This document provides an introduction and background to a study on the lexical items of the Mandingo language. It discusses the Mandingo people and their language, stating that while Mandingo has significantly impacted the region, little research has been conducted on its lexicon. The document outlines the objectives, hypothesis, motivation, scope, sources of data/methodology, limitations, and provides historical background on the Mandingo people and their language. It also describes Mandingo society, orthography, vowels, consonants, and diphthongs.

1. CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND ITS JUSTIFICATION FOR
THE STUDY
Man‟s interaction with his speech community can only be effectively enhanced through
communication. That is to say, language is always seen as an undividable partner of man from
cradle to grave: wherever man finds himself, he is always accompanied by language which is
seen as an instrument through which man expresses his emotions, thought, feelings and even
finds comfort in times of discomfort and emotional grief.
Mandingo is one of the many languages predominantly spoken in the West African sub-region. It
is arguably the language with the biggest historical effect on the West African sub-region.
Despite this impact on the region, researchers have proved that, the Mandingo language is still a
minority language in sierra Leone and much of what has been said about the Mandingo people
and their language are from oral tradition, little have been written down.
But even though this is the case, it is still a vital language in Sierra Leone that is contributing
linguistically and none linguistically. That is to say, it has impacted greatly on other local
languages, especially the krio language in enriching and increasing it lexicons. That is more the
reason it is extremely necessary that a comprehensive and critical research about the lexical
items of the Mandingo language, with a focus on it nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs is done,
so that linguistics student, native and non native speakers of Mandingo will have the opportunity
to learn and understand Mandingo lexical items and appreciate the rich nature of the language‟s
lexicons.
Undertaking a research like this, especially on such a Language with several Dialects is not
something easy, it is very challenging and above all it requires extensive and a thorough
research.
1

2. 1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives are as follows:
i. To identify and establish the elements that make up the lexical items in the Mandingo
language
ii. To make a critical and linguistic analysis of the operational value of lexical items in
Mandingo.
iii. To show how the lexical items in the Mandingo language are formed and how they are
used syntactically in the language in order to enhance semantic impact.
iv. To stimulate and foster research in Mandingo.
1.3 HYPOTHESIS
This research shall prove that the Mandingo language like any other language constitutes
lexical items and can be syntactically arranged to enhance effective and meaningful
communication.
1.4 MOTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study is done with the intention that it will serve as a useful and significant help to
students of linguistics and researchers. It could be used as a source of reference if scholarship
seeks to know:
i. How Lexical items in Mandingo are listed.
ii. About the internal structural arrangement of Mandingo Lexicon.
iii. About word classes.
iv. About Lexical variation in Mandingo.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH
This research examines the lexical items in Mandingo, within the context of which the researcher
main focus will be on nouns, adjectives, main verbs, and adverbs. The research reviewed
findings about the operational aspect of the Mandingo lexical items as they relate to noun
classes, verb tenses and aspect, various adjectives and the formation and types of adverbs.
2

3. 1.6 SOURCES OF DATA AND METHODOLOGY
This research sourced data from both literate and illiterate L1 speakers of Mandingo with the
variation of both young and elderly speakers.
Data are collected from the above source with a tape recorder and notes were also taken down
from interviews and perfunctory discussion on the topic of the research.
Also, the research made use of data related to the topic from textbooks, dissertations, theses,
published materials on the internet and lecture notes.
The data collected from textbooks, dissertations, etc, are used to exemplify the topic, as
examples, and some are quoted from directly.
1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE METHODOLOGY AND THE STUDY
Firstly, most of the people interviewed especially the uneducated lack linguistic knowledge.
Thus, it was difficult to find out about some of the necessary details. For instance the uneducated
people interviewed cannot tell the researcher head-on what the Mandingo adverbs and nouns are,
or how Mandingo attests verb tense and aspect and whether nouns have possessive or not.
This limitation was overcome by the researcher by breaking down the linguistic terms to simple
words and phrases like action words for verbs and names of places, things, and animals for
nouns. And for some difficult concepts, the researcher asked the uneducated people interviewed
lots of Mandingo sentences to puzzle out the concept in Mandingo.
Secondly, most of the writings available in the library on the Mandingo language are extensively
done in French. This poses another big challenge to the researcher to either finding an English
version or preferably getting a linguistic copy accurately translated to maintain its originality.
This challenge was curbed by the researcher through the help of French colleagues who were
vast in translation.
Thirdly, another limitation faced was the fact that the researcher is not a L1 speaker of the
language understudy. Being a non-native speaker was problematic for the researcher because he
had had to depend heavily on various native speakers, who were almost impossible to get in one
place at a time to ensure the correctness of data obtained.
3

4. This limitation was repressed by a simple handwriting questionnaire in both English and
Mandingo put together by the researcher and other colleagues that are L1 speakers of Mandingo.
And finally, another major constraint met during the research was finance. Being a student
researcher with little financial support was very hard to produce and reproduce photo copy or
even go to the internet café and get materials. Transportation was also a constraint.
The above constraint were overcome by producing and reproducing chapters by handwriting and
also the researcher make sure much was done in a day to cut down on the cost.
1.8 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MANDINGO
The Mandingo or Mandinka people are one of the largest ethnic groups in the African sub-
continent, based in West Africa. This ethnic group is represented today by approximately eleven
million people. The history of the people is as interesting as their culture and belief system.
In Sierra Leone, Mandingo is a major ethnic group and it officially constitutes 7.8% of Sierra
Leone‟s population (Wikipedia 2011:1). The Mandingo in Sierra Leone shares the same culture
and language with the Mandinka people in West Africa. The Mandingo language also known as
Mandinka is their native language. This language is also spoken by millions of Mandinka people
is Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Guinea Bissau and
Chad; it is the main language of the Gambia.
The Mandingo language belongs to the Mande Tan sub group of the Mande group which is also,
a sub family of languages in the Niger-Congo component of the Niger-Kordofanian family of
languages and is thus fairly similar to Bambara. In Sierra Leone and a majority of other areas it
is a tonal language with two tones: low and high, but the particular variety spoken in The
Gambia and Senegal is a non-tonal and uses a pitch accent.
The origin of the Mandingo language can be limned as far back as to the people of the ancient
empire of Mali. This bunch of a language is said to have its origin in Kita, in the North West of
Bamako.
Historically, it is believed that the Mandingo people in Sierra Leone migrated from neighboring
Guinea through the northern borders of Sierra Leone. This could be traced back between 1840 to
4

5. about 1900, when a Mandinka warrior called Samori toure had defeated the Limba led by
Alimamy Suluku and had conquered a large territory in Limba areas in Northern Sierra Leone.
The Mandinka, who were called and known as Mandingo by the colonial master – British, were
later amalgamated with the other natives and were found in many parts of Sierra Leone
including the capital – Freetown which was largely dominated by the Creole people.
The Mandingo population is largely concentrated in Koinadugu District in the north, particularly
in Kabala and Falaba where they form the largest ethnic group. The Mandingo also makes up the
majority of the population of Yengema, the second largest town in Kono District in the eastern
Sierra Leone.
1.9 LIFE OF THE MANDINGO
Mandingos in Sierra Leone live in family-related compounds in traditional rural villages. Their
villages are fairly autonomous and self-ruled, being led by a council of upper class elders and
chief who function as a first among equals.
Traditionally, Mandingo society is hierarchical or “caste”-based with three divisions: nobles;
(families of former kings and generals), the artisans (musicians and other freeborn) at the middle
class and finally, the vassals (“Jonw”/Jongo) at the bottom. In modern days this difference has
eroded, corresponding to the economic fortunes of the group.
The Mandingo societies are patrilineal, patriarchal and of clan culture. The people are
predominantly traders and rural subsistence farmer who rely on groundnut, rice, millet and small
scale husbandry for their livelihood. During the raining season men plant peanut as their main
cash crop; peanut is also the staple diet of the Mandingos.
The Mandingos are predominantly Muslim since the 13th century. Today, 99% of the Mandingos
in Sierra Leone are Muslims. Many in the rural areas combine Islamic beliefs with certain pre-
Islamic, animistic beliefs, such as the presence of the spirits, the use of Qur‟anic verses written
on slip of paper (sɛ bɛ ) and amulet for protection.
In rural areas western education‟s impact is minimal; the literacy rate in Roman script among
these people I is quite low. However, more than half of the adult population can read the local
Arabic script; Qur‟anic school for children where this is taught are quite more common.
5

