Derivational Suffixes in Jukun

Authors

  • Upah Butari Nahum Department of English and Drama Kaduna State University,Kaduna Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

Since creating new words for new concepts is the main function of derivational morphology, languages adopt different ways in order to achieve this. These derivational patterns commonly change the word-class of the base lexeme, (Hasphelmath 2002). In Jukun, four ways have been identified as some of the ways in which new words can be derived from existing ones:

  • Nouns derived from verbs
  • Compounds word formation
  • Multiplication of syllable
  • Cognate verb-noun collocation

According to Shimzu (1980), the jukun language belongs to the Negritic or Niger Congo family of African languages, which are spoken widely from Senegal to Kenya. Languages such as Yoruba and Swahili belong to the same family. More information on the language and some aspects of its grammar are contained in Meek (1931), Welmer (1968), Shimzu (1980), Butari (1995), (2006) and (2010).

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Published

2009-07-17

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2009)

Section

Articles