Abstract
This study investigates verb inflections for tense and aspect in English and Okpameri. Through a comparative analysis of the two languages, the study aims at identifying the similarities and differences in their verb inflectional systems. Predicating on Lado’s Contrastive Analysis (1957) as the theoretical framework, this study collected Okpameri data from fieldwork with the instrumentality of word translation while the English data were got from the English grammar texts and information obtained from library and internet sources. The findings of this study revealed significant differences in the verb inflections for tense and aspect in English and Okpameri. While English has verb inflections that account for number, person, tense and aspect, fhis is not so in Okpameri because almost all Okpameri verbs are not inflected. The only similarity between English and Okpameri inflections is the progressive aspectual inflection. However, the progressive aspectual inflection in English and Okpameri differ in structure. The implication of this study is, therefore, significant in area of language teaching and learning as the predicted problems Okpameri ESL learners may encounter while using the English tense and aspect which may result in errors. This study concludes by recommending that language experts are to come up with practical demonstrations of the English verb inflections markings in the L2 context. By so doing, the perceived difficulties in learning the English verb inflections while using the English tense and aspect by Okpameri ESL learners will be minimized.
Keywords: Verb inflections, tense, aspect, English, Okpameri.
