Fissionin Fulfulde Pronouns

This paper examines fission in the Fulfulde dialect spoken in North Central Nigeria, with a specific focus on pronouns. The study employs an ethnographic approach, utilizing both interviews and participant and non-participant observations to collect accurate linguistic data. The primary objectives are to identify fissional features in Fulfulde pronouns and to analyze them within the framework of Distributed Morphology (DM). The findings indicate that fission, as a post-syntactic morphological operation in DM, is evident in Fulfulde pronouns across all three persons and in both singular and plural forms. Furthermore, the study reveals that fission also occurs in other morphosyntactic categories, including direct object and indirect object pronouns, highlighting the broader applicability of this morphological process within the language.