Re: Just a Question

On Monday 10 February 2003 04:42 pm, Kua Sai wrote:
> A quick question:  Since I was having trouble before creating vocabulary
> for my language, can anyone check out this derivation of two roots, to see
> if I'm doing it right?  Here Goes:
> Root-Gai-Cat
> gaiyo-to purr-root(gai)+verbalizer meaning "X does this"(yo)
        Hmm--this is more than a little vague. After all, cats do a lot more than
purr. "Gaiyo" could mean "catch mice," "spit up hairballs," "yowel in the wee
hours of the morning," etc.
        I'm not sure, but nominalization seems to be a more common word-formation
tool than verbalization. Let me see what info I can dig up on
verbalization...
        Once again, "Describing Morphosyntax" comes to the rescue. Page 94:

# Perhaps the most common type of denominalization makes a possessive verb
# out of a noun. For example, the Yup'ik noun suffix -ngqerr means "to have N"
# where N is the noun to which the suffix is attached.

Page 95:
# Another common denominalization process takes a noun, N, and forms a verb
# that means "become N."
...
# The Eskimo languages are particularly rich in denominalization processes.
# The meanings of verbs formed by these suffixes include such concepts as
# the following:
# - to go toward N
# - to be N
# - to be at N
# - there is N/there lacks N
# - to have plenty of N
# - to be afflicted in one's N
# - to have cold Ns [why does this not surprise me?]
# - to play with N
# - to hunt for N
# - to capture N
# - to eat N
# Denominalization processes (other than possessives and inchoatives mentioned
# above) tend to express culturally "institutionalized" activities. [As
# illustrated in the examples above.]
...
# Some denominalizers have a "generic" function: that is, when attached to a
# noun, they form a verb that refers to whatever activity is usually
# associated with that noun. the following examples are from Mapudugun:
# kofke "bread"   kofke-tu "eat bread"
# kaweyu "horse"   kaweyu-tu "ride horse"

        My gut instinct would say that the meanings for this suffix would be mostly
culturally specific. There's nothing wrong with saying that "gaiyo" means "to
purr" if your conculture assumes that the most important activity cats do is
purr. I would disagree, however; as any cat owner will tell you, the most
important activity cats do is sleep. :)

> gaitao-stealthy-root(gai)+adjectivizer meaning "X is like this"(tao)
        Lots of languages have something similar to this, but it would usually mean
"catty" rather than "stealthy" (although the definition of "catty" would
depend on the cultural understandings of a cat's personality.) Of course, if
your conculture has the stereotype that cats are stealthy, then this would be
acceptable.

> gaito-stealth-root(gai)+adjective to noun affix meaning "noun form of
> X"(to)
        I'm not sure about this one. Most of the times word formation goes noun ->
adjective, not adjective -> noun.
        Plus, wouldn't it be "gaitaoto"? I would interpret "gaito" as "cat+noun,"
which is redundant. You don't nominalize a noun! :)

> gaitae-stealthily-root(gai)+noun to adverb affix meaning "to act
> 'X-ily' "(tae)
        Well, this is certainly not unusual. Again, however, the meaning will be
culturally specific.
        :Peter

--
Oh what a tangled web they weave who try a new word to conceive!