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A detailed analysis of nouns derived from Noun + Noun structures in the African language Yoruba is presented. These nouns are categorized into two types: compound and phrasal nouns. Assuming some of the basic principles of lexical phonology, it is argued that compound nouns should be derived in the lexicon, while phrasal nouns are derived in the syntactic component. Previous analyses and their shortcomings are also discussed, and two types of compounding are proposed. Contains 25 references. (Author/LB)

The advantages of analyzing the Yoruba prefix "oni-" as two morphemes, "o-" and "ni-" are discussed, and it is shown why it is better to analyze it as an inseparable, single morpheme rather than two separate morphemes. "Oni-" is the only class-maintaining prefix in Yoruba, and is the only prefix attached to a noun to form another noun. Evidence is shown to support the explanation of "oni-" as a single morpheme. Many examples exist in Yoruba to show that there are nouns that have the structure "oni + x" but the "ni + x" counterparts either do not exist or sound awkward. Contains 15 references. (LB)