ABSTRACT
The analysis of Digito Palmar Dermatoglyphics Pattern in Ubang clan of Cross River State, Nigeria, aimed at determining the true dermatoglyphics patterns of the Ubangs and establish if there is a language variation amongst the gender in the community. Seven research objectives were spelt-out and three research questions asked which serve as a guide in the conduct of the research work. Eight hundred (800) samples were collected from Ubang community (400 males and 380 females). Twenty samples were discarded because of poor visibility of prints. Samples were collected via a cross-sectional simple random sampling technique, to select the clusters used in the research, this was used also to select the control from one of the cardinal points (south) of the community (Ntamante in Boki LGA). The Ink procedure was adopted (Cummis et al., 1961) was adopted in the collection of samples because of the cheap technique and the ease of collection of prints from the subjects. Ethical approval was gotten from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Shika –Zaria for the research work and verbal consent was gotten from the community and the subjects used for the research. Some of the materials used included duplicating papers, stamp pads, endorsing ink, protractors, hand-lens etc. The ink procedure involves the placing of the duplicating papers on a hard smooth surface and the subjects hands washed with water and dried, with some moisture left. The hands rubbed with ink from the stamp pad starting with the right hand is placed on the coded duplicating paper for research identification, this is repeated on the left hand. The prints were analyzed with the aid of a hand lens, pointed needle, protractor, ruler, pencil, etc. for the dermatoglyphics data to be collected. The inclusion criteria for the research were subjects whose great grandparents were from Ubang clan, this was verified via identification of the graves of their great grandparents by the oldest man in the community, the age bracket was pegged at 18-68years. Descriptive statistics was used for continuous and categorical
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variables SPSS an SAS were used to analysed the data. The qualitative variables (Arches, loops and whorls) showed significant differences between the gender in both hands when T-test was conducted with (p<0.05). The male Ulnar loop had the highest distribution (51.7± 39.2) while the male radial loop (0.7± 0.8) had the lowest distribution as what is obtain in other parts of Nigeria, Africa and Asia were the men and women speak same language. The females ulnar loop was 58.2±4.9 while the radial loop was (0.6± 1.9) this was higher in females than the males. The correlation coefficient (r) for males was 1 as compared to that of the females (0.7) in their AB ridge count. The correlation coefficient for males (0.9) on the ATD angles was greater than in the females (0.8) for the Ubangs. The C-line termination for the Ubangs was greatest in the Ulnar loop termination (69.5%) males and (55%) for females in Ubang community. The T-test was significant for both males and females (p<0.05), the C-line termination was least on the radial loop termination (0%) males and (4%) females, this is same with what was obtained in other ethnic groups whose men and women speaks the same language. The Furuhata’s index is more in the females of Ubang community (28.2%) than in the males (25.4%). One hundred percent of the respondents agreed that they speak Ubang language because of what others in the community may say about them. This clearly shows that the language is spoken because of the influence of the norms and practices in the community that are put in place by the men and taught by the women to their children and not genetic. A list of thirty-one words were generated via a language consultant in the community in their singular and plural forms, and it clearly affirm that truly the men and women speak different languages of (Ofre) and (Arasere) respectively. In conclusion, the dermatoglyphics patterns in Ubang community are the same with other communities where men and women speak the same language. The language variation in Ubang
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amongst the men and women is due to power play and male dominance, not genetic as claimed by the myth and belief of the Ubang people.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE———————————————————————————- I
DECLARATION—————————————————————————– II
CERTIFICATION————————————————————————— III
DEDICATION——————————————————————————– IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT—————————————————————— V
ABSTRACT———————————————————————————- VII
TABLE OF CONTENTS——————————————————————– X
LIST OF TABLES—————————————————————————- XIII
LIST OF PLATES—————————————————————————- XV
LIST OF FIGURES————————————————————————– XVI
LIST OF APPENDICES——————————————————————– XVII