6. The Mandingo culture includes varied rich musical and spiritual traditions. They continue a long
oral tradition of educating their children about their history through stories, proverbs and songs
handed down through time. This cultural value and tradition has been kept alive by the musical
families known as the Jeliba. The Jelibas serve as the cultural and traditional ambassadors of
Mandingos. They are “praise” singers that play drums and the Kora – an exclusive Mandingo
traditional instrument with twenty one strings or more.
In Mandingo land marriages are traditional arranged by family members instead of the bride and
groom. This practice is particularly prevalent in the rural areas. Kola nuts are formally sent by
the suitor‟s family to the male elders of the bride-to-be and if accepted, the courtship begins.
1.10 THE MANDINGO ORTHOGRAPHY
The sound system of a language simply refers to the orthography of the language. Like most
other African language, the Mandingo orthography is phonemic by nature. That is to say, the
transcribed symbols and the letters are the same. Both the sound and the letter are the same.
Before the advent of the Europeans, the Arabic alphabet-based orthography was widely used by
the Mandingos because of the fact that the Mandingos are predominantly Muslims and the
subsequent learning of the Arabic scripts as part of their religious education. After colonialism
the Arabic alphabet-based orthography was replaced by the Latin orthography. The basis of
Latinized Mandingo orthography was established at the UNESCO expert meeting in Bamako,
(Mali) in 1966. Various governments with Mandingo population have standardized variants of
this orthography. However even though this was the case, majority of the native Mandingo
speakers who are literate in Arabic phonology can approximate the Latin orthography and the
Arabic-based orthography.
In addition, the Pan-Mande writing system, the N‟ko alphabet, invented in 1949, is often used in
north-east Guinea, and bordering community in Ivory Coast and Mali but not in Sierra Leone.
The Mandingo sound system is made up of twenty-seven (27) symbols; seven (7) vowels, sixteen
(16) consonants and four (4) diphthongs.
6

7. Mandingo vowels
Mandingo vowels are the speech sounds that are produced without an audible friction in the flow
of air in the oral cavity. In other words, there is no direct contact of the articulators in the
production of the sound.
Here is the linguistic representation of the Mandingo vowels.
Front Central Back
Close – i u
Mid close – e o
Open mid – ɛ ɔ
Open – a
Below is an illustration of phonetic of Mandingo vowel phonemes.
[i] = front close vowel as in
[i] = you.
[Ji] = water.
[e] = front mid half close vowel as in
[kelen] = one
[fen[ = thing.
[ɛ ] = front mid half open vowel as in
[kɛ mɛ ] = a hundred.
[Gbɛ ] = white.
7

8. [a] = front open vowel as in
[saba] = three.
[Bara] = work.
[u] = back close vowel as in
[julu] = rope.
[Kuru] = gem stone.
[o] = back mid half open vowel as in
[folon] = play.
[Bon] = house.
[ɔ ] = back mid half open vowel as in
[bɔ rɔ ] = bag
[tɔ ɔ ] = name
Note: generally the Mandingo vowels have the same sounds as the Italian vowels. Double
vowels are use as a mere indication for emphasis and to indicate longer sound of the particular
single vowel. For example these vowels;
/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, is made long by doubling the vowels as in taa, lee, sii, soo and muu.
The doubling of vowels is important in distinguishing two words which might otherwise be
ambiguous of confusing as in:
Fo = to say
Foo = to miss
Ye = to see
Yee = there
8

9. Mandingo diphthongs
A diphthong is a combination of two vowels, (one gliding towards the other usually involving a
quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another) which are realized as a single phonetic
unit. The following below are the Mandingo diphthongs.
au = diphthong beginning with front opened vowel move to the back closed vowel as in
„sauda‟ (kettle)
ai = diphthong beginning with front opened vowel and move to the front closed vowel as
in
„sani‟ (basket)
oi = diphthong beginning with back mid half opened vowel and move to the front closed as
in „soiyinia‟ (this morning)
ei = diphthong beginning with front mid closed vowel and move to the front closed vowel
as in „sei‟ (to return)
Mandingo consonants
A consonant is a speech sound with or without vibration of the vocal cords in which the escape
of air through the mouth or nose is at least partly obstructed by the articulators.
Below are the Mandingo consonants and their realization.
CONSONANTS PHONETIC DESCRIPTIONS EXAMPLE AND MEANING
/p/ voiceless bilabial plosive pani (pan)
/b/ voiced bilabial plosive bori (run)
/t/ voiceless alveolar plosive taa (fire)
/d/ voiced alveolar plosive deni (kid)
/k/ voiceless velar plosive kasi (cry)
/g/ voiced velar plosive gato (lake)
/f/ voiceless labio-dental fricative fani (clothes)
/v/ voiced labio-dental fricative
9

10. /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative saa (sheep)
/z/ voiced alveolar fricative zamzam (zamzam)
/m/ voiced bilabial nasal mɔ ɔ (a person)
/n/ voiced alveolar nasal ninsii (cow)
/ŋ/ voiced palatal nasal ŋ (I)
/j/ voiced palatal lateral julu (rope)
/l/ voiced alveolar lateral lii (honey)
/r/ voiced alveolar trill kɔ rɔ (old)
/h/ voiced glottal trill haj (hajj)
/w/ labio-dental approximant waa (to go)
Note: The phonemes /p/, /z/, lack full phonemic status. For /p/ it is more present now due to
borrowing. It is only nearly characterized with respect to idiophones. Also /h/ is borrowed from
Arabic. The phonemes /v/, /z/, /g/, and /q/ are not present in Mandingo. They are only used in
Mandingo in borrowed words
10

11. CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter entails the review of the literature. Here, the researcher has endeavoured to critically
discuss the views of the authors on the issue of lexical item and the open class category.
The researcher has given credits where credits are due, and has pointed out flaws where flaws are
discovered in the process of the review. Having done so, the researcher has then given his own
points of view – an attempt to rectify the flaws discovered.
However, the review does not attempt to cover all literature on the study of lexical item and the
open class category. It is of course impossible to do so in an undergraduate dissertation chiefly
concerned with the study of the lexical items in the Mandingo language. This means the
researcher has to be selective in his choice of materials; works of authors which are not all that
relevant to the study are not considered. Those that have some direct bearing to the topic and
available are reviewed.
The works that have been reviewed are as follows:
Carson Berndsen (1993)
R. D. Huddleston: (1984)
Robert Freidin (1992)
Wallwork J.F (1985:68)
R.H. Robin (1989:214)
Joe Pemagbei (1997:6)
George Yule (1985:19)
Penny Ur (1988:21)
Wikipedia (2011)
Encyclopedia Britannica (2011)
Britannica Dictionary
11

