Agglutinating in Kanuri Language: A descriptive analysis

Open Journal of Modern Linguistics

The Igbo language is one of the languages of the Benue Congo family spoken predominantly in the southeast part of Nigeria. Although, some works have been done on the inflectional and extensional suffixes in the language but no detailed study so far has been done on the prime suffixes in the language. It is on this premise that this paper attempts to examine the functional analysis of the prime suffixes in Igbo morpho-syntax with the aim of identifying primary suffixes that exist in the language, classifying them based on the functions they perform in the verb root where they are attached, explore their morphological structures, syntactic patterns, and semantic behaviours in the constructions. The X-bar theory is the theoretical framework for the study. The data for the study were obtained through the recording of the naturally occurring speeches of the native speakers during discourses, and conversations. The findings reveal that the prime suffixes are overtly morphologically marked on the verbs of the language. They have [V], [CV], [CVCV] or [CVCVCV] syllable structures and can be monosyllabic, disyllabic or trisyllabic in nature. They can perform the following semantic functions on the verbs where they are attached in the syntactic structures respectively: imperative, negative, past tense, progressive aspect, preposition as well as adverbial function. Some vowels of the verb roots do harmonize with the vowels of the prime suffixes while some do not. Again, the tones of these suffixes do change when they are mapped unto the verb roots. We, therefore, recommend that more research works be done in the verbs of the language to enhance its growth and development by applying some of the linguistic theories in order to find out how they operate in the language.

International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development

The Igikuria verb structure has verb roots that are incomprehensible unless accompanied by the final vowel which changes according to the mood. Igikuria language has subject markers; the object markers, negations, focus, infinity, question formation and tone are also captured. The study looked into the structure of the Igikuria verb root and determined that it is morphologically inflected to denote, person, number, infinity, subject, object, negations and focus.

Verb-Verb Complexes in Asian Languages (OUP)

The present chapter aims to examine the V-V complexes in the Irabu dialect of Miyako Ryukyuan, spoken in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Two major classes of V-V complexes are identified, phrasal V-V complexes (Auxiliary Verb Constructions and Serial Verb Constructions) and one-word V-V complexes (lexical and syntactic compounds). After a detailed description of these structures, the present study provides a comparison with the V-V complexes in Japanese (Chapter 1).

2021

The morpho-syntactic analysis of complex verbs structures in German and Yorùbá languages are the focal points of this article. Hence, German complex verbs found in Gunter Grass‘s Blechttromel and Yorùbá complex verbs found in Fagunwa’s Igbó Olódùmarè literary texts were the databases for this study. Secondly, the study identified the morpho-syntactic structures of the identified complex verbs in the two languages, thereby categorising them with a view to pragmatically synthesising, comparing and contrasting their contextual usage in the corpus. Furthermore, the theoretical framework adopted for this study is the Contrastive Analysis Theory of Robert Lado. The result shows that some of the complex verbs in both languages comprised of two or more constituents; while those with more than two constituents are in the minority. As a result of the composite nature of the verb-forms in the languages, coupled with other identified idiosincracies, remarkable features of distinction noticeably distinguish the morphology and pragmatics of verb- forms in the two languages, especially when prepositional or nominal items are concatenated with verb-forms. Conclusively therefore, it is opined that these factors are substantial and capable of instantiating areas of learning difficulties for Yorùbá learners of German and German learners of Yorùbá languages pedagogically

On peut classifier les prédicats complexes japonais du type "Nom Verbal + suru ('faire') (i) comme unités lexicalisées ou bien comme comme constructions syntaxiques, et (ii) comme mots composés activés à un niveau morphologique ou bien syntaxique. Les prédicats-suru se présentent sous deux formes: NV-suru et NV-o suru (-o étant une marque d'accusatif). L'examen d'une série de paramètres permet de conclure que comme degré de lexicalisation les deux constructions occupent une même position intermédiaire entre les mots composés et les structures syntaxiques. En même temps, les construction NV-suru sont plus proches des mots composés activés morphologiquement, les constructions NV-o suru des mots composés originés de la syntaxe. MOTS-CLÉS - Japonais, verbe support, lexicalisation, mots composés, formation de mots composés.

This study examines the morphology of nouns and verbs in Cambodian (Khmer) and Indonesian, two languages that come from different cultural backgrounds. Although there are significant differences in the history and development of these two languages, the analysis shows similarities in some structural aspects that are interesting to study. This study aims to understand how morphology affects word formation as well as its use in sentences, focusing on the way both languages handle word formation and meaning changes. The research method used involves qualitative analysis of data taken from linguistic sources, including dictionaries and related academic works. The results showed that the Khmer language, which has a relatively simple morphological structure, tends to use the basic form of the word without much afjection. On the other hand, Indonesian shows a wealth of variation in word formation through the use of affixes, both prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. This process not only enriches vocabulary but also gives different nuances of meaning to the words produced. These findings highlight the importance of understanding morphological differences and similarities in both languages, which can provide deeper insights into linguistic and cultural interactions. This research is expected to contribute to the development of linguistics, especially in the field of morphology, as well as improve understanding of how languages adapt and evolve in different social contexts.

