Analysis of Nominalization Process in Tiv Language

Abstract

Previous studies on nominalization in Tiv language focus on nominal compounds where compound words which belong to the grammatical category of nouns are derived through the process of compounding. This paper analyses the nominalization processes (strategies) in the Tiv language. The paper seeks to determine the nominalization processes in the Tiv language, and the classes of words as well as the linguistic units that are nominalized in Tiv. The study adopted the survey method in investigating the facts about the nominalization process in the language. The study used primary sources of data collection. The primary data were sourced through interview. Structured interview questions were used to elicit the needed data on nominalization from the ten selected adult Tiv native speakers in Makurdi and Gboko in Benue State. A total number of eighty (80) data were gathered and analysed. The theory adopted in the paper is Hockett’s (1954) structural theory modified in (2004) whose models are the Item-and-Process (I.P) and Item-and-Arrangement (I.A). The study found out that the processes through which nominalization occurs in the Tiv language are prefixation, prefixation plus some modifications, tonality and desententialization (sentence deconstruction). These processes are discovered to be very productive in nominalization in Tiv. It has also been found out that verbs roots and adjectives are the classes of words that are nominalized (lexical nominalization) in the Tiv language together with sentences (syntactic nominalization). The paper concludes that nominalization is very essential in word creation and helps in enriching the Tiv language.