The Nominal Morphology of Gizey

ABSTRACT Gizey has very little overt nominal morphology. Gender is not marked morphologically, but only via agreement. The gender system has semantic underpinnings. In many cases, the biological sex of animate referents and the size of inanimate referents govern gender assignment. Number is the only overtly marked inherent feature, with the plural being marked by a non‐zero affix or being realized through suppletion. Furthermore, Gizey has a considerable number of transnumeral nouns, as morphological marking of plural number is restricted to some nouns only. In citation form, nouns host bound morphemes = na and = ta , known in the Chadic literature as cases of nunation and ta'atation , erstwhile masculine and feminine articles attested in indefinite nouns. In this paper, I argue that = na and = ta are, in fact, enclitic non‐generic articles, not instantiations of nunation and ta'atation.