THE VERB PHRASE OF KOFYAR LANGUAGE

CHAPTER ONE

1.0              INTRODUCTION   

            This study focuses on the verb phrase of kofyar. Kofyar is a dialect of “sura” that can be found in the northern part of plateau state in a local government called Qua’an pan. The kofyar are a population in the middle belt of Nigeria numbering around 50,000.

They are majorly known as ‘KOFYARA’ among the speakers but in the local government they are known as “PAN”. It is also spoken in a part of Nassarawa State.

1.1              GENERAL BACKGROUND  

COLONIAL BACK GROUND 

Kofyar population comprises of three different tribes as designated by british colonial officers and the tribes are the Doemark, Merniang and kwalla. The three groups have a common language, economic pattern and origin myth and had formed into a union called the kofyar federation in 1940’s. They have therefore been referred to as a single group by the anthropologist.

When they were first met by early British colonial authorities, they lived in the rugged hills in the south eastern corner of the Jos plateau and in settlements around plateau state. They remained at peace with Britain officers until 1930, when a young assistant district officer named Barlow was killed in the hill village of Latok by a rock thrown on his head. After this the resident were forced out of the hills making them spread themselves in different places in plateau state.

1.2              HISTORICAL BACKGROUND  

Kofyar means the home state of the ancestor has grown. There are two kofyar in Qua’an pan local government area, they are kofyar payar and kofyar doemak, the only difference between these two kofyar is the distance. The name of the originator is Dafyar which means a child has grown. He descended from the eastern part of Nigeria.

When he left for the eastern part of the country he moved with tribes like the Angas, Mahvul, Ankwe, Gwai and the Bokous. When were moving they came straight to Daika in Mangul Local Government, Plateau State. At that point, they had a disagreement, the Bokous and the panchi left and headed towards another direction. The kofyar headed towards Garam, at Garam they had another disagreement on the issue of chieftaincy.

Mean while, Dafyar had a brother named Daram, they both moved from Garam to chip, in chip, Dafyar left Daram, Dafyar left and settled in kofyar payer. He gave birth to so many children among which were a set of twin called Dajan and Dajin, Dajan went to namu and Dajin stayed in Doemak meaning my movement ends here. The offspring of Dafyar comprised his sons and grandsons or even great grand sons and so on. Oral tradition has for long mentioned the fourteen who have been popular due to the settlements that grew in the wake of their earlier locations. These offspring’s whose location have created urban and semi urban settlements are as presented below.

TABLE 1.2LOCATIONS OF KOFYAR OFFSPRING     

            As a result of civilisation, kofyar speakers can be found in seven districts in Qua’an pan local government area in seven villages which are Doemak, Kwa, Kwang, Kwalla, Bwalla, Namu and Doka.

1.3              SOCIO-CULTURE PROFILE

The kofyar are a population in the middle belt of Nigeria. The dialects are Bwal, Bwol, Dimmuk, Doemak, Giverom, Gworam, Jepal and Nemyang.

The official language in Qua’an pan local government is English language. The main identity of “KOFYARA’ is their language and beliefs. The kofyar people are rich in terms of social aspect and cultural aspect such as festivals, dressing, religion, food, occupation and so on.

FESTIVAL  

Ma’ap Festival: The ma’ap festival is mean for the funeral rite of a great person and it is done by slaughtering a horse.

Ka’atar festival: It is a festival done to thank the gods for making the harvest of a year bountiful.

Feer: Is a musical presentation for social activities especially during installations, heroic activities, funerals, station ceremonies, etc. horns are used to produce the music. It is common with keonoen, Ron and kofyar groups.

BELIEF      

The kofyar people believe in the almighty God whom they call Na’an. They also believe in mystical power, they place their belief in lesser gods such as keom Gwar and the koen toeng Munaan. The work of koem Gwar is to catch evil people and the work of koem toeng Munaacth orade) is to explore into the future.

RELIGION 

The kofyar does believe in almighty God, the only supreme being who lives in the sky, but that there is no after life. In the ancient days, the kofyar people were majorly traditional believers but due to the influence of western civilization the kofyar’s are majorly Christians followed by traditional believers and a few Muslims.

BEST FOOD AND BEST DRINK    

Their best foods in kofyar are pounded yam, Lamchik, Guzeh, Baala and Naweh, their best soups are toomang made from pumpkin leaves, tooklem made from bean seed, toompur made form mushroom and tookunlung. Kofyar people take a lot of alcohol and their favorite drink is burukutu which is known as Mous in the area, followed by Wa’argoebung and Wa’ardachant. One thing to note in their culture is that they don’t waste food.

WEDDING AND DRESSING   

       In kofyar, the wedding ceremony is called samurang, the bride is called Namwar and the groom is called Mis namwar, the wedding ceremony is done in the namwar’s place.

In terms of the dressing, in the olden days, the kofyar have a poenlugut which means child carrier made from sheep skin. In the western time, they dress to fit civilization.

EDUCATION 

It is beyond the shadow of doubt that, the issue of western education in today’s society is dominant and nearly unavoidable.

Kofyar a small speech community in plateau state is not exempted from this so called nomenclature ‘education’. Unlike so many places the main schools in kofyar and the neigh-boring villages are missionary and government school.

TABLE 1:3 KOFYAR EDUCATIONAL STATUS     

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