This document is Melvin Bunton-Nicol's declaration, certification, and dedication for his dissertation titled "An Examination of Lexical Items in the Mandingo Language". The declaration indicates that the work is his own and has not been submitted elsewhere. The certification confirms that his supervisors have read and recommend his dissertation for acceptance of his BA degree. The dedication is to his family and others who have supported him. The document provides the table of contents which outlines the 5 chapters of the dissertation, including literature review on lexical items and open class categories, examination of nouns/adjectives and verbs/adverbs in Mandingo, and a conclusion with summary and recommendations.

1. DECLARATION
I, Melvin Bunton-Nicol, do solemnly declare that this dissertation is the product of my
independent research except where I have indicated my gratitude to other sources.
It has not been presented for any other degree elsewhere.
Signed…………………………
Melvin Bunton-Nicol
July; 2011
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2. CERTIFICATION
This is to certify that the undersigned have read and now recommend to the Department of Language
Studies for acceptance, a dissertation entitled:
AN EXAMINATION OF LEXICAL ITEMS
IN THE MANDINGO LANGUAGE
Submitted by Melvin Bunton-Nicol
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) General
Supervisor: Mr. Ahmed .A. Sannoh External Supervisor
SIGN…………………. SIGN………………..
DATE…………………. DATE……………….
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3. DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my father Mr. Ernest Bunton-Nicol, my mother Mrs. Francess Bunton-
Nicol, my sisters Eustacia, Melvina and Ernestina, and also to Fanta Cisse and the Konaté family
in Guinea.
It is also dedicated to God the Almighty whose support, guidance and protection have been with
me all these years.
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4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I cease the opportunity to acknowledge the Almighty Father for his sustained
blessing and support in seeing me through a stressful but memorable academic and successful
expedition.
This conquering finished of this academic challenge was made possible by the combined support
of several people that had to sacrifice a lot to see me through my academic challenge
triumphantly.
I am indebted to my parents Mr. and Mrs. Bunton-Nicol who have always been by my side in
terms of ethical and financial support. My profound thanks and appreciation go to my siblings
Eustacia Bunton-Nicol, Melvina Bunton-Nicol, Ernestina Bunton-Nicol and Glenn Bunton-Nicol
for their motivation, courage and economic support they gave me throughout my days at the
university.
I am equally obliged to my partner Fanta Cisse for her endless honest support. Indeed, words
cannot express how grateful and appreciative I am for being with me throughout my
undergraduate course. My profound thanks and appreciation also extend to the Konaté family in
Guinea.
I also like to make use of this opportunity to recognize my academic superiors whom without my
academic battle would have been fruitless. My profound thanks and admiration go to my
supervisor Mr. Ahmed A. Sannoh, for his painstaking supervision.
My thanks and appreciation also goes to the Head of Linguistic Unit Mr. Abdulai Walon Jalloh
and to all my lecturers Mr. Alikalie Turay, Mr. Amadou-Gbongboh Serry, Mr. Makay for their
academic, concerned and brotherly assistance.
Finally, my sincere thanks and appreciation go to my academic colleagues. Foremost being
Mohamed S. kamara (prezo m.s). My thanks also go to my elderly brother, teacher, and friend
Mr. Prince E.A.J. Kenny, coordinator Cercle Français, for his ethical and economic support.
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5. I am also thankful to other comrades – Kojo Mends-Buah, David Bangura, Tejan Jalloh, Robert
David Kailie, Ibrahim Deen-Turay, Mohamed .Y. Jalloh, Thomas Moore Conteh, Umarr .A.
Sesay (brain), Mohamed .J. Bah, Abdul Rahim Sowe and Maaz. All of Fourah Bay College for
the funs we shared together during our undergraduate days, may God blesses you.
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6. ABSTRACT
The study proposes to examine the lexical items in the Mandingo language.
Chapter one briefly introduces the topic of the research; statement of the research problem and
its justification, objectives of the study, hypothesis, motives of the study, scope of the study,
sources of data and methodology, and limitation of the research. It also gives an account of the
historical background and life of the Mandingo people, and the Mandingo orthography – vowels,
diphthongs and consonants.
Chapter two entails the review of literature. In this chapter, the works of renowned and prolific
authors on lexical items and open class category are assessed. Among these authors are:
Carson Berndsen (1993), R. D. Huddleston: (1984), Robert Freidin (1992), Wallwork J.F
(1985:68), R.H. Robin (1989:214), Joe Pemagbei (1997:6), George Yule (1985:19) and Ur,
penny (1988:21).
Chapter three examines nouns and adjectives in Mandingo, with specific attention to nouns, noun
classes, plural case, possessives, and adjectives – descriptive adjectives, demonstrative
adjectives, comparative and superlative adjectives.
Chapter four examines verbs and adverbs in Mandingo with specific attention to verb tenses via
present, past and future tenses, adverbs that is to say, position and types of adverbs.
Chapter five entails the summary and recommendations of the study, and added to this is the
bibliography.
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7. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
Declaration ……………………………………………………………………………………. i
Certification……………………………………………………………………………………. ii
Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………… iii
Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………………………………. iv
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………. vi
Table of contents…………………………………………………………………………………. vii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction and general background to the study……………………………………… 1
1.1 Statement of the research, problem and its justification for the study…….. 1
1.2 Objectives of the study…………………………………………………………. 2
1.3 Hypothesis ………………………………………………………………………… 2
1.4 Motives of the study………………………………………………………………. 2
1.5 Scope of the research……………………………………………………………… 3
1.6 Sources of data and methodology………………………………………………. 3
1.7 Limitations of the Methodology and the study………………………………… 3
1.8 Historical background of the Mandingos………………………………………… 4
1.9 The life of the Mandingos…………………………………………………………. 5
1.10 The Mandingo orthography…………………………………………………… 6
1.10.1 The Mandingo vowels………………………………………………… 7
1.10.2 The Mandingo diphthongs…………………………………………… 9
1.10.3 The Mandingo consonants…………………………………………… 9
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature review…………………………………………………………………………… 11
2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 11
2.2 Lexical item………………………………………………………………………… 12
2.3 Open class category……………………………………………………………… 14
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8. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Nouns and Adjectives……………………………………………………………………… 19
3.1 Nouns……………………………………………………………………………….. 19
3.2 Noun classes ………………………………………………………………………. 21
3.3 Plural case…………………………………………………………………………… 24
3.4 Possessives………………………………………………………………………… 26
3.5 Adjectives…………………………………………………………………………… 29
3.6 Descriptive adjectives…………………………………………………………….. 31
3.7 Demonstrative adjectives………………………………………………………….. 32
3.8 Comparative and superlative……………………………………………………… 33
3.8.1 Comparative forms……………………………………………………. 33
3.8.2 Superlative forms……………………………………………………... 33
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Verbs and adverbs………………………………………………………………………. 36
4.1 Verbs ……………………………………………………………………………… 36
4.2 Tense……………………………………………………………………………… 37
4.2.1 Present tense……………………………………………………….. 38
4.2.2 Past tense……………………………………………………………. 39
4.2.3 Future tense………………………………………………………….. 40
4.3 Adverbs ……………………………………………………………………………. 41
4.4 Position…………………………………………………………………………….. 42
4.5 Types……………………………………………………………………………… 43
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………… 46
5.1 Summary……………………………………………………………………………. 46
5.2 Recommendations……………………………………………………………….. 47
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................. 48
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