A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AFFIXATION IN YORUBA AND BATOUNU

This study examines the affixation systems of Yorùbá and Bàtọnú with a view to identifying their structural patterns, grammatical functions, and points of convergence and divergence. Although both languages belong to the Niger-Congo language family, they represent different linguistic subgroups and exhibit distinct morphological characteristics. The study was motivated by the limited comparative research on the morphology of these two languages, particularly with respect to affixation. The research adopted a descriptive and comparative design. Data were obtained through elicitation from competent native speakers and supplemented with relevant scholarly materials. The analysis was conducted within the framework of Distributed Morphology, which explains word formation as the realization of abstract grammatical features through morphological processes. The findings reveal that both Yorùbá and Bàtọnú employ affixation productively in word formation and grammatical expression; however, their morphological strategies differ considerably. Yorùbá relies predominantly on prefixation for nominalization and agentive formation, while Bàtọnú makes more extensive use of suffixation, especially in plural marking, agentive derivation, and noun-class morphology. The study further demonstrates that although both languages perform comparable grammatical functions through affixation, they differ in the distribution, productivity, and structural realization of their affixes. These similarities and differences reflect their distinct morphological systems despite their common Niger-Congo ancestry. The study concludes that a comparative investigation of affixation provides valuable insights into the morphological organization of African languages and enriches the understanding of cross-linguistic word-formation patterns. It therefore contributes to the documentation of Yorùbá and Bàtọnú, expands existing literature on comparative African morphology, and provides a useful reference for linguists, language teachers, and future researchers interested in morphology and comparative linguistics.