Personal Pronouns in Ogba and English Languages

This paper contrasted the personal pronouns in O̩gba and English languages with the aim of identifying the areas of similarities and differences between the personal pronouns in both languages. It adopted the Contrastive Analysis Theory (CA). The study employed the descriptive survey design. The data were gathered through the use of the unstructured elicitation oral interview method and the intuitive knowledge of the researchers as L1 and L2 speakers of O̩gba and English respectively. The methods of data analysis employed were the descriptive technique of morpheme-to-morpheme glossing and the contrastive method of data analysis. The study found out that whereas there are only seven personal pronouns in O̩gba, there are twelve personal pronouns in the English language. It was observed that with the exception of the 2nd person pronouns in the English language, all the personal pronouns in both languages mark number distinction. It was also affirmed that unlike the 2nd person pronouns in O̩gba, 2nd person pronoun in English does not mark number and case in the language. This study noticed that whereas the 3rd person pronouns mark gender distinction in English, they do not mark gender distinction in O̩gba. It is noticed that unlike in O̩gba, it is only the singular form of neuter gender of the 3rd personal pronouns that occurs in SPEC CI in cleft-construction in the English. This study recommends that English language teachers within O̩gba speech communities should focus on the gender and case distinctions when teaching personal pronouns in the English language.  Keywords: Elicitation, Employ, Cleft-Construction, Morpheme, Intuitive, Contrastive, Data