- Suffix
The only bound suffix in the language is –ro, which obviously derives from the word óró, meaning “person”. It is added to a noun stem to relate an object denoting “the owner of”, “one who is involved in” “one who deals in/with does” a particular thing” as in List 214 below. With suffixation, there is no change in class.
| word | gloss | suffix | derived word | translation | ||
| ìgìlà | yam | + | -rò | = | ìgìlàrò | yam trader |
| Ọ̀kọ | Oko | + | -ro | = | ọ̀kuro | Ọ̀kọ indigene |
| ewu | down | -ro | = | ewuro | someone from down (street) | |
| ìjọba | government | -ro | = | ìjọbaro | someone in government |
Table 2 Inflection through suffixation
Note that the stem the suffix “-ro” is bound to is usually a noun.
The only other instance where ro is used is with ordinatives as in: ọtẹtaro, ọnenàrò, upipiro (third, fourth, fifth respectively).
- 2. Derivational Processes
Derivational affixation is grammatically motivated. It occurs in instances where a prefix signals a change of class from that of the original stem (See Halliday and, Matthiessen, 2004: 51). Matthiessen (1995: 101) refers to this as “transcategorization”.
- Derivational Prefix
Derivational processes are realized in the same way, no matter which classes are involved. For example, /o/ or its close variant /ɔ:/ is a bound morpheme usually prefixed to a verb (phrase) or adjective to nominalize it; or prefixed to a quasi-verb to mark it for a full-fledged adjective; as in Table 3.
| fọrav (bath) | ọ̀fóforaadj (the act of bathing – bathing, or for bathing) |
| mu uba (clean hand) | òmùnúba (one for cleaning hand – towel) |
| mwẹnv-adj (rot(ten)) | ọmwẹ́mwẹadj or n (rotten one) |
Table 3 Examples of prefixes realizing class change.