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Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation

to telling stories that index various social and psychological 
factors and circumstances surrounding the family and the birth of 
the name bearer. Sometimes, these names serve as appellations 
and a means of communication to the interpelled who are usually 
ancestors or deities.
Keywords: Anthroponym, Basà, death, ethno-pragmatic, 
morphological processes, personal names and onomastics

Introduction
Basà language is spoken in different locations in North-

Central Nigeria such as, the six area councils of the Federal 
Capital Territory; Kokona, Nasarawa, Toto and Doma Local 
Government Councils of Nasarawa State; Bassa, Dekina, Ankpa 
and Kotonkarfe Local Government Areas of Kogi State; 
Kontagora Local Government of Niger State; Agatu and Markurdi 
Local Government Areas of Benue State. Some of these locations 
are characterized by different dialectal variants, each is identified 
by its name, but all varieties are mutually intelligible. Basà 
language is classified as belonging toWestern-Kainji of Kainji 
language family, also referred to as Rubasa (Basa Benue) (Crozier 
and Blench, 1992:32).

Linguistic onomastics is a sub field of onomastics that 
studies proper names, especially, personal names also called 
anthroponyms, place names referred to as toponyms and animal 
names technically called zoonyms. Naming practice, though 
universal or cross-cultural among human societies, is remarkably 
idiosyncratic in style, custom etc. This work focuses on death 
prevention names as attested in Basà ethnic group. Death 
prevention names are bestowed on children who suffer cycles of 
child mortality and rebirth in the family. To forestall this 
unacceptable happening, the people have strategized how to 
overcome it by bestowing weird or strange names on children that 

Basà Anthroponomastics: A Linguistic Study of Basa Death 
Prevention Names: Wishes and Lamentation    

Philip Manda Imoh PhD
Philipimoh@gmail.com philipmanda@nsuk.edu.n,

   +234813228368

and
Friday Dansabo 

Nasarawa State University,
PMB 1022,

Keffi,Nasarawa State

Abstract
This paper investigates personal naming practice as a strategy for 
preventing death among the Basà people of North-Central 
Nigeria, from the socio-cultural perspective, that is, it seeks to 
identify and analyze certain names and naming pattern as a way of   
preventing infant mortality. In this language, death prevention 
names can generate and maintain some level of assurance and 
security that is vital for the survival of a child given the belief that 
certain spiritual forces are responsible for incessant child 
mortality. These names are believed to link the bearer with their 
past, ancestors and deities. The qualitative approach was used 
with the study population as well as introspection to elicit the 
primary data supplemented by school registers in the study area. 
The secondary data were obtained via the onomastic literature. 
Different factors are responsible for the bestowal of the first name, 
but this study focuses only on those influenced by death, 
particularly, those used to appeal to ancestors, deities and used to 
taunt or dare death as a way of lamenting the death of their children 
and also expressing wishes. The study discovered that personal 
naming among the Basà people goes beyond mere personal labels 

COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022

mailto:Philipimoh@gmail.com
mailto:philipmanda@nsuk.edu.ng


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and (2017) Mensah & Ishima (2020); Psychology: Steele (1988), 
Steele & Smithwick (1989); Anthopology Bean 1990, Obeng 
(1998), Ukpong (2007); Sociology: Ngade (2011), Suzman 
(1994), Author (2016) etc. Study on personal names is very pivot 
to the socio-cultural fibre of every society as there is no known 
society in the world which does not give names to every new born 
child. The foregoing fact justifies the academic interest cultivated 
by researchers to study personal names as they are not just indices 
of identification rather, underlain by different forms of 
communication.

Anderson (2004:435) presents a syntactic and 
morphological comparison of French, English and Greek names 
where he proposes the universality of names belonging to the 
category of determinatives such as pronouns and determiners but 
are inherently neither definite nor indefinite whose functions 
differ from regular argument of the predicator. Conclusively, he 
argues that each language varies. His argument reveals that the 
grammatical structure of personal names usually synchronizes 
with the grammar of the language. Mensah and Ishima (2020) 
argue otherwise that this may not always be true for all languages. 
They proof this with contemporary German names where Plank 
(2011:269) shows that family names in this language have “subtle 
but comprehensively severed ties with their ancestral word classes 
in their morphology upon attaining name status in spite of their 
origin in nouns and adjectives and in spite of retaining the 
phonology and syntax of their origin”. He (Plank) further argues 
that this manifests in inflection and derivation and thus, renders 
the traditional word class categorization of family names as a type 
of noun in languages, especially languages like German which can 
affect both the lexicon and grammar. In virtually all African 
naming systems, names have meaning based on their semantic and 
pragmatic contents. This assertion is contrary to researchers like 
Searle (1958), Dixon and Lyons (1977) whose opinion is that 

