4. Word Classes

Using semantic and morpho-syntactic criteria, chapter 4 offers a detailed typological and descriptive account of the lexical categories in Etulo. It surveys the inventory and properties of pronouns (personal, possessive, reflexive, relative, demonstrative, interrogative) and shows how Etulo handles number, animacy, tone alternations, and cliticization in pronominal forms. The chapter also defines the noun class and its internal modifiers (determiners, quantifiers, demonstratives), and explores the predicate domain, especially verbs, distinguishing those that require noun complements (obligatory complement verbs) from non-complement types, as well as distinguishing simple vs. complex predicates. It further examines the small but systematic class of adjectives, the broader class of adjectival/stative verbs, and other classes (ideophones, nouns) that fulfil qualifying roles. In the adverbial domain, the chapter classifies both simple and derived (e.g. phrasal or ideophonic) adverbs and maps them along functional types such as manner, time, frequency and degree.

In addition, the status of the Etulo ideophone is discussed, showing how ideophones, via reduplication, vowel lengthening, and uniform tone patterns, cut across word classes and fill predicative, modifying, and nominalizing roles. Finally, the chapter presents the structure and use of the Etulo numeral system, highlighting its traditional vigesimal base (twenty) and the emerging influence of borrowed forms (e.g. from Hausa) in higher numerals. The combined treatment demonstrates how Etulo organizes and realizes its lexical system, especially in contexts where semantic function and morphosyntax interact.