Properties of word categories in Kibena nouns, verbs and adjectives

This study seeks to determine the effectiveness of combining the morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic criteria in determining the properties of lexical categories in Kibena. Morphology reflects word forms, syntax reflects sentence structure, semantics reflects ontological grouping of items, and pragmatics reflects how humans use language in context. The study used both primary and secondary data obtained from elicitation, focus group discussion and oral literature kept in texts. Data were analysed using Nvivo 10 software in grouping words into different categories semantically. Word and sentence skills were used to identify the properties of each lexical category morphologically and syntactically. The findings of the study show that in Kibena nouns, verbs and adjectives can be identified by the different properties they portray morphologically, syntactically and semantically. They differ in their word forms, the position they occupy in sentences and the general meanings and function they play in achieving the semiotic and communicative functions. Additionally, the findings show that syntactic markedness and extended roles criteria (pragmatics) solve best the problem of words belonging to more than one category. The study concludes that nouns, verbs and adjectives in Kibena possess different morphological, syntactic, and semantic properties. The study recommends more studies be conducted on the properties of lexical categories especially on the aspect of the pre-eminency of syntactic markedness and pragmatics in assigning lexical items to different categories