are portrayed as very unusual. These names are believed to protect 
the name bearers from the spirit of death, other underworld forces 
and forestall further death, which are believed to control the spirit 
of the affected infants and their right to live. This subtle strategy is 
a sociocultural method of daring or appealing to the spiritual or 
underworld forces to free the affected children from the cycle of 
death and reincarnation and allow them live. Though this 
approach is quite common among Africans, it portrays an 
idiosyncratic strategy among the Basà sociocultural practice in 
combating child mortality. The focus of this study is not just the 
ethno-pragmatic implication of these names but their grammatical 
structures.  

Research Questions
This research intends to answer the following questions:

i. How are death prevention names structured in Basà?
ii. Do these names differ in structure from other personal 

names?

Literature Review
Names exist as part of the socio-cultural setting of every 

society. Being part of the society that gives them, they act as a 
window through which the world is understood and appreciated 
(Mutunda, 2014). They are used as conduits of information, 
especially, on society's attitudes or observation towards the named 
(Mapara et al, 2009:9). Musonda, Ngalande & Simwinga (2019) 
state that it is important that one has a good knowledge of the 
imagery and metaphor of the language under consideration to 
appreciate their names.

Studies on personal names have been carried out in the 
onomastic literature in different disciplines such as linguistics: 
Akinnaso (1980), Ubahakwe (1981), Uduoyoye (1982), Essien 
(1986), Aceto (2002), Agyekum (2006), Mensah (2013), (2015), 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
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Ishima which says that personal naming practices, especially in 
Africa, “act as narrative discourses where stories that provide 
insights to live experience are told'' (2020:4). Haviland et al define 
it “as a social transition from a state of nature to a state of culture” 
(2013:130).

In Basà naming tradition, personal names are given based 
on certain social and cultural parameters which require reflecting 
the situation or circumstances surrounding the conception and 
birth of the child, the situation surrounding the parents, family, 
community etc. Imoh, 2019 studies the structure of Basà personal 
names, where he outlines the various structure of Basà personal 
names, namely; words, phrases, clauses and sentences. Imoh 
Amende and Dansabo (2021) study the ethno-pragmatics of Basà 
personal names, where they did a general investigation into the 
language and socio-culture of Basà naming practices; Imoh and 
Dansabo (2020) examined Basà sentential names, focusing on 
those names that are composed in sentences and undergo complex 
morphological and morphosyntactic operations to derive their 
surface forms; Imoh (2020) surveys onomastics and names as 
indirect communication in Basà, where he studies anthroponyms, 
toponyms and zoonyms as a strategy of indirect communication in 
Basà language. This work differs from the former in that, it seeks 
to dwell mainly on the ethno-pragmatics of death prevention 
names by lamenting infant mortality and expressing wishes and 
prayer which are targeted at forestalling further infant mortality.   

In the onomastic literature of African naming practices, 
especially the aspect of grammatical description, there are a 
number of related studies in linguistic onomastics such as Mensah 
& Ishima (2020) who investigate sentential names in Tiv and 
categorized Tiv names into several categories of sentences, 
examining the semantic, pragmatic, social and spiritual meanings. 
Their investigation shows a reflection of grammatical structure of 

personal names do not have sense or meaning but what they only 
represent is unique and individuating.

Mensah & Ishima (2020) argue that in the African context, 
little attention has been paid to the grammatical description of 
personal names. They reported that (Nwangi, 2015:259) 
undertook a linguistic study of Kikuyu grammar and observes that 
the coding of information into names is basically characterized by 
lexical, syntactic and pragmatic roles of the language. He 
demonstrates in his investigation that Kikuyu grammar is largely 
contained in its personal names. His investigation was based on 
certain morphosyntactic phenomena like compounding, 
affixation and reflexivization which show how the feminine 
names in the language are grammaticalized. This plausible fact 
reveals that names are words that are attested in the lexicon which 
have semantic structure and exhibit morphosyntactic 
characteristics of lexical items; thus, constitute abstract properties 
of grammar (Mensah & Ishima, 2020).

