Virginia Chinwe Onumajuru

Affixation and Auxiliaries in Igbo Virginia Chinwe Onumajuru

This study focusses on affixation and auxiliaries in Igbo, drawing on data mainly from Onicha (Onitsha) Igbo. It identifies prefixes, suffixes, interfixes, circumfixes, super/suprafixes, extensional suffixes and auxiliaries in the variety of Igbo studied. The work is presented in two sections: Section 1 discusses affixation, while Section 2 is focused on auxiliary verbs. Section 1 contains five chapters. Chapter 1 is a general introduction that provides some background information regarding O? ni?cha [make sure this word is correct i.e. represented in the spelling of the language, and not just Onicha] Igbo and the speakers of the lect. Chapter 2 an overview of affixation as an important word formation process in world languages. Chapter 3 is the morpho-syntactic analysis of inflectional affixes. Chapter 4 discusses the morphosyntactic characteristics of derivational affixes, while Chapter 5 is concerned with the morpho-syntactic as well as the semantic charateristics of verbal extensions in Igbo. Section 2 is a sole chapter which discusses in a systematic manner the different types of auxiliary verbs, their uses and the effect of their co-occurrence with perfective verb forms.