Comparison of suffixes and clitics with Esperanto equivalents

This is an old version of the section of the derivational morphology document which explains gzb's suffixes by comparison with the affixes of Esperanto. It's probably not going to be updated any more, but I'm leaving it here for those who know Esperanto and may find this an easier introduction to the derivational morphology than the main reference grammar.

Suffixes in gzb are different from most affixes in Esperanto. Mostly they don't have a meaning of their own, but a pattern for changing something else's meaning. So they can't stand on their own like E-o affixes can.

These don't change the grammatical category of a word.

For more on {-sra}, see the section on comparison in the grammar document.

The use of {-ra} is partly the same as that of Esperanto -ad, except that for the sense of continuous rather than repeated, intermittent action, I use compounds with the root {vĭj} (time-period) instead:

These, like {-rô} and {-ga} mentioned earlier, are idiomatic, like Esperanto "-um":

Zipf's law — things that one talks about more often should have shorter names. For some categories the specifics are talked about more often, for others the genera. For instance,

râm -> râm-tôn.

If one lives with a cat, or has friends who do, one talks/thinks more about cats than about animals in general.

grâm -> grâm-cjaj

One often talks about sending a message to someone; less often one has to specifically state that one sent an email.

These don't correspond exactly to E-o "-eg, -et" as in "domego, dometo". With substantial roots, their use resembles the use of "-et" and "-eg" in "rideto", "pordego". E.g., E-o "hometo", a small human; but gzb {mâ-θô}, subhuman, Homo habilis. But {mâ-ny}: a small human, a dwarf or child (Esperanto etulo). With quality and action roots their meaning is more straightforward.

These suffixes make the resultant word an adjective.

Here is a good place to explain what I meant earlier about how affixes can't stand alone in gzb. If this were Esperanto, {kwa} by itself would just mean "color". (gzb: {fu-θy}, light-element.) But, consider:

zym-zô	fu-θy	mĭ-i.
think-V.ACT	light-element	TOP-at
I think about color.

If I said:

zym-zô kwa mĭ-i *

it would mean: color-of-thinking [topic]. Poetical, but not a complete sentence. {-kwa} holds a pattern for forming meaning from meaning, not a meaning of its own.

{-ðwa} can be used with a person's name to form an adjective describing those who support them, e.g., believe them innocent when they are accused of something, or {-ĝa} to form an adjective describing those who oppose them or believe them guilty:

tĭm-fî'suň-bly	ħy-pa	š-i-ŋ,	fraňs-wam	i-ŋ
hundred-Earth-orbit	19-ORD	after-at-inside	France-NAME.P	inside

mâ	draj'fîs-šam-ðwa	pe	draj'fîs-šam-ĝa	tu-i	sî'ðyr-ga-źa-môj.
people	Dreyfus-NAME.F-pro	and	Dreyfus-NAME.F-anti	AGT-at	fight-METAPH-V.RECP
In the late nineteenth century in France, Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards fought intensely.

The root takes on a verbish sense even if not an action root — one doesn't need to insert {zô} or another verb suffix. E.g., {vlym-sô}, tending to wear clothes, having a nudity taboo. {plĭ-sô}, tending to take pills. (Compare "gastema, librema, orema" in Esperanto.)

Another "um"-type suffix. It forms adjectives by picking out an interesting quality of the root concrete noun. {râm-rô}, independent. It can be metaphorical: {pwĭm-rô}, humble.

All these suffixes that form adjectives can also be used as adverbs. Really there's no distinction in form in gzb; if it comes after a noun or pronoun it's an adjective, if after a verb, an adverb.

These clitics are similar to the Esperanto correlatives, and form demonstratives, question- and relative-pronouns. (See the detailed treatment in the grammar document.)

These correspond to "mal" or "ne" in Esperanto. (Also compare {heŋ} (not), {źǒ} (please, no!), {bâ} (zero), and {-ta} (without).)

{cô} is used for scales that extend (for practical purposes) indefinitely in both directions. {fja} if there's an absolute zero, or a non-arbitrary zero point at the middle. Sometimes both can be used for different senses, e.g.

{θaj} is used for inverses of actions, & for complementary, asymmetric relationships.

These are applied only to numbers and quantity-words.

These form nouns. Several of them correspond to the polysemous Esperanto -aĵ (thing, stuff) and -il (tool).

Also the suffixoid root {ŋĭw}, a body part or faculty; between them {-ha}, {-ĉa}, and {ŋĭw} break up the polysemous "-ilo" terrain.

These suffixes form words for types of person, corresponding roughly to -er and -ist in English, -an and -ist in Esperanto.

ħĭn-kô	ř-ŋ	câ-zô	ruŋ-kě'ĝu-zô	ħĭn-ta-zwa	srǒ.
confine-place	from-inside	try-V.ACT	go-secret-V.ACT	confinement-without-would.be	several
Several would-be escapees tried to sneak out of the prison.

 

-ĵwa	-ejo; place with lots of ~
šĭm-ĉa-ĵwa	komputilejo; computer lab
-kô	-ejo; place where one does ~
ðurm-kô	laborejo; workplace

Also the normal root word {tyn}, a place.

Comparable to the plural ending and collective suffix "-j" and "-ar" in Esperanto, I have:

Also the suffixoid roots {cu}, a system, and {kwĭ}, a sequence; the clitic quantifiers {srǒ} (several), {reŋ} (many), {pen} (all), and of course many specific number morphemes.

These suffixes form verbs, and are discussed in detail in the grammar document.

The functions of the Esperanto transitivity-marking suffixes "-ig" and "-iĝ" are fulfilled in gzb by:

1. {ca} / {van} / {zô} distinction - e.g.,

2. The state postpositions {jâ-i, jâ-o, jâ-ř}

ƥ	mĭ-i	šyj-bô	jâ-i.
3	TOP-at	clean-ADJ	state-at
He's clean.

ƥ	mĭ-i	šyj-bô	jâ-o.
3	TOP-at	clean-ADJ	state-to
He gets clean.

rě'tâ	ĥy-i	zuň-cô-bô	jâ-o	râm	tu-i
rat	PAT-at	life-OPP2-ADJ	state-to	cat	AGT-at
The cat kills the rat.

3. {-fwa} and {-hôw}

{-fwa} by itself corresponds to adjectival "-iga"; it is also commonly used with {-zô}, = "-igi". {-hôw} has no Esperanto equivalent. This slight variation on {-fwa} allows me to derive compounds for several concepts that Esperanto needs separate roots for. For instance, instrui != lernigi, kuraci != sanigi; but:

4. {-žar}

These two suffixes correspond to Esperanto's polysemous "bo-":

See other examples under "Kinship terminology".

These gzb suffixes have no Esperanto equivalent.

 

-ma	meta, recursive, indirect
kyn	parent
kyn-ma	grandparent
tâ	sibling
tâ-ma	cousