ABSTRACT
This thesis titled „A Contrastive Analysis of Lexical and Phonological
Variations in Enone and Enochi Varieties of Idoma Language‟ was embarked
upon with the intention of investigating the lexical and phonological
variations that exist in Enone and Enochi speech forms. The study
examines and analyzes some of the differences and similarities which are
common in the dialects; to determine the level of mutual
intelligibility among speakers of the two dialects. It also examines the
extent to which surrounding languages have influenced the two dialects
of study. The study adopts an eclectic approach by using Generative
Dialectology which was propounded by Chomsky and Halle (1968) and
Contrastive Analysis approach which started mainly from Robert Lado‟s
Linguistic across Cultures in 1957. Fifty copies of questionnaire were
administered to native speakers of the dialects and all were retrieved.
Interview, tape recording and researcher‟s observation of the dialects
were part of the methods used for collection of data. The data was
analysed using tables. The study reveals some lexical and phonological
similarities and differences found between Enone and Enochi dialects. A
similar word for example is "dog" which is called "ewo" in the two
dialects. A word which shows difference in the two dialects is "water".
While "water" is called "enyi" in Enone dialect, it is called "enkpo" in
Enochi dialect. The study shows 78% similarity and 22% difference
between Enone and Enochi dialects. The study also shows that tone plays
an important role in Idoma language generally. Finally, the study
reveals that despite some differences in the lexis and phonology of
Enone and Enochi dialects, they are highly mutually intelligible
dialects of the Idoma language.