Hybrid Compounds

Hybrid compounds are also called lexical hybrids (Ngula 2014) or loan-blends (Igboanusi 2002). These are compounds formed by combining one (or more) elements from one language and another from another language. According to Igboanusi (2002: 63), in loan-blends, “the item from the source language and its partial equivalent from the target language are placed side-by-side to form a nominal compound”. This section analyses lexical hybrids used in the IBTs to represents concepts that are not found in the Igbo culture area and for which Igbo had no words. The compounds were then created and used to solve the translation problem.

In the hybrid compounds in the research corpus, the Igbo component functions as the head element while the English component modifies the head. The partial equivalent relationship between the Igbo and the English elements is such that the English component is a hyponym of the Igbo element. There are nine hybrid compounds in the research corpus, one used to refer to a definition of time foreign at the time to the Igbo, five used for animals not found in the Igbo culture area, and another three for plants not found in the Igbo flora.

178 a. Hour

Before Christianity and colonialism in Igboland, the Igbo, like many other African communities, measured time with natural phenomena like sunset and sunrise, cockcrow, among others. Clock time was introduced by Europeans and so representing time with such specificity was a challenge to the Bible translators. For hour, the UIBN, UIB and IRE used the lexical hybrid oge hour, as illustrated in this excerpt from Matthew 20: 3:

20. Ọ we pua dika oge hour nke-atọ, hu ndi ọzọ ka ha nēguzo n'ọma-ahia nālughi ọlu And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace

This hybrid compound is formed from oge “time” and hour. The point is that oge could refer to any time frame. For instance, oge is sometimes used for the Igbo four-day week, such that oge atọ, atọ meaning three, is used in speech to refer to three Igbo izu, or a period of twelve days. So, to specify the exact time being referred to, the Bible translators post-modified oge with the borrowed term, thereby making the compound a hyponym of oge.

This specification forestalls the potential ambiguity that could have resulted. For instance, if the translators had simply used oge nke atọ for “third hour” in the Bible passage above, it could be interpreted as “the third week” and not “the third hour”, except for Bible readers who are aware of the context in English. This lexical elaboration did spread beyond its use in the IBTs. However, the spread seems to be restricted to Christian settings, mainly during Christian prayers rendered in Igbo. What is seen in common speech is elekere, the Standard Igbo word for hour, or the direct lexical borrowing hour. Thus, the hybrid compound oge hour expands the Igbo Christian register.

179 b. Wolf, Mule, Quail and Camel

The loan blends analysed in this section were created to represent animals that were not found in the Igbo fauna, namely wolf, mule, quail and camel. Thus, there were no words for these animals in the Igbo language. Translating them in the Bible resulted in the creation of the following hybrid compounds in Table 4.2.

Table 4. 2: Hybrid compounds used in the IBTs for wolf, mule, quail and camel Concept Hybrid Compound Meaning of the Igbo

Component

IBTs that Used them

Wolf Anụ ọhịa wolf Bush animal UIB, IRE, INWT

Quail Nnụnụ quail Bird UIB, ICB, IRE, INWT

Mule Ịnyịnya mule Horse UIB, IRE

Camel Ịnyịnya kamel Horse ILB

Camel Ịnyịnya ibu kamel Horse that carries loads ICB

Table 4.2 displays two forms of loan blends. On the one hand, in the first three examples, the Igbo term for the general category of the animal is given as the head of the compound while the English word for the concept modifies the head. For wolf, the Igbo compound anụ ọhịa “bush animal” indicates that the animal being referred to is a wild animal, while the English word wolf specifies that it is the wolf species of wild animals. For quail, the Igbo nnụnụ shows that the animal is a bird, while the English quail restricts it to quails. For mule, ịnyịnya indicates that the animal is a horse or donkey, for, according to Echeruo (1998: 76), ịnyịnya is used in Igbo for both donkey and horse. The English word mule specifies that the kind of horse is the mule, a mule being a hybrid from a donkey jack and a horse mare. So, although the same word is used in Igbo for both donkey and horse, a hybrid of these is unique and so the need to mark the distinction informs the post-modification of ịnyịnya with the English word.

The other form of loan blend displayed in Table 4.2 is such that the Igbo term for an animal that is different from the concept is given as the head and the English term for the concept modifies the head. This is seen in the two loan blends used for camel, namely ịnyịnya kamel

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and ịnyịnya ibu kamel. As stated in Table 4.2, ịnyịnya means horse and ịnyịnya ibu means horse that carries loads. This is interesting because a horse is different from a camel and both animals are represented with distinct terms in English. Apparently because camel is used in the Bible as a beast of burden, the IBTs then represent the concept with the Igbo word for horse, a familiar but different concept that performs the same function as beast of burden. While ịnyịnya kamel identifies a camel as a variety of horse, ịnyịnya ibu kamel clarifies that it is a variety of a beast of burden. That is, although ịnyịnya refers to a horse or donkey, the complement ibu indicates that it is a beast of burden.

There is no evidence to suggest that these different loan blends did spread into the language beyond their use in the Bible. Anụ ọhịa wolf, nnụnụ quail, and ịnyịnya mule may be seen as neologisms adopted by some other IBT. However, ịnyịnya kamel and ịnyịnya ibu kamel are nonce terms because they are used only in one Bible translation.

c. Vine, Cedar and Apple

The hybrid compounds analysed in this section were created in the IBTs for some plants that were not found in the Igbo flora, e.g., vine, cedar and apple. Table 4.3 shows the hybrid compounds created as Igbo counterparts for these terms in the IBTs. Again, the Igbo components of the compounds identify the general category of plant while the English components identifies the specific plant.

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Table 4. 3: Hybrid compounds used in the IBTs for vine, cedar and apple Concept Hybrid Compound Meaning of Igbo

Component IBTs that Used them

Vine Osisi vine Tree UIBN, UIB, ILB, IRE, INWT

Cedar Osisi cedar Tree UIB, ILB, ICB, IRE, INWT

Apple Mkpụrụ osisi apple Fruit UIB, ILB, ICB, IRE, INWT From Table 4.3, the Igbo component of the first two examples shows that the referents are trees, while the English component specifies the kind of trees. Thus, osisi vine is a vine tree while osisi cedar is a cedar tree. In the third example, the Igbo compound mkpụrụ osisi, literally “the seed of a tree”, clarifies that the referent is a fruit, and the English component apple specifies the kind of fruit as an apple fruit.

As noted earlier, the referents of all these hybrid compounds were not found in the Igbo flora. Using hybrid compounds, the Bible translators could communicate the specific ideas intended. This lexical process is particularly helpful to monolingual Igbo speakers who would not know what the English words refer to if the terms were given without the Igbo components. Hence, the Igbo components relate the concepts to referents that Igbo speakers are familiar with, while the English components show what distinguishes the concepts from the known referents or equivalents. Thus, the use of these hybrid compounds in the Bible translations not only introduced new concepts into the language but also added new terms in the language.