Syntax Assignmment - Yoruba

INTRODUCTION
Adjective comes from Latin nōmen adjectīvum, which literally means 'additional
noun'. In the grammatical tradition of Latin and Greek, because adjectives were
inflected for gender, number, and case like nouns (a process called declension), they
were considered a type of noun. The words that are today typically called nouns were
then called substantive nouns (nōmen substantīvum). The terms noun substantive and
noun adjective were formerly used in English but are now obsolete.
In linguistics, an adjective is a word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or
describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Example of Adjective include: Beautiful, short, hot, cold, cute, rich, poor, small,
handsome, corny, loyal, etc.
Traditionally, adjectives have been considered one of the main parts of speech of
the English language, although historically they were classed together with nouns.
Certain words that usually had been classified as be adjectives, including the, this,
my, etc., are today typically classed separately, as determiners.
TYPES OF ADJECTIVES
Prepositive Adjectives: This adjective is also known as "attributive adjectives". It
occurs on an antecedent basis within a noun phrase. For example: "I bought the blue
car," wherein Blue occurs on an antecedent basis within The blue car noun phrase,
and therefore functions in a prepositive adjective.
Postpositive adjectives: This can occur after the verb in a sentence, taking the object
position in the sentence. E.g. The house is beautiful
Nominalized adjectives: This functions as nouns. One way this happens is by
eliding a noun from an adjective-noun noun phrase, whose remnant thus is a
nominalization. In the sentence, "The old die easily”, where the old" means "Old
people". In such cases, the adjective may function as a mass noun (as in the
preceding example). In English, it may also function as a plural count noun denoting
a collective group, as in "The gentle shall benefit", where "the gentle" means "those
who are gentle" or "all who are gentle".
LANGUAGE UNDERSTUDY: Hausa
Yoruba (Èdè Yorùbá) is a language spoken in West Africa, most prominently South-
western Nigeria. It is spoken by the ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba
speakers is estimated at between 45 and 55 million. As a pluricentric language, it is
primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin and Togo, with smaller
migrated communities in Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Yoruba vocabulary is also used in the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomblé,
in the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language
and various Afro-American religions of North America. Yoruba is classified among
the Edekiri languages, which together with Itsekiri and the isolate Igala form the
Yoruboid group of languages within the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo
family. The linguistic unity of the Niger–Congo family dates to deep prehistory,
estimates ranging around 11000 years ago (the end of the Upper Paleolithic). In
present-day Nigeria, it is estimated that there are over 40 million Yoruba primary and
secondary language speakers as well as several other millions of speakers outside
Nigeria, making it the most widely spoken African language outside of the continent
.LANGUAGE FAMILY
 Niger–Congo
 Atlantic–Congo
 Volta-Congo
 Volta–Niger
 YEAI
 Yoruboid
 Edekiri
 Yoruba
YORUBA ADJECTIVES
Syntactical Analysis of Yoruba Adjectives
Yoruba language has a pre and post nominal adjective, which means that their
adjective could occur before and after the noun in a sentence. From usage, it shows
clearly that it is mostly post nominal.
e.g.
- ẹrú ná Nipọn
EXAMPLE OF HAUSA ADJECTIVES
ADJECTIVE PARSING SENTENCE
Nipọn + Weight - Ẹrú ná Nipọn
Thick - Agentive - The wall is thick
- Thin
- Inanimate
Bínu + Feeling -Yusuf bínu

Angry - Happy - Yusuf is angry
- Agentive
- Inanimate
Kekere ± Animate Ewurẹ je
Small + Neuter The goat is small
- Dull
Lẹwa ± Animate - Aṣọ rẹ lẹwa

Beautiful + Neuter - The dress is beautiful
- Little
Dúdú - Yara náa dúdú

Dark - The room is Dark

Syntax Assignmment - Yoruba

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INTRODUCTION

Bínu + Feeling -Yusuf bínu

Lẹwa ± Animate - Aṣọ rẹ lẹwa

Dúdú - Yara náa dúdú

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