12. 2.2 LEXICAL ITEM
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:
A lexical item (or lexical unit) is a single word or chain
of words that forms the basic elements of a language‟s
lexicon (vocabulary)… “Cat”, “traffic light”… and “it‟s
raining cats and dogs” lexical items can be generally
understood to convey a single meaning, much as a
lexeme, but are not limited to single words.
Wikipedia (2011:1)
It could be understood that lexical item from the above definition are any word or words
conveying a single meaning and to which an affix could be attached to form a derivation or an
inflection, or to which another word is attached to form a compound word. The above definition
gives a lot about lexical item but what is lacking is the fact that lexical item is not just limited to
a word or chain of words.
The term lexical item is wide and covers other items which are not actually words but give
meaning. For instance the affixes: “-er”, “-ment”, “re-” and “-ly” are not words but convey
meaning in the following words – establisher, establishment, recent and recently. Thus, the
researcher agrees with this definition partially due to the fact that this definition only considered
words as lexical items.
Looking at lexical items from semiotics (sign language) point of view, Berndsen has maintained
that:
The notion of lexical is used to convey any lexical sign type
but also other inventor able items such as affixes and phonemes,
whose lexical status in linguistics is controversial.
Carson Berndsen: (1993)
Lexical items as far as Berndsen is concerned transcend words. They are items that are signs and
also all other details such as affixes and phonemes that create meaning in languages. The
limitation of this definition is that even though it gives more insight into the term lexical items, it
fails to indicate that it could also include word or chain of words that are considered as a item
due to it communication value.
12

13. R. D Huddleston also presented his definition on the term lexical items. He says:
A lexical item … may contain more than one lexeme or word:
these are idioms such as bury the hatchet „renounce a quarrel‟…
lexical item may also be the preferred term for a word, words,
or a phrase whose meaning is not deducible from the meaning
of its parts; e.g. greenhouse, bucket shop (normally dealt with
as compounds)..” Lexical item may also be used to mean a word
form, such as an irregular inflectional form (of a lexeme) that
would be expected to have a separate dictionary entry.
R. D. Huddleston: (1984)
Huddleston‟s definition like the definition from Wikipedia places emphasis on words, but also
goes further to embrace lexeme, which in most cases, are interchangeably used as lexical items.
Huddleston, however, makes it clear that lexeme and lexical items are two distinct concepts in
Linguistic. According to him, lexical item is a word, words, or a phrase whose meaning is not
derived from the meaning of it parts whilst lexeme can be a „word‟ which has a group of variants
(e.g. see, saw, seen, etc.).
This definition is in place according to the researcher to some extent but the definition is limited
with respect to the wider concept of lexical items.
For instance, in the Mandingo language, the lexical item “kɛ ” which means man in isolation and
in another context, is actually not a word in the sentence below but help the adjective “jona”
(quick) in the sentence to be an adverb meaning quickly.
Damuni kɛ jona
/eat/ /quick/
(Eat quickly)
13

14. In Foundation of Generative Syntax Freidin Maintain that:
Part of our linguistic knowledge involves knowledge of a large number
of words. Which constitute our vocabulary…lexicon… the elements of
lexicon are what we might think of as words...Syntactic theories have
slightly different conceptions of what a „lexical item‟ is, and so it is not
always safe to think of the lexicon as just a stock of words… the lexicon
of a generative grammar may contain a listing of various affixes, such as
… (the affix that distinguishes the sheep walks from the sheep walk).
Robert Freidin (1992)
According to Freidin lexical items are all elements of the lexicon of a language and not
necessarily words or chain or words but all items that contribute to the morphological and
syntactic structure to enhance meaning. The researcher extremely agrees with it even thought the
author fails to mention sign and other gesture that contribute to meaning.
According to J.F Wallwork (1985:68), there are two categories of lexical items.
It is necessary to make a distinction between two different types
of words; sometime called lexical and grammatical words…
Wallwork J.F (1985:68)
In his book, Wallwork was trying to make a dichotomy of lexical items. Indeed there are two
categories of lexical items – grammatical words which are also called function words, due to
their performance in syntactic structure and lexical words which are called content words.
Content words are words that belong to the open class category of lexical items. These are the
words that are responsible to convey the meaning of sentence whiles the function words are
responsible to modify these meanings conveyed by the content words.
14

15. 2.3 OPEN CLASS CATEGORY
The term open class category is also referred to as open endedness or open word class. This
covers lexical items that are a sub-group under the lexical system of a language. An open is class
is a word that accepts the addition of new items, through such process as compounding,
derivation, coining, borrowing etc. open classes are the flexible side of a language. They can be
changed, replaced, or dropped from the lexicon.
R.H. Robin (1989:214) propounded on the word classes, thus
Word classes may be closed in membership; all languages
have open class… an open class is one whose membership
is in principle unlimited varying from time to time and
between one speaker and another most loan words ( word
taken from foreign languages) and newly created go into
classes… nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs are open
classes
R.H. Robin (1989:214)
Beyond all reasonable doubts, the researcher agrees with Robin. The open class is potentially
infinite, since it is continually being expanded and language exchange continues to flourish
among individuals and speech communities.
In English the open class category includes;
Nouns
Main verbs (not auxiliary verbs)
Adjectives
Adverbs
Interjections
Interjections are normally formed as new words standing in for sounds and are added not only
from technical background but also from comics and subtitling. It is on these cases we encounter
such – the noise of motor revving, sirens, mechanical sounds. Examples here are vroom, va-va-
voom, zoom, grrh and so on.
15

16. In Mandingo, the open class includes the following:
Nouns
Verbs (main)
Adjectives
Adverbs
Interjections are not attested as belonging to class category in the Mandingo language.
Lexical words belong to an open set it is virtually
impossible to list them exhaustively, and it is
always possible to replace them by other and
to make new ones. They will usually be nouns
verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.
Wallwork J. F. (1985:68)
To a great extent, Wallwork is right. The researcher agrees with him completely citing Mandingo
that only these four word classes listed are flexible enough to be replaced by other classes; from
one particular class of word a new word can emerge. They give the language freshness as new
words are readily available to be changed, replaced to make new ones. For instance, in English
the noun suffix (-ian) can be suffixed to the verb „guard‟ to suddenly change it from verb to a
noun.
This is also applicable in the Mandingo language. Examples are as follows:
Noun Noun Derived word
lɔ kɔ li + de = lɔ kɔ lide (noun)
(school) (child) (pupil)
Noun Suffix Derived word
Yele + li = yeleli (verb)
(laugh) (ing) (laughing)
Verb Noun Derived word
Gbodo + diya = gbododiya (noun)
(cooking) (place) (kitchen)
16

17. Noun Adjective Derived word
De + kuda = dekuda (adjective)
(child) (new) (newborn)
Adjective Noun Derived word
Saya + kɔ ndɔ = sayakɔ ndɔ
(funeral) (greeting) (condolence)
Joe Pemagbei: also tries to advance a detail analysis of the open class category. He state that:
Some word classes are open, that is, new words
can be added to the class as the need arises. The
class of nouns, for instance, is potentially infinite,
since it is continually being expanded as new
products are developed and new ideas, in the 20th
century, development in computer technology have
Given rise to many new nouns… internet, website,
email, newsgroup, bitmap, modem and new verb such
as download, upload, reboot, right click, double click…
Joe Pemagbei (1997:6)
In this regards, the researcher totally agrees with Pemagbei even though the processes through
which this words are incorporated into the open class category are not being highlighted, but he
succeeds in giving a through explanation of the features of the open class category: the open
class will be potentially infinite since it is continually being expanded as new discoveries, new
products and ideas explored.
George Yule (1985:19) has advanced his concept about the open class category as he says:
Open endedness is an aspect of language which is linked
to the fact that the potential number of utterance in any
given language is infinite
George Yule (1985:19)
17

