15 NILAS Vol 4 No. 2 A Journal of The National Institute for Nigerian Languages, Aba THE PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF BINDING CONDITIONS IN IBIBIO By Unwana Idongesit Archibong & Maureen Abel Department of Linguistics and Communication Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria unwanaid24@gmail.com/abelmaureen247@gmail.com 08154942933, 07030095565 Abstract The Government and Binding theory (GB) is seen as one of the linguistic universal phenomena, however, parametric variations abound across languages. This therefore calls for critical investigation of languages to access the universality of the principle of the Binding theory (BT). This work discusses the various binding conditions which are found in overt NPs in Ibibio, a Delta- cross language of the Cross-river group of languages in Nigeria. Data used in carrying out this research were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Three competent native speakers of the language were consulted and interviewed. Secondary sources were drawn from relevant texts on Ibibio; books, journals, seminar materials, conference materials and online sources. The binding conditions in Ibibio which were treated in this work were those of overt NPs. The reflexives in Ibibio are formed by adding the morpheme ìdém to the personal pronouns. There is only one reciprocal in Ibibio kìèr k k bibio, the binding conditions of anaphors in the language aligns with the universal binding Principle A which states that an anaphor must be antecedent bound in a minimal domain. Personal pronouns in Ibibio do not always conform to the Principle B of BT. R-expressions in Ibibio conform to binding principles C which states that the R- expressions are free both in their local and non-local domain. 1.0 Introduction The Ibibio language belongs to the Niger-Congo family of the Delta-Cross subfamily, which constitutes the Lower-Cross family within the enlarged Cross-River group of languages (Greenberg 1963, Faraclas 1989). Ibibio, together with Efik, Annang, Oro, Ekid, Usakedet, etc. belongs to this Lower-Cross family. The languages are mutually intelligible with Ibibio although the degree is unidirectional in some cases (e.g. Oro and Ekid). The Ibibio people are found in the mainland part of the Cross River Basin in south-eastern Nigeria. They are the dominant ethnic nationality in the present day Akwa Ibom State. The population of Ibibio is 4 million (based on census demographic data). The Annang and Oro people are their closest neighbours within the state. They share boundaries with the Igbo in the Northwest hinterland and with the Efik Southeast ward. They share a south-west coastal boundary with the Okpobo/Ijaw in Rivers State. They are bounded in the northeast by the cluster of Ejagham nation up to Southern Cameroon (Udo 1983). Binding phenomena exist in all languages, although the behavior of binding can vary in interesting and nuanced ways across languages, even across languages that are closely related. Binding Theory accounts for the distribution of reflexives, pronouns, and full noun phrases. The focus of this paper is on implementing all binding conditions in the classical formulation by Chomsky (1981) in the grammar of Ibibio.