EXPLORING STRUCTURAL PATTERNS AND FUNCTIONS OF LUKABARASI NOMINAL COMPOUNDS

While the structure of nominal compounds in many Bantu languages has been explored, their pragmatic functions often remain understudied. This paper investigates the categories and pragmatic roles of nominal compounds in Lukabarasi, a Luyia dialect spoken in Western Kenya. Grounded in Generative Morphological Theory (GMT) by Bochner (1992), the study adopts a descriptive research design to analyze how Lukabarasi speakers construct and use nominal compounds. Data was gathered through purposive and snowball sampling from native speakers, and analyzed using content analysis to extract recurring morphological and functional patterns. The findings reveal three primary compound structures: Noun+Noun, Noun+Verb, and Verb+Verb. These compounds are typically formed through morphological processes such as prefix deletion, vowel duplication, and nominalization. Singular and plural prefixes—such as omu-, eshi-, eli- (singular) and eva-, efu-, ofu- (plural)—are prevalent in word formation. Beyond their structural features, these compounds serve distinct pragmatic functions, including metaphorical expression, attitudinal marking, identification, and classification. The study affirms that Lukabarasi, as an agglutinative language, employs compounding not only as a morphological strategy but also as a pragmatic tool shaped by context. The findings contribute to broader linguistic discussions on Bantu morphology and pragmatics, especially regarding indigenous African languages.