Hussein (1997:25) submits that personal names are 
ambiguous properties of every linguistic community given that 
names are words (with expression character) that exist in a 
language which are an essential part of the linguistic repertoire of 
their bearers, users and givers and are valuable carriers of identity 
that reflect the dominant attitude and socio-cultural value of a 
community. Names are founded on people's cultural heritage, and 
therefore reflect major currents in their history and worldview. For 
this reason, they show deep attachment to indigenous traditions 
and embed significant psychological and pragmatic attributes. It is 
also believed that names in Africa have deep spiritual context and 
cosmology (Obeng, 1988; Mensah, 2015). Mapara, 2013:15) 
opines that personal naming in Shona culture practice is seen as a 
rite of passage marking the transition from the womb into the 
community. This opinion is supported by the claim of Mensah and 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
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Tiv language. Mande (2009) discovered that in Tshivenda, names 
have referential and cultural meanings composed from nouns, 
verbs, adjectives and larger units like phrases, compounds and 
relativization. He claims that in this language, naming forms an 
indispensable part of grammar. Linguistically, Mapara argues that 
names are part of language and constitute phrasal, clausal and 
sentential categories. He further argues that, they may be 
semantically characterized in complete statements, questions, or 
commands which are appropriately situated in the realm of 
language study. Jauro, Ngamsa & Wappa (2013) undertook a 
structural study where they categorized names into their morpho-
semantic attributes namely; word, classes and studied their 
semantic and pragmatic meanings.

Linguistic onomastics of personal naming practice reveals 
that these names can be coded in different linguistic categories 
such as lexemes, phrases, clauses and sentences of various types 
and functions. These possibilities have not been explored 
extensively to explicate the various grammatical structures, 
especially, in the Nigerian situation which is productive in this 
wise. Hence, this study aims at exploring to fill the existing gap on 
the grammar of Basà names, especially, those that are ethno-
pragmatic in nature as a way of contributing to the linguistic 
onomastic or the onomastic literature in general.

Concerning meaning of names, Oluwale (2005:9) argues 
that “in Africa, there is so much meaning in a name. If you are 
given the right name, you start off with certain indefinable but very 
real advantages”. This supports the assertion of Mbiti (1975:213) 
that says, naming in Africa is a big social event being that, it is 
characterized by numerous roles.

Personal names in Bantu, according to Moyo (1996), 
especially the Ngoni-Tumbuka ethnic group in Malawi, prefer 
names with historical undertone such as Mopara (wilderness, 
named after several deaths of infants) and Tafwachi (what is 
wrong with us). They are based on the family or society's 

antecedents.
Koopman (1990) undertook a study on the Zulu society, 

reached a conclusion that name givers and bearers are aware of the 
names, that the ability to read between the lines depends on the 
cultural continuity in which language is embedded which is not 
applicable or known to all. It is argued, therefore that pragmatics 
comes into play complimented by semantics.

Epstein and Kole (1998:26) maintain that “every utterance 
occurs in a culturally determined context of situation”. Hence, the 
meaning of a name can only be understood by the knowledge of 
the context in which naming is based. It is therefore important as 
the meanings of names are based on “complex social negotiations, 
learned and interpreted through socialization.” Thus, this implies 
that only those who are members of the society and participate 
fully in its activities can construe the deep meaning embedded in 
the names and such communicative interactions (Battie, 1957:37).

Finnegan (1976:173), considering names whose meanings 
are not deciphered from their surface suggests that “the colourful, 
often figurative quality of many of these names should be brought 
out. There are, of course, many names which are relatively 
straightforward with little overt meaning. Others, however, are 
richly allusive” in deciphering their meaning adequately. 
Musonda, Ngalande & Simwinga (2019) maintain that one should 
have adequate knowledge of the language's imagery and metaphor 
to fully appreciate the aspect of naming. Matunda (2011) asserts 
that a name is like a document where one can read the history, 
culture and heritage of the individual or of the family in time and 
space. This view is related to the current investigation as it is used 
to unveil the bearer's cultural identity, the family's wish and 
prayer. He further says that in addition to psychological role in 
establishing a person's identity, names convey to those who know 
their origin and meaning the social and cultural experiences of the 
people who created them. These names, in addition, show how 
members of the community regard themselves because they 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
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selection was also based on their experience of good knowledge of 
Basà naming convention and also vast knowledge of culture, both 
as name givers and bearers/users.

Data Presentation and Analysis
Death prevention names can be studied from the 

morphological, morphosyntactic and syntactic perspective. These 
names, like other categories of Basà anthroponomastics range 
from the simple lexemes to complex sentences which provide a 
window to the Basà grammatical structure. At the structural level, 
this category of names does not have any contrastive properties 
that distinguish them from other names. They only differ in terms 
of the content of their referents. This category of names at the 
lexical level are dominantly nouns, there are few adjectives and 
fewer idiophones. These names are characterized by some 
complex morphological processes to derived personal names such 
as nominalization, deadjectivization, conversion and 
adjectivization of verbs. In what follows, simple words are 
presented and analyzed.

