CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Preamble

This chapter is the general introduction to the work, it present the background of the study, the classification of the Anaan Language. The delimitation of the study and as well as the research methodology will be explored and included here in this chapter.

A reconstruction of proto forms in Ibibios, Efik and Anaan which the research is forced on. This work is going to explore and illustrate areas of similarities and difference between the proto forms in Ibibio, Efik and Anaan but first of all undertaking a comparative reconstruction of the cognate forms of Ibibio, Efik and Anaan Languages and then undertake a lexicostatistical analysis of the language in order to arrive at a percentage of cognacy rate which will revealed whether they are the same forms, similar forms or different forms. This will enable the research to draw a conclusion about the historical and linguistic relatedness of these (3) three speech forms (Ibibio, Efik and Anaan)

1.2. Background of the Study

Anaan in this work, The reconstruction of proto forms in Ibibio Efik and Anaan is referred to the geo-political ethnic groups located in the south eastern part of Nigeria in the old cross River State and now in Akwa Ibom State.

Anaan according to Udo (1983: (4) is a sub group of one Ibibio because of cultural and dialectal acceptability the name Anaan is derived from their characteristic behavior which is one that is intolerant, furious and vindictive at any slightest provocation. They are generally warlike in nature. Esseien (1983: 1,2) The tribe shares a common boundary with the Ngwa and Ndoke (igbos) in Abia State in the North. They are bounded to the east by the Isuogbu igbo and to the south Eastern Ibibio.

Anaan originated along the eastern part of Cross River and the eastern part of the Niger Delta along the boundary of the Cameroon highlands many years ago. In another postulation on the origin of the Anaan, sir, Harry Johnson in his work stated that, “The Anaan have no tradition of legend of migration that they have always been where they are” But contradictory, he however, concedes that they first settled in Eket for many years before the visit of the early Navigators in 4500 BC and the visit of the King of Egypt. Being discontent with the land allocation they had, they migration upwards until they found their present land of habitation. Essien (1983:14) revealed that this movement of the Anaan ancestors was a matter of looking for their own destination in order to differentiate themselves from being called Ibibios. This was so because they considered themselves a distinct tribe in Nigeria with their own particular language and distinction culture. Identifying Peoples

The Anaan people major occupation is farming and craftsmanship. The land is humorously rich. This provides for active peasant farming by the natives of this tribe. Cocoyam, maize, cassava, plantain, beans fluted pumpkin etc are the major crops cultivated by the people of the Anaan. Identifying Peoples

According to Essien (1983:19) stated that the Anaan people were “the first ethnic group who settled down to cultivate farms and were the first to discover yam tuber as food. Identifying Peoples

Apart from subsistence farming the people  of Anaan engage themselves in commercial farming a situation where they sell their farm products are sole out to neighboring town in the state. The Anaan people are reportedly blessed with numbers of privately own garri processing industries, likewise palm oil processing industries raffia as well as kola nut are also found among them.

Livestock farming and fishing are not left out in their enterprise quite a large number of household near pigs. Goats and dogs. The Anaan are further reported in craftsmanship, carving and other artistic vocation. The major local government areas that constitutes the Anaan tribe includes Ikot EKpene, Abak, Ukanafu,, Etim Ekpo Ekpe Atia, Ikono etc. Anaan has eight market days in a month. These are Editaha, Etim, Ofionetuk, or Ekpenyong, Edere Obo, Urua Obom, Urua Ekpe and Edet, these names were given by the Anaan ancestor and their names were derived from different semi god or commonly knows as “D Ndem’ these days are special to the Anaan. Identifying Peoples

The term Anaan refers to both the people and their language. Therefore like most tribes in Akwa Ibom State which are named after their languages Anaan is the language spoken by the Anaan people. The language is a variety of the lower Cross language. Identifying Peoples

According to GreenBerge (1963) classification, the language grouped in the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo languages family. Williamson (1982) on the other hand with single alternation classified Anaan under the lower cross of the Benue-Congo sub group of the Niger-Congo. The language has great similar feature of Ibibio and Efik language structure, though in some cased the structure of Anaan language could be difficult compared with the Efik and Ibibio language due to pronunciation and narration. However, Anaan is a dialect of Ibibio according to Udo (1983)”The Anaan are Ibibio people speaking a dialect of Ibibio Udo (1983:49) the dialect was spoken by their ancestors many thousand years ago along the cross River the language like most other indigenous languages has been influenced by Eastern educational system but Verbal Arts are still verb much inherent. Identifying Peoples

1.3. Statement of the Problem

The Main aim of this work is to reconstruct the proto forms in Ibibio, Efik and Anaan language. The intention is not unconnected with the fact that there has no work on this work in relation to Anaan. The problems of the so-called minority language such as Anaan are multi-dimensional

---

---