Semantic verb classes in Tima (Niger-Congo), 2023

This study represents a linguistic analysis of verbs in Tima, a Niger-Congo language spoken in Sudan. The aim is to establish coherent semantic classes of verbs based on their common morphosyntactic behavior, the underlying hypothesis being that the commonalities in the morphosyntactic behavior may be accounted for by common semantic components shared by verbs that behave similarly. The participation of verbs in valency-changing operations is taken as a pattern of common morphosyntactic behavior. Valence and, concomitantly, argument structure alteration is signaled in Tima by the employment of derivational suffixes. Extension by particular derivational suffixes is available to particular groups of verbs, i.e. the productivity of a given derivational morpheme is restricted by the lexical semantics of verbal roots. Tima has a rich derivational morphology, particularly in its postverbal elements (affixes and clitics). Yet two suffixes are most relevant in terms of valency-changing operations in that they show specific compatibility constraints and depend on the meaning of the verb. The distribution of these two suffixes, -ʌk/-ak, which is used in detransitivizing constructions, and -Vk, which can serve in both intransitivizing and transitivizing functions, is the major concern of the present dissertation. Both morphemes are multifunctional; their specific reading depends on the semantic class of the verb extended by the suffix. The dissertation is structured around these two morphemes and their distribution across the Tima verbal lexicon. The general background, including theoretical issues and general linguistic information on the Tima language, is presented in Chapter 1. Chapters 2 and 3 describe the functional scope tied to the verbal semantics of the morphemes -ʌk/-ak and -Vk, respectively.

A principal aspect of a language analysis is the investigation of the structure of words and their organization into the grammar of a language. A language satisfies the communicative needs of the society and people using it when certain rules are observed in the production of linguistic expressions. Lexical category is a unit of classification of words in the grammar of a language and serves to portray the unique configuration properties of certain words and word classes. This paper surveys an aspect of word categorization in Ẹdo language (lexical category) with special focus on the properties of the verb as a member of this class. Illustrations will be provided in the paper to justify first of all the dichotomy between different classes of words in the language (lexical vs functional) and the place of the verb in the category of words known as ‘lexical’. The findings of the paper will show that the verb possesses rich morphological, syntactic and semantic features that justify its inclusion in the class of lexical class of words. Keywords: grammatical category, lexical category, verbs and morpho-semantics

2020

This paper examines the strategies and concepts of postpositional clitics in Kanuri. clitics in Kanuri within the broad framework of descriptive linguistics. The study adopts the works of Zwicky and Pullum (1983), Anderson (2005) and Spencer and Luis (2012) as its analytic models. The primary sources of data collection are Kanuri written texts: Sǝmonǝm wuro sarugǝsǝne by Norbert Cyffer and Nyariwa Kanuribe by Shettima Bukar Abba and John Hutchison. These two texts are collection of stories written in the Yerwa dialect of Kanuri. All the various places where the postpositional particles –ro, -lan,ma and -ga occurred are identified and extracted for presentation and analysis. The outcome of the study reveals that these particles can be encliticized to lexical words in Kanuri to express different functions. These particles –ro, lan, ga and ma virtually attach to every grammatical categories of words in Kanuri i.e. nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs to express different functio...

2022

Our goal is to develop a semantic theory that is equally suitable for the lexical material (words) and for the larger constructions (sentences) put together from these. In 2.1 we begin with the system of lexical categories that are in generative grammar routinely used as preterminals mediating between syntax and the lexicon. Morphology is discussed in 2.2, where subdirect composition is introduced. This notion is further developed in 2.3, where the geometric view is expanded from the standard word vectors and the voronoids introduced in Chapter 1 to include non-vectorial elements that express binary relations. These eigenspace techniques receive further use in 2.4, where some crucial relational devices of syntactic theory, thematic relations, deep cases, and kārakas are addressed. How much of syntax can be reconstructed with these is discussed in 2.5. 2.1 Lexical categories and subcategories Whether a universal system of lexical categories exists is still a widely debated question. Bloomfield, 1933, and more recently Kaufman, 2009 argued that certain languages like Tagalog have only one category. But the notion that there are at least three major categories that are universal, nouns, verbs, and adjectives, has been broadly defended (Baker, 2003; Chung, 2012; Haspelmath, 2021). 4lang subdivides verbs into two categories: intransitive U and transitive V; retaining the standard N for noun; A for adjective; and also uses D for aDverb; and G for Grammatical formative. While this rough categorization has proven useful for seeking bindings in the original 4 and in other languages, there is no theoretical claim associated to these categories, nei