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS————————————————————– XVIII
CHAPTER ONE:
1.0 INTRODUCTION—————————————————————— 1
1.1 Background of the Study———————————————————- 1
1.1.1 Digital/Fingerprints Dermatoglyphics——————————————– 1
1.1.2 Brief History of Ubang Clan of Obudu Local Government Area (L.G.A) in Cross River State————————————————————————– 2
1.1.3. Languages—————————————————————————- 3
1.1.4 Gender and Sex——————————————————————– 4
1.5 Statement of the Problem———————————————————- 5
1.6. Justification/ Significance for the Study—————————————– 5
1.7. Study Hypotheses—————————————————————— 6
1.8 Research Questions—————————————————————- 6
1.9 Aims and Objectives of the Study———————————————– 7
1.10 Objective of Study—————————————————————– 7
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CHAPTER TWO:
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW———————————————————– 8
2.1 Brief History of Dermatoglyphics———————————————— 8
2.2 Comparative Anatomy————————————————————- 14
2.3 The Place of Humans (Homo Sapiens) in Zoological Taxonomy———— 15
2.4 Embryology of Upper Limb——————————————————- 19
2.5 Importance of Dermoglyphics Study ——————————————– 20
2.6 Embryology and Dermatoglyphics———————————————– 21
2.7 Dermatoglyphics and Genetics————————————————— 22
2.8 Language and Gender ————————————————————– 23
2.9 Ethnography of Communication————————————————– 30
2.10 Women and Men as Language Users and Regulators————————- 33
2.11 The Present Dermatoglyphic Study———————————————- 34
CHAPTER THREE:
3.0 MATERIALS AND METHOD—————————————————- 39
3.1 Materials and Method ————————————————————— 39
3.2 Materials—————————————————————————— 39
3.2.1 Study Location and Population————————————————— 39
3.2.2 Sample Size————————————————————————- 42
3.2.3 Materials—————————————————————————— 43
3.2.4 Procedure for Analysis of Finger Prints—————————————— 44
3.3 Interdigital Patterns—————————————————————– 46
3.4 Axial Tri-Radius (ATD Angle)————————————————— 46
3.5 C- Line Termination—————————————————————– 47
3.6 Quantitative Features————————————————————— 47
3.7 The Ink Procedure—————————————————————— 49
3.8 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria————————————————— 50
3.9 Statistical Analyses—————————————————————- 52
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3.10 Ethical Approval——————————————————————– 53
CHAPTER FOUR:
4.0 RESULTS—————————————————————————– 54
4.1 Introduction————————————————————————— 54
4.2 Normal Distribution and Percentage Frequencies of the Male Dermatoglyphics Qualitative Features in Ubang Clan and Ntamante ( Control)—————– 54
4.3 Normal Distribution of and Percentage Frequencies of the Male Dermatoglyphics Qualitative Features in Ubang Clan and Ntamante (Control) —————— 60
4.4 AB Ridge Count Distribution and Percentage Frequencies for Males and Females in Ubang Clan ———————————————————————- 65
4.5 The Normal ATD Angles Distribution and Percentage Frequencies for both Males And Females in Ubang Clan and in Both Hands——————————– 68
4.6 The C-Line Termination Distribution and Percentage Frequencies for Males and Females in Ubang Clan———————————————————— 68
4.7 Distribution of those who Speak Ubang or Other Languages with Accent —————————————————————————————- 71
4.8 Distribution of People Speaking the Respective Male (Ofre) and Female (Araseke) Languages Because of What Other Members of the Community May Say- 81
4.9 Effect of Language on Dermatoglyphic Patterns——————————– 83
4.10 Gender Distribution in Ubang Clan———————————————- 85
CHAPTER FIVE:
5.0 DISCUSSION———————————————————————— 100
5.1 Qualitative Dermatoglyphic Features (Arches, Loops and Whool Patterns in Ubang Clan———————————————————————————- 100
5.1.1 Arches ——————————————————————————– 100
5.1.2 The Loops—————————————————————————– 102
5.1.3 Whorls Patterns———————————————————————- 103
5.2 The Quantitative Dermatoglyphic Features (ATD Angles, AB Ridge Count And C-Line Terminations in Ubang Clan in Both Hands and Gender—————- 105
5.2.1 The AB Ridge Count————————————————————– 105
5.2.2 ATD Angles————————————————————————- 106
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5.2.3 C-Line Termination—————————————————————– 106
5.3 Dermatoglyphics Studies in Ubang, Nigeria, Africa and the World———- 109
5.4 Effect of The Community In Speaking Ubang Language———————- 110
5.5 Effect of Language On Dermatoglyphics In Ubang Clan———————- 110
5.6 Effect of Gender On Categories————————————————— 111
5.7 Effect of Gender on Conversation———————————————— 112
5.8 Analysis of Unique Finger Print Frequency Distribution Indices (Furuhata’s and Dankmeijer’s Indices) ————————————————————— 112
CHAPTER SIX:
6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION——————————- 113
6.1 Conclusion————————————————————————— 113
6.2 Recommendation——————————————————————– 114
6.3 Contribution to Knowledge——————————————————– 115
REFERENCES—————————————————————————— 117
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