Table 1: Nouns names (simple words)
Underlying noun Derived noun  Meaning

i.  ùdukwo  Dukwo   market
ii. tù'wo   Tù'wó   death
iii. ùdàkwò ̣  Dàkwò ̣   ant hill
iv. òḍ ájẹ   Dájẹ  i n s t r u m e n t  f o r     

siting a grave site
v. cèṇ jẹ   Cènjẹ   land
vi. ùtwotwo  Twotwo  gravel
vii. àgàzama  Gàzama  herbaceous
viii. àwara   Wara   giant grass

The data in table 1 are noun stems which undergo the process of 
elision of the initial sound of the basic word or syllable to derive 

reflect values, tradition and events. A similar assertion to that is 
what Mashuri et al (2013) made saying that naming in African 
societies always reflects sociocultural and ideological realities of 
the societies that give or bear them. This, according to Musonda, 
Ngalande and Simwinga, shows how sociocultural factors play a 
major role in the selection and bestowal of names.

Research Methodology
Data Generation/Elicitation and Research Participants

The study was conducted using the qualitative research 
a p p r o a c h  a n d  e m p l o y e d  a  d e s c r i p t i v e  l i n g u i s t i c s 
framework/survey. The primary source of data elicitation 
included oral interview, partial integration, observation, 
metalinguistic interaction and focus group discussion with the 
sample population. The data elicited were verified by the 
researcher, given his native intuitions of Basà language. All the 
recordings were done during the interviews and were jotted down 
in a note book for easy identification. In some instances, the data 
were gathered through discussions and these discussions aided the 
researcher to verify the authenticity of the data gathered. These 
procedures were also supplemented by introspection, based on the 
fact that the researcher is a native speaker. The field work was 
carried out in Basà speaking areas of Kogi, Nasarawa states and 
Federal Capital Territory, North-Central Nigeria. The data were 
analyzed in four tiers, namely, the raw data presentation follow by 
the Leipzig Glossing Rules then the semantic meaning and finally, 
the pragmatic meaning (where applicable). 

Selection of informants was done randomly considering 
the fact that the consultants are native speakers with native 
intuitions, who were between twenty (20) to seventy-five (75) 
years of age and their willingness to participate in the 
investigation. These randomly selected informants were both 
literate and non-literate native speakers of Basà language. The 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022



69 70

tone in the last or second syllable. The implication of the name is, 
'the deceased child has returned/reincarnated'. The given name is a 
wish to prevent another cycle of death and rebirth.

The people believe in reincarnation that the deceased child is the 
same that returns by the process of rebirth or reincarnation. This, 
they prove by incising the body of a deceased child on a particular 
part before burial and mysteriously, in the next rebirth, the child is 
born with a mark on the position the deceased child was incised. 
This incision is also another mysterious strategy of forestalling 
further child mortality. Námá and Fwósò maintain their basic form 
as present infinitive. Meaning wise, Námá means 'stay', it appeals 
to the spirit of death to the spare named child. Fwósò means 'get 
rotten'. It dares the spirit of death by telling it, through the named 
child that they killed the child as usual and get it rotten. Its 
implication is a strategy to ensure the survival of the named child. 
Pragmatically, the name giver(s) present their wish through the 
name, the reverse way.

The verb in (iv) is derived from a basic verb nwóma which means 
'misfortune'. The derived verb is suffixed with a suffix -ne which is 
an applicative marker whose additional meaning is, 'misfortune' 
for either the name bearer or the name givers inclusive. The 
meaning derives from the misfortune, particularly, infant 
mortality which the family has suffered. The name bestowed on 
the child is an expression of lamentation, fear and prayer to their 
ancestors or deities to show mercy on the named child and 
subsequent ones and spare them.

The next category of names is those composed in adjectives. 
Majority of this category of names are derived from verbs by 
certain morphological processes. This category, like the verbal 
category is not as productive as the nominal category, it was very 
difficult eliciting this category during the field work.  This can be 

personal names. This process applies to the derivation of proper 
noun for every noun that begins with a vowel. This is because, 
Basà personal names rarely begin with a vowel sound; hence, 
those that begin with an initial consonant sound are not affected by 
this rule (process). For instance, see data Table 1 (ii) & (v) where 
Cènje maintains its basic form because it begins with a voiceless 
affricate sound (/tʃ/). In (ii) the rule of elision does not apply, but in 
the derived word, the tone of second syllable is modified from its 
basic mid tone to high in the derived proper noun. In (v), 
Cènjemaintains its inherent form without any morphological or 
phonological process or adjustment.

