Circumfixation as an affixal process in Tiv

Abstract

Tiv, a language spoken in the north-central geopolitical area of Nigeria and Southern Cameroon, has various ways of forming words, with circumfixation being one of them. Circumfixation is one of the types of affixes that is vitally important in Tiv but has not received scholarly attention due to the erroneous impression that Tiv morphology only has prefixes and suffixes. This study, therefore, investigates the functions of circumfixes in Tiv and adopts Hockett’s Item-and-Arrangement Model of 1954 to examine the functions of the Tiv circumfixes. Methodologically, this study sourced its data through primary and secondary sources. The primary source of data collection was obtained through observation, which is the firsthand experience of the research setting, and the secondary sources were elicited through the consultation of textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, journal articles, Icighan Bibilo (1964 [2007]), and The Revised Holy Bible in Tiv (2017). Deliberate sampling technique was used to obtain meaningful data for this study. The researchers obtained data by jotting, transcribing, classifying, and analysing them according to their functions. It has been found that Tiv circumfixation performs derivational and inflectional functions; Tiv circumfixation’s architecture comprises vowel plus vowel and consonant (V+VC), vowel plus consonant (V+C), consonant plus consonant (C+C); Tiv language has other affixal processes such as infixes, interfixes, superfixes as against the oversubscribed prefixes and suffixes; and circumfixation is also known as adfixation, ambifixation, confixation, parafixation and simulfixation. This study is, therefore, recommended to scholars, students, writers, teachers, lecturers and curriculum designers to recognise other affixal processes, write scholarly articles, compare circumfixation with compounding and review the definition and types of affixes.