Bokyi Noun Class System

There have been divergent views by linguists on the status of Bokyi. Some claimed that Bokyi is a Bantoid language (see Bennett and Sterk 1977; Crabb 1967), while others argued that Bokyi is not Bantoid due to non-existence of nasal prefixes and noun classes. This study attempts to reconcile these divergent views through the investigation of the noun class system of Bokyi, the occurrences of nasal prefixes and the attestation of valency. Bokyi is a multi-dialect language spoken in Cross River State in South-Southern Nigeria and some parts of Cameroon. Data for this study are elicited from ten informants (native speakers living in communities where Bokyi is spoken) using Simons and Fennig (2009) SIL wordlist. 1,600 tokens of spoken words are analysed. The results of the analysis indicate that Bokyi possesses noun classes and nasal prefixes. In general, the study provides one more justification for the inclusion of Bokyi in the Bantoid languages group.