In the field work embarked on to elicit data for this study, few 
names composed of verbs were found. There were two categories 
of this type namely; those that make command and those that are 
inflected. Those that make command, although could be regarded 
as imperative sentences are composed of just one or more  verb in 
their present infinitive form and those that are inflected verbs are 
formed based on the appropriate method of inflecting such verb 
stems. The  category of single verbs as names can be furnished 
with the examples in table 2. The other category will be discussed 
in table 12.

Table 2: Verb names 
Underlying verbs Derived noun  Meaning

i.  gúré   Gûre   returned
ii. námá   Námá   stay
iii. fwósò   Fwósò   get rotten
iv. nwóṃa   Nwọma-nẹ  misfortune
vi. misfortune  misfortune-APPL

In Tab. 2 i, the verb base of the derived name Gûre whose both 
syllables are characterized by [HH] tones are modified in the 
derived  names with falling tone in the initial syllable and a mid 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
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Table 4: Nominalization
Underlying verb Gloss  D e r i v e d  n a m e 

Gloss
i. nyíngátángà  'console' À n y ì n g à t ò   ̣
consolation
ii. Lásò ̣   win  T ò ḷ a s ọ   
victory
iii. nwóṃ a   misfortune T ò ṇ w ò ṃ à  
misfortune

The morphological processes deriving the names in table 4 
are: In (i) nyíngátángà 'console' the basic verb, which derives 
Ànyìngàtò ̣ 'consolation'. The derived noun is derived by prefixing 
the verb stem with a- and eliding the last syllable -gá. In (ii), 
Tòḷ asọ is derived by affixing the verb stem with the nominalizing 
prefix -tó and modifying the tones of the basic verb from [LL] to 
[MM]. In (iii), the name is derived by affixing the verb stem with a 
productive nominalizing prefix -tó and modification of the basic 
tones from high low to low low. Socioculturally, Ànyingàtò ̣means 
'consolation' that is, trusting God that the named child will 
survive. Tòḷ asọ in (ii) is also an expression of faith or optimism 
that the named child will have victory over the spirit of death. (iii) 
is contrary to (I & ii) in that, in retrospect, it expresses a 
lamentation as a result of the death(s) of the earlier infants and 
assumes that the named child will bring more misfortune as it is 
expected to die. 

The study also discovered a very few set of verb phrases 
headed by a negative verb stem to show lack of what is specified in 
the object position. This can be furnished in table (5).
Table (5): Verb phrases as names
i. zá             utumwa → Zátumwa
 NEG.have message
     'Has no message'

presented in table 3 below.

Table 3 names as adjectives
Underlying verbs Derived Noun  Meaning

i.  fwósò   Fwéshí   rotten
ii.        shíngò   shinji   fed up

Fwéshí is derived from the verb stem fwósò, that is, it is a process 
of adjectivization where the adjective name Fwéshí is derived 
from a verb base fwósò. The meaning of the derived name is 
related to meaning of the underlying verb. The morphological 
behavior of table 3i is characterized by internal modification, the 
vowel of the first syllable (i.e. back high vowel) is replaced by 
high-mid front vowel, the consonant of the second syllable, i.e., 
alveolar fricative is replaced by a palate-alveolar (post-alveolar) 
fricative and the vowel of the second syllable, (back low vowel) is 
replaced with front high vowel. The socio-cultural meaning of 
Fwéshí is, 'the child will die and get rotten like other infants' (who 
preceded to her). It is noteworthy that the modification in the first 
syllable is a progressive assimilation because it is engendered by 
post-alveolar fricative following the high-mid tone. The name is a 
lamentable appeal to the deities to forestall further infant 
mortality. 

Shinji in (ii) derives from the verb shíngò 'fed up' which expresses 
the lamentable frustration    of the name giver(s) over the frequent 
child mortality. The morphological processes underlying its 
derivation are, the tones of the two syllables are modified, where 
the HL tones of the basic verb are replaced by MM tones and the 
velar stop is replaced by the voiced affricate. 
During the field work, few data were elicited where nouns were 
derived from verbs by various morphological processes. Table 4 
below presents data for this category.

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
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The structure of names in this category comprises subject 
verb and complement or object, which is the basic word order.  
They are the most productive source of names in the language. 
Examples:
Table 6: Affirmative statements as names
1. Bò ̣ mâ nyisa → Mânyísá
 3SG 2SG entice/deceive
 'S/he is enticing me'

ii. Ń ta hânsà → Tâsà
 1SG PROG think
 'I am still thinking'

iii. Bò ̣ zhananẹ → Zhananẹ
 3SG go-HAB
 'S/he will go again'

iv. Ń tà 'wanẹ
 1SG PROG hold
 'I am still holding'

Examples in table (6) are statements of facts or truth. They 
give information to the listener. Anybody familiar with Basà 
socio-culture, upon hearing these names could infer what is 
responsible for their bestowal because, they summarize the story 
of the bearers and givers.

