While only some languages of the region still have a productive noun class system (see Salffner (2009, p.59-61) for Ukaan), most languages only exhibit traces, such as the initial vowels in nouns. This is also the case in Abesabesi. These initial vowels, former noun class prefixes, can represent an affiliation to a semantic domain, mark number and give a distinction between human and non-human. The former noun-class system is clearly decaying, as most of these traits have become optional. Assuming the quality of the initial vowel represented the affiliation to a certain noun class, as it is the case in neighboring Ukaan, some semantic domains can be spotted. Table 4.1 shows that most lexical items denoting people start with an /o/ or /ɔ/, most animals and all properties start with an /e/ or /ɛ/, and gerunds all start with an /i/. Cite

These former noun classes are also reflected in the human/non-human distinction in the pronoun paradigms of Abesabesi. While the bound 3 SG pronoun for humans is ɔ́, the pronoun for non-humans is ɛ́. This distinction is also present in the third person plural pronouns bà/bè/bò (human) and í (non-human). Cite

Number marking is another trace of the noun-class system. As discussed in the previous section, human plural nouns start with an /a/, while non-human plural nouns start with an /i/. Demonstratives and property nouns both agree in number with the noun they modify. There is only one instance of a property noun agreeing with a human noun by switching the initial vowel to /o/ (see example 4.1).Cite

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Synchronically, Abesabesi's system has reduced to four classes, distinguishing human from non-human and singular from plural (see Table 4.2). Agreement has been reduced to a singular/plural distinction, while pronoun paradigms distinguish all four classes. Cite

If we look at Ukaan, to compare Abesabesi to a productive noun class system of the region, we can see many similarities amongst the noun class prefixes (see Figure 4.1). For example, the prefix for the first noun class including mostly humans is also O- and its plural is A-. The other plural class has the prefix -I. In Abesabesi and Ukaan, the ATR value is not critical for the affiliation to noun classes, which is why capital letters are used as archiphones. Ukaan's noun class system could be a possible representation of what Abesabesi's system could have looked like before it lost the agreement classes. This system is also similar to the Edoid one. Elugbe (1989, p. 123) reconstructs the five vocalic singular noun prefixes U-, I-, E-, O-, and A- and two plural prefixes A- and I-. Cite