1. introduction - siu...running read: morphological components dees 1 definitive nominal...
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Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 1
Definitive Nominal Morphological Components of Nafara
1. Introduction
As the lexical database of Senoufo-Nafara has developed, several morphological
elements have surfaced. First, it appears that there are singular and plural markers that attach as
suffixes to nouns, in the language. Each singular suffix appears to correlate with a specific plural
suffix. Adjectives seem to have gender concordance with nouns. Interestingly enough the
singular/plural marker of the noun comes after the adjective, when one is used. A closer
examination of the use of adjectives has revealed a suffix change that occurs when nouns are
made augmentative or diminutive. Furthermore, there also seem to be pejorative markers that
occur, in terms of size, as suffixes. Each suffix pairs with a particular plural suffix. While
semantics seem to play a role in determining nominal morphology in Senoufo-Nafara, this is not
entirely consistent, and there is also evidence that phonology plays a role. This can be seen in
several instances which this essay will highlight.
2. Singular and Plural Classification Markers and Gender
2.1 African languages that demonstrate singular/plural noun markers
English Bantu-
Swahili
(Singular)
Bantu-
Swahili
(Singular)
Root/Stem
Child m+toto wa+toto -toto
Fool m+jinga wa+jinga -jinga
Girl m+sichana wa+sichana -sichana
Shoe ki+atu vi+atu -atu
Cup ki+kombe vi+kombe -kombe
Basket ki+kapu vi+kapu -kapu
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 2
It is important to note that Senoufo-Nafara is not the only African language that
exhibits a singular and plural classification marker for nouns. This is also demonstrated in
languages like Maasai and Bantu. In Bantu (Swahili) it can be seen that prefixes, for both
singular and plural classification, attach to stems of nouns. This is demonstrated in the
table below.
It seems that what is occurring here is that both singular and plural markers are expressed as
gender-specific prefixes. In this case the roots must be specified for gender categories. This is
because the singulars are not determinative of which plurals are formed. According to the
following gender categories: [is something missing here? The reference maybe?]
Gender A: stems of Classes 1/2
Gender B: stems of Classes 3/4
Gender C: stems of classes 5/6
Gender D: stems of classes 7/8
Gender E: stems of classes 9/10
-toto and -jinga fall under the gender categorization; Gender A and -atu and -kapu fall under the
gender categorization; Gender D (Carstens, 1991). Maasai exhibits similar phenomena, in that it
also has both singular and plural markers expressed in a gender specific manner.
Gender English Maasai Singular Maasai Plural
F Cat em+burra im+burri
F Nose eŋ+gume iŋ+gumeʃi
F Woman ɛn+dasat ɪn+dasati
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 3
F Wild Animal e+ŋwes iŋ-wesi
M Bush Pig ɔr+ŋɛdɛp ɪr+ŋɛdɛpa
M Crow or+bitirr ir+bitirro
M Tongue ɔr+kʊrrʊk ɪr+kurruki
M Lion ar+ŋatun ir+ŋatunjo
(Kirkle, 2013)
2.2 The singular/plural marking in Senoufo-Nafara
Senoufo-Nafara is similar to the afore mentioned African languages in this sense. There
are evident groups of nouns that demonstrate singular and plural patterns.
Singular Suffix Plural Suffix
-g/ŋ -i
-n -gɛl
-u -bɛl
-r —
Singular nouns that end in -g consistently become -i in the plural form, singular nouns
that end in -n become -gel in the plural form, and singular nouns that end in -u become -bel in
the plural form. There is slight variation in the -g->-i morphology. In some cases singular nouns
end in -r and -ŋ and the plural ending is -i when pluralized. In the case of -ŋ it seems as if since
both -g and -ŋ are velar there might exist a form of variation in their use. The -r ending happens
in some cases and appears to be a gender class of its own. It also seems that the -r occurs in non
countable nominals, meaning it has no plural counterpart. It is clear all nouns collected from our
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 4
consultant end in -g, -ŋ, -n, -u, or -r. This in itself suggests the idea that singular and plural
markers do in fact exist. The table below provides several examples of the suffixes being used.
