Itu Mbon Uso Personal Names: A Morphological Analysis

This paper examines the morphological structure and morphological processes in Itu Mbon Uso personal names. Data for the study were elicited from six adult native speakers of Itu Mbon Uso selected through stratification. The theoretical framework adopted was eclectic in nature, combining Item-and-Arrangement (IA) model of morphological-based theory and Head Feature Convention (HFC) theory. The findings showed that Itu Mbon Uso personal names have rich morphological structure which provides grammatical information about the morphemic components that make up the names. It is also observed that the morphological processes involved in the formation of the names are mainly derivational in nature and accord with the structure of the language.