Re: The Conversive

----- Original Message -----
From: "caeruleancentaur"

> While reviewing some Swahili grammar the other day, I came across an
> aspect of the verb called the conversive.  The suffix -ua is added to
> the verb to "undo" the action of the verb, e.g., funga, fasten;
> fungua, unfasten.
> Have any of you encountered this in your study of languages?
English, for one!  But I don't think un- can be universally applied to all
verbs as it may do in Swahili.  To like (okay), to unlike (not okay), for
instance; we would say, rather, "stop liking."

> Have
> any of you used it in your conlang?
Yes, in Teonaht.  The prefix be- "undoes" or reverses the action of the
verb, and very often means to "stop doing X."

beuajarem, "stop detesting, to stop hating."

It comes from the cessative modal adverbial begrem: Elo beg ennyve, "he
stopped eating."

Sally
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/adverbs.html#list
http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/verbs.html#modal

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