Suffix English Singular Plural Root/Stem
-u/bɛl Child/Baby pi+u pi+bɛl pi-
-u/bɛl Female/Woman tʃɔ+u tʃɔ+bɛl tʃɔ-
-u/bɛl Well kɔl+u kɔl+bɛl kɔl-
-u/bɛl Frog busɔ̃+u busɔ̃+bɛl busɔ̃-
-u/bɛl Rat karnɔ+u karnɔ+bɛl karnɔ-
-u/bɛl Spider be+u be+bɛl be-
-u/bɛl Chicken go+u go+bɛl go-
-u/bɛl Male/Man na+u na+bɛl na-
-u/bɛl Cat deka+u deka+bɛl deka-
-u/bɛl Dog pã+u pã+bɛl pã-
-u/bɛl Uncle ʃile+u ʃile+bɛl ʃile-
-n/gɛl Eye napi+n napi+gɛl napi-
-n/gɛl Bull napa+n napa+gɛl napa-
-n/gɛl Finger kaba+n kaba+gɛl kaba-
-n/gɛl Forest kapo+n kapo+gɛl kapo-
-n/gɛl Girl pipi+n pipi+gɛl pipi-
-n/gɛl Rabbit pie+n pie+gɛl pie-
-n/gɛl Mango lɔ+n lɔ+gɛl lɔ-
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 5
-g/i Arm kɔ+g kɔ+i kɔ-
-g/i Tree tʃɪ+g tʃi+i tʃɪ-
-g/i Rain za+g za+i za-
-g/i Smoke wər+g wər+i wər-
-g/i Foot tɔ+g tɔ+i tɔ-
-g/i Snake wɔ+g wɔ+i wɔ-
-g/i Bag bɔɸa+g bɔɸa+i bɔɸa-
-g/i Door kɔr+g kɔr+i kɔr-
-ŋ/i Name me+ŋ me+i me-
-ŋ/i Head ɲu+ŋ ɲu+i ɲu-
-ŋ/i Mouth ɲɔ+ŋ ɲɔ+i ɲɔ-
-ŋ/i House sɔ̃+ŋ sɔ+i sɔ-
-r Stomach la+r — la-
-r Discharge from
nose
ɸɨna+r — ɸɨna-
-r Mud ɸa+r — ɸa-
-r Land ta+r — ta-
From this we can draw the conclusion that there are at least three classes of gender endings
containing both singular and plural markers. Given that we have, so far, obtained a modest
amount of nouns, future research may reveal more gender classes.
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 6
Gender Singular Plural
Gender A
endings
-g/ŋ -i
Gender B
endings
-n -gɛl
Gender C
endings
-u -bɛl
Gender D
endings
-r —
2.3 The -r suffix/gender class D
As mentioned before there are signs of a gender class D marked with the suffix -r. The
words that fall under this category do not have a definite plural. When asked what the plural for
such words were, our consultant responded saying there were none, but if she had to supply one
it would be -i. Several words were elicited from the consultant, but the most we have collected
thus far is four words. With not enough information/lexical database the concept of the use of -r
suffix is somewhat inconclusive, but I hypothesize that it is in fact a gender class of its as will be
demonstrated in section 3.
3. Adjectives and Their Relationship to Nouns
Most adjectives appear to have gender concordance with nouns. This is demonstrated in
the use of the adjectives ‘good,’ ‘bad,’ ‘happy,’ and ‘sad.’ The table below highlights the use of
all four adjectives with several nouns (see section N on phonological rules affecting the output
forms)
English Noun (Singular
In Nafara)
Singular+adjecti
ve
Plural+adjective Final Product
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 7
Good mango(s) lɔ+n lɔ+tʃɛn+n;
lɔ+dʒɛn+n
lɔ+tʃɛn+gɛl;
lɔ+dʒɛn+gɛl
lɔtʃɛŋgɛl;
lɔdʒɛŋgɛl
Bad mango(s) lɔ+n lɔ+dole+n lɔ+dole+gɛl lɔdolegɛl
Good eye(s) napi+n napi+tʃɛn+n napi+tʃɛn+gɛl napitʃɛŋgɛl
Bad eye(s) napi+n napi+tole+n napi+tole+gɛl napitolegɛl
Good mother(s) naɸɔ+u naɸɔ+tʃa+u naɸɔ+tʃan+bɛl naɸɔtʃabɛl
Happy mother(s) naɸɔ+u naɸɔ+ɸuden+u naɸɔ+ɸuden+bɛ
l
naɸɔɸudenbɛl
Sad mother(s) naɸɔ+u naɸɔ+ɸube+u naɸɔ+ɸube+bɛl naɸɔɸubebɛl
Good land ta+r ta+tʃɛn+r — —
Bad land ta+r ta+dole+r — —
Good house(s) sa+g sa+tʃɛn+g* sa+tʃɛn+i satʃɛi
Here the gender class suffix (both singular and plural) follows the adjective. For example, ‘good’
following the word for mango is -tʃɛn or -dʒɛn, (the word for mango is lɔn). Then, if we look at
the word good for mother it appears as tʃau, because the word for mother is naɸɔu. The process
of noun suffixes attaching to adjectives when they are describing a noun that has that marker
provides evidence for at least four gender classes.
