Editing Mbula language (section)

==Morphology==
[[morphology (linguistics)|Word structure]] in the Mbula language is not complex. There is little [[inflection]] of both [[nouns]] and [[verbs]] and few [[derivation (linguistics)|derivation]]al processes. Most words in Mbula are mono-morphemic. Multi-morphemic words can be formed via the following processes:

*indexing on verbs for the person and number of the Subject
*inflection of inalienable nouns for the person and number of their genitives
*reduplication
*derivation of predicates to increase or decrease their transitivity
*compounding
*nominalisation

These processes will be discussed below.

===Inflectional morphology===
The only types of inflectional processes in the language are on verbs for the person and number of the subject, inflection of inalienable nouns for the person and number of their genitives as well as pronoun person/number distinctions.

====Verbal inflection====
Verbs typically index the person and number of the subject of the sentence with the following set of subject prefixes:

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |
! singular
! plural
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1st person
! exclusive
| rowspan="2" | {{lang|mna|ang}}
| {{lang|mna|am}}
|-
! inclusive
| {{lang|mna|t}}
|-
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
| nothing ~ {{lang|mna|ku}}
| {{lang|mna|k}}
|-
! colspan="2" | 3rd person
| {{lang|mna|i}}
| {{lang|mna|ti}}
|}

====Inflection of inalienable nouns====
Mbula contains a class of nouns which are obligatorily inflected with genitive suffixes. ''[[Alienability (grammar)|Inalienable]]'' describes the semantic nature of the nouns. That is, they are semantically considered in speakers’ minds to be inalienable or inseparable from something. Examples include body parts and family members – concepts which exist in relation to something else, just the way an edge cannot exist without being the edge of something. Following is a list of the genitive suffixes:

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |
! singular
! plural
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1st person
! exclusive
| rowspan="2" | {{lang|mna|ng}}
| {{lang|mna|yam}}
|-
! inclusive
| ndV
|-
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
| {{lang|mna|m}}
| {{lang|mna|yom}}
|-
! colspan="2" | 3rd person
| VnV
| {{lang|mna|n}}
|}

====Pronoun inflection====
Pronouns in Mbula inflect for first, second and third person as well as singular, dual and plural, as well as inclusive and exclusive in the first person. They also change depending on whether they are in the nominative, accusative, referent or locative case. The following table details the paradigm:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto:" align="center"
!
! Nominative
! Accusative
! Referent
! Locative
|-
! {{gcl|1SG}}
| {{lang|mna|nio}}
| {{lang|mna|yo}}
| {{lang|mna|pio}}
| {{lang|mna|tio}}
|-
! {{gcl|2SG}}
| {{lang|mna|nu ~ niwi}}
| {{lang|mna|u}}
| {{lang|mna|pu ~ piwi}}
| {{lang|mna|ku ~ kiwi}}
|-
! {{gcl|3SG}}
| {{lang|mna|ni}}
| {{lang|mna|i}}
| {{lang|mna|pini}}
| {{lang|mna|kini}}
|-
! {{gcl|1DU}}.{{gcl|INCL}}
| {{lang|mna|ituru}}
|
|
|
|-
! {{gcl|1DU}}.{{gcl|EXCL}}
| {{lang|mna|niamru}}
|
|
|
|-
! {{gcl|2DU}}
| {{lang|mna|niomru}}
|
|
|
|-
! {{gcl|3DU}}
| {{lang|mna|ziru}}
|
|
|
|-
! {{gcl|1PL}}.{{gcl|INCL}}
| {{lang|mna|iti}}
| {{lang|mna|ti}}
| {{lang|mna|piti}}
| {{lang|mna|kiti}}
|-
! {{gcl|1PL}}.{{gcl|EXCL}}
| {{lang|mna|niam}}
| {{lang|mna|yam}}
| {{lang|mna|piam}}
| {{lang|mna|tiam}}
|-
! {{gcl|2PL}}
| {{lang|mna|niom}}
| {{lang|mna|yom}}
| {{lang|mna|piom}}
| {{lang|mna|tiom}}
|-
! {{gcl|3PL}}
| {{lang|mna|zin}}
| {{lang|mna|zin}}
| {{lang|mna|pizin}}
| {{lang|mna|kizin}}
|}

===Derivational morphology===
The following types of derivation occur in Mbula: compounding of nouns and verbs, creation of nouns by means other than compounding, derivational devices which alter the transitivity of verbs, [[reduplication]] and some other minor processes. Compounding is not a very productive process in Mbula though is far more common in verbs than in nouns. Verbs can compound with adverbs, nouns and other verbs to create verbs. Nouns are more likely to be derived by the nominalising suffix {{lang|mna|-nga}}. When combined with adverbs it yields stative nouns; with nouns it can either signal an intensification of meaning or a slight change in meaning (with no intensification); it turns stative verbs into stative nouns and dynamic verbs into nouns. Semantically, {{lang|mna|-nga}} derivations tend to convey the idea of generic, habitual or characteristic actions. A further nominalisation suffix {{lang|mna|-i}} exists but is far less productive than {{lang|mna|-nga}}. Transitivity of predicates can be altered by the addition of one or more of the following prefixes: {{lang|mna|pa}}, {{lang|mna|par}}, and {{lang|mna|m}}, and these are extremely productive processes. Finally, reduplication can result in any one of the following meanings: plurality, distribution, intensification, diminution or habitual-durative action (action that is somehow extended).