Tiv Noun Inflection and Its Morphosyntax

Abstract

This paper investigated the various processes of noun inflection for number in Tiv and described their morphosyntactic relations with other words they occur with. These processes include; Morpheme Additive-involving, prefixation, suffixation, and infixation; Suppletion- total and partial, Vowel Alternation, Vocalic and Consonantal Alternation, Zero affixation and Pitch Variation. The study was carried out within the broader theoretical framework of generative grammar and anchored on inferential realizational theory of inflectional morphology. The data collection for the paper was through elicitation of relevant data from nativ e speakers of Tiv, consultation and written sources. Data is presented as list of examples and the descriptive approach to linguistic structure analysis using the Leipzig glossing rules was adopted for analysis. It was established that, Tiv has a very complex morphology and shrouded in it are the irregular variations characteristic of number inflection on nouns and these inflected nouns in Tiv are relevant to syntax since they express syntactic information of number. Thus, the study emphasized the intricate but fascinating nature of the number aspect of Tiv grammar and recommends a thorough description of the entire grammar of the Tiv language. The findings in this paper are valid intellectual contributions that can be replicated in other languages for description and documentation.