Derivation in Fulfulde: Affixation as a Preferred Strategy overCompounding

Abstract

Compounding is the frequent way in which words are formed in most world
languages. Combining two or more words to form a compound word is most often
common in many languages; however, affixing of a bound morpheme to a root to
derive new word can also serve the purpose. This paper is a study of Fulfulde
derivation which aims at comparing derivation through compounding and
affixation in the language. The objectives of the study are: to identify some
derivational morphemes and lexemes in the language; to compare the derived
words through affixation and compounded words; and to analyze the semantic
relevance of the words formed through the two processes. The sources of data are
introspection, observation, interview, and published and unpublished materials.
The published sources include but not limited to books, journals, articles and
proceedings. The unpublished ones include theses, dissertations and projects. Data
obtained from the primary and secondary sources have been analyzed using
Descriptive Method. The paper re-affirmed that affixation is a better choice for the
native Fulfulde speaker than the compounding in deriving words considering the
data presented in table III, as in examples: Suudu-kaa’e → kaa’eeru, Nebbam na’i
→ Na’iijam/kaynaaɗam, ndiyam ɓundu → ɓunduujam, maaroori-lare → lareeri.
However, some speakers of the language who lack derivational morphemes choose
compounding as a process in their word formation. Apart from being extravagance
of words in forming the compound words, it also indicates the incompetence of the
speaker of the language.