4. Augmentatives, Diminutives, and Pejoratives in Senoufo-Nafara
4.1 Adjectives that have their own gender class
While it appears most adjectives inflect with suffixes determined by the gender of the
noun they describe, there are several adjectives that seem to have their own gender classification.
These adjectives include ‘big’, ‘small’, and their insulting counter parts (‘too skinny/sickly’ and
‘too big/fat’) These four adjectives attach to the noun and then change the noun’s singular and
plural suffix. These adjectives can be described as augmentative, diminutive, and pejoratives.
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 8
4.2 The examples of augmentatives, diminutives, and pejoratives can be seen in the table below:
Big Small Skinny Big (Fat) Skinny
(Sickly)
-kbog
(singular)
-bin
(singular)
-tʃarun
(singular)
-g
(singular)
-n
(singular)
-kboi
(plural)
-bigɛl
(plural)
-tʃargɛl
(plural)
-i (plural) -gɛl
(plural)
-kboli
(plural)
-tʃaru
(singular)
—- — —
— -tʃarbɛl
(plural)
— — —
4.3 The augmentative, meaning large, -kbɔg and its plural counterpart -kbɔi
Some variation is also present in the expression of ‘big’ in the plural. In most cases -pboi
is used as the plural form, but for ‘big women’ and ‘big girls’ -pboli is used:
‘big woman’ tʃapbɔg (singular) ‘big women’ tʃapbɔli (plural)
‘big girls’ pipipbɔg (singular) ‘big girls’ pipipbɔli (plural)
In all instances -kbog seems to be used for the singular. The singular and plural forms are
demonstrated in the table below:
4.4 The diminutives, meaning small, -bin/-tʃaru and their plural counterparts -bigɛl/-tʃarbɛl
Current data only exhibits small being marked as -bin in two instance, ‘small man’ and
and ‘small woman:’
na+bi+n and na+bi+gɛl
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 9
tʃa+bi+n and tʃa+bi+gɛl
In many other cases of -bin or -pin being used as a suffixes indicating the noun stem as being the
‘child of.’ This is demonstrated in the table below:
English Singular Plural
boy na(man)+bi+n na(man)+bi+gɛ
l
kitten deka(cat)+bi+n deka(cat)+bi+g
ɛl
puppy pã(dog)+pi+n pã(dog)+pi+gɛl
girl pi+pi+n pi+pi+gɛl
In other instances it is marked with -tʃaru:
English Nafara
(Sing/Plural)
