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 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’

-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’

Reciprocal

-ir/-r

Passive

-e'

Other Extensions

Iterative

The suffix -eeg indicates repeated action. Unlike with other extensions, a root+eeg cannot stand alone as a "bare" or infinitive form. It can occur in the progressive, past, and present/default tense (and likely other tenses as well), and thus seems to be a derivational morpheme, rather than a tense marker of some sort.

Without -eeg:

fool-aa-m
'I jump'

With -eeg:

fool-eeg-aa-m >br? 'I jump over and over'

mehe fool-eeg-a
'I'm jumping over and over'

fool-eeg-'-aa-m
'I jumped over and over / I was jumping'

Itive

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

Unextended verb:

mehe weg-a o-falanter o-le
‘I’m closing the window’

Itive verb:

mehe 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:

mehe liw-a
‘I’m tangling’

Reversive verb:

mehe liw-t-a
‘I’m untangling’

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

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