Abstract:
About one third of Olusuba nouns are nominals derived from other lexical
categories such as .verbs, adjectives and adverbials. This process, known as
nominalization, and its reverse process of denominalization are crucial in aiding reexpression
of ideas in idiomatic translational communication between different
languages.
This paper explores the process and function of nominalization as a
derivational process in morphology and its importance in Bible translation work in
Olusuba language. It is also the undertaking of this paper to assess the properties of
derivational forms, such as prefixes and suffixes, which produce nominalized forms in
this language. Finally, this paper explores grammatical and pragmatic implications of
these forms to ascertain their functions in discourse of different kinds.
This research paper, therefore, documents research findings on Olusuba
nominalization forms and concludes that these forms have great contributions in the
production of various lexical units, for the construction of clause and discourse
structures, which are needed for communicating and expressing numerous nominal
ideas and concepts. This is a crucially important discovery in which 'Relevance
Theory' principles of communication are supported through the general function of
Olusuba nominals. On the basis of Olusuba noun structure, the nominalization
processes follow uniformly the noun class system and its consequent syntactic form
and function to give us a coherent Olusuba grammar.
