Editing Gbe languages (section)

===Morphology===
The basic [[syllable]] form of Gbe languages is commonly rendered (C<sub>1</sub>)(C<sub>2</sub>)V(C<sub>3</sub>), meaning that there at least has to be a nucleus V, and that there are various possible configurations of consonants (C<sub>1-3</sub>). The V position may be filled by any of the vowels or by a syllabic nasal. It is also the location of the tone. While virtually any consonant can occur in the C<sub>1</sub>  position, there exist several restrictions on the kind of consonants that can occur in the C<sub>2</sub>  and C<sub>3</sub>  positions. In general, only [[liquid consonants]] may occur as C<sub>2</sub> , while only nasals occur in the C<sub>3</sub> position.

Most [[verb]]s in Gbe languages have one of the basic syllable forms. Gbe [[noun|nominals]] are generally preceded by a nominal prefix consisting of a vowel (cf. the Ewe word ''{{IPA|aɖú}}'', 'tooth'). The quality of this vowel is restricted to the subset of non-nasal vowels. In some cases the nominal prefix is reduced to [[schwa]] or lost: the word for 'fire' is ''izo'' in Phelá, ''{{IPA|ədʒo}}'' in Wací-Ewe and ''{{IPA|dʒo}}'' in Pecí-Ewe. The nominal prefix can be seen as a relic of a typical Niger–Congo [[noun class]] system.

The Gbe languages are [[isolating language]]s, and as such express many semantic features by lexical items. Of a more [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] nature are the commonly used [[periphrasis|periphrastic]] constructions. In contrast to [[Bantu languages]], a major branch of the Niger–Congo language family, Gbe languages have very little inflectional morphology. There is for example no subject–verb [[agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] whatsoever in Gbe, no [[gender (linguistics)|gender]] agreement, and no inflection of nouns for number. The Gbe languages make extensive use of a rich system of tense/aspect markers.

[[Reduplication]] is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, or part of it, is repeated. The Gbe languages, like most [[Kwa languages]], make extensive use of reduplication in the formation of new words, especially in deriving nouns, adjectives and adverbs from verbs. Thus in Ewe, the verb ''lã́'', 'to cut', is nominalised by reduplication, yielding ''lãlã́'', 'the act of cutting'. Triplication is used to intensify the meaning of adjectives and adverbs, e.g. Ewe ''ko'' 'only' → ''kokooko'' 'only, only, only'.