MORPHOLOGICAL COMPLEXITIES IN URHOBO LANGUAGE

ABSTRACT

This study is a focus on morphological complexities in Urhobo language. The aim of the study is to describe the structure of complex words in Urhobo language while its specific objectives are to investigate the status of the root as free or bound morpheme, to establish the word formation processes which derive complex Urhobo words and to compare the different uses of these processes in Urhobo morphology. The motivation behind studying morphological complexities in Urhobo language lies in understanding its unique linguistic structures and aiding language revitalization efforts. This study provides valuable insights into the intricate morphology of Urhobo, benefiting linguists, anthropologists, and educators working in the region. The method of data collection for this study was done by conducting interviews with native speakers of Urhobo, not just any speaker but competent speakers of the language who are well grounded with the language as well as sourcing existing data base to serve as aid to the research on morphological complexities in Urhobo language. The Basic Linguistic Theory (BLT) was used as the theoretical framework and was employed for the analysis of the data due to its focus on understanding the fundamental structures and processes of language, which is essential for examining the intricate morphological patterns within Urhobo. Additionally, Basic Linguistic theory provides a solid foundation for analyzing linguistic phenomena across different languages, making it a versatile framework for this study.The data were presented conceptually, according to the different word formations gotten from the data collection. The data were analyzed and the derived words were explained extensively in terms of their various word-formation processes. The analysis reveals that the status of root morphemes in Urhobo varies depending on the morphological process involved. While root morphemes behave as bound morphemes within compound nouns, they function as free morphemes in their singular forms but become bound morphemes when modified to indicate plurality. The findings of the study found are that, there are compounding nouns in Urhobo, there are Noun + Gerund compounding, there are singular to plural transformation, there are root morphemes behavior, and lastly, there are word formation processes in the language. The study recommends further studies by researchers, scholars or anyone interested in the morphological complexities or processes of Urhobo language to fill any existing gap in this work as far as Urhobo morphology is concerned.