Number System in Bodi

Abstract

Bodi is an East Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan family spoken in Ethiopia. The study aimed todescribe and analyze number marking in nouns, pronouns, and verbs in the marginalized and hithertounstudied language of Bodi (self-name, Tukte Meenun). We had six linguistic informants from the Hannaarea of the Selamago district. We used a general linguistic description approach for data analysis.Thefinding showed that the singular and plural in the nominative pronouns are expressed with {-ɲi } and {ed-}, respectively. In possessive pronouns, a plural marker {-g-} is added to possessive affixes as in {-gaji}„our‟ and {-guɂi} „your‟(PL). In reflexive and demonstrative pronouns {-d-} and {-g-} are used assingular and plural markers, respectively. In nouns number is expressed in five ways, (1) singularizing aplural noun with {-ʧ}, {-ji} or {-it}, (2) pluralizing a singular noun with {-(n)a}, (3) with vocalicchanges, (4) with gemination, and (5) using different lexical items. In a verb agreement, {k-} and {g-} areused to express singular and plural, respectively.