Re: Nouns from Verbs

On Sat, 14 Jun 2003 01:25:45 -0400, Rob Haden <magwich78@...> wrote:

>Hello everyone,
>
>I was wondering what your methods are for deriving nouns from verbs.  More
>specifically, how to derive instances of verbal activities from verbal
>roots/stems -- i.e., "(a) kick" from "(to) kick".
In pjaukra, there is the productive suffix <-ara> for substantivizing the
verb, yielding 'the act of doing X', as in:
mal- 'love (v)'     malara 'loving, love (n)'
palj- 'kick (v)'    paljara 'kicking, kick (n)'
paj- 'eat'          pajara 'act of eating'
tsir- 'carve'       tsirara 'act of carving'
and so on.  This form covers both the durative process and a single
instance.  Although pjaukra has an infinitive, there are some constructions
that require this form where one might expect an infinitive.

Many roots have a related noun and verb with no affix:
meukw- 'yawn (v)'           meuku 'yawn (n)'
perj- 'be accustomed to'    peri 'custom, habit'
pirem- 'help (v)'           pireme 'help (n)'
kiul- 'generate'            kiule 'source'
kxer- 'hope (v), wish for'  kxera 'wish, desire (n)'
benj- 'clear land (v)'      benja 'clearing (concrete noun)'
dzekt- 'dig'                dzekta 'tunnel, burrow'
ketS- 'tell a fortune'      ketSa 'fortune, prophecy' (S is s with hacek)
but this is not productive, and the semantic relation between the two
varies.  It's also hard to say which of the verb or the noun is derived from
the other.

Some other deverbal affixes are
<-axa> for "the result of doing X" as a concrete noun (this affix is not
common):
kakt- 'write'               kaktaxa 'book'
kir- 'cut'                  kiraxa 'cut (n)'
kxanw- 'grind, mill'        kxanwaxa 'meal (ground grain)'
<-ada> for "tool for doing X":
dzekt- 'dig'                dzektada 'shovel'
gaN- 'pound'                gaNada 'hammer' (N is eng)
kxanw- 'grind, mill'        kxanwada 'mill (n)'
<-aire> for "person who does X":
paN- 'protect, tend, watch' paNaire 'shepherd'
ketS- 'tell a fortune'      ketSaire 'fortune-teller, prophet'
and then there are things like <-awa> "place for X" which go
indiscriminately on all sorts of roots, not only verbs.

In my binary language, all verbs are really nominal with the sense "an event
of X".

Alex