Structurally, the constituent of the name (i) includes the 
subject and predicate. The subject, the dominant noun phrase 
serves as the head of the sentence. The predicate is headed by the 
verb nyísá which subcategorizes the object nâ '1SG'.It implies, the 
named child is only enticing or deceiving the name givers as it is 
expected not to survive like others, that is why the habitual 
marking morpheme is attached to the verb stem.

ii. zá ùwè ̣ ìbìye → Zábiye
 NEG.have  thing         good
 'Have nothing good'

iii. zá ilimwẹ̀     → Zálimwẹ̀
 NEG.have usefulness
 'Have no value'

The verb phrases in table (5) are all preceded by a negative 
verb, followed by a direct object of those object whose lack is 
expressed in each example, the initial vowel of the direct object is 
elided to derive the surface form. In (i), the surface meaning of 
Zátumwa is, the named child 'has no message', i.e. the child will 
not be useful for messaging as it may die like others. The name 
givers lament the uselessness of the named child. The initial vowel 
of the object of the compound ùwèị̀ bìye also elides deriving 
Wèḅ ìye, which means, nothing good is expected from the name 
bearer. The name giver expresses their fear from their previous 
experience. (iii),Zálimwè ̣means, the named child has no value 
because it is a candidate of death. The name cautions whoever is 
rejoicing over the named child to be cautious and take a cue from 
the past experience. The names are lamentable expressions and 
prayers to deities to reverse the cycle of death and rebirth in the 
family.

At the sentential level, Basà death prevention names are 
very productive and demonstrate a number of structural types. In 
this language, sentential names are basically declarative, 
imperative, very few interrogative and riddles. This category of 
names is characterized by complex morphological processes to 
derive nouns from larger linguistic units. In what follows, the data 
for this category are presented and analyzed unveiling their 
structures and intricate morphological processes and meanings.

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022



75 76

ii. Ń Jéríshi → Jéríshi
 1SG want-NEG
 'I don't want'

iii. Ń zá iyi mè ̣ hiẹñ → Zệmèḥiẹñ
 1SG NEG thing to say
 'I don't have anything to say'

(7i) Láshe ̣ is structurally characterized thus, the subject Ń occurs 
before the VP which deletes in the derived from. The VP is made 
up of only the verb stem because it is intransitive. The verb is 
suffixed with a negative operator which negativizes the entire 
proposition. The implication is, it is a lamentation from the name 
givers' desperation as a result of their past experience (infant 
mortality), the name givers are not worthy of the blessing of the 
child. (ii) is structurally characterized thus, the sentence is headed 
by first person singular subject and followed by a verb 
phrase(which deletes in the surface form) which comprises the 
verb stem suffixed with a negative operator which implies, the 
name givers are fed up with the disappointments occasioned by 
incessant death and rebirth cycles and express their aggression and 
lamentation that they are no longer interested, death should carry 
the child as usual. (iii) Comprises the subject, a negative verb 'to 
have', an object and an independent clause. The derived form 
undergoes the derivative processes of clipping the subject, the 
negative operator subsists but its tone modified form High to 
falling tone, the direct object of the negative verb clips. The 
implication of the name is, the name giver(s) is speechless 
considering their past experience. One common thing in each of 
the cases in the foregoing data (i.e.7) is that, the subject, in each 
case is (first person singular) nominative pronoun. For (i & ii), the 
name givers, out rightly reject the offer of the named child, 
whereas in (iii), there is a condition that is based on their 
antecedent; the name giver will only make their remark if the 

Basà is basically SVO, as earlier stated but, where the 
patient is first person (singular or plural) the object occurs before 
the verb. In (ii), the verb is intransitive. The sentence is 
characterized thus: it is headed by a first person singular subject, 
followed by a progressive marker and the verb phrase made up of 
the verb only. The name giver, regardless of the arrival of the 
named child still ponders on the mishaps that have befallen 
him/her; a concern that threatens their faith about the survival of 
the named child. Data (iii) structure is headed by a third person 
singular pronoun and followed by a verb phrase composed in a 
complex verb stem: the verb zhẹ and the bound morpheme (suffix) 
–nane ̣ which is a habitual marker. Their ethno-pragmatic 
meanings are: (iii) Implies, the name bearer, based on their (name 
givers) established fact, will die. Their reactions through their 
expressions differ, still they have similar implications. (iv) is 
characterized by subject Ń, future marker (tá) and VP 'wane,̣  a 
sentence whose derived/surface form requires deleting the subject 
and compound the progressive marker and the verb phrase and it 
implies the name giver is keeping the infant pending when the 
ancestors decide what to do with it. It is a lamentable prayer to the 
ancestors, pleading for the survival of the named child.

