Deverbal nominalization

There are two clear deverbal nominalization processes attested in Sereer. Both appear to be entirely productive and can apply to any verb, although this is presumably constrained by semantics to some extent.

Deverbal agentive nouns

Agent nominalization occurs through a completely productive reduplication process whereby the body of the first syllable is reduplicated, and the vowel is lengthened if it was not already long.

Verb Gloss	Verb	Noun Gloss	Agent Noun
refuse	fañ	naysayer	opaafañ
gather clams	faañ	clamdigger	opaafaañ
work	jal	worker	ocaajal
read, study	jang	student	ocaajang
steal	guuɗ	thief	okuuguuɗ
cultivate	xox	farmer	oqooxox

Agents nominalized in this way will almost always fall into the ox/w class, resulting in consonant mutation on the initial consonant of the reduplicant. Alternate forms indicate that the stem is susceptible to overapplication of the consonant mutation process, although this is dispreferred: ?opaapaañ 'clamdigger'.

It is possible to give a reduplicated agent noun an inanimate referent:

ambeel a-refa o-mee-meleƈ

(lake 3RD-COP ox-NOM-sparkle)

‘The lake is a sparkler.’

This construction carries an anthropomorphic sense. Some verbs can undergo this nominalization process with a non-human agent; these nouns are lexically determined. Nonhuman agent nominalizations occur in the n/k noun class, rather than the human ox/w class.

Verb Gloss	Verb	Noun Gloss	Agent Noun	Determiner
fly	yet	flying person insect	oyeeyet yeeyet	oxe ne

Eventive nouns

Any verb may become an instantial or eventive noun with the addition of the prefix a-. The initial consonant of the verb stem undergoes mutation if applicable. The resulting noun is invariably in the al/ak noun class.

verb	meaning	noun	meaning
ret	go	atet	trip, instance of going
fañ	refuse	apañ	refusal
tos	gather manure	atos	pile of manure
piis	draw a line	apiis	line
weʄ	swim	abeʄ	a swim, swimming
gim	sing	akim	song

Instrumental nouns

Some verbs become instrumental nouns with the application of the verb mutation process on the initial consonant of the verb stem, if possible. The resulting noun is invariably in the n/k noun class.

verb	meaning	noun	meaning
ruus	shave	nduus	shaving knife
rabid	pay	ndabid	payment
jaw	cook	njaw	process of cooking
cit	give	cit	gift