1.1.1 Digital/Fingerprints Dermatoglyphics
Dermatoglyphics is defined as an engravement on the skin of the palms and fingers, and on the feet and toes with the exclusion of the flexor creases found on the palmer surface of the hands and plantar surface of the feet (Adebisi, 2008; Abue et al, 2013; Ujadugghe et al 2015); Purkinje first classified systematically the variety of pattern of fingers (Adebisi 2009; Bank 2009; Bozhchenko.2009). Faulds is credited with first publication of the possibility of early use of finger prints for personal identification (Kumbnani, 2007; Maltoni et al 2009),while Herschel got the credit of actually practicing this method, (Kumbnani, 2007). Galton pioneered the finger prints studies concerned with morphology, classification, inheritance and racial variation, (El-Domiaty et al., 2010). Poll investigated first the racial differences, geographic variations within races, constitution and symmetry in relation to dermatoglyphics, Poll, (1939). Basically there are three types of dermatoglyphics patterns these include; Arches, Loops and Whorls (Galton,1891; Danborno et al., 2008). They are three types of fingerprints, these includes;
Plastic impression:- Made in soft material like butter, soap, etc.
Visible Prints:- Prints made when fingers have been covered by blood, dirt, oil, paint, etc, (Burute et al., 2013).
Latent Prints:- Prints not visible to human eyes, hidden, unseen until treated.
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The study of dermatoglyphics is important in that it aid in investigating the implications, applications and the utility of this valuable knowledge in forensic science, ethnography, diagnosis, etc, (Kumbnani, 2007; Kamakar, 2012).
1.1.2 Brief History of Ubang Clan of Obudu Local Government Area (L.G.A) in Cross River State
i. The Ubang community/clan holds two existing myths/beliefs;
The creation of the world started in Ubang and because of this God gave men and women their own separate languages, that as you move away from the community a language is given to smaller communities, and as you move further a language is given to larger communities.
There is the presence of God’s footprint in their community.
ii. The community is about 18 kilometer’s off – Obudu road in northern Cross River and is bounded on the north by Bete speaking people of Obudu LGA,on the South by the Irruan speaking people of Boki LGA, on the East the Obanliku speaking people of Obanliku LGA, and on the west by the Mbube and Bekwarra speaking people of Bekwarra and Ogoja LGA all in Cross river State, Cross-River State geographic Information Agency (CRIGA, 2014).
The Ubang community has a total four thousand six hundred (4600) people ( 2006 census). The Ubang people have a deity called the Ikweng which is highly reverence by both Christians and traditionalist alike. It is a cult which admits the male folks only; could this be the reason for the marked Language variations between the males and females? In Ubang males speak OFRE while the female folks speak Arasere. It is a faux pax for any of them to Cross borders.
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The study aims at establishing the true dermatoglyphics patterns of the Ubangs..The research work attempts to answer the central question for this research, ‘How does language and gender affect dermatoglyphic patterns?’. The researcher will attempt to state various literatures on digito-palmar dermatoglyphics patterns from other ethnic groups and evaluate the available data from Ubang clan with other ethnic groups and between both gender and hands.
1.1.3. Languages
A language is a system of symbolic communication using sounds and/or gestures that are put together according to rules resulting in meanings that are based on agreement by a society and intelligible to all who share that language,( Conrad, 2004). In Ubang Clan the men speak “Ofre” which is men’s language while the women speak “Arasere” which is the women’s language.
The scientific study of a spoken language (descriptive linguistics) involves several interrelated areas of analysis: phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax. Phonology, the study of speech sounds, considers which sounds are present and significant in a given language. Morphology studies the forms in which sounds combine to form morphemes words and their meaningful parts. Thus, the word cats would be analyzed as containing two morphemes: cat, the name for a kind of animal, and –s, a morpheme indicating plurality. A language’s lexicon is a dictionary containing all its morphemes and their meanings. Syntax refers to the arrangement and order of words in phrase and sentences. Syntactic questions include whether nouns usually come before or after verbs, or whether adjectives normally precede or follow the nouns they modify. A phoneme is a sound contrast that makes a difference that differentiates meaning.