The study also discovered a set of sentences that are 
negative statement as death prevention anthroponyms. These set 
of names are characterized by a negative operator to the 
affirmative which negativize the whole proposition. This category 
is furnished with examples in table 7 below.

Table 7.Names as negative statement
i. Ń lánéṣhẹ → Láshẹ
 1SG worthy-NEG
 'I am not worthy’

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
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the dead reposes. This is born from the desperation of the cycles of 
death and rebirth the name givers suffered. The name in (ii) is also 
a lamentable expression and desperation by the name givers, 
speaking as if on behalf of the child that 's/he should be allowed to 
die'. (iii) Shílόba is a death prevention name given to a male child, 
command or advising the people concerned to be careful in 
making merry for the named child that it is better they watch and 
see if she will survive first than make merry and mourn him at last. 
This is also based on their past experience.

There is another subset of imperative names found in the 
course of the field work which make a negative command. 
Structurally, they are not different from the set in (8), but are 
preceded by a negative operator which in this case, is not an affix 
but an independent morpheme, but equally negativizes the whole 
proposition. This subset of imperative can be presented and 
analyzed in table 9 below.

Table 9
i. Tà mà hóṇ gá →Tàhóṇ gá
 NEG 2SG.OBJ laugh
 'Don't laugh at me'

ii. Tà ínà → Tà'ínà
 NEG lost 
 'Don't get lost'

iii. Tò 'wó →Tò'wo
 NEG die
 'Don't die'

Example (i) is derived by eliding the sentence object 
which occurs sentence medially and combining the negative 
operator and the verb stem. It is a command by the name giver to 
his/her interpelled or antagonists, instructing them to stop their 

named child survives.

Names as command
This study uncovered death prevention names that are 

structured in imperative constructions. This category of names 
semantically functions as command or constitutes an order 
(Crystal, 2007). Typically, this sentence type has no overt subject 
and it is made up of the verb in the imperative mood and a direct 
object for transitive verbs or a complement. This category can be 
exemplified in table 8 below.
Table 8 Names as imperative 
i. Zhága   nà ambẹ̀ → Zhánămbẹ̀
 go.IMP  to bush 
 'Go to the bush/woods'

ii. Ñdá  mó 'wo →Ndómó'wo
 leave.1SG AGR die
 'Leave me, let me die'

iii. Gó  ì shilo ba → Shilóba
 let.3SG  3SG lay there
        'Leave it there' 

(8i) is characterized by clipping the second syllable of the verb 
base zhágaand merges with the preposition and the object of the 
preposition. The initial sound of the complement elides and leaves 
its mid tone on the subsisting vowel of the preposition before they 
are compounded. Hence, the vowel of the preposition is 
characterized by rising tone. In (ii), the verb, the agreement 
marker and the verb stem compound to derive the surface form. 
(iii) is derived by clipping the initial verb and the third person 
impersonal pronoun and merge the second verb and the adverb of 
place ba. The meaning of (i) is a command to the named child 
commanding it to go to the woods where it is believed the spirit of 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022



79 80

 3SG   out-APPL- NEG death            anger-EMPH
    'Getting offended with death is only futile'

This category of Basà names is quite productive but those that are 
death related are quite scanty. Only a few were found in this 
search. 

Table (11 i) Tègèri, the founder of a city does not enjoy its 
inheritance. It is given to a male child and it means, the fact that a 
child is born does not guarantee its survival. This is given to a child 
whose birth is preceded by series of infant mortality. Mêjida in (ii) 
interpreted as 'Getting offended with death is only futile'. Death is 
so powerful that one cannot dare it in a fight or physical affront no 
matter how frustrated or hurt one may be, i.e. no matter the number 
of infant deaths recorded in the family, one is handicap as there is 
nothing they can do to combat death. The name is bestowed on a 
male child as a way of demonstrating the superiority of death in 
relation to human beings.

Another category of death prevention names in Basà are 
those composed in serial verb constructions. During the field 
work, very few of this category were elicited which were clearly 
serialization of verbs, where a name comprised two verbs in a 
simple sentence. They can be furnished with examples in table 
(12) below.

