glio1241

This section lists the morphological noun classes that could be established. Note that we have no insights into the tone system. Tones might change in parallel, independently, or not at all between singular and plural.

We assume plural formation with -i to be the historical process \citepMarchese1988. For some classes, this is still transparent in suffixation of -i to an otherwise unchanged stem. Other classes lose the final vowel upon adding -i. Yet other classes have their final vowel coalesce with the -i, leading to fronting and unrounding from [o] to [e] and from [ɔ] to [ɛ].

i-based

X-i

• dAdA : dAdA-i (‘duck’ : ‘ducks’)
• fA : fA-i (‘goat’ : ‘goats’)
• ku : ku-i (‘carp’ : ‘carps’)
• sowo : sowo-i (‘horse’ : ‘horses’)
• segu : segu-i (‘chameleon’ : ‘chameleons’)
• wu : wu-i (‘mouth’ : ‘mouths’)
• djɛ : djɛ-i (‘finger’ : ‘fingers’)

A→i

• klA : kli (‘bone’ : ‘bones’)
• nyAwA : nyAwi (‘cat’ : ‘cats’)
• kA : ki (‘crab’ : ‘crabs’)
• nyA : nyi (‘pangolin’ : ‘pangolins’)

e→i

• gbe : gbi (‘dog’ : ‘dogs’)

ɛ→i

• dowɛ : dowi (‘animal’ : ‘animals’)
• tonɛ : toni (‘fly’ : ‘flies’)
• blAlɛ : blAli (‘sheep’ : ‘sheep plural’)
• nAwɛ : nAwi (‘firewood 1 stick’ : ‘firewood plural’)
• nyirɛ : nyiri (‘breast’ : ‘breasts’)

o→i

• sowo : sowi (‘donkey’ : ‘donkeys’)
• dolo : doli (‘bird’ : ‘birds’)

ɔ→i

• umɔ :_ umi_ (‘butt cheek’ : ‘butt (both sides)’)

u→i

• fu-u : fu-i (‘sponge’ : ‘sponges’)
• nAlu : nAli (‘feather’ : ‘feathers’)
• trAmAnu : trAmAni (‘wasp’ : ‘wasps’)
• _gɔ_ru : _gɔ_ri (‘lizard’ : ‘lizards’)
• tu : ti (‘tree’ : ‘trees’)
• wlu : wli (‘cord’ : ‘cords’)
• pu : pi (‘gun’ : ‘guns’)

coalesced

o→e

• gbo : gbe (‘foot’ : ‘feet’)
• tAro : tAre (‘bat’ : ‘bats’)
• wogbo : wogbe (‘mushroom’ : ‘mushrooms’)
• pAro : pAre (‘comb’ : ‘combs’)

ɔ→ɛ

• _hwɔ_ŋ : _hwɛ_ŋ (‘arm’ : ‘arms’)
• pɔ : pwɛ (‘leg’ : ‘legs’)
• plɔ : plɛ (‘liver’ : ‘livers’)
• chrɔ : chrɛ (‘butterfly’ : ‘butterflies’)

o→ɛ

• mo : mɛ (‘horn’ : ‘horns’)

o…a→u…i

• nowA : _nuwi _ (‘ear’ : ‘ears’)
• korA : kuri (‘hand’ : ‘hands’)

a-based

Some nouns have their plurals based on the addition of a formative -a. This cannot be traced to the -i-based process mentioned above. All of the retrieved concepts pertaining to this class are (large) animals.

e→a

• tuwe : tuwA (‘buffalo’ : ‘buffaloes’)
• gbuwe : gbuwA (‘crocodile’ : ‘crocodiles’)

ɛ→a

• nugbɛ : nugbA (‘hippo’ : ‘hippos’)
• howɛ : howA (‘giant pangolin’ : ‘giant pangolins’)

X-a

• di : di-A (‘spear’ : ‘spears’)