Cameroon

This thesis explores the valence changing processes that are indicated by Mbonge verbal morphology. Mbonge (Mbóñgá) is a dialect of Oroko (Orókó), an agglutinative Bantu A language of Cameroon with very rich morphology. After a brief overview of the structure of Mbonge verbs, attention is concentrated on the verbal suffixes which affect valence. Five suffixes--passive, stative, reflexive, reciprocal, and anticausative--are used to decrease valence. Five other suffixes--causative, indirect agent causative, indirect effector causative, applicative, and instrumental--are used to increase valence, as is the syntactic combination of bola 'do/make' plus another verb.

Suffixes which do not affect valence are also briefly discussed, followed by a chapter on combinations of verb suffixes. This paper also discusses the grammatical status of double objects, making the claim that Mbonge is a symmetrical object system in which both objects appear to have equal status.