English Singular Plural
girl pipi+n/pipi+gɛl small girl pipi+tʃar+u pipi+tʃar+bɛl
finger kaba+n/kaba+gɛl small finger kaba+tʃar+u kaba+tʃar+bɛl
baby pi+u/ pi+bɛl small baby pi+tʃar+u pi+tʃar+bɛl
uncle ʃile+u/ʃile+bɛl small uncle ʃile+tʃar+u ʃile+tʃar+bɛl
arm kɔ+g/kɔ+i small arm kɔ+tʃar+u kɔ+tʃar+bɛl
leg tɔ+g/tɔ+i small leg tɔ+tʃar+u tɔ+tʃar+bɛl
land ta+r small land ta+tʃar+u ta+tʃar+bɛl
stomach la+r small stomach la+tʃar+u la+tʃar+bɛl
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 10
4.5 The diminutive, meaning skinny, -tʃarun and it plural counterpart -tʃargɛl.
Describing someone as small can take two different forms, one which describes them as
short and one which describes them as small. They are very similar as demonstrated be the
examples in the table below:
English Nafara
(Sing/Plural)
English Singular Plural
girl pipi+n/pipi+gɛl skinny girl pipi+tʃar+n pipi+tʃar+gɛl
finger kaba+n/kaba+gɛl skinny finger kaba+tʃar+n kaba+tʃar+gɛl
baby pi+u/ pi+bɛl skinny baby pi+tʃar+n pi+tʃar+gɛl
uncle ʃile+u/ʃile+bɛl skinny uncle ʃile+tʃar+n ʃile+tʃar+gɛl
arm kɔ+g/kɔ+i skinny arm kɔ+tʃar+n kɔ+tʃar+gɛl
leg tɔ+g/tɔ+i skinny leg tɔ+tʃar+n tɔ+tʃar+gɛl
English Nafara
(Singular/Plural)
English Singular Plural
boy nabi+n/nabi+gɛl big boy nabi+kbɔ+g nabi+kbɔ+i
finger kaba+n/kaba+gɛl big finger kaba+kbɔ+g kaba+kbɔ+i
baby pi+u/ pi+bɛl big baby pi+kbɔ+g pi+kbɔ+i
uncle ʃile+u/ʃile+bɛl big uncle ʃile+kbɔ+g ʃile+kbɔ+i
arm kɔ+g/kɔ+i big arm kɔ+kbɔ+g kɔ+kbɔ+i
leg tɔ+g/tɔ+i big leg tɔ+kbɔ+g tɔ+kbɔ+i
land ta+r big land ta+kbɔ+g ta+kbɔ+i
stomach la+r big stomach la+kbɔ+g la+kbɔ+i
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 11
4.6 The pejorative, meaning big (fat), -g and its plural counter part -i.
Similar to the gender A marker, the pejorative meaning big (fat) exists as a singular suffix
-g and a plural suffix -i. According to the language consultant using these suffixes implies a rude
meaning behind calling someone or something big (i.e big and fat). Examples of the suffix being
used are below:
English (Sing/Plural) English Singular Plural
girl pipi+n/pipi+gɛl big (fat) girl pipi+g pipi+i
finger kaba+n/kaba+gɛl big (fat) finger kaba+g kaba+i
baby pi+u/ pi+bɛl big (fat) baby pi+g pi+i
uncle ʃile+u/ʃile+bɛl big (fat) uncle ʃile+g ʃile+i
arm kɔ+g/kɔ+i big (fat) arm kɔ+g** kɔ+i**
leg tɔ+g/tɔ+i big (fat) leg tɔ+g** tɔ+i**
**Cannot be made augmentative by this strategy.
4.7 The pejorative, meaning skinny (sickly), -n and its plural counterpart -gɛl
Similar to the gender B marker, the pejorative meaning skinny (sickly) exists as a
singular suffix -n and a plural suffix -gɛl. According to the language consultant using these
suffixes implied a rude meaning behind calling someone or something skinny (i.e sickly and
weak). Examples of the suffix being used are below:
English (Sing/Plural) English Singular Plural
girl pipi+n/pipi+gɛl skinny (sickly)
girl
pipi+n** pipi+gɛl**
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 12
finger kaba+n/kaba+gɛl skinny (sickly)
finger
kaba+n** kaba+gɛl**
baby pi+u/ pi+bɛl skinny (sickly)
baby
pi+n pi+gɛl
uncle ʃile+u/ʃile+bɛl skinny (sickly)
uncle
ʃile+n ʃile+gɛl
arm kɔ+g/kɔ+i skinny (sickly)
arm
kɔ+n kɔ+gɛl
leg tɔ+g/tɔ+i skinny (sickly)
