INALEGWU GODWIN UKPOJU
Demonstration Secondary School,
College of Education,
Katsina-Ala.
e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The research is a descriptive analysis of the realisation of the English voiced palatal semi-vowel /j/ by Idoma speakers of English. Data were gathered from live utterances of 30 Idoma speakers of English, 15 of whom are male and 15 female. To elicit the data for the research, a questionnaire containing 30 words (such as, computer, student, human, etc.), with the /j/ sound was administered to the respondents to pronounce. The data was analysed through the perception method to determine the realisation of the /j/ sound by the Idoma speakers of English. The data shows that Idoma speakers of English either omit or replace the /j/ sound with other vowels like /ɪ/ and /ʊ/, and this omission is largely due to the phonological process known as ‘elision’.The /j/ sound is therefore, not a problematic phoneme for Idoma speakers of English, even though many omissions were observed from the data.
Keywords: Realisation, Voiced, Palatal Semi-Vowel, Idoma Speakers, English