Derivational Verbal Morphology

Overview

There are several sub-categories of derivational affixes in Sereer:

Takes verb, makes verb ("extensions"):

• -noor: causative. Adds an causative object. (lay "talk" --> laynoor "make someone talk")
• -(i)n: causative. Adds a causative object (mud "sink (intr.)" --> mudin "submerge")
• -and: causative. Affixed only to intransitive verbs (weer "be dry" --> weerand "make dry")
• -oox: stative/reflexive. Valence decreasing; eliminates the direct object (bog "wash something" --> bogoox "be washed / wash oneself")
• -an: benefactive applicative. Licenses an additional argument, a beneficiary (ʄeew "draw water" --> ʄeewan "draw water for someone")
• -(i)t: instrumental applicative. Licenses an additional argument, an instrument (waq "dig" --> waqit "dig with something")
• -(i)t: locative applicative. Licenses an additional argument, a location (ñaam "eat" --> ñaamit "eat somewhere")
• -(i)r: reciprocal (xum "tie" --> xumir "tie each other")
• -(i)k: ablative. Indicates directed motion away from the starting point ("to go do X") (naf "hit" --> nafik "go hit")
• -iid: allative. Indicates motion towards ("to come to X") (ɗaan "sleep" --> ɗaaniid "come to sleep")
• -andoor: simulfactive. Indicates that the action is done all at once (weg "close" --> wegandoor "close all at once")
• -(i)t: reversive ('up "bury" --> 'upit "unbury")
• -aƭ: indicates that an action is done carefully or slowly (moof "sit" --> moofaƭ "sit carefully/slowly")
• -aƭar: indicates that an action is done poorly or not at all (ʄuf "run" ʄufaƭar "not run / run poorly")
• -at: indicates that an action is performed repeatedly, or not any more. Used only for unrealized actions.
• -loox/-noox: unclear/inconsistent meaning. Unproductive.

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")

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"
• NC- + mutation(s), forms a deverbal noun.

Valence-Changing Extensions

Causative

There are at least three causative extensions, -in/-n, -noor, and -and. 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

-Noor seems to be most productive, and can 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 causative object (when not pronominalized) always appears directly after the verb.

Miñaan a-fal-noor-a naak le (a)Yande

‘M. makes the cow kick Y.’

‘*M. makes Y. kick the cow’

-in/-n

The extension -in/-n functions in the same way, but its distribution is lexically conditioned.

Unextended verb:

pis ne a ʄuf-a

'the horse runs'

Causative verb:

ʄuf-n-aa-m pis ne

'I make the horse run'

-and

The extension -and can be applied to some (or all?) verbs roots that are basically (that is, in their unextended form) stative.

Unextended verb:

xuƥ-aa-m

‘I am wet’

Causative verb:

a-teƥ a xuƥ-and-ax-a-m

‘The rain wets me / causes me to be wet’

Stative/Reflexive

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. -oox also commonly has a relfexive meaning.

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

weg-aa-m 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 (some) intransitive verbs to indicate that they are performed repeatedly, though this interpretation is optional.

Unextended verb:

a doxoñ-a

"he spits (once)"

Stative verb:

a doxoñ-oox-a

"he spits (repeatedly)"

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

The instrumental applicative extension -it/-t increases the valence of the verb, adding an object that functions semantically as the instrument. Without the instrumental applicative, instruments are obligatorily marked with fo 'with'; this can be omitted if the instrumental applicative is affixed to the verb, but is sometimes still used in conjunction with the applicative.

Unextended verb:

waq-aa-m a-semb a-le (f-a-pel al-e)

‘I dig the hole’ (with a shovel)

Instrumental verb:

waq-t-aa-m a-semb a-le (f-)a-pel a-le

OR

waq-t-aa-m (f-)a-pel a-le a-semb a-le

‘I dig the hole with the shovel’

Locative

The locative extension -it/-t licenses a location argument. This location is expressed as a PP headed by the locative no rather than as an object of the verb; thus, perhaps, this extension is not truly valence-changing.

Unextended verb:

ñaam-aa-m

'I eat'

Locative verb:

n-o-restoran fe ñaam-t-aa-m

'I eat in/at the restaurant'

Reciprocal

The reciprocal extension -ir/-r is used for actions performed by multiple people on each other, or together with each other.

Unextended verb:

i naf-a naak le

"we hit the cow"

Reciprocal verb:

i naf-r-a

"we hit each other"

It is possible for reciprocal verbs to take a singular subject, in which case an additional participant must be introduced with the preposition fo

naf-r-aa-m fo ten

"He and I hit each other"

Passive

The passive marker -e' eliminates the object of a transitive verb, with the subject being acted on by the verb. Unlike with the stative extension, there is an implication of agentivity, though it is not possible to express the agent in a passive clause. This suffix appears to not truly be an extension, as it is takes the place of inflection morphology (the "Final Vowel" -a), rather than simply being affixed to the verb root.

naf-e'

'You are hit'

naf-'-e'

'You were hit'

Other Extensions

Ablative

The ablative extension -ik/-k indicates motion away from the starting point.

Unextended verb:

mexe weg-aa ofalanter ole

‘I’m closing the window’

Itive verb:

mexe weg-k-aa ofalanter ole

‘I’m going to close the window’

It can also express future actions. Thus, the above example is ambiguous between a future and motion interpretation (as is the English gloss).

This appears to be the only extension that can consistently occur in multiple positions, and can even appear multiple times in a single verb, with no apparent change in meaning. All three of these sentences have the same meaning, and are equally natural:

fool-noor-k-aa-n-um

'I make him go and jump'

OR

'I go make him jump'

fool-ik-noor-aa-n-um

fool-ik-noor-k-aa-n-um

Simulfactive

The extension -andoor indicates that the action of a verb is done all at once.

Unextended verb:

a-weg-a xa-palanter a-xe

‘He closes the windows’

Simulfactive verb:

a-weg-andoor-a xa-palanter a-xe

‘He closes the windows all at once’

Reversive

The reversive extension -it/-t indicates that the action of the verb is undone.

Unextended verb:

mexe liw-a

‘I’m tangling’

Reversive verb:

mexe liw-t-a

‘I’m untangling’

This extension is unpredictably fossilized in certain verbs, e.g. wet- ‘open’ vs. weg- ‘close.’

Co-occurrence of Extensions

Homophonous extensions can occur adjacently to one another with very little restriction, other than general phonotactics. In the example below, affix order is actually unclear, as the reversive and instrumental applicative could be in the order listed or reversed.

a uuptita apel ale.

a	uup	-t	-it	-a	a-	pel	ale
3SG	bury	REV?	INST.APP?	3SG	NC	shovel	DET.NC

S/he unburies with a shovel. (092)

Valence-changing suffixes (like -noor below) seem to occur closer to the verb stem than others (like -k below), which appear to occur inside of inflectional morphology without exception.

wegaanum.

weg	-aan	-um
close	3SG.OBJ	1SG

I close it. (091)

wegnoorkaanum.

weg	-noor	-k	-aan	-um
close	CAUS	ITV	3SG.OBJ	1SG

I make him go to jail. (lit. make him go to close up) (091)

Multiple marking

Stuff on multiple -ik, -it here: -oox as the approximate site within the verbal morphology complex for the copy to go
Crucially, these both license extra (typically postverbal) arguments. It is probable that these could be thought of as "resumptive" in a sense - they occur again in closer proximity to the licensed argument.

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
-an	fal	to kick	falan	to kick for	JM_092	e.g. for someone else