18. In Yule‟s definition of the open class category, open endedness (open class category) is not
restricted to a number of language. He established that, there are open endedness to any given
language. The researcher agrees with him for the fact that based on his explanation, the
Mandingo language can be attested to open endedness. However looking at open class category
on a different scale, it can be noticed that Yule concentrated on the unlimited utterances on
language and speech, whilst other linguist were specifically naming the word classes which
could actually be considered as an open class category.
A task that is open ended allows for lots of different learner
response during its performance, and is therefore conducive
to the production of varied and original ideas.
Ur, Penny (1988:21)
Ur and Yule to some extent share similar views which have to do with language and speech.
In Ur‟s definition the use of „different learner responses‟ is a total break away because he was
concentrating on language learning in which case unlimited learners responses can be classified
as open endedness.
Conclusively, it could be noted that all the works of the various writers and/or linguists quoted
above make a significant impact on attesting the open class category in languages generally and
on the Mandingo language to be specific. It is as a result of the open class in any language that
language dynamism is enhanced.
It must be noted, however, that, there are open classes which are known as lexical category to
generative grammarian in Mandingo for which members of these category are nouns, adjectives,
adverbs and verbs. And there are closed word classes which are referred to as grammatical
words. They are word classes that performed as functional word to enhance the grammar of the
language. These take the form of prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, and article and to some
extent interjection.
18

19. CHAPTER THREE
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
3.1 NOUN
The lexical item – noun is very vital in almost all the languages of the world for which the
Mandingo language cannot be an exception. As stated in chapter two of this dissertation, noun is
a word class that account for on the open class category in the Mandingo language. Therefore
nouns are content words. They have meaning as independent words and new words can be
generated in Mandingo with this part of speech by word formations, which contribute immensely
to the freshness of the Mandingo language.
According to Glencoe (2002);
A noun is a word that names a person,
a place, a thing or an idea
Glencoe (2002:81) grammar and composition handbook
Noun can also be defined as according to Betty Kirkpatrick (2009)
Noun is used to refer to a person,
thing, or quality
Kirkpatrick B (2009:72)
The definition of noun is simple put in the MacMillan English; thinking and writing process
A noun can name a person, place
or thing (living and non living)
that occupies space.
The aforementioned definitions of a noun by the various authors are almost the same except for
the difference for „idea‟ and „quality‟ in the first and second definitions.
A noun in Mandingo can be defined as a name of anything – a person, an animal, a place, a
thing, an idea or a concept. Mandingo nouns assume various shapes depending on whether they
are: definite or indefinite and singular or plural.
19

20. For easy understanding of the Mandingo noun as according to the various definitions, a list of
examples is as follow:
NOUNS (PERSON)
MANDINGO ENGLISH EQUIVALENT
Fudumuso Wife
Deni Kid
Kee Man
Nfa Father
Nnaa Mother
Mbori Uncle
Mansa chief
NOUNS (PLACE)
MANDINGO ENGLISH EQUIVALENT
Sɛ nɛ Farm
Bon House
Sila Road
Kɔ gidada/Kɔ gida Waterside
NOUNS (LIVING THINGS)
MANDINGO ENGLISH EQUIVALENT
Baa Goat
Saa Sheep
Nisi Cow
Bamba Crocodile
Ulu Dog
NOUNS (IDEA)
MANDINGO ENGLISH EQUIVALENT
Boribori Chaos
Manamanah not serious
Keleya Jealousy
sayakɔ ndɔ Condolence
20

21. A noun can also be used as subject and object of a Mandingo sentence. This could be confirmed
by the examples below:
1. Boŋ tit ii yeŋ a bara wa sɛ nɛ dɔ . (subject)
/house/owner/is not/here/he/went/to the farmland/
the house owner are not around he has gone to the farm.
2. Deŋninlu di wa lɔ kɔ lila (object)
children/will go/school/to
the children will go to school.
In sentence 1 the bold underlined Mandingo noun “boŋ tit” (the house owner) is attested as the
subject of the sentence, while in sentence 2 the bold underlined Mandingo noun “lɔ kɔ lila‟
(school) is the subject of the sentence.
3.2 NOUN CLASSES
Noun is one of the most significant word classes in many languages and Mandingo is one such
languages. Many nouns in Mandingo are derived from verbs through suffixation. Some other
nouns are obtained from borrowing from other languages.
In the Mandingo language, unlike the English language, there is the attestation of noun class
system, which is also a linguistic phenomenon in the Fula, Themne, and Kiswahili languages.
Mandingo is a class language with varied agreement system. It uses suffixes on the nouns. These
suffixes indicate the definite and the indefinite singular and plural forms of nouns. These suffixes
are called “noun classes”.
This is a concept in which each noun class carries a particular suffix or affixation to identify the
class to which that noun belongs.
21

22. The following are some of the commonest noun classes in the Mandingo noun class system:
- Ti possessor of/ ownership
- La occupation or character of person and place
- Ka place of origin or where a person comes from
- Du place of or land of
- Diya place of something or occupation and instrument
- IA abstract concept
- Nii diminutive forms
- Fɔ ɔ illness; both mental and physical
- Fee names of crops
Examples illustrating the uses of the above noun classes are as follows:
The „-ti‟ class comprised nouns that indicate possessor of or ownership.
WORDS MEANING
Woditi Owner of money
Mansati A leader
Fankati Owner of a power/ authority
Boŋti Owner of a house
mɔ biliti Owner of a car
The „-la‟ class is concerned with person and place. It shows occupation or character.
WORDS MEANING WORDS MEANING
Kamarala A place of kamara Kamaralalu A placeof karmas
Borila Runner Borilalu Runners
Tamala Walker Tamalalu Walkers
Kelela Fighter Kelelalu Fighters
sɛ nɛ hkɛ la Farmer sɛ nɛ hkɛ lalu Farmers
The „-ka‟ class shows place of origin or where a person is from.
WORDS MEANING WORDS MEANING
Sefaduka A person from sefadu Sefadukalu People from sefadu
Kabalaka A person from kabala Kabalakalu People from kabala
Kissiduka A person from kiss Kissidukalu People from kissi
fadagbɛ ka An European fadagbɛ kalu Europeans
22

23. The „-du‟ class is particularly concerned with “place of” or “land of”
WORD MEANING
Kissidu The land of kissi
The „-diya‟ class shows place of something or occupation and instruments.
WORDS MEANING WORDS MEANING
Kharandiya A tailor shop Kharandiyalu Tailor shops
kuumatɛ diya A barber shop kuumatɛ diyalu Barber shop
kelɛ kɛ diya War front kelɛ kɛ diyalu War fronts
The „-ia‟ deals with abstract forms.
WORDS MEANING
Hadamaia Politeness
Simaia Long life
Teria Friendship
Kolobalia Indiscipline
The „-nii‟ class deals mainly with diminutive forms.
WORDS MEANING WORDS MEANING
Denii a child Deniilu children
kɛ nii A young man kɛ niilu Young men
Mɔ ni A tiny person Mɔ nilu Tiny people
Baanii A kid Baaniilu Kids
The „-tɔ ɔ ‟ class deals particularly with illness, mental disorder and physical illness.
WORDS MEANING
Faatɔ ɔ A lunatic
Jankarotɔ ɔ A sick person
Nagbatɔ ɔ A restless or trouble person
The „-fee‟ class indicates names of crops – vegetables.
WORDS MEANING
Tiyafee A groundnut field
Malofee A grain field
23

