A Pan-Dialectal Study of Verb Infinitive Phrase Marker in Yorùbá

Abstract

Studies in the field of dialectology have revealed that dialects of a language invariably exhibit variation or differences at all levels of grammar.  This paper describes differences in the marker of verb infinitive phrases across the dialect groups of Yorùbá.  The paper randomly selects four dialect groups, selecting two dialects from each group.  The paper reveals that there are three various forms of the marker across the dialect groups.  It is observed that three of the dialect groups out of the four studied do not have a consistent form of the marker.  Based on findings in the paper, it is argued that the gerund is posited as the source of the marker as claimed by some scholars, rather than /í/ or HTS posited by some other scholars.