…”.According to them, the problem of the user not recognizing an inflectional form can be
solved by including irregular and unexpected inflectional forms in the word list as reference
lemmas which refer the user to “the basic word form or entry, where all the relevant data on the
word is given (Bergenholtz & Tarp 2006a:577). Mugdan (1989b) shares this view and when
discussing information on inflectional morphology in the entries of general dictionaries, he
concludes “For the user, it is most convenient if he can find the word-forms of a lexeme in the
dictionary entry itself without having to decipher codes or follow cross-references” (Mugdan
1989b:521). Concerning the problem of users not understanding a specific inflectional form,
Bergenholtz & Tarp (2006a:577-578) claim that, in addition to providing the reference lemmas
mentioned above, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the specific inflectional forms. They
then go on to suggest that this explanation could also be contained in a special dictionary
grammar, since including it in the dictionary entries would mean “an unnecessary repetition of
the explanatory data and a very complex dictionary structure” (Bergenholtz & Tarp
2006a:578).Mugdan states that “LSP dictionaries should provide comprehensive information on
3

Inflection in Igbo Language

As proposed by the oxford living dictionary earlier in this chapter, inflection expresses attributes
such as tense, mood, person, number, case and gender, this signifies inflections occurs mainly in
verbs, adjectives and nouns
In the Igbo Language, however, Inflectional affixation only occurs in verbs (Obianika, 2017).
Inflectional affixes in the Igbo language are applied to signify changes in tenses of the verbs and
signify positive and negative constructions.
This can summarized in the table below;

Table of inflectional affixes as applicable to Onicha Igbo (Onumajuru 2016)

 METHODOLOGY

The term paper was written to understand and present the roles of Qualitative and Quantitative
research methods in Linguistics, it is largely a comprehensive literature review of pre-existing
beliefs represented in the works of several authors.

I therefore wrote this term paper using principles based loosely on the Seven Steps to a
Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach (Onwuegbuzie & Frels
2016). It is mixed method approach to research combining elements of both Qualitative and
Quantitative research methods.

These steps are listed as follows;

Step 1: Exploring Beliefs and Topics;

I tried to understand the two unique views (Qualitative and Quantitative) on methodology
and the contemporary or popular belief system in the Linguistic Community

Step 2: Initiating the Search;

I gathered a large number of Electronic books, downloading the available free copies
where available, I made use of the online ‘Research-gate’ account that allowed access to
a wealth of related journals, I also renewed subscription to the online ‘Scribd’ account for
access to a wealth of related academic books

Step 3: Storing and Organizing Information;

Information downloaded was stored digitally on my laptop and sorted according to
methodology categories and sub sorted according to relevance.
Materials saved for reading were saved in the online ‘Scribd’ and ‘Google books’
account

Step 4: Selecting/Deselecting Information;

Information that proved least relevant to the Subject topic were eliminated and the entire
catalogue of research material re-sorted.
The Most relevant material was recorded in Chapter 3 of this term paper

Step 5: Expanding the Search to Include One or More MODES (Media, Observation(s),
Documents, Expert(s), Secondary Data);
Government Research sites and Online University research platforms were visited and
additional research material obtained.

Step 6: Analyze and Synthesize Information;

The Research materials were painstakingly analyzed in the details and relevant resulting
data used to infer answer to the research question.
Step 7: Present the CLR Report.
This was presented in the primarily in the Chapter 4 and 5 of this term paper

Chapter 4

Data Presentation and Analysis

Analysis of Inflection prevalent in the G.E. Igwe’s Igbo dictionary

There is a predominantly lean presence of inflection in the dictionary, this is obvious when
compared with the lexicography of the English dictionaries.

There’s marked absence of inflectional affixes in the verbs of his dictionary, the presentation of
verbs in Igwe’s dictionary are in the simple present tense only, a presentation of the other tense
form or description of the conjugated forms of the verbs present would have given an
opportunity for an in-depth study of the inflection affixes utilized in his.
This absence can be explained by the need to conserve space and preserve the concise nature of
his dictionary.

Chapter 5
Conclusion and Recommendation
The aim of this term paper was to study the inflectional affix application in the Igbo dictionary
by G. E Igwe.
This was not achieved due to the lack of verb conjugation in the dictionary, this gave no
opportunity to study the variety of forms utilized in the Igbo language, this absence, however,
creates an argument in favor of the introduction of conjugated forms of verbs in bilingual
dictionaries
Recommendation
The main objective of dictionary is to aid communication through definition of words utilized in
a particular language, expressing the conjugated forms of verbs aids immensely in this process.
Verbs are expressed in their simple tense with no additional forms as evidenced in most bilingual
dictionaries, this expresses the verb in only a tiny fraction of its usage, taking into consideration
the perspective of non-speakers unfamiliar with little or no awareness of conjugation structure of
a language, interpreting a word in continuous present tense or perhaps past tense will be in fact
relatively difficult.
This emphasizes the need for introduction of verbs in all their conjugated forms in bilingual
dictionaries, this can be highlighted in italics under the definition of the verb in its simple tense.
One might argue that this will make dictionaries bulky and less compact for easy transport but
dictionaries have never been known for their portable nature, however, with the advent of digital
dictionaries that offer easier searching, sorting and management of large data, dictionaries can be
both comprehensive and portable giving room for a lexicographer to truly express the purpose of
his dictionary

References
Nweya, G. (2016). Plural strategies and devices in Igbo. Kansas Working Papers In Linguistics.
DOI: 10.17161/1808.23230

Obianika, C. (2017). Affixes and Tone in Aguata Igbo: A Critical Appraisal. IOSR Journal Of
Humanities And Social Science, 22(6), 27.
DOI: 10.9790/0837-2206122733

Onumajuru, V. C. (2016). Affixation and Auxiliaries in Igbo. Linguistics Association of Nigeria

(LAN).