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Date: 30-May-2007 From: Ross Jones <rossjones12optusnet.com.au> Subject: Bound Morphemes
Do bound morphemes have to be affixed or hyphenated, or can they be written as free forms?
Boko has some compound verbs where the nominal object does not occur without the verb root and which may be possessed. Example 1 (I have omitted the tones) ma a oo-kpa 1s.Perf.pr 3s.inam.pr spoil-give.Perf I spoilt it.
There is no 3s.inam.pr in the language, so the 'a' here can only be interpreted as a possessive pronoun.
Example 2 'o 'cry' is a noun. (glottal stop plus open o with high tone) 'oo-lo 'to cry' is a compound verb. (aspectual tone changes occur on the verb root 'lo' 'o gbaa do 'to cry aloud' is a compound verb with an adjective in the NP object. bee 'o 'o~ ma do 'for this I cried' (this-cry-then-I-sounded) ale a 'oo-lo 'she is crying about it' (3s.Prog 3s.inam cry)
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