NASARAWA STATE UNIVERSITY, KEFFI

FACULTY OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS
COURSE CODE: LL215
COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO SEMANTICS
LEVEL: 200 LEVEL
Group B

QUESTION:
WITH RELEVANT EXAMPLES IN MADA LANGUAGE, EXPLAIN
SYNONYMS AND SHOW HOW THE CAN BE INTER-
SUBSTITUTABLE AND VERSE VA SA.

SUBMITTED TO
Dr. Tiav, Thomas Akase (Associate Prof.)

DATE; 23/2/2021

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 LIST OF MEMBERS
S/N NAMES MAT. NUMBER
1. Joshua Blessing Awolama NSU/ART/LLL/1039/18/19
2. Joy Ene Idoko NSU/ART/LLL/1035/18/19
3. Adah Stephen Adanu NSU/ART/LLL/1046/18/19
4. Ogbu Grace NSU/ART/LLL/1069/18/19
5. Samson Jemimah NSU/ART/LLL/0987/18/19
6. Isaac Suzan NSU/ART/LLL/1061/18/19
7. Irimiya Rachael Anna NSU/ART/LLL/1014/18/19
8. Saleh Shamsiya Haruna NSU/ART/LLL/1005/18/19
9. Robinson Moyinoluwa Omoze NSU/ART/LLL/1015/18/19
10. NSU/ART/LLL/ /18/19

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 ABSTRACT

Language is a tool in which human use to interact. A society

cannot exist without this. This paper gives description of
synonyms and further explain Mada Language and some
synonyms that can be found in the language

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 INTRODUCTION

Synonyms are forms of lexical items which have very closely

related meaning, which are often but not always
intersubstituteable in sentences. They are words that have the
same meaning but different forms (different spelling and different
pronunciation). Here, when two (2) or more lexical items share
similar meaning, they are said to be synonyms. In English
Language for example words like:

Buy–Purchase, Select – Choose, etc.

This synonyms can be divided into Near and Broad

synonyms and Total or Absolute synonyms.

The total, complete or absolute synonyms are those lexical

items which mean exactly the same things and have the same
communicative effect on all the context in which they are used.
While the near or broad synonyms are words which have the
same reference but differ in their associative meanings. This
means that they have the same communicative effect in same
situation but not the same in all contexts.

Language is a system of communication used by a

particular country or community. It is the principal method of
human communication consisting of words used in a structured
and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing or
gesture.

This is the means of which human beings as members of a

social grop and participants in its culture, express themselves.

Nigeria as an African country is one of the most

linguistically diverse countries in the world, with over 500

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languages spoken. The official language is English, but it is
spoken less frequently in rural areas and amongst people with
lower educational level.

Mada language is one of the minority found in Nasarawa

state. They primarily live in the region between Anjida and
Akwanga on and around the road leading from Fadan Karshi to
Akwanga in Nasarawa State, North Central Nigeria. Their
numbers are hard to estimate but probably exceeds 10,000.
Mada was classified as part of the Plateau language by Greenberg
(1963) and Williamson (1971), Hensferd et al (1976), Gerhard
(1989) and Crazier and Blench (1992) have all followed this view.
Mada was put together with Ninzom, Ayu, Che, Ninkyep and
some other languages as part of Plateau IV. More recently, this
group has been christened “Ninzie” in the light of the numerous
languages with a nin-element in their enthnonym (Blench 2000),
Greenbergs (1963:9) original list was Rukuba (Kuche), Ninzo
(Ninzam), Ayu, Mada, Kaninkwan.

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SYNONYMY IN MADA

In Mada language, considering the origin of the language,

language contact has played a vital role in the development of
Mada synonyms as most synonyms are words borrowed for
contact with other languages. In line with this, it is clearly noted
that the Mada synonyms are completely not Mada words as some
synonyms are borrowed from Ninzo, Ayu, Che and even Ninkyep
of the Plateau languages e.g. Tonze and Shanze which both
means beautiful, depending on the dialect. Another cause of
synonymy could be geographical dispersion and also dialect
diversity which is quite common among the Mada speaker.

MADA SYNONYMS

Nyə - Nyá
Come Arrive

Bə - Bəbə
Rotten Bad

Tonze - Shat’zan
Beautiful Cute

Kyԑ - Nyrԑ
Look To see

Fà - Far
To cut To slice

Fa - Flòfi
Useless Worthless

Brī - Dâr dâr

Fast Quick
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Ngòn - Pwey
Big Large
Rŭ - Ser
Cook Cook

INTER-SUBSTITUTEABLE SYNONYMS IN MADA

Synonyms
Nyə - Nyá
From the above synonyms, the words can be inter-substituteable
as follows:

- Wu Nyə (You have come)

- Wu Nyá (You have arrived)

From the above examples, both expressions could be inter-

substituted when you are trying to welcome someone back home.

Bə - Bəbə
- Kri nggə bə (My rotten yam)
- Kri nggə bəbə (My bad yam)
From the above examples, both expressions could be inter-
substituted when you are trying to show the bad state of your
yam (spoilt).
Fa - Flòfi
- Gu sē wān fa
- Gu sē flòfi
From the above examples, both expressions could be inter-
substituted when you are trying to say “He is worthless/useless”.
Tonze - Shat’zan
- Ri Tonze
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 - Ri Shat’zan
From the above examples, both expressions could be inter-
substituted when you are trying to say “God is beautiful”.

NON INTER-SUBSTITUTEABLE SYNONYMS

Rŭ - Ser
- Gwa ru la
- Gwa ser la
The above expressions explains the act of cooking, but they
cannot be intersubstituteable because of the meal that is been
cooked.
For example: Gwa ru la cannot be written as Gwa ser la because
each expression is used distinctively.
Brī - Dâr dâr
- Wə la sē wān brī kpə yo
- Gu la zər dâr dâr
From the above expression, the first statement explains ‘not
acting fast’ while the second one explains ‘not walking fast’. In
this case, one cannot intersubstitute these words and still have a
meaningful expression.
Other non-inter-substituteable synonyms are:
Re la - Mre la
Gyun la - Ru la
Mparu - Shuń
Fing’ye - Kukwao
Pi’ - Nga

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 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, in writing especially creative writing,
repeating the same words numerous times can make writing dull
or uninteresting. Replacing a word with an equivalent one,
perhaps even a more specific one, can improve how you are
communicating your ideas. The use of synonyms also helps to
make your writing more vivid and to create a more intriguing
image in the mind of the reader, which make synonyms very
important in every language.

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 REFERENCES
Dr. Thomas Akase: Semantics (2020)

A dictionary and grammar outline of Mada, a Plateau language of

central Nigeria (2019 version) based on the Rija Dialect

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