1. Introduction

2. Denominal derivation

3. Deverbal nominals

4. Noun formation from multiple categories of base

5. Compounding

6. Conversion

7. Summary of noun affixation

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This chapter discusses the wealth of noun forming derivational morphology. (See also the discussion in Beard, 1995). Not dealt with here is the Negative form of nouns discussed in chapter eight.

Of interest are the quantificational prefixes which act somewhat like D-type quantifiers (see sections 1.1, 1.2). In addition, a number of affixes take nominal or adjectival bases, and a few take nouns, adjectives and verbs as bases. There is also an interesting comparison to be drawn between affixation and conversion (section 6.)

Skorik (I:291f) identifies a 'category of restriction' which is essentially the prefix em-/am- meaning 'only'.

Essentially the same as the verbal prefix (chapter nine xxx)

Appears with any case form:

Noun can inflect for person/number:

Strengthened with teñ-/tañ-: teñ-em-ñinqegti 'the boys exclusively'

Prefix pyc- strengthens force of 'only':

ONLY - NEG:

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(I: 296) Universal quantifiers can be expressed as prefixes on the noun.

emqyn-/amqyn- 'each'

gemge-/gamga- 'every'

*ym- 'all' (I:325) [Cf. ymyl?o, ymyl?ety 'all']

Note gamga-qora-k 'at all the reindeer', gemge-nymyk 'in all the villages' vs. *amqy-qora-k, *amqy-nymyk.

[NB. Bogoraz's dictionary includes a prefix imy- with the meaning 'each, any' [Rus.: 'kazhdyj, vsjakij'. Ex.:

This prefix doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere by Skorik. It's possible that Bogoraz has mistranslated the im- 'small' prefix given below, section 2.2.]

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Evaluative morphology can be added to pretty well any type of noun (including proper nouns, substantivized pronominals, wh-words). They take predicative person/number affixes like any other noun (I:304).

-*jñ

-*cg/cyñ

-qej/qaj

Person/number inflection: jelo-jñ-y-tore 'you are (my) uncles (aug.)'; qlawol-y-cg-e-gyt 'you(sg.) man (aug.-pej.)'; meñine-qej-i-gyt 'who are you (dim.)?'

Possessives and relative adjectives:

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-jocg 'container'

-t?ul

-lqyl 'material intended for making given object'

'preordained function of person'

-tkyn 'upper part, top of'

-curm 'edge'

-tegyn 'place in front of'

-jikwi 'length of geophysical feature'

-giñ 'place at base of'

-ret 'complex of objects'

-cyku 'interior of'

-lyku 'place amongst objects'

-nleñ/nlañ 'place lacking ñ

-giniw 'multitude of objects'

-mk 'small group of objects'

-lq 'place abounding in ñ

-sq 'surface'

-*kw 'wrapping, container of ñ

-ril 'complex of articulated objects'

-tku 'small number of spread out objects'

-qaca 'place near'

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lygi- 'genuine' (usually in the sense of 'Chukchee' as opposed to 'foreign') [productive]

Also without 'Chukchee' nuance: lygi-kejñyn 'real bear' (as opposed to mythological bear).

tymñe 'simple, ordinary' [productive]

ewyn-/awyn- 'main, chief'

mel-/mal- 'supposition' [productive]

This is a puzzling entry. It's given the form mil-/mel- at the beginning of the section (I:325) but all the examples show it to be mel-/mal-. Bogoraz's dictionary has mæl-/mal- (where æ indicates recessive e1). He labels it as a conjunction but desribes it as a particle taking individual clause constituents in its scope. He cites the following examples (I have retranscribed these):

From these examples it seems that mel- is a clitic (NB vowel harmony) attaching either phrase initially or word initially (depending on whether we take the focus of (xx) to be gymnin qorañy or just gymnin).

im- 'small'

[Note also im-y-r?enut 'any old trifle' r?enut 'what?'. Cf. Bogoraz imy- 'every' section 1.2]

qej/qaj- 'young of'

ynan- 'the very' (with deadjectival nouns in -c?-, q.v.)

pl- 'spare'

Usually occur in person-marked Comitative II (occasionally Com. I) form:

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(I:327)

-gyrgyn see Action nominalizations

-*n(w) 'place of permanent activity'

Word final suffix allomorphy: usually -n (word medial -nw-), but also:

May also denote time of event, e.g. omakatynw-yk 'at the meeting place'/ 'at the meeting (as event)', megceratynw-yk 'at the work place'/ 'during work'

-ineñ(e)/enañ(a) 'instrument' [productive]

Some recent coinages:

-icg 'object associated with action'

Less productive than -ineñ but still gives rise to new formations:

-icg and -ineñ tend to suffix different verbs, but occasionally give synonyms:

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(I:334f)

-jan(w) 'place abounding in Noun', 'collective (animates) with property of Adj', 'place where action of Verb_of_Motion occurs'

From noun
oon?-y-jan, pl. oon?yjanwyt 'place with lots of berries' (uun?yt 'berries')

From adjective
majñ-y-jan 'group of adults' (ny-mejñ-y-qin 'big')

kynta-jan 'group of successful people' (ny-kynte-qin 'successful, lucky'

Can be used in the plural as both noun and modifier:

With reference to non-humans only the modifier use is possible [this suggests that the nominal use involves modification of a null head with default interpretation as 'human']

en?yjanwyt qaat 'fast reindeer', majñyjanwyt ynnyt 'large fish'

[It isn't clear what the difference is between majñyjanwyt ynnyt, nymejñyqin(et) ynnyt and mejñ-ynnyt]

Skorik mentions interesting quantificational properties of this suffix. When quantified the noun appears in the plural:

ymyl?ety ñenjanwyt 'all the young people'

cymqyk ñenjanwyt 'part of the young people'

macymyl?o majñyjanwyt 'almost all the adults' (cf. murgin majñyjan 'the adults in our community')

From verb
ñyto-jan 'exit', rasqew-jan 'exit' (resqewyk), ?et-jan 'crossing' (?eryk).

