A STUDY OF WARJI NOMINAL COMPOUNDS

Abstract

This paper investigates the nominal compounds in the Warji
language. A minority language in the Chadic language family of the
Afro-asiantic Phylum that is spoken in Northern Nigeria in Bauchi
State. The aim of the study is to find out the grammatical category
that is combined to form a nominal compound word in the Warji
language, ascertain the rules governing the formation of compound
words and point out the head of the compound words in the Warji
language. The study uses ethnographic method in collecting data
and adopted Descriptive Approach to analyze the data. The study
examines the various ways of forming nominal compounds. The
findings show that there are noun + noun, noun + Adjective and
Adjective + noun compounds. Analysis has showed that syllable
deletion, vowel deletion and shortening of left most member of the
compounds are some of the features of compounds in Warji. The
study concludes that the head of a compound is the left most
member of the compound in the Warji language.