MORPHOSYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF THE MORPHEMES -UR- AND -AM- IN CIWUTEE

Abstract

Morphemes are minimal units of morphological analysis. Taking this assumption into account, it is clear that, in order to capture the parametric features of morphological units, it is necessary to explore their larger field (morphology). The focus of the research is on morphemes that can occur before and/or after the base. The research aims to analyse, test, characterise and distinguish the morphemes -ur- and -am-, from a morphosyntactic and lexico-semantic perspective. To this end, the distribution test, the Baker Mirror Principle (1995) and Baker Incorporation (1988) theories were used to assess the existence of some linearity and possible lexico-semantic restrictions in the concatenation of derivational units which, in turn, can establish a relationship with the extralinguistic world. With these theoretical approaches, we intend to assess the real category of morphemes -ur- and -am- that, in some Bantu languages, function as fossilized verbal extensions. The objectives listed refer us to the question “do the morphemes -ur- and -am- behave as verbal extensions and what is the real morphosyntactic and lexico-semantic category of the bases that aggregate them in Ciwutee? The possible answers that arise from the above question are: a) the morphemes -ur- and -am- behave as extensions in Ciwutee; b) the morphemes -ur- and -am- establish distinct morphosyntactic and lexico-semantic restrictions on the bases that aggregate them; and; c) the morphemes -ur- and -am- are fossilized extensions in Ciwutee. Using the qualitative approach, the bibliographic method and Introspection, as well as the distribution test, it was possible to conclude that -ur- is a verbal extension that joins the verbal bases with cyclic movement semantics and -am- is not an extension, but rather a verbalizer that joins only the ideophonic bases. This general conclusion was given by 84.7% of informants from the 100% sample universe.