Exceptional formation ew-jan 'conspiracy' (iwyk 'say')

-c? 'name of Numeral', [productive] 'result/instrument of Verb', 'person/thing with property of Adjective'

From numeral (no direct translation into English; translates the same idea as Russian edinica, trojka, sedmjorka, etc.) ynnen-y-c?-yn 'one, unity', mytlyñ-y-c?-yn 'five', kylgyn-y-c?-yn 'fifteen'

From verb
tyñe-c?-yn 'plant' (tyñ-ek 'grow')

tyke-c?-yn 'bait' (tykek 'smell')

Some recent formations from verbs which already have instrumentals in -ineñ, e.g:

[The trap consists of a springed armature which strikes the trapped animal.]

From adjectives
teñ-y-c?-yn 'good fellow'

[See above on ynan-]

-jolg 'result/instrument' [fairly unproductive]

e-/a-...-ki/ke 'thing without Noun, without property of Adjective, non-result of Verb' (cf. e-/a-...-ke/ka negative circumfix)

From noun
e-puc?e-ki 'sleeveless shirt/jacket' (poc?a-lgyn 'sleeve')

a-jara-ke 'homeless person' (jara-ñy 'house')

From verb
?enqet-ki 'one who does not refuse' (?enqetyk 'refuse')

e-migciret-ki 'layabout' (migciretyk 'work')

ine-piri-ki 'one who does not receive a prize' (inepirik 'receive a prize')

From adjective
a-lymal-ke 'distrustful person' (ny-lymal-qen 'trustful')

?eqeliñ-ki 'fearless person' (n-?eqeliñ-qin 'fearful')

a-caca-ke 'tasteless thing' (ny-caca-qen 'tasty')

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(I:340). It isn't always easy to distinguish compounding from productive incorporation. Examples of compound noun stems:

(I:341f)

Straight conversion - Absolutive form of noun = verb stem:

Affixed conversion: Absolutive = verb stem + -n:

Some are instrumentals or result nouns:

Evidence that this is verb-to-noun conversion: many of the converted nouns retain verb-forming suffixes:

-ñet: eleñet 'summer' eleñetyk 'spend summer period'

-twi: tenñytkun 'laughter' tenñytkuk 'laugh' [cf. also tenñu lyñyk 'make fun of']

-l?et: ilul?et 'dance' ilul?etyk 'to dance'

(I:343) Conversion generally produces concrete result or event nominals, as opposed to the action (process) nominals in -gyrgyn. E.g.:

tip?ejñen 'song' vs. tep?ajñagyrgyn 'singing'

wiwril?et 'vibration' vs. wewral?atgyrgyn 'vibrating'

qeet 'squeak' vs. qaatgyrgyn 'squeaking'

weqet 'step, pace' vs. wawatgyrgyn 'stepping, pacing'

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-*cg/cyñ Augmentative pejorative

-c? 'name of Numeral'; 'result/instrument of Verb'; 'person/thing with property of Adjective'

-curm 'edge'

-cyku 'interior of'

e-/a-...-ki/ke 'thing without Noun, without property of Adjective, non-result of Verb'

em-/am- 'only'

emqyn-/amqyn- 'each'

ewyn-/awyn- 'main, chief'

gemge-/gamga- 'every'

-giñ 'place at base of'

-giniw 'multitude of objects'

-gyrgyn Action nominalizations

-icg 'object associated with action'

im- 'small'

-ineñ(e)/enañ(a) 'instrument'

-jan(w) 'place abounding in Noun'; 'collective (animates) with property of Adj'; 'place where action of Verb_of_Motion occurs'

-jikwi 'length of geophysical feature'

-*jñ Augmentative

-jocg 'container'

-jolg 'result/instrument'

-*kw 'wrapping, container of ñ

-lq 'place abounding in ñ

-lqyl 'material intended for making given object'

lygi- 'genuine'

-lyku 'place amongst objects'

mel-/mal- 'supposition'

-mk 'small group of objects'

-nleñ/nlañ 'place lacking ñ

-*n(w) 'place of permanent activity'

pl- 'spare'

pyc- 'emphasis'

-qaca 'place near'

qej/qaj- 'young of'

-qej/qaj Diminutive

-ret 'complex of objects'

-ril 'complex of articulated objects'

-sq 'surface'

-t?ul part of (whole, non-articulated) object; meat of

-tegyn 'place in front of'

teñ-em 'absolutely only'

-tku 'small number of spread out objects'

-tkyn 'upper part, top of'

tymñe 'simple, ordinary'

*ym- 'all'

ynan- 'the very'

A number of affixes occur with both nouns and verbs with similar meanings. These are:

em -, lygi-, mec- (cf mel-), tymñe-, teñ-, -tku

This page created on 11 July 1999.

Last modified 16 July 1999.