24. 3.3 PLURAL CASE
The word plural means two or more. It is a marker that is used with reference to mean more than
one. Plural is a noun feature that indicates it is more than one person, animal, place or thing (the
noun is more than one). Examples are streets, potatoes, analyses, women, mice, etc.
In the English language there are several inflections or markers for different cases to indicate the
plurals of nouns.
CASE 1
To make most nouns plural, „-s‟ is suffixed to the nouns. For examples:
SINGULAR PLURAL
One pen Two pens
One street Two streets
One rose Two roses
CASE 2
„-es‟ is used for nouns ending in „-sh‟, „-ch‟, „-ss‟, and „-x‟.
SINGULAR PLURAL
One dish Two dishes
One match Two matches
One class Two classes
One box Two boxes
CASE 3
If the noun ends in a consonant + „-y‟, the „-y‟ is change to „I‟ and „-es‟ is added.
SINGULAR PLURAL
One baby Two babies
One city Two cities
Note: if „-y‟ is preceded by a vowel, add only „-s‟ boys, days and keys.
24

25. CASE 4
If a noun ends in „-fe‟ or „-f „, change the ending to „-ves‟ (exceptions: beliefs, chiefs, roofs,
cuffs,)
SINGULAR PLURAL
One knife Two knives
One shelf Two shelves
CASE 5
The plural form of nouns that end is „-o‟ is sometimes „-oes‟ and sometimes „-os‟.
SINGULAR PLURAL
One tomato Two tomatoes
One zoo Two zoos
One zero Two zeroes/zeros
CASE 6
Some nouns have irregular plural forms (note: the singular form of people can be person.
For example one man and child = two people)
SINGULAR PLURAL
One child Two children
One foot Two feet
One goose Two geese
One mouse Two mice
CASE 7
The plural form of some nouns is the same as the singular form.
SINGULAR PLURAL
One deer Two deer
One fish Two fish
One species Two species
25

26. CASE 8
Some nouns that English has borrowed from other languages have foreign plural.
SINGULAR PLURAL
One crisis Two crises
One bacterium Two bacteria
One phenomenon Two phenomena
In the Mandingo language, on the other hand, there is only one inflection use to indicate
plural of nouns. The plural is indicated by the suffixing the inflection „-lu‟ to nouns.
Below are some illustrated examples of Mandingo plural
SINGULAR ENGLISH ENGLISH
EQUIVALENT PLURAL EQUIVALENT
Saa Sheep Saalu Two sheep
Musoo Woman Musoolu Women
Lemunu Orange Lemunulu Oranges
Muru Knife Murulu Knives
Kɔ ni Key Kɔ nilu Keys
Mɔ nbili Car Mɔ nbililu Cars
Da Door Dalu Doors
Banaku Cassava Banakulu
Sambara Shoe Sambaralu Shoes
jɛ Fish jɛ lu Two fish
Deni Child Denilu Children
Tamati Tomato Tamatilu Tomatoes
Fani Clothe Fanilu Clothes
Baa Goat Baalu Goats
Mansa Chief Mansalu Chiefs
Tasa Dish Tasalu Dishes
Matralila Beggar Matralilalu Beggars
Sife Chair Sifelu Chairs
3.4 POSSESSSIVES CASE
The possessive (or genitive) is the case which denotes the owner or possessor of a thing.
Examples: daddy‟s car; ladies‟ bags; children‟s toys etc. the possessive case is very important in
languages.
In the English language the possessive of noun is formed by an apostrophe ( „ ) and an “-s” or
just the apostrophe ( „ ) in some case. These are used with nouns to show possession. Examples:
26

27. (a) I know the student‟s name. (singular)
(b) I know the students‟ names. (plural)
(c) I know the children‟s names. (plural)
Notice the patterns:
i. Singular possessive nouns are:
noun + apostrophe ( „ ) + “-s”
Examples:
A man = A man‟s name.
My baby = my baby‟s name.
ii. Plural possessive noun are:
noun + “-s” + apostrophe ( „ )
iii. Example :
My babies = my babies‟ name.
The students = the students‟ name.
iv. Irregular plural possessive nouns.
noun + apostrophe ( „ ) + “-s”
Examples:
Men = Men‟s names.
The children = the children‟s names.
Unlike the English language, in the Mandingo language, the possessive in noun is not attested by
an apostrophe ( „ ) + “-s” or just the apostrophe ( „ ). The Mandingo singular possessive in noun
is attested by the singular possessive noun Marker “la” or “ta” depending on the dialect.
The following sentences illustrate the singular possessive in Mandingo nouns.
27

28. 1. Mohamed la sɛ nɛ diya ye miŋ?
Mohamed/his/farmland/is/where
(where is Mohamed‟s farmland?)
2. Saran la boŋ ye miŋ?
Saran/his/house/is/where
(where is saran‟s house?)
3. John la baradiya ye miŋ
john/his/office/is/whose
(where is john‟s office?)
Note: the above Mandingo singular possessive noun marker “la” is an auxiliary in the sentence
not an affixation like the English apostrophe ( „ ) + “-s”. .
In the case of Mandingo plural possessive noun marker, this is indicated by the plural of the noun
“-lu” and the possessive marker “-la”.
Below are illustrated examples of the Mandingo plural noun possessive case is a sentence.
1. Konatelu la boŋ ye miŋ
konates/‟s/house/are/where
(where are the konate‟s house?)
2. Dinilu la tolonfelu ye miŋ?
Children/‟s/toys/are/where
(where are the children toys?)
3. Meŋlu ye keelu la fani dedi
those/are/men/‟s/clothes/there
(those are men‟s clothes?)
For easy and clearer Mandingo sentence, the possessives are normally expressed by the
following possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives.
Possessive pronouns
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
First person ŋtaa (mine) Ntaa (ours)
Second person Itaa (yours) Altaa (yours)
Third person Ataa (his/her/its) Altaa (thiers)
28

29. Examples:
Singular plural
ŋtaa le (its mine) Ntaa le ( it‟s ours)
itaa le (it‟s yours) itaa le (it‟s yours)
ataa le (it‟s his/hers) altaa le (it‟s theirs)
Note: a possessive pronoun is used alone without a noun following it, as it is shown above.
Possessive adjectives
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
First person Nna (my) Ana (our)
Second person Ila (your) ila (your)
Third person Ala (his/her/its) Alla (their)
Examples:
Nna wɔ di (my money) ana bik (our pens)
ila kee (your husband) ila keelu ( your husband‟s)
ala jida ( his/her water pot) alla bik (their pens)
Note: a possessive adjective is used only with a noun following it, as shown above.
4.5 ADJECTIVE
The word we use to describe people, place, and things are called adjectives. According to
Glencoe:
An adjective is a word that describes,
or modifies, a noun or a pronoun
Glencoe: Grammar and composition Handbook
The word “modifies” in the above definition of Glencoe means to change a little. An adjective
give a little different meaning to a noun. It describes or gives information about a noun.
An adjective tells us something about
a noun or a pronoun.
Sheku kamara: English language key topics
29

