Iconicity as the motivation for morphophonological metathesis and truncation in Nigerian Pidgin
Samuel Kayode Akinbo,
Philip Oghenesuowho Ekiugbo
Abstract:We present evidence for iconicity as the motivation for two patterns of morphophonological alternation in Nigerian Pidgin, also known as Naijá. To express an ‘unconventional positive’ in all varieties of Naijá, some nouns with the tone melodies H-L and L-H surface with the tone melodies L-H and H-L, respectively. In addition to unconventional positive, the Wafi variety of Naijá also expresses ‘unconventional negative.’ In this case, the first syllable of bisyllabic nouns (analogously, the first foot of four-sy… Show more
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