REDUPLICATION AS A MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESS IN ISOKO

ABSTRACT

The study investigated reduplication as a morphological process in the Isoko language. The aim of the study was to investigate the process of reduplication and its semantic functions in Isoko. The study relied on primary and 10 secondary data. The primary data entailed oral data collected from competent speakers and every day users of the Isoko language living in the Isoko region of delta state. These informants were selected based on their age which is between 20 to 70 years. The secondary data were extracted from published and unpublished materials especially the Isoko dictionary. The theoretical framework adopted for the study was the Morphological Doubling Theory and it was used to view the various forms of reduplication such as creating new words, plurality, intensification, amongst others. The study found out that reduplication is present in the language, lexical classes such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs can be reduplicated in the language, and can be used to form word classes as well as perform other semantic functions such as plurality, etc. The study concluded that some words in the language are inherently reduplicated.