LEXICAL ECONOMY OF MBUUN LANGUAGE IN COMPARISON TO FRENCH

Author: Raison Kabenge Raison

ABSTRACT

This article studies the lexical economy of Mbuun language. It gives evidences to a counteraction phenomenon of the French semes. However, we notice that where the French language multiplies the lexical unities to lexicalize specific semes or the differentiators’ characteristics, Mbuun language essentially resorts to one expression covering archisememe or a common denominator. Thus one Mbuun term providing more than one French words, for instance Mbets means ‘machete’, ‘knife’, ‘sword’. Nteen refers to judge, wise, court. Nzo means house, home, hut. Kanwa refers to ‘drink’, ‘lap up’, ‘absorb’. Kabwa means ‘to fall’, ‘dismiss someone’. Additionally, Nsep refers to ‘keys’, ‘clinch’, ‘lock’. Kawa refers to ‘listen’, ‘have pain’, ‘understand’. Mets which refers to oil, grass, scream, lard, etc. Finally, Kir meaning chair, footstool, divan. One may learn that evidences illustrated here are just a few number of Mbuun expressions among a billion of others which exist in this language. The Mbuun language no doubt, uses unique hypernyms. Surely, the outcomes that we have presented in this work confirm our hypothesis that Mbuun is a lexical economy language which shows a single term (one entry word) having plenty of French outsiders. However, all of the terms essentially focus on a common denominator.

Keywords: economy – lexical – Mbuun language B87 – componential analysis – semantic.

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