Alienable Nouns

Kpelle Nouns

• Kpelle distinguishes between two different kinds of nouns, inalienable (dependent) and alienable (independent).
• Alienable nouns are those things which are not considered an integral part of a person and are often referred to as “free nouns.”
• Alienable nouns have two forms to refer to “non-specific” nouns and “specific” nouns.  The specific form differs from the non-specific form in two different ways- at the beginning and the end.
  • The beginning of the specific form always utilizes the low-tone consonant.
  • The end of the specific form always suffixes -i at the end of the stem if the stem ends in a vowel.  If the stem ends with -ŋ, however, no -i is suffixed.

Below  are the consonant changes for high to low tonal shifts (non-specific to specific):

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Kpelle High to Low Tones (Non-specific to Specific) Quizlet Flashcards

Below are some examples that demonstrate forming the specific with free nouns.

p–b……………………pɛ́́rɛ “a house”……bɛ́rɛi “the house”
t–d………………………….taa “a town”……daai “the town”
k–g…………………..kéleŋ “a truck”……géleŋ “the truck”
kp–gb………kpáwɔ “a bridge”……gbáwɔi “the bridge”
f–v…………………………….fólo “a day”……vóloi “the day”
s–z…………….sâla “a sacrifice”……zâlai “the sacrifice”
ɓ–m………………………..ɓɔrɔ “a bag”……mɔrɔi “the bag”
l–n………………………..láa “a name”……náai “the name”
ɣ–ŋ………………………………ɣîla “a dog”……ŋîlai “the dog”
w–ŋw…………………wuru “a tree”……ŋwurui “the tree”
y–ny……………………………yée “a hill”……nyéei “the hill”
m–m̀…………….mɛnî “a matter”……m̀ɛnîi “the matter”
n–ǹ………………nɛnî “a woman”……ǹɛnîi “the woman”
ŋ–ŋ̀………………………ŋɔŋi “a bird”……ŋ̀ɔŋii “the bird”
ny–ǹy……………………..nyàle “a cat”……ǹyalei “the cat”