Lexicosyntactic analysis of fused compounds in Yoruba

Abstract

Compounding is one of the productive word formation processes in human languages due to its eclectic means of formation. This paper focuses on the fused compounding process in Yorùbá. The aim of this study is to analyse the lexicosyntactic process involved in deriving fused compounds in Yorùbá. The paper states the possible combinations of fused compounding in Yoruba; it examines the different processes that can occur at the syntactic level of compounding; and it analysed the processes which occur at the syntactic level of compounding. Data for this study were gathered from the introspection of the researcher since the researcher is a native speaker of the language of the study. Data gathered were validated by other native speakers for accuracy and authentication. Also, data were obtained from previous related literature. The theoretical framework adopted for this study is the weak lexicalist hypothesis. This study found that assimilation, vowel elision and coalescence are the possible alterations which occur at the syntactic level of fused compounding in Yorùbá. This study concludes that fused compounding only surfaces in Noun + Noun (N+N) Noun + Noun + Noun (N+N+N), Affix + Verb + Noun (AFX+V+N) and Verb + Noun (V+N) combinations in the language.