ABSTRACT
The Igbo language is a verbal language and agglutinating by typology. The implication is that inflections and derivations occur on the verb which is the pivot of Igbo morphology and grammar.
Morpho-semantics therefore investigates the meaning effect of the inflections on the Igbo verb. This research draws data to show the morpho-semantic classes of Igbo verbs and further analyzes the marginal meaning significance of the addition of morphemes to the Igbo verb root.
The researcher reviews the works of other scholars that concern the subject of our interest as they serve as guide and reference point for better analysis of the morpho-semantics of Igbo verbs.
The data is gathered from interviews granted the researcher by competent native speakers of the Owerri variety of Igbo language using digital tape recorder. Some of the data were also gathered from relevant Igbo text written in Owerri dialect. Researcher arranges the collected data in classes based following Emenanjo’s morpho-semantic classification of Igbo verbs. The analysis of the data shows morphological processes that occur on the verb bringing to bear the semantic effects of those processes hence our topic of research; the Morpho-Semantic Analysis of the Igbo verbs.
The analysis of the data reveals some important facts as the researcher’s findings, for instance, it shows the position of the Igbo verb as the nucleus of Igbo morphology and grammar and shows how minimal alteration in the morphological structure of the Igbo verbs account for corresponding semantic change. Examples ; the word ‘si’ (cook) as a verb root receives the suffixation of the ‘rv’suffix ‘ri’ and changes both morphologically to ‘siri’ (cooked), so that the verb is in past form. The affixation of the suffix ‘o’ to the verb root fụ (blow) makes it an imperative and a command and thereby altering the meaning.