30. According to this other definition we could deduce that an adjective can “tells us something
about a noun or a pronoun” by limiting the meaning of the noun. This could be indicating what
kind? Which one? How many? or how much?
Examples:
a) Round window
b) Six oranges
c) That hat
d) Adult cat
e) Romantic story
Like the English language, all other languages have words to describe a person and some other
things, even though it may be attested in a way or form different from the English language.
In Mandingo, an adjective is also used to describe a noun and a pronoun, but the only thing is
that, there is a slight difference in position and some other aspect different from the English
language.
The following are some examples of Mandingo adjectives and how they are realized in
Mandingo.
Adjectives used
1) kɔ rɔ (old) kɛ kɔ rɔ ( old man)
man/old
2) fhiŋ (black) muso fhiŋ (dark woman)
woman/black
3) gbɛ (fair) muso gbɛ (fair woman)
woman/fair
4) ba (big) boŋ ba (big house)
house/big
5) fitini (small) kini fitini (small rice)
rice/small
6) kuda (new) kɛ kuda ( new son)
male/new
7) fadafhiŋ (African) fadafhiŋ muso (African woman)
African/woman
8) kuduni ( short) muso kuduni (short woman)
woman/short
30

31. 9) jan (tall) kɛ jan (tall man)
man/tall
10) kalmia (warm/hot) ji kalima (hot water)
water/hot
From the above example data of the Mandingo adjective, it could be observed that the adjectives
in Mandingo are post-nominal attributive position, just like the Spanish and Arabic adjective and
also in front of the noun they modify, in some case just like the English language.
The similarity between the English language and the Mandingo language is that in both
languages adjectives are neither singular nor plural. An adjective do not have a plural form.
Nouns can also be used as adjectives in Mandingo just like the English language. They tell what
kind? Or which one, about the noun they modifies.
Examples:
Adjectives (noun) used
a) muso (woman) muso sambaralu (woman
shoes)
woman/shoes
b) bolo (hand) bolola bɔ rɔ (hand bag)
hand/bag
c) kɔ ɔ (salt) kɔ ji (salt water)
salty/water
d) mɔ nbili (car) mɔ nbili kɔ ŋi (car key)
car/key
Possessive pronouns such as “our” and “his” can be considered as adjectives because they
modify nouns in addition to their usual function as pronouns.
31

32. Examples:
1) ana lɔ kɔ li (our school)
2) ala jida ( this water pot)
3) alla boŋ (his house)
4) nna wɔ di (my money)
Similarly possessive nouns can be considered adjective in English but this is not so in Mandingo
because the possessive nouns in Mandingo are attested differently from the way is done in
English.
3.6 DISCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES
Descriptive adjectives are the adjectives that describe a noun by indicating the quality and the
quantity of the noun. Examples: sad story, ugly Betty, interesting book, enough cups and many
ideas.
Illustrated examples of descriptive adjectives in Mandingo are below.
1) Keŋi (beautiful)
ŋ keŋi = I am beautiful
/i/beautiful/
2) Ba (big)
alla boŋ ba = his big house
his/house/big/
alla boŋ ka bon = his house is big
/his/house/is/big/
3) dɔ man (small)
musa la kini dɔ man = musa rice is small.
/musa/‟s/rice/small/
4) Kaŋi (nice)
boŋ kaŋi = nice house
/house/nice/
32

33. 5) Ju (bad)
kɛ ju = bad man
/man/bad/
sun ju = bad habit
/habit/bad
6) Ŋuma (fine)
sun ŋuma = good habit.
/habit/good/
3.7 DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
Basically, demonstrative adjective are demonstrative pronouns used as adjectives just as the
way a noun can be used as an adjective to modify a noun by pointing out the specific person
or thing and showing his or its position or location and at the same time, it or his singular or
plural status.
Neŋ = this
Meŋ = that
Examples:
1) kɛ neŋ = this man
2) muso meŋ keŋi = that woman is beautiful
3) wɔ di neŋ ta = take this money
4) den meŋ gbasi = beat that child
As mentioned earlier, demonstrative locates or show position whether proximal or distal from the
speaker or context of the situation.
3.8 COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES
An adjective can also be comparative and superlative. The comparative form of an adjective
indicates the greater extent to which the normal form of the adjective applies; whilst the
superlative forms indicate the maximal extent.
33

34. In another sense comparative make it comparison between two people or things whiles on the
hand the superlative one part of a whole group as against the rest of the group.
Below are illustrated examples of comparative and superlative.
Normal form comparative form superlative form
Great Greater Greatest
Full Fuller Fullest
Good Better Best
From the above examples it is clear that English has a specific suffix marker for the comparative
and the superlative forms, except on exceptional irregular form.
In Mandingo adjective do not have a suffix marker to indicate the comparative form or the
superlative form. What is used in Mandingo is the word “ta + di”or just “di” which means more
than, for the comparative marker, and “bɛ +di” which means pass all or than all, for the
superlative marker.
3.8.1 COMPARATIVE FORM
Ta + di = more than
Examples:
1. saran dɔ ma marie di
saran/small/marie/than
(saran is smaller than marie)
2. ala mɔ nbili kaŋi musa ta di
his/car/good/musa/more/than
(his car is more beautiful than musa‟s)
3. ŋ deŋkɛ karani ata di
i/son/educated/his/more/than
(my son is more educated than his)
34

35. 4. ala kogbɛ lɛ lan ŋ ta di
his/difficult/i/more/than
(he is more difficult than I am)
3.8.2 SUPERLATIVE FORM
bɛ + di = pass all.
or this one
al +bɛ + di = pass all.
Examples:
1. ŋ dɔ ma al bɛ di
i/small/pass all
(I am the smallest)
2. a keŋi al bɛ di
he/beautiful/pass all
(he is the most beautiful)
3. ali juma al bɛ di
ali/worst/pass all
(ali is the worst)
4. sheku karani bɛ di
sheku/educated/pass all
(shehu is the most educated)
Note: “bɛ di”in the above examples could be understand as the short form or contracted form of
the Mandingo superlative marker “al bɛ di”
Also in Mandingo the superlative form can equally be expressed with the use of the absolute
form of adjective “tamini” which literally means the best or the highest degree of something and
the superlative marker “bɛ di”
35

36. Examples:
1. hussain bolt tamini borila bɛ di
(hussain bolt is the fastest runner)
2. saran la taa de tamini bɛ di
(saran‟s child is the best)
36

37. CHAPTER FOUR
VERBS AND ADVERBS
4.1 VERBS
A verb is a word that expresses action (walk, talk, read) or a state of being (be, exist, and stand)
and is necessary to make a statement. In most languages, verbs are inflected to encode tense,
aspect, mood and voice. A verb may also agree with the person, gender and number of some of it
argument, such as its subject and object.
A verb in Mandingo tells what a noun or a pronoun does in a sentence. The actions or activities
of persons or things are made known through the use of verbs.
Below are examples of some Mandingo verbs and how they are used in a sentence.
1) Tama (walk): Abu tama ta karandiya loŋ-o-loŋ
Abu/works/to/school/everyday
(Abu walks to school every day)
Fanta tamara karandiya kunuŋ.
Fanta/walked/to school/yesterday
(Fanta walked to school yesterday)
Ali di tama karandiya sini
ali/will/walk/to school/tomorrow
(Ali will walk to school tomorrow)
2) Bara (work): ŋ bara la bakɛ
i/work/ very hard/
(I work very hard)
Al barala bakɛ kunuŋ.
They/worked/a lot/yesterday/
(they worked a lot yesterday)
37

