Up to two-thirds of African languages have a system of noun classification of some sort. This paper proposes an alternative approach to the noun class system of the Dagaare and Akan languages based more on an interaction between morphology and phonology than on semantics. Dagaare and Akan are two West African languages that exhibit mainly suffixal and prefixal nominal inflection, respectively. The basic claim is that by relying on number affixes, Dagaare and Akan nouns can be put into broad classes. This broad classification can be fine-tuned and categorized into sub-classes based on phonological processes such as vowel harmony, assimilation, segmental deletion, vowel lengthening, consonant mutation, and gemination. While semantic and other non-morphophonological factors may be attested in noun class systems, it is argued that these systems are best seen as products of an interplay between phonological and morphological processes. Morphophonological rules and regularities are more universal and consistent than semantic regularities within the noun class systems of Dagaare and Akan. (Contains 13 references.) (SM)