• Kedir Abda Ouba

Abstract This study was conducted to analyze morphological properties of Arsi-Bale word classes with special reference to Arsi-Bale noun morphology. The qualitative research design was used to collect and analyze the data from the dialect under study. The data were collected from written sources, like textbooks, short stories books, newsletters, broachers, written reports, sayings, proverbs, riddles, and from spoken sources during focussed group discussion from the mouth of native speakers of the dialect, and thorough introspection by the researcher himself since he is a native speaker of the Arsi-Bale dialect. The study depicts that the Arsi-Bale noun word class shows different morphological properties which a little bit varies from other Oromo dialects. In this regard, Arsi-Bale noun word class was checked against the three criteria. i.e. the morphological criteria, syntactic criteria, and semantic criteria. The results found indicate that Arsi-Bale noun inflects for number, gender, definiteness, case. Arsi-Bale dialect of Oromo words morphologically inflect for number by attaching morphemes that other Oromo dialects attach; it has also a unique morpheme that marks grammatical functions. Similarly, Arsi-Bale dialect of Oromo noun word class inflects for definiteness and gender by using the same morpheme such as -icha/-ittii which are attached to noun to mark two different types of grammatical functions; the morpheme -icha attaches to the noun to mark both definiteness and masculine gender. For example, in the noun harricha/the donkey, the morpheme -icha marks that the donkey we are talking about is the known or the definite one; in the same noun the same morpheme indicates masculine gender of the donkey. Similarly, the morpheme -ittii attaches to the noun in Arsi-Bale dialect to mark definiteness and feminine gender. For instance, in the noun namittii/the woman, the morpheme -ittii marks the woman we talk about is the known or the definite one; in the same noun the same morpheme indicates feminine gender. Thirdly, Arsi-Bale dialect of Oromo noun inflects for case by attaching different morphemes. Similarly, the noun in the dialect under study fulfills the other criteria for classification like syntactic criteria; The nouns take the position of the subject of the sentence and object of the sentence. Finally, Arsi-Bale noun fulfills semantic criteria. For instance, a noun is a name given to something, person or place.

Keywords: Arsi-Bale, noun, morphology, morphemes

"The Analysis of Morphological Properties of Arsi-Bale Word Classes with Special REference to Arsi-Bale Noun Morphology", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no.649-674, January-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901A81.pdf

"The Analysis of Morphological Properties of Arsi-Bale Word Classes with Special REference to Arsi-Bale Noun Morphology", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no. pp649-674, January-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901A81.pdf