38. Al di bara bakɛ sini
they/will/work/a lot/tomorrow/
(they will work a lot tomorrow)
With close examination of the above Mandingo examples, the Mandingo language unlike the
English language does not have any subject verb agreement. That is to say, there is no agreement
between the Mandingo verbs and the subject in terms of singular or plural, or agreement on
number or persons.
3.2 TENSE
The primary characteristic of verb is its ability to express time by means of tense. Tense is a
grammatical expression of time reference. The idea of time is frequently perceived as a
continuum of three main categories or division –past, present and the future.
Depending on the language, a verb may express grammatical tense by the use of auxiliary verbs
or inflections to convey whether the action or state is before (past), simultaneous with (present)
or after some reference point (future). The reference point could be the time of utterance, in
which case the verb expresses absolute tense, or it could be a past, present, or future time of
reference previously established in sentence, in which case the verb expresses relative tense.
In Mandingo, the concept of time, even though expresses by the verb and its auxiliary or just the
main verb, it is sometime only made crystal clear by the time adverbials such as, the list below.
Ten-ten (just now)
Siseŋ (now)
Sɔ nyima (earlier today)
Keleŋ keleŋ (occasionally/once in a while)
Loŋ-o-loŋ (every day)
Kunuŋ (yesterday)
Bii (today)
Sini (tomorrow)
38

39. Kunaŋ siniŋ (day before yesterday)
A bara miŋ
The illustrated examples below would explain the concept further. Observe the illustrated
examples for confirmation.
1. ŋ wara bii
i/go/today
(I go today)
2. ŋ wara kunuŋ
i/went/yesterday/
(I went yesterday)
3. ŋ wara yeŋ siseŋ
/I/went/there/awhile ago/
(I went there awhile ago)
4. ŋ di wa sini
I/will/go/tomorrow/
(I will go tomorrow)
Note: the above verb “wara” is used not only for present but also for the past tense. So in that
sense the tense is only made clear by the time adverbials or the context in which the verb is use.
4.3 PRESENT TENSE
The simple present expresses daily habits or usually activities, general statement or fact, and the
used for event or situation that exist always.
Examples are:
1. David takes shower every day.
2. The earth revolves around the sun.
3. The sky is blue.
4. Babies cry.
39

40. In English the simple present tense may be formed by the inflection plural “-s”, depending on the
subject and verb agreement. If the subject is singular the verb takes the plural “-s”, and if the
subject is plural the singular verb is use to expressed the simple present tense.
Unlike English, the Mandingo language do not have subject and verb agreement so the simple
present tense is form with just the verb (unmarked) and sometime with the time adverbial.
Below are illustrated examples of the simple present tense.
THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
1. Musa tama karandiya lombɛ
musa/walks/to school/everyday/
(musa walks to school every day)
2. Fanta ye barala lombɛ
Fanta/is/works/everyday/
(Fanta works everyday)
3. Al wara
he or she/goes/
(he/she goes)
4.4 PAST TENSE
The simple past is used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended in the past. In
English most simple past verbs are formed by adding “-ed” to the verb, as in (a) and (b) below.
A. Abu worked downtown yesterday
B. Our car arrived on time.
And some have irregular past forms, as in (c) and (d) below.
C. She ate breakfast this morning.
D. Marie took a taxi to the airport.
In Mandingo, most simple past verb tens is formed by suffixing “-ra” on the main verb. This is
illustrated below.
40

41. 1. Abu tamara karandiya kunuŋ
/abu/walked/to school/yesterday/
(abu walked to school yesterday)
2. A nara watidɔ
he/came/very long time ago/
(he came very long time ago)
3. Ali borira kunuŋ
ali/ran/yesterday/
(ali ran yesterday)
However not all verbs in Mandingo follow the above illustration, that is to say, the “-ra” suffix to
form their past form. For examples:
A. Ten ten de a tambida
just now/he/passed/
(he passed her just now)
B. Ba (to finish) bana (finished)
C. John ka damonikɛ kunuŋ
/john/ate/yesterday/
(john ate yesterday)
The above examples of the past tense used the suffix”-da”, “-na”and the „ka” auxiliary working
with the “-kɛ ” suffix to indicate the past tense because of dialectal variation and irregular verb
forms.
4.5 FUTURE TENSE
On the time line, future locates a situation or even t subsequent to the present moment. In
English, the future tense is formed by the auxiliary verb will/shall or the verb phrase “be going
to” as in the following examples:
A. I am going to leave at nine tomorrow morning.
B. I will leave at nine tomorrow morning.
C. I shall leave at nine tomorrow morning.
41

42. In Mandingo, the future tense is equally straight forward but more fixed than the English
language‟s future tense. The future tense in Mandingo is expressed by a fixed auxiliary verb “di”
which means will, and thus, no controversy of interchanging with an alternative.
Below are illustrated examples of sentences of the Mandingo future tense.
1. A di na
he/she/will come/
(he/she will come.)
2. Deŋninlu di wa lɔ kɔ lila
children/will/go/school to/
(the children will go to school.)
3. A di wa lɔ kɔ lila
he/she/will walk school to/
(he/she will walk to school.)
4.6 ADVERBS
An adverb is any word that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun (modifiers of
nouns are primarily adjectives and determiners). Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives including
numbers), clauses, sentences, and other adverbs.
The above explanation is supported by Bas Aarts in his book: English syntax and argumentation
(2001).
Adverbs modify verbs adjective
or other adverbs.
Adverbs are words like slowly, tomorrow, now, suddenly and etc. adverbs provide information
about the manner, place, or circumstances of the activity denoted by the verb phrase.
Examples:
1. She walked slowly. (Here the adverb slowly provides information about the manner in
which she walked)
42

43. 2. The kids are playing upstairs. (Here the adverb upstairs provides information about the
place of activity.)
In Mandingo, adverbs are modifiers. They modify verbs in sentences. They explain and describe
the action in a construction.
Below are some illustrated examples of Mandingo adverbs and how they are used in a sentence.
1. Bii (today): ŋ din a bii
/I/will/come/today/
(I will come today)
2. Dafɛ (near): a sini dafɛ
/he/sitting/near/
(he is sitting near me.)
3. Lododon (sometimes): lododon a di na
/sometimes/he/will/come/
(he comes sometimes.)
4. Sanfɛ (up): kɛ ye yiri sanfɛ
/man/is/tree/up/
(the man is up the tree.)
5. kunuŋ (yesterday): a wara sɛ nɛ dɔ kunuŋ
he/she/went/the farmland/yesterday
(he/she went to the farmland yesterday)
4.7 POSITION
Adverbs are the most mobile element in a sentence construction. However the most common
position of adverbs in Mandingo is at the end of a sentence. Adverbs in Mandingo take the final
position. Below are illustrated examples of Mandingo adverbs at sentence final positions.
43

44. 1. Sini (tomorrow): ŋ di wa sini
I/will/go/there/tomorrow
(I will go there tomorrow)
2. Teledɔ (afternoon): ŋ di wa a bada teledɔ
I/will/go/you/place/afternoon
(I will go to your place in the afternoon)
3. lombɛ (usually); ŋ wala karandiya lombɛ
I/ go/ school/ usually
(I usually go to school)
However, this is not constant as in other cases, it could be unpredictable. That is to say, it could
take different positions within a given syntactic construction, as illustrated below.
1. Sini (tomorrow) sini ŋ di wa
Tomorrow/i/will/go
(I will go tomorrow)
2. Sumamani(quietly) ama sumamani sini
He/is/quietly/sitting
(He is quietly sitting)
3. Londodɔ (sometimes) londodɔ a di na
Sometimes/he/will/come
(He comes sometimes)
44

