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Lahabic: Augmentatives, Diminutives, Geographics, Clause Connectors

From:Anthony M. Miles <theophilus88@...>
Date:Saturday, October 7, 2000, 22:07
Augmentatives, Diminutives, and Geographics

The augmentative in EL is -tuwa [tu.(w)a]
The diminutive in EL is -niya [ni.ya]
The augmentative and diminutive may be added to any verbal root for its most
obvious meaning:
meretalei      a stone
merettuwandlei a boulder
meredniyandlei a pebble
meretrakhe     a mason
merettuwarkhe  a master mason
meredniyarkhe  an apprentice mason
Note that the agentive suffix n or r, if present, always precedes directly
before the inflectional ending. It would have been awkward to have that
feature buried in the middle of a long word.

In the EL>CL change, 'ni.ja -> 'ni:, ni.'ja -> nja -> na, Vj(C)na
                     'tu.(w)a -> 'ty: tu.'(w)a -> twa -> d<w>a
                     Thus ty:  is lost as an augmentative productive affix.
I haven't decided what, if anything, will replace it.
The geographics are:                        CL
-ouon-   augmentative circular        -> -u:on, u:n
-oion-   diminutive circular          -> -O":on, -O":n
-auan-   augmentative rectangular     -> -auan, -aun
-aian-   diminutive rectangular       -> -aian, -ain

dhabouondlei   area of land
dhaboiondlei   small area of land
dhabauandlei   field
dhabaiandlei    garden plot
gwa'lenouondlei den, bedroom
gwa'lenoiondlei nest
gwa'lenauandlei bed
Note that the terms circular and rectangular are used rather loosely -
anything not approximately rectangular is circular. The root with an
attached geographic suffix is assumed to be inanimate unless appropriately
modified. Thus:
dhibouondlei country
dhibouondrakhe citizen of the country
gwa'lenoiondlei nest
gwa'lenoiondrakhe chick, fledgling, baby bird
gwa'lenouondra animal cubs
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