A MORPHO SEMANTIC ANALYSIS ON ONITSHA PERSONAL IGBO NAMES

Abstract

This study examines Onitsha Personal Names (OPN) from a morpho-semantic perspective. The major objective is to analyse the syntactic and morphological structures of selected OPN. Specifically, the study seeks to identify the morphological processes and internal structural relationships among the morphemes that combine to form these names. A sample of 250 male and female names was used for the analysis. The data were collected from school name lists and from men’s and women’s religious associations. Oral interviews were also conducted with native speakers to obtain clarifications regarding the meanings of the names. The roots, stems, and affixes of the names were analysed using the descriptive approach, applying relevant word-formation rules. The findings reveal the following: most of the morphological processes involved in the formation of OPN are predominantly clipping, prefixation, and suffixation, occurring in a hierarchical manner such that the meanings of the names are predictable from their structural components; many of the names are derived from clauses through a desententialisation process; the philosophy or deeper meanings behind the names are often lost due to clipping; OPN at the sentential level can function as statements, interrogatives, imperatives, or commands; and the morphological components, in terms of size or structural complexity, can be monomorphemic, dimorphemic, trimorphemic, or polymorphemic. Structurally, the names may be single-stem, compound, or complex.