DIALECTAL VARIATIONS OF OGHE

Abstract

This work is a descriptive survey on the dialectal variations of Oghe, a dialect of Igbo spoken in Ezeagu local government area of Enugu State, Nigeria. The paper aims to establish the difference between Oghe dialect and standard Igbo and also to find out if Oghe dialect has made any contribution to the development of standard Igbo. This sudy is a Sociolinguistic study that takes a look into dialectal variations of Oghe. Oghe dialect is very distinct and interesting. To establish the level of variation in Oghe dialect, this paper first highlights the introduction which took a cursory look at the observations and views of Igbo linguists on dialect. The method of obtaining data is through structured interview. Related literature to the study were reviewed. The paper paid serious attention to the pronunciations of some lexical items and sentences of Oghe dialect in line with the standard Igbo. The differences in Oghe dialect with the standard Igbo are also established and the paper also identified the factors responsible for the differences. Some findings and suggestions are made where it was suggested that though uniformity creates room for standard, the dialect of Oghe should be encouraged to exist side by side with standard Igbo. Also standard Igbo should be drawn from the dialect of the Igbo speakers. As a result, Oghe dialect should form part of the standard Igbo. It is hoped that this will not only be beneficial to Igbo linguists who are faced with enormous task of developing standard Igbo, it will also be of immense help to scholars and researchers undertaking a study in Igbo dialect.