Abstract

This research aims at a Morphological Study of Compounding Processes of Culinary Terms in Selected Restaurants in Suleja Local Government of Niger State, Nigeria. This has been achieved through the identification of the different types of compounding employ in the culinary terms of the restaurants understudy. The data for the study were collected from 4 restaurants: Iya Ayo restaurant, Chicken Republic, Madam Edo restaurant, and Lace restaurant through writing and audio-recording, the conversation and interactions of the interlocutors involved. The sampling technique used to select the data analysed is purposive sampling technique. The method of data analysis employed by the study is qualitative method.  The Items and arrangement Theory of Morphology serves as the theoretical frame work for the study. Following the analysis, the study revealed that the different elements and features of compounds are employed in the culinary terms of the restaurants understudy. These features include: the stress, head and modifier and recursivity while the different types include: attributive, subordinative, endocentric, exocentric. In addition, the morphological formation of the compound culinary term of the restaurants understudy follows combination of different word class such as Noun + Noun, Adj + noun, Verb + Noun etc.