CHAPTER ONE
- General Background
The main objective of this research word is to study question formation (i.e. how question are formed). According to stock well (19971), “To study syntax is to study aspect of how sentences are formed and how they are understood”.
Question formation is one of the transformational processes. Transformational rules are rules that convert the deep structure to surface structure. In other words, transformed rules are used to transform the input (deep structure) to output (surface structure).
According to Radford (1997:1) defined syntax as the way in which words can be combined together to form phrases and sentences. Syntactically, no human language allows sentences to be formed by stringing words together randomly. Every human language has a regular and peculiar pattern in which words must be combining to form sentences in that language.
This chapter will reveal the historical background, socio-cultural profile, the genetic classification and geographical location of yiwom language. This chapter also consists of the scope and organization of study research methodology, and the brief review of the chosen frame work.
1.1 Historical Background
Yiwom people are the major dominant group of miktang Local Government Area of plateau state. They are notably known as Garkawa people.
The yiwom are also known as Garkawa, Garkarchi garka and Gurka. Hiel-yiwom is what they call their town but fulani calls thyem Gerkawa. It is a unit in the south-east corner of the present miktang and local government area and a bounded in the North and East by the lantang section of Yergam, south –east by the way to Damper, south by inshar and west by the Latin section of montol.
The yiwom people have been in their present home for upwards of two hundred years. The piton came to the area first and provided itself a stockaded town at a place called Hakbap. The Rohta followed second and settled in kie-hiel at Rohta-Hills, north of Hiel yiwom. Other families arrived in large detachments, one father the other, and took refugeat Kiel- hiel Rohta rock was fortified and his capable of withstand siege.
The middle of nineteenth century, the families came from their hill to live in their present homes. Yiwom was once divided into two distinct sections; hill and plain. The former at Rohl Mountain that they are from river guinea in the hills, while the pitop says that theirs emerged from the earth.
The word Yiwom in Yiwom dialet means “leaves”. The analogy being; as trees grow out of the ground, so their ancestors came into being. The name Garkawa was given to them by Fulani / Hausa traders owing to their stubbornness. The name derived from word “Gagararru” which in the course of time became “Garka” and “Bagarka”. Finally, Garkawa legend points to the fact that all the families mentioned and who call themselves Yiwom or garkawa of Jukum stock that migrated after the break up of kwarrafa empire (west of Bukundi) and wondered until they settled down at Garokawa town.
Geographical Location. The home of the Yiwom speaker is situated in the south-east of the present miktang L.G.A. formerly at shedam and long tang. It is found in latitude. 9000North east. It converse an area of an approximately 139km2which 285.3 square meter.