MORPHOLOGICAL AND SEMANTIC SHIFT IN BÙH
1 Department of Languages and Linguistics Nasarawa State
2 Nasarawa State University, Keffi
3 The Word for the World, FCT Abuja-Nigeria
* Corresponding author: umaruyakubu@nsuk.edu.ng
2 Nasarawa State University, Keffi
3 The Word for the World, FCT Abuja-Nigeria
* Corresponding author: umaruyakubu@nsuk.edu.ng
Abstract
This study described the operation of morphological and
semantic shifts in Bùh language. The language is spoken in
Nasarawa and Kaduna states respectively. Some lexical
items and expressions, over time, have undergone structural
and meaning change in the language. Thus, this study
focused on identifying such words and expressions. The
dearth of literature on Buh is the motivation for this study.
To the best of our knowledge, no study has been carried out
in this area of the study. The study is descriptive in nature,
and employed the interview method for data gathering.
Competent native speakers of the language between 30-70
years were interviewed. The study adopted two theories,
Egudu's (1975) Negative Positivism and Fillmore's (1976)
Frame Semantics. The findings showed that certain words
have been seen to have changed structurally. Thus,
substitution of phonemes leads to structural change in the
language. Also, the meaning of lexical items as well as
expressions could change from positive to negative and vice
versa: meaning shift in context and the description of what
is
naturally good as bad; excellent performance or
achievement in terms of destructive action; a virtue or an
achievement in terms of physical or moral defect; a happy
situation in terms of a sad incident; a man of excellence in
terms of an animal are realized in the language. The paper
concluded that morphological and semantic shiftS in Bùh is
one of the factors which causes endangerment for tthe
language.
Keywords
Frame Semantics
Morphology
Morphological and Semantic Change
Negative Positivism
Semantics.
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How to Cite
UMARU, Y. J., DAVID, A. A., & LEDOWADE, I. (2023). MORPHOLOGICAL AND SEMANTIC SHIFT IN BÙH. Humanity - Jos Journal Of General Studies, 14(1), 60-66. https://doi.org/10.67862/hjjgs.2023.kzvs45we
Y. J. UMARU, A. A. DAVID, and I. LEDOWADE, "MORPHOLOGICAL AND SEMANTIC SHIFT IN BÙH," Humanity - Jos Journal Of General Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 60-66, January 2023. doi: 10.67862/hjjgs.2023.kzvs45we
