Derivational Verbal Morphology

Overview

Sereer seems to have at least some verbal derivational morphology. So far, we've seen:

Takes verb, makes verb:

• -ir, a reciprocal suffix
• -in, a causative suffix (e.g. gɛf "to break, explode (intr.)" --> gɛfin "break it"). Allomorphs -an or -n occur when co-occurring with person marking, and sometimes when another suffix precedes (e.g. xum 'to tie', xum-ir 'to tie RECP', xum-r-an 'to tie to each other' (061)
• -it, a reversive suffix
• -an, an applicative. Licenses an additional argument, a beneficiary
• -it, an instrumental applicative. Licenses an additional argument, an instrument.
• -ik, which indicates directed motion in doing a verb X ("to go do X")
• -oox, which seems to be stativizing or anti-causative. Its derived forms are somewhat less semantically consistent than the others.
• -and(a), of unclear meaning
• -loox/-noox, a suffix of possibly causative meaning that has mutiple allomorphs (or is actually more than one suffix)
• -noor, of unclear meaning and possibly more than one suffix fused together

Takes verb, makes adjective:

• -u , a suffix that takes a verb and turns it into an adjective (e.g. saɗik "to be strong, tough" -> saɗku "strong, tough"; may "to be many" -> mayu "many")
• -na, seemingly equivalent with -u but agreeing with presence of an "article" on a noun

Takes verb, makes noun:

• -ir, a suffix that makes instrument-type nouns from verb stems (e.g. βɛʄ "to swim" --> bɛʄir "thing used to swim")
• RED-, prefixing partial reduplication: makes a noun from a verb "X" meaning "one who (habitually) X"

Valence-Changing Extensions

Causative

There are at least two causative extensions, -in/-n, and -noor. These extensions increase the valence of a verb, adding a causative object, which is caused to perform the action of the verb by the subject of the causative verb. -Noor seems to be more productive, and be affixed to most (if not all?) verbs.

Unextended verb:

Miñaan a-fal-a naak le
‘M. kicks the cow’

Causative verb:

Miñaan a-fal-noor-a (a)Yande naak le
‘M. makes Y. kick the cow’

The extension -in appears as of now to function in the same way, but it’s appearance seems to be lexically conditioned.

(example here)

Stative

The stative extension -oox decreases the valence of a transitive verb. The state of the single remaining argument (the subject) is described by the verb. This single argument is not treated semantically as a patient, as there is no implication of agentivity.

Unextended verb: subject = 'I', object = 'window'

weg-aam o-falanter o-le
'I close the window'

Stative verb: subject = 'window'

o-falanter o-le a-weg-oox-a
'The window is closed'

The extension -oox can also be used with intransitive verbs... (to be filled in later)

Benefactive Applicative

The benefactive applicative extension ‘’’-an’’’ increases the valence of the verb, adding an object which functions semantically as the beneficiary.

Unextended verb:

Jegan a-fal-a naak le
‘Jegan kicks the cow’

Benefactive verb:

Jegan a-fal-an-a naak le a-doktoor fe
OR
Jegan a-fal-an-a a-doktoor fe naak le
‘Jegan kicks the cow for the doctor’

Instrumental Applicative

-it/-t

Reciprocal

-ir/-r

Passive

-e'

Other Extensions

Iterative

-eeg

Itive

-ik/-k

Comprehensive

-andoor

Reversive

-it/-t

Verb pairs demonstrating V to V derivation

Suffix involved	Unsuffixed	Gloss	Suffixed	Gloss	Session	notes
-oox	jik	to buy	jikoox	to sell	JM_046
-loox	ɗeet	to see	ɗeetloox	to notice	JM_048
-oox	doxoñ	to spit	doxoñoox	to spit repeatedly	JM_048
-oox	teer	to land a boat, arrive	teerooχ	to await a guest	JM_048
-ir	xas	to scold, berate	xasir	to argue	MF_029
-in	waʄ	to boil (intr.)	waʄin	to boil (trans.)	MF_045
-in	mud	to sink	mudin	to make sink, to throw/put into water	MF_047
-oox	mud	to sink	mudoox	to swim down on purpose	MF_047	translation imprecise, seeking clarification
-oox	xooʄ	to dip, dunk	xooʄoox	to dip, dunk into	MF_047	translation imprecise; seeking clarification
-oox	saang	to roll (trans.)	saangoox	to roll (intr.)	ED-058
-ir	maaf	to fell, knock down	maafir	to wrestle	NB-057
-noor	weg	to close	wegnoor	to make s.o. close s.t.	MF_091	may be analyzable as weg-in-(C)oor
-ik	weg	to close	wegik	to go close	MF_091
-it	uup	to bury	uupit	to dig up (un-bury)	JM_092
-it	liw	to tangle (trans)	liwit	to untangle (trans)	MF_047
-it	waq	to dig	waqit	to dig with	JM_092	e.g. a shovel
-it	fal	to kick	falan	to kick for	JM_092	e.g. for someone else