Re: Nouns from Verbs

Rob wrote:

<<I was wondering what your methods are for deriving nouns from verbs.>>

I vote for irregularity, if you're looking for suggestions.

I think the best way is to divide verbs into categories (e.g., "experiencer",
" 'naturally' transitive actions", " 'naturally' intransitive actions",
"motion verbs", etc.--defined however you want), and then come up with different
strategies for all of them--and *then* make exceptions.

In Kamakawi, there are a few "rules" that only work for the words they work
for.   For example, zero derivation will do the following to the following
words:

(1) maka "eat" > maka "food"
(2) ejana "to be good" > eyana "goodness, the quality of being good"
(3) peka "to hit" > peka "(a/the) hit, instance of hitting"
(4) nawa "to swim" > nawa "swimming" (the durative action)

Then there's another process that derives different things still, the /i-/
prefix:

(1) > imaka "(a/the) bite (of food)"
(2) > iejana "(a/the) act of goodness"
(3) > ipeka "(a/the) hit thing/person"
(4) > inawa "(a/the) swim" (as in, "I took a swim")

Then there's yet another process which derives each differently again, the
/-ku/ suffix:

(1) > makaku "eating (the durative action)"
(2) > ejanaku "goodness (*not* the quality of being so, but the abstract
idea)"
(3) > pekaku "hitting (the durative action of, or description of the type of
action)"
(4) > nawaku "swimming (the sport)"

There's a kind of *general* idea that can be mapped onto each affix (with
/i-/, something more towards the object end of the spectrum; with /-ku/,
something more towards the abstract/verbal end of the spectrum), but nothing concrete.
  And, of course, this isn't saying anything about pairing which *should* be
okay, but which are not (e.g., disappoint > disappointment, embarrass >
embarrassment, employ > employment, destroy > *destroyment).

Working in irregularity this way adds authenticity to the language, IMHO.
It's like how in English a love (from to love) is not the same as a hit (from
to hit) which is not the same as a *live (from to live) which is not the same
as a mold (from to mold) which is not the same as a run (from to run) which is
not the same as a cook (from to cook).

-David