Derivational Processes in Igala Numeral System: Some Universal Considerations

Abstract

This paper investigates derivational processes in the Igala numeral system to provide a detailed description of the system. The study relies on three major sources in gathering data for the descriptive analysis, namely, compilation of relevant list of Igala numerals, the researcher's intuitive knowledge of the language in addition to his training as a linguist, and a search of the relevant literature. In Igala, the complexity of deriving especially non-basic numerals involves addition and multiplication in addition to the grammatical processes: drawing from phonological, morphological, and syntactic processes such as vowel elision, compounding, clipping, blending, reduplication, and sentential expressions that yield several numeral forms in the language. In all, from the available data in this study, Igala could be said to belong to the group of languages that has a vigesimal numeral system. This is because the language employs a numeral structure where counting is done majorly in multiples of ógwú/ọ̀ gbọ̀

Numeral Systems of the West Rift Southern Cushitic Languages

“…Besides, numeracy appears to be a very important aspect of the linguistic system in the sense that it is an integral and inseparable part of the grammar of any language. There is no meaningful linguistic discourse in a language which makes no reference to quantity, size, time, distance, duration, and weight in definite numbers or numerals (Omachonu 2011). When counting, people make reference to time, the number of things or objects, distance, weight, age, height, and so forth.…”