Reduplication in Itu Mbon Usọ
Abstract
Reduplication is one of the numerous linguistic processes that have contributed to the expansion of the lexicon of languages. As a language phenomenon, reduplication has been attested to be productive in languages such as Yorùbá, Hausa and Swahili. In languages such as Ibibio, reduplication plays emphatic roles. This study is concerned with the reduplication process in the Itu Mbon Usọ language spoken in the northern part of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Two basic types of reduplication are observed in the language: full and partial. It shows that reduplication in Itu Mbon Usọ is productive. The full reduplication of nominal in the language changes the grammatical category of the word to adjective. The study also reveals that reduplication in Itu Mbon Usọ is used for emphasis, humour and contrast. In addition, phonological processes such as deletion and weakening are observed.
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