45. 4.8 TYPES
There are many kinds of adverbs in Mandingo. Below are some adverbs in Mandingo.
ADVERBS OF MANNER IN MANDINGO
1. Jona( quickly) damuni kɛ jona
Eat/quickly
(Eat quickly)
2. Aŋumala(beautifully): a di donkilila aŋumala
He/can/sing/beautifully
(He can sing beautifully)
3. kaliya (fastly): a la kaliya
Do/it/fastly
(Do it fastly)
4. Sumamani (quietly): ama sumamani sini
He/is/quietly/sitting
(He is sitting quietly)
ADVERBS OF TIME IN MANDINGO
1. Sini (tomorrow): sini ŋ di wa
Tomorrow/I/will/go
(I will go tomorrow)
45

46. 2. Kunu(yesterday): aŋ wara yen kunu
We/went/there/yesterday
(We went there yesterday)
3. Siseŋ (now): ŋ di wa siseŋ
I/will/go/now
(I will go now)
4. Bi(today): a kɛ bi
Do/it/today
Do it today
ADVERBS OF PLACE IN MANDINGO
1. Dafɛ (near): a sini ŋ dafɛ
He/sitting/near
(He is sitting near me)
2. Jan (afar) a ka jan na
He/afar/me
(He is a far from me)
3. Sanfɛ (up) kɛ ye yiri sanfɛ
Man/is/tree/up
(The man is up the tree)
4. Dula (down) muso ye dula
Woman/is/down
(The woman is down)
46

47. ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY IN MANDINGO
1. Londodɔ (sometimes) londodɔ a di na
Sometimes/he/will/comes
(He comes sometime)
2. Abadan (never) a ma damuni kɛ Abadan
He/ate/never
(He never ate)
4. lombɛ (usually/always)
ŋ di wa karandiya lombɛ
I/go /to/school/usually/always
(I always go to school)
47

48. CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 SUMMARY
This chapter sheds light on the number of chapters the work contains and what each chapter
discusses. It goes on to discuss the findings made in the study Mandingo of lexical items. It also
concludes the work and makes recommendations based on the findings made.
This dissertation examined the lexical items in the Mandingo language. The entire dissertation
was divided into five chapters.
CHAPTER ONE
This basically constituted the introduction to the study. The introduction gave the general
background to the study and the reasons for undertaking such study. It went on to explain the
scope of the study, the objectives of the study, the hypothesis, the research methodology,
limitations of the proposed methodology, motives of the study, historical background of the
Mandingo, the life of the Mandingo, It also looked at the Mandingo language by illustrating the
Mandingo orthography, which is made up of 7
Vowels, 16 consonants, and 4 diphthongs.
CHAPTER TWO
This chapter reviewed some literatures available on the subject understudy. Topics reviewed are
lexical item and the open class category. In the review some propositions, assertions, and
postulations were supported, agreed with, or partially agreed with by the researcher. In this
chapter the researcher put forward his argument for supporting and partially disagreeing with the
various authors. The works reviewed were those of Carson Berndsen (1993), R. D. Huddleston:
(1984), Wallwork J.F (1985:68), R.H. Robin (1989:214), Joe Pemagbei (1997:6), George Yule
(1985:19) and Ur, Penny (1988:21).
48

49. CHAPTER THREE
This chapter entailed an examined nouns and adjectives in Mandingo. In the case of nouns
specific attention was given to nouns generally, noun classes, plural case, and possessives. And
on the other hand, adjectives were looked at from descriptive, demonstrative, comparative and
superlative point of view. From analyses of this chapter, it was discovered that nouns in
Mandingo have classes, the noun possessive is formed by the noun plural and the suffix “-la”,
and also noun plural is only formed by the suffix”-lu”. Also from analyses of this chapter it was
made to understand that in Mandingo, the comparative and superlative adjectives are not
expressed by affixation like the English language but rather by the words better than (ta di) and
pass all (bɛ di).
CHAPTER FOUR
This chapter dealt with main verbs in Mandingo with specific attention to tense, present, past,
and the future tense. This chapter also looked at adverbs in Mandingo with specific consideration
to position and types of Mandingo adverbs.
CHAPTER FIVE
This chapter summarized and concluded the word. The conclusion was followed by
recommendations which were in turn followed by a bibliography.
5.2 RECOMMENDATION
The major focus of this research is based on the lexical items in the Mandingo language.
Mandingo, if given the necessary attention could be the official regional local language because
it is widely spoke in West Africa, almost all West African countries have members of the
Mandingo ethnic group. The researcher therefore recommends that more research on the
language be undertaken in bid to promote mother tongue literacy in the country and to continue
the emphasis of the language and it possibility to become official regional local language.
49

50. Based on the importance of the language stated above, the researcher also recommends that the
government of Sierra Leone should give more funds and encourage language planners to give
attention to the language.
And generally, the researcher recommends that, native speakers, the language studies
department, especially the linguistic unit and the government of Sierra Leone should give more
attention to local languages especially the Mandingo language because of its wide spoken factor
in the sub-region.
50

51. BIBLOGRAPHY
1. Aarts Bas English syntax and argumentation (2001)
Palgrave Macmillan, united kingdom
2. Alie J.A.D. (1990) Anew History of Sierra Leone
Macmillan Publisher
3. Azar Betty Schrampfer (1992) Fundamentals of English Grammar – 2nd
Ed
Printice- Hall, Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey.
4. Berndsen carson (1993) structural semiotics
internet.
5. Best Wilfred D (1990) The Students‟ companion
Long man group UK Ltd
6. Britannica Dictionary (2011) website
7. Delfosse Maurice (1901) Essai de Manuel Practique
de la Langue Mande
8. Delafosse Murice (1904) Vocabularie Comparatifs de plus
De 60 langue et Dialects
Parle a la Lêted Voire
Press universite de Lyon
9. Encyclopedia Britannica (2011) Website
10. Freidin Robert (1992) Foundation of Generative Syntax
MIT Press (MA)
11. Glencoe (2002) Grammar and Composition Handbook
McCray – Hill, New York
12. Hall R.A. Jr. (1950) Linguistic and Your language
Doubleday company Inc, New York.
13. Huddleston .R.D. (1984) A students‟ introduction to English
51

52. 14. Internet Grammar of English (2011) The survey of English
usage 1996- 1998
supported by Ring john
online Marketing UK
website.
15. Johnson .V.G.(2010) (dissertation unpublished)
An examination of open
words in Mende and loko
Fourah Bay college
16. Kamara .M.S. (2008) (Dissertation unpublished)
An examination of language
system in Mandingo
Fourah Bay college
17. Kamara Sheku: English language key topics
apex educational center.
18. Kirkpartrick .B. (2009) Better English
Scotland: Geddes and Grossed
19. Macmillan English Thinking and writing process
Macmillan publish inc
20. Pemagbei .J. (1971) An orthography of Mende language
government printing. Freetown
21. Robin .R.H (1971) General linguistics
An introductory survey (2nd edition)
Longman Group Limited
22. Tejan .M.H. (1994) (seminar paper unpublished)
word formation in Mandingo
Fourah Bay college
23. Ur, penny (1988:21) grammar practice activities
a practical guide for teachers
Cambridge university press
52

53. 24. Wallwork .J.F. (1985) Language and linguistics
an introduction to the Study of language
Heinemann Educational books London.
25. Wardaugh Roland (1972) Introduction to linguistics
McGraw – hill Inc
26. Wikipedia (2011) website
27. Yule G (1985) the study of language
Cambridge university press, UK.
53