IGBO VERB CLASSES AND THEIR LEXICOGRAPHIC RELEVANCE

Abstract

This paper advocates a change in the grammatical category labels used for classifying verbs in Igbo dictionaries. The need for this change is compared with the change that has taken place in the characterisation of Igbo dictionary users in some dictionaries of the language, whereby the initial focus on an external audience has finally shifted to an internal, well delineated audience. A similar change in the grammatical category labels in Igbo dictionaries should also involve a shift away from ‘external labels’ that have arisen from the description of other languages to grammatical category labels arising from the description of the Igbo language. One of such labels is the transitive/intransitive classification of Igbo verbs. With the example of the SOS verbs, the paper advocates the elimination of some of the grammatical categories in the dictionaries and the adoption of other categories that have been established for the language.