Morphology and Semantics of Kamu¿ Proper Names

This study aims at examining the Kamü proper names. A proper name is the name of a specific person, animal, place or a thing, normally beginning with a capital letter and not used with the definite article. The study is to show the Kamü norms and values as expressed in their naming patterns and also to identify the morphological and semantic features of Kamü proper names. It was discovered that, the Kamü proper names can be classified into personal names with sub-classifications such as birth order names, twins¿ names, circumstantial names and maiden names; there is also the geographical/place names with sub-classifications such as town/village names and river names; the dog names, the names for the days of the week and as well as the names for the months of the year. Structural components such as noun-based compounds, verb-based compounds, preposition-based compounds, conjunction-based compounds, adverb-based compounds and adjective-based compounds, with their sub-categories were identified in Kamü proper names. It was also found that, the meanings of some of the proper names are predictable from their structural components while some are not predictable.