leg
tɔ+n tɔ+gɛl
**Cannot be made augmentative by this strategy.
4.8 Gender and relation to size
Research demonstrates that size related meanings for noun classifications are among
some of the possible semantic values of gender systems. With this being said it is also
recognized that between sex, animacy, shape, and size, size is the least likely to occur as an
independent classification (Garbo, 2013). This would lead to the belief there there are quite
possibly sex, animacy, and/or size classifications as well. However, Allan (1977) suggested that
classifiers that manifest size alone do occur in African languages. From this, it can be concluded
that there is a possibility that there are no classifications in terms of sex, animacy, and/or shape,
but there very well could be too. Currently the data on this topic is too opaque to determine
whether there are classifications for these areas. The following is a map of the English words
encompassed within the Nafara gender classes, in table form:
Gender A Gender B Gender C
baby girl father
mouth tongue mother
arm tooth female/woman
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 13
back nose male/man
stomach finger person
foot calf heart
blood animal cat
bone bull dog
cow rabbit elephant
horse bird goat
pig tail lion
snake boy mouse
bag rope rat
house star chicken
door — frog
ash — crab
day — fish
moon — spider
mountain — boat
rain — bat
— — book
5. Phonological Aspects of the Plural Morphology
5.1 Long front high tense vowel sound [ii]/ regressive tensing assimilation
When the plural marker for gender A (-i) is added to a root or stem word ending in the
non tense counter part of [i], [ɪ], assimilation seems to take place and [ɪ] become tense. This
assimilation accounts for the long vowel sound that occurs in several pluralizations under the
gender A suffixes. The rule of assimilation can be seen below:
[+son -cons +high -back]—> [+tense]/ #___ +[+son -cons +high -back +tense]
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 14
Examples of the outcome of this process are demonstrated in the table below:
English Root/Stem Gender A
Plural
Tree tʃɪ tʃii
Mountain nəbɪ nəbii
Farm sɪ sii
5.2 Word final [n] deletion
I hypothesize that certain nominal and adjective stems end in the alveolar nasal [n].
Examples are provided in the table below:
English Stem
Adjective Good tʃɛn-/tʃan-
Nominal Belly ɸitʃɛn-
Nominal Waist/hip sɛn-
Nominal Egg tʃɛn-
Nominal Bird ɸidʒɛn-
Nominal Tail nɛn-
With the addition of several phonological rules this would provide an explanation for a velar
nasal appearing all of these words’ plural forms as demonstrated in the table below:
English Singular Plural
Good tʃɛn/tʃan tʃɛŋgɛl (when in association
with a noun from gender class
B)
Belly ɸitʃɛn ɸitʃɛŋgɛl
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 15
Waist/hip sɛn sɛŋgɛl
Egg tʃɛn tʃɛŋgɛl
Bird ɸidʒɛn ɸidʒɛn
Tail nɛn nɛŋgɛl
Under the assumption that the root ends in [n] the suffix addition would initially look like this:
ɸitʃɛn+n. Therefore the phonological rule set in place for this occurrence would be a deletion of
the nasal when another nasal has been added as a suffix:
[+son, +cons, -cont, +nasal, CORONAL, +ant]—>Ø/ ____+[+son, +cons, -cont, +nasal,
CORONAL, +ant]
This is why the singular form appears as ɸitʃɛn and not ɸitʃɛnn.
5.3 Regressive velar assimilation with gender class B pluralization
Under the assumption that some stems do in fact end in an alveolar nasal [n], there
appears to be a regressive velarization of the nasal when the gender class B suffix -gɛl is added,
so ɸitʃɛn+gɛl—> ɸitʃɛŋgɛl. The following phonological rule must be set in place in order for this
to occur:
[+son, +cons, -cont, +nasal, CORONAL, +ant]—> [DORSAL, +high, +back]/ ____ +gɛl
This process can be seen the table below:
English Root/Ste
m
Gender
B
Singular
Gender
B Plural
Final
Plural
Product
Belly ɸitʃɛn ɸitʃɛn+n ɸitʃɛn+g
ɛl
ɸitʃɛŋgɛl
Waist/hi
p
sɛn sɛn+n sɛn+gɛl sɛŋgɛl
Egg tʃɛn tʃɛn+n tʃɛn+gɛl tʃɛŋgɛl
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 16
Bird ɸidʒɛn ɸidʒɛn+
n
ɸidʒɛn+
gɛl
ɸidʒɛn
Tail nɛn nɛn+n nɛn+gɛl nɛŋgɛl
5.4 Additional [n] deletion in gender class C pluralization
In the case of adjective stems that end in the alveolar nasal [n], they may take on the
gender marking of the noun they are in relation with. This is evident in the adjective for ‘good’
when it is used to describe plural nouns from gender class C. For example the final product of
the word ‘good women’ appears as, naɸɔtʃabɛl. If the adjective stem for ‘good’ ends in [n] we
must assume the break down of the word before the final product appears as: naɸɔ+tʃan+bɛl. In
the final product the [n] is not present, so a phonological deletion rule must be set when -bɛl is
added:
[+son, +cons, -cont, +nasal, CORONAL, +ant]—>Ø/ ____+bɛl
6. Conclusion
According to this data, several conclusions/hypotheses can be made. First, it seems clear
that Nafara has plural and singular markers indexed by gender class, that attach to stem/root
words. It also seems clear that there are at least three gender classes. I would hypothesize that
there are more than three gender classes. The irregularity of -r attaching to some root words, is
evidence to believe that there are quite possibly more than three.
