Lexical Derivation Strategies in Esan

Abstract

Some aspects of the grammar of Esan have been studied but works on lexical derivation strategies of the language are rare. In recognition of the fundamental role of the lexicon in formal description of a language, this study examines Esan lexical items and the various morphological strategies employed to derive them. The study is based on the Ubiaza dialect given the premise that it exhibits linguistic characteristics which portray it as one of the earliest varieties of the language. The study employs the Ibadan word-list of 400 basic items as instrument of data elicitation and three Esan native speakers as consultants. Findings show that Esan uses concatenated and non-concatenated strategies in lexical derivation with the concatenated typology being more productive than the non-concatenated. The study concludes that such studies are avenues for documenting aspects of Esan grammar and, by extension, Edoid languages in general.