Nominalization in Olusuba :process and function.

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.