Editing Igbo language (section)

== Morphological typology ==
Igbo is an [[Isolating language|isolating]] language that exhibits very little [[Fusional language|fusion]]. The language is predominantly [[suffix]]ing in a hierarchical manner, such that the ordering of suffixes is governed [[Semantics|semantically]] rather than by fixed position classes. The language has very little [[inflection]]al morphology but much [[Derivational morpheme|derivational]] and extensional morphology. Most derivation takes place with verbal roots.<ref name=":0" />

Extensional suffixes, a term used in the Igbo literature, refer to morphology that has some but not all characteristics of derivation. The words created by these suffixes always belong to the same lexical category as the root from which they are created, and the suffixes' effects are principally semantic. On these grounds, Emenanjo (2015) asserts that the suffixes called extensional are bound lexical compounding elements; they cannot occur independently, though many are related to other free morphemes from which they may have originally been derived.<ref name=":0" />

In addition to affixation, Igbo exhibits both partial and full [[reduplication]] to form [[gerund]]s from verbs. The partial form copies on the initial consonant and inserts a high front vowel, while the full form copies the first consonant and vowel. Both types are then prefixed with ''o-''. For example, ''-go'' 'buy' partially reduplicates to form ''ògigo'' 'buying,' and ''-bu'' 'carry' fully reduplicates to form ''òbubu'' 'carrying'. Some other noun and verb forms also exhibit reduplication, but because the reduplicated forms are semantically unpredictable, reduplication in their case is not synchronically productive, and they are better described as separate lexical items.<ref name=":0" />