IGBOSCHOLARS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IGBO SCHOLARS FORUM, NIGERIA

The aim of this study is to analyse the formalisation of Igbo copula construction using logical symbols. However, its specific objective is to formalise the Igbo copula construction using logical symbols. This study adopts the descriptive analytical method of data analysis. The data were generated through intuitive reasoning, the researchers being native speakers of the language. Three genuine copula verbs were identified. They are ‘b?/w?’, ‘n?’ and ‘d?’. These copula verbs translate the English verb ‘be’. The copula verb ‘b?’ functions to identify an entity; ‘n?’ depicts location of animate subjects with human attribute while ‘d?’ identifies the qualities of arguments and or location of inanimate subjects and animate subject without human attributes. Complementation determines the actual meaning of these verbs. In their logical formulation, these verbs may be formalised in two ways. If the verbs are assumed to be predicators, the complements are represented as arguments while if the verbs are taken to be copula verbs, the complements are equatives. The argument terms are reduced to their initial small letters while the predicators are written in the upper case letters.

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