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Phonetics is the study of speech sounds in general, what people actually say in various languages, like the differences in vowel pronunciation described in “Interesting Issues”. Phonetics studies only the significant sound contrasts (phonemes) of a given language,( Conrad, 2004).
1.1.4 Gender and Sex
Sex: a biological condition, i.e. defined as a set of physical characteristics.
Gender: a social construct (within the fields of cultural studies, and the social sciences). “Today a return to separate single-sex schools may hasten the revival of separate gender roles” ( Kaminer, 1998).
General usage of the term gender began in the late 1960s and 1970s, increasingly appearing in the professional literature of the social sciences. The term helps in distinguishing those aspects of life that were more easily attributed or understood to be social rather than biological origin (Unger et al., 1992).
The chronological order of biological and social development in the human life cycle, the earlier stages are more biological and the latter are more dominantly social. These includes:
• Chromosomes
• Gonads
• Hormones
• Primary Sexual Characteristics
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics
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• Gender Identity
• Gender Role
• Erotic Preferences
Marria Lugones states that, among the Yoruba people, there was no concept of gender and no gender system at all before colonialism. She argues that colonial powers used a gender system as a tool for domination and fundamentally changing social relations among the indigenes. (Verbal Discussion with G. Teke)
Feminist scholars have taken two different paths to redressing problems with the sex/gender distinction. One path, often followed by physical anthropologists and biologists, is to offer a more nuanced picture of the biological, and how it interacts with the social (Sperling 1991; Worth man 1995).
1.5. Statement of the Problem
Dermatoglyphics patterns of the various ethnic groups in Asia, America, Africa and other parts of Nigeria with no linguistics sexual dimorphism have been studied (Kumbnani, 2007). In Ubang clan there is a linguistic sexual dimorphism, thus, there is need to study the dermatoglyphics patterns in this community to know their true dermatoglyphics patterns and compare with other ethnic groups stated in previous literatures to fill in the gap and relate language with gender.
1.6. Justification/ Significance for the Study
The significance of this research work is to provide baseline data in the dermatoglyphics patterns of the Ubang clan and Ntamante in both Gender. The significance of this research work is that, the spoken languages in Ubang Clan i.e. “Ofre”
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and “Arasere” are written down for future generations to recall should there be language change due to acculturation and to determine the main reason for the different Language in both sexes in Ubang.
The Ubang clan is a community where power and male dominance exist. This research work will attempt to show that the Language variations between the genders is not genetic but as a result of social identity. The dermatoglyphics findings will be compared amongst the gender and patterns from other parts of Nigeria, Africa and other parts of the WORLD, the true dermatoglyphics patterns of the Ubangs will be determined, this will open doors for further research in this area and the community.
1.7. Study Hypotheses
i. There will be no differences in the percentage frequencies and distribution of the true dermatoglyphics patterns of the Ubangs among the gender.
ii. There is no language variation amongst the genders in Ubang clan.
1.8. Research Questions
i. How does language and Gender influence dermatoglyphics patterns in Ubang Clan?
ii. How does gender influence our perception of categories in Ubang Clan?
iii. How do gender and sex differences affect the way people engage in conversation in Ubang Clan?
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1.9 Aims and Objectives of the Study
The aim of this research work is to determine the true dermatoglyphics patterns of the Ubang clan and find out any association in dermatoglyphics patterns amongst the gender that speak the different languages in the clan.
1.10 Objective of Study
The research objectives includes;
i. Investigate the qualitative dermatoglyphics features (Arch, Loop and whorl patterns) in both hands and gender in Ubang clan.
ii. Investigate the qualitative dermatoglyphics features (Arch, Loop and whorl patterns) in both hands and gender in Ntamante.
iii. Investigate the quantitative dermatoglyphics features (ATD Angles, AB ridge count and C-line terminations) in Ubang clan in both hands and gender.
iv. Investigate the C-line terminations in Ntamante in both hands and gender.
v. Investigate language variation amongst the gender in Ubang clan.
vi. Investigate the Dankmeijer, Furuhata’s and Pattern intensity indices in Ubang clan in both hands amongst the gender.
vii. Investigate the Dankmeijer, Furuhata’s and Pattern intensity indices in Ntamante in both hands amongst the gender.
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