Another hypothesis that I would suggest, based on the data, is that the gender classes A
and B represent classifications based on size. The augmentative and diminutive endings being
the same (both singular and plural) as classes A and B, suggests a possible size gender
classification for these classes. This of course led to an analysis of words within the gender
classes. While there are outliers in the lists, meaning certain words do not fit the classifications,
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 17
there is a pattern that exhibits a possibility that gender A classifies nouns that are large in size,
while gender B classifies nouns that are small in size. We can see outliers in gender
classifications in many other languages. French for example, has two gender classes masculine
and feminine. Certain words do not fit either of these categories and are simply made masculine
or feminine. The word for table, for example, takes on the feminine article ‘la,’ however there is
nothing about a table that suggests femininity. This occurrence means several words that appear
under gender A and gender B classes may not correlate with their classification. Below is a table
demonstrating the English meaning of several words that fall under these genders:
Gender Class B (Small in Size) Gender Class A (Big in Size)
Girl Name
Boy Head
Ear Hair
Tongue Mouth
Tooth Arm (whole arm including hand)
Nose Back
Finger Leg (whole leg including foot)
Calf (leg) Blood
Animal Bone
Bull Cow
Rabbit Horse
Star Pig
Sky Wing
Wrist Snake
Ankle House
Thigh Door
Palm Ash
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 18
Forehead Chair
Toe Cloud
- Day
- Moon
- Mountain
- Rain
- Sun
In relation to the sky, there are several words. These words include: star, cloud, moon,
and sun. ‘star’ falls underneath the umbrella of gender class B (small in size), while ‘cloud’,
‘moon’, and ‘sun’ fall underneath gender class A (big in size). In relation to each other this
makes sense. Stars appear smaller than clouds, the moon, and the sun when seen in the sky.
However, the word sky itself appears in the gender class B. This does not fit the trend of size
classification. There is also a trend in comparing body parts: ear, tongue, tooth, nose, finger, toe,
calf, foot, hand, thigh, ankle, wrist, head, forehead, hair, mouth, arm (whole arm), leg (whole
leg). ‘Ear’, ‘eye’, ‘forehead’ and ‘nose’ both appear under gender B, while the word for the
whole ‘head’ appears under gender A. It is the same for ‘tongue’ and ‘tooth’ and the word for the
whole ‘mouth’; ‘finger’, ‘wrist’, and ‘hand/palm’ and the word for whole ‘arm’, and ‘foot’,
‘thigh’, ‘toe’, ‘ankle’, and ‘calf’ and the word for whole ‘leg.’ Here we see smaller parts of
whole parts of the body categorized under the gender classified for smaller size and the whole
body parts categorize under the gender classified for larger size. The list also demonstrates a
majority of animals that are smaller in size under gender B and animals that are larger in size
under gender A (with the exception of the word for bull). The lexical list is far too incomplete to
make full judgments on the classification that occurs here. With further research it might be
possible to determine whether or not this hypothesis is plausible.
Running read: MORPHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS Dees 19
It is obvious, based on section 5, that there is a relationship between morphology and
phonology. However there are several implication in which some of the rules established may
not work. Hypothesizing that there are stems that end in -n implied a need for several other rules.
The current phonological rules I have supplied work, but there are still several instances in which
they don’t. Further analysis of the phonology taking place is needed in order to fully grasp what
is happening here.
Further research and a larger lexical database, will help to deliver a better understanding
of the occurrences taking place in the singular/plural morphology of Senoufo Nafara.
References
Allan, Keith. 1977. Classifiers. Language 53 (1), 285–311.
Carstens, V. (1991). The morphology and syntax of determiner phrases in Kiswahili. UCLA PhD
dissertation.
Garbo, F. (2013). Evaluative morphology and noun classification: a cross-linguistic study of
Africa. SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 10 (1), 114-136.
Kirkle, R. (2013). Grammar sketch of Maasai.