THE NUMERAL SYSTEM OF THE AGBARHO DIALECT OF URHOBO

ABSTRACT

This research work aims at investigating the nature of the numeral system of the Agbarho dialect of Urhobo. It examines the process of deriving the complex numerals from simple ones and the morphological and phonological processes that apply numeral derivation. It also examines the tonal system of the numerals with the aim of showing the tonal pattern. Furthermore, the study seeks to account for the morphological processes in the numeral system of the Agbarho dialect of Urhobo. Primary and secondary sources were utilized for data collection. The primary were elicited through an interview of two competent speakers of the dialect, both speakers reside in the speech community. Secondary data were collected from previous works namely Ukere’s (1989), Urhobo English dictionary and Arererian (2004), Ephere r’ Urhobo. The data were analyzed using the descriptive linguistic theory and the packing strategy. This analyzed number 1- 1000000, and shows the processes of how numerals are derived in the dialect. It was found from the study that the numeral system of the Agbarho dialect of Urhobo is a simple one and most higher numbers are formed by addition and multiplication.