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Remnants of a noun class system in Bezen

2025/04/02 by Victoria Kempf, Kempf, Victoria
Arts and Humanities · #Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis #Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity #Translation Studies and Practices

paper · doi:10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2014_3411

Abstract

Bezen looks like a typical Benue-Congo noun class language: A rich variety of prefixes adorn its nouns. Contrary to the linguist’s expectation, the agreement system does not reflect the high number of nominal prefixes but is reduced to four classes: One singular and three plural classes. The function of the nominal prefixes is not restricted to number-marking, however. They also serve to derive a large array of nouns from verbs and adjectives.

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