EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
EJLLS Publication
EJLLS| Title: | Is Igbo Aspect Inflectional or Derivational? |
| Author(s): | Maduabuchi S. AGBO |
| Abstract: | The question of Igbo aspectual operations being inflectional or derivational is a silent issue. This is because previous studies on Igbo aspect are not definitive about the morphological process in Igbo aspectual operations. This is the motivation for this investigation. The study takes a descriptive approach where data is garnered from the corpus of an ongoing project on the morphology and semantics of aspect. The analysis follows a purely descriptive framework in which the aspectual morphology is described and analysed within a cross-linguistic criteria for differentiating inflection from derivation. The facts of Igbo, in consonance with Aikhenvald (2007) would determine the definitive morphological process internal to Igbo aspect. The study concludes that out of the eleven criteria for distinguishing inflection from derivation, Igbo fulfils ten for derivation and one for inflection. This leads to the claim that Igbo aspectual morphology is derivational. This is a definitive statement and a contribution to the cross-linguistic study of inflectional and derivational morphology. |
| Keywords: | Igbo verb, morphology, derivation, inflection |
