Lesson 10 : Prefixes and Suffixes in Lulogooli
In Ileseni 9 we observed that a word in Lulogooli carries the format: Prefix + Root + Suffix. In this lesson, we shall elaborate on Prefixes and Suffixes and give examples.
A prefix
A
prefix is simply a small unit of meaning before the root of a word. It can be a
single letter as “a” in “akoli” (she did), or a syllable as “lu” in “Lubaaga”
(a machete). The “a” and “lu” are also known as morphemes (zimofiimu) as they
are letters with a meaning.
A word can have one, two, three or more
prefixes. A word as “akavavigumilili” (has she yet caught for them) has
prefixes “a,ka,va,vi” – four.
It
is important to be conversant with prefixes for easy interpretation in writing
and reading. It is also important to notice prefixes that have double meaning
or are near in pronunciation.
The
importance of prefixing a word is to give more information about it. It answers
the questions; – is the word a single noun or plural noun? Neutral or deformed
noun? A positive or negative word-state.
It
also answers; Is there one or more pronouns(pronominals) in the action verb? In what tense
is the word? And to what figurative level of inflection?
The
above are some of the questions amongst others that get answered in word
development by prefixing.
The
prefixes are as in the table organized in the six successive order:
+ve(Agreement)/–ve(Negation)→Infinitive→Subject-pronoun→Tense→Object-pronoun→reflex
A
word can pick prefixes from the order above. A short word can only pick one as “akoli”
(she did) while a long word can pick several or all prefixes. An example word
is “silivaaliiluma”.
“Silivaaliiluma”
is translated “they won’t be in paining themselves by it”. The order of
prefixes order in the word as given above is “si→li→va→a→li→i→”{luma}.
More
exercise will familiarize anyone on these few prefixes for easy writing. See
the example words for each prefix below.
Agreement or Negation
Here,
the word is either in positive or denial state; morphemes 'Ni-' and 'Si-'.
- Sikuzya = We won’t go
- Nikuzya = We went/Then we went
Infinitive ku/li
Here,
the word is neither happening or not. It can also be interpreted as a gerund; a
noun verb. Morpheme Ku=to, li=the, we should expect words as;
- Kugumila = to catch
- Ligumila = the catch [act]
Subject Pronouns (First Pronominals)
These
are noun class morphemes. They can be singular or plural. A noun class
agreement pre-prefix (example “(u)mu”) can also accompany.
- Umulimi = The farmer
- Azyizaa = S/he is going
Tenses
They
are responsible for time, when is/will/was the time of the activity.
- Aalimi = He
has dug
- Alikalime =
He will surely dug
Object Pronoun (Second Pronominals)
This
applies onlywhen there is a causing subject pronoun. At other times there can
be more than one object pronouns. The object interacts with the subject in a
sentence as;
- Umogoseli =
You wronged him/her
- Kintoozi =
It pricked me
Reflex
In
the happening of a verb, sometimes a person causes to self. A word as “ilya” = eat self, morpheme ‘i’
representing the ‘action to self’. Other example words are;
- Guigwile –
to fall on it[self]
- Sialiigosela
– he will never wrong herself/himself
Root word
It
is the root word that the rest of the affixes depend on for word meaning, no
matter their extent. A word can only have a single root word. See the examples
below:
- Mulimi = one
farmer [lim=dig]
- Kulikamulole
= We will do see them [lol=see]
Suffixes
Suffixes in a word come after the root. They are not as many as the prefixes because the main part of the word (root) is already communicated.
Suffixes include noun or verb ending, inflection where a verb is inflected and a vowel ending for the inflected verb.
The example suffixes are included in
word examples below.
Noun Endings
Noun
endings are essential as it gives us the different types of a noun; active,
passive, object, past actor and more as in the examples.
- Mulimi =
active farmer
- Mulime = dug
land
Inflections
When
a word is inflected, it is added meaning. It includes the way an activity
happened, attitude of the speaker to it and also show of liveness. There are hundreds of inflection words to pick
from but the common ones are a fair number to master as in the table. They
include;
- Nyagulaanga
= be running/be on the run
- leetwa = be
brought
Verb Endings
A
word has to end. The verb can end after
a root or be inflected as of the verbs before ending.
A
verb word can end in letters a, e or i. They express the time the activity is
said to be happening; now(a), future (e) or past (i). Where the vowel is doubled,
it means the action is/was/will be continuing.
- Atuli = he
left
- Vaamokubilaa
= they were beating him at/with
As observed, each unit of a word has a meaning(morpheme). The units are "Vivooli" in Lulogooli. Vivooli is from the verb, "voola"(say).
Prefixes being units of meaning before root word, they are "vivooli vinene" (elder morphemes) and suffixes "vivooli vikogoti" (younger/end morphemes).
The chart below (Ileseni 10b) illustrates with example word, "Sivalakalime".
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