Table 12 Names as serial verb construction
i. Nâ ndá zhaga → Ndâzhaga 
 2SG.IMP do go.PROG
 'Keep doing and going'

ii. Úmâ nyísá→Mânyísá
 take deceive/mock
 'deception /mockery '

mockery as the name givers are hopeful of a better family future. 
(ii) is derived by a simple process of merging both lexemes, 
commanding the named child not to get lost (die) like other 
children who suffered infant mortality. (iii) is like (i) in its 
derivational process which is an instruction to the named bearer 
(male child) not to die. This instruction is born by the anticipation 
that the named child is likely to die like those born before it. 
Hence, the commands 'don't die'. 

Anothersubcategory of names are those in question form 
but not conventional questions question like Wh-questions or 
polar questions but riddles. Riddles are questions that describe 
things or people in extremely difficult and confusing ways which 
are answered in clever and amusing manner, and are considered as 
a clever way of teaching. They usuallyrequire an answer as their 
meaning, followed by a deeper or pragmatic meaning (Imoh, 
2009). They are also used as personal names andzoonyms 
(impersonal names) in the Basà language. Thesehumorous 
puzzles are related to the meanings of these names byvirtue of 
circumstances surrounding the birth of a child etc. The riddles 
themselves are not sentences but they trigger a response or an 
answer in a sentence form. Interrogative sentence type can be 
furnished with examples in (11) below.

Table 11 Names as riddles
i. Riddle:  Tègèri
 Bùjwê                   bò ̣ ọna   yéṣhe   ògú ìbe-̣
ò
 N.PRE-Inventor    of     city eat.-EG inheritance   
it-EMPH
 'The founder of a city doesn't enjoy the inheritance of it'

ii. Riddle: Mêjida
 È        benenishi   tu'wo  isẹbwẹ-o

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022



81 82

grammatical information on the Basà naming practices which 
unveils the phonology, morphosyntax, semantics, and pragmatics 
and also stirs other aspects of information beyond the domains of 
linguistics (extra-linguistics) that underlie personal naming. The 
study has unearthed facts about the intricacies of sentential names 
in Basà such as simple sentence which derive names by complex 
phonological, morphological and morphophonological processes 
such as elision, clipping, replacement, modification, 
compounding, affixation, desententialization etc. that is, larger 
grammatical units such as clauses and sentences shrink into 
smaller grammatical units such as lexemes and compounds to 
derive personal names. In conclusion, this study aligns with 
(Chomsky, 1986) which argues that grammar constitutes a tacit 
knowledge of what the native speakers know about their language, 
a fact that is applicable to the grammar of names.

Abbreviations
APPL – Applicative
REFL – Reflexives
PST – Past
AGR-S – Subject agreement
AGR-O – Object agreement
IMP – Imperative
NEG – Negative/Negation
ISG – First Person Singular
FUT – Future
HAB – Habitual
PREP – Preposition
AUX – Auxiliary
PROG – Progressive
3SG – Third Person Singular
O (BJ) – Object
2SG – Second Person Singular
POSS- Possessive 

iii. Ǹdá  mό     'wo → Ndámó'wo
 leave.1SG let.AGR.o die
 'Leave me, let me die'

Table (12 i) is derived by clipping the second person singular 
imperative marker and merging the serial verbs. It is a name 
bestowed on a male child to guarantee its survival after series of 
deaths and rebirths. The derived name comprises two verbs of 
equal grammatical value. This category of Basà names is quite 
productive but those that are death related are quite scanty. In this 
search, only few were found.

The derived names comprise two verbs each. (i) Mânyísá 
implies, the addressee should do what they can within the little 
period available to the child before it goes (dies). (ii) is composed 
of two verbs mâ 'take' and nyísá  'mock/deceive' bestowed on a 
male child. It implies that the named child only came to mock and 
deceive the beneficiaries. (iii) is derived by merging all the lexical 
items to form a compound. Ǹdá is a verb that means 'leave' (for 
first person singular), mó means 'let' and agrees with first person 
singular number and 'wo means 'die' The derived form is 
characterized by a reduced number of syllable as the subject Ǹdá 
characterized by LH reduces to one syllable forming a consonant 
cluster i.e. nd where the first syllable Ǹ loses its status as a tone 
bearing unit.

Conclusion
This study investigates the phenomenon of the structure of 

death prevention personal names in the Basà language whose 
communicative tendency can deepen one's linguistic knowledge. 
This investigation shows that this category of names is 
characterized by important linguistic properties which can 
provide more empirical insights and facts into linguistic 
onomastics. It has attempted a systemic investigation of formal 

Philip Manda Imoh PhD & Friday Dansabo: Basà Anthroponomastics: A linguistic

                                  Study of Basà Death Prevention names: Wishes and Lamentation
COOU JOFOCUS: COOU Journal of Folklore and Cultural Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022



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