Hyponymous Relations among Verbs of Planting, Maturation, and Harvesting in Mbaitoli Igbo

Abstract

This study examines the semantic relations that exist among verbs of planting, maturation, and harvesting in Mbaitoli Igbo. Drawing from the lexical field theory of semantics, the research identifies and analyzes verbs that denote agricultural processes and their associated crops in the Mbaitoli dialect, specifically focusing on the Orodo speech complex. Data were gathered through oral interviews with native speakers aged forty-five years and above. Findings reveal that these verbs exhibit hyponymous relations, with superordinate verbs serving as hypernyms under which more specific verbs fall. The study contributes to the understanding of how language encodes agricultural concepts and highlights the lexical richness of Mbaitoli Igbo. It concludes that these verbs are semantically structured through a hierarchical network that mirrors the linguistic and cultural patterns of the community