A Morphological Contrastive Study on the English Language and the Tama Language

Abstract

Western Darfur state where Tama language is spoken widely among other linguistic minorities, has witnessed an ongoing transitions in all walks of life. This directly affects the internal cohesion of these languages and exposes their existence and usage to the hazards of disappearance. However, to protect Tama language from these hazards, every branch of its linguistics needs to be explored and this is why the study set out to investigate the morphological rules of noun- formation in Tama language in contrast to English. The study aimed to find out the similarities and differences in the morphological rules of forming nouns between the two languages, intending to determine if there is any sort of transfer from learners’ first language that can affect doing their practical analysis of complex words, especially nouns. The intention is also to investigate the possibility of devising a writing system for Tama language, and what is the suitable script to adopt for writing Tama language. Moreover, the study also aimed at examining to what extent its findings are helpful in the field of teaching and learning English. The study used the descriptive and analytical method. To achieve the objectives, the researcher has conducted an interview and discussions with fifty members of Tama native speakers (informants). They are both male and female, who were born in western Dar fur( Dar Tama ). Twenty of them hailed from Dar Tama to live in Khartoum, Gazira and White Nile area, they are above fifty years old. The other twenty members are English teachers in secondary schools, the researcher met them during the period of marking Sudan School Certificate, and they are between 35-40 years. They know well both languages and able to provide the researcher with adequate information. Ten members are undergraduates in English colleges, their ages range between 18-22 years, they are aware of where the areas of difficulties exactly are. A questionnaire is also given to thirty eighth tutors in universities to investigate their attitudes toward introducing a writing system in Tama language. Based on the procedures above, the study arrived at the findings that there are similarities and differences between Tama and English languages; Tama has seven inflectional processes for forming a plural noun from a singular one, while English has only two. Tama language can have its independent writing system and Arabic script is the most suitable script for Tama to adopt. Based on the findings, the study recommended that, indigenous languages should be taken care of; more studies should be carried out on Tama language; The Sudan should acknowledge its pluralism and accepts it as a way of life and source of development and progress.