Investigating Suffixal Rivalry in Written Educated Nigerian English: A Cognitive Morphology Approach

Abstract

This paper investigates the interpretation and use of rival suffixes in English noun and adjective formation in written educated Nigerian English. The Cognitive Morphology approach was used in analysing data purposively selected from four discourse contexts labelled written academic, media, religious and scientific discourse. One hundred and fifty-nine nominal and adjectival words derived from same nominal, verbal and adjectival roots were isolated from the corpus studied and analysed for their (in) appropriate use in the context in which they occurred. The findings indicated that derivatives in –ent recorded the highest frequency of occurrence: 56 instances representing (35.2%) while those in –ant recorded the second highest instances of occurrence of 28 instances (17.6%). The rival morpheme which recorded the lowest instance of occurrence is the –ing suffix with 4 representing (2.5%). Further findings from the study surfaced from the fact that the subjects studied did not take into consideration, The semantic value of derivational suffixes while choosing the suffixes appended to roots to derive composite morphological expressions. The indiscriminate attachment of the –ent suffix to equally indiscriminate roots/bases can be accounted for by the fact that subjects may possess knowledge of derivation as a concanetive process, but lack knowledge of its semantic aspect.

Keywords: Suffix, Suffixal rivalry, Cognitive Morphology, Derivatives.

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/109-01

Publication date: January 31^st 2026