Derivational Verbal Morphology

Overview

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

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 causative/transitivizing suffix
• -loox/-noox, a suffix of possibly causative meaning that has mutiple allomorphs (or is actually more than one suffix)
• -noor, a causative suffix (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"
• 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 appears as of now to function in the same way, but its distribution seems to be lexically conditioned.

(example here)

Note that the causative extension -in/-n is phonologically identical to the 3rd sg. incorporated pronoun -in/-n. This fact gives rise to ambiguous interpretations of some verbs.

geen-aa-n-um

‘I stop him’

OR

‘I cause him to stand up’

An alternate interpretation is that -in is actually the incorporated 3SG object pronoun alone, and thus is inflectional rather than derivational. This is supported by our consultant's translations of forms like nafin ("to hit it"); additionally, when asked to use a form nafin in a sentence, the following sentences are typical feedback:

nafaanum.

naf	-aanum
hit	1S:3S

I hit it.

Here, the suffix -in is not actually present, at least in the surface form (allomorphy may be occurring), but more likely than not the arguments of a transitive sentence are expressed by a single unanalyzable person-number suffix, which the consultant here changes from -in to the appropriate form.

nafaam a taabul ale.

naf	-aam	a=	taabul	=ale
hit	1S	NC	table	NC

I hit the table.

Here, again, -in is not present, even more so in that there is no segmental content that could reasonably be an allomorph of -in. The presence of an overt object seems to be the cause.

-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-axam

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

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-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 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

The instrumental applicative extension -it/-t increases the valence of the verb, adding an object that functions semantically as the instrument.

Unextended verb:

waq-aa-m a-semb a-le

‘I dig the hole’

Instrumental verb:

waq-t-aa-m a-semb a-le a-pel a-le

OR

waq-t-aa-m a-pel a-le a-semb a-le

‘I dig the hole with the shovel’

Locative

The locative extension -it/-t requires that an action take place at a location. This location is expressed as a preverbal PP, not as an object of the verb (and 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

-ir/-r

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 we have not yet seen if it is 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 person-marking morphology, rather than simply being affixed to the verb root (further investigation needed).

naf-e'

'You are hit'

naf-'-e'

'You were hit'

Other Extensions

Itive

The itive extension -ik/-k indicates motion towards something.

Unextended verb:

mexe weg-a o-falanter o-le

‘I’m closing the window’

Itive verb:

mexe weg-k-a o-falanter o-le

‘I’m going (motion) to close the window’

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)

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