Re: noun forms of verbs

In a message dated 11/17/01 9:46:31 AM, fuzzybluemonkeys@YAHOO.COM writes:

<< ok suppose you take the verb "to sleep"... one way to turn it into a
noun would be "sleeper" or "sleepers" referring to someone who sleeps
but you could also use sleep as a noun as in "i didn't get any
sleep"... there are other verbs that this works for as well but my
question is: would it be valid to say that "food" is a noun form of
the verb "to eat"? >>

    If you'd like a conlang example, Megdevi, with its triconsonantal roots,
takes care of all these, though not quite regularly.  Here is "to eat", root
/dZ-r-b/:

dZaraba = "to eat" (verb, transitive)
dZirejbat = "eating" (verbal noun)
dZerIb = "eater" (doer noun)
dZArob = "eaten stuff", or, "food" (object noun)
dZ&rIb = "eating utencil" (like a fork or a spoon--utility noun)
dZaribad = "eating" (verbal adjective)
dZur&b = "eaten" (object adjective)
dZirEb = "restaurant" (place noun)

    Those are all the relevant forms for "eat".  Taking the example "sleep",
however, you get a different variety--root, /Z-S-T/:

ZaSaTa = "to sleep" (verb, intransitive)
trAZaSaTa = "to put to sleep, to cause to sleep" (verb, transitive)
ZiSejTat = "sleep" (verbal noun)
ZeSIT = "sleeper" (doer noun)
Z&SIT = "bed" (utility noun)
ZASoT = "(a/the) sleep" (used in sentences like, "I had a good night's
sleep", not "Sleep is divine"--
    object noun)
ZaSiT = "sleepy" (natural adjective)
ZaSiTad = "sleeping" (verbal adjective)
ZiSET = "bedroom" (place noun)

    In these two examples, there's variance in that the object noun in one
refers to an actual noun, food, whereas the object noun in the other refers
to an instance of action noun, or a thing performed.  These types of nouns
are like "a run", "a jog", "a walk", "a performance", etc.  So there's
variance between tangible and intangible.  There's variance in the others,
but it isn't shown with these examples.  But yeah, that's one way of
nounifying verbs (both of these are natural verb forms.  There are natural
verb forms, natural adjective forms and natural noun forms in Megdevi, and
which root is which affects the semantics and grammar of the whole group).

-David

"s&m raSalo SirejsatIm, spAjs Zi v&TIl dZaGagzaZA."
"If it keeps on rainin', the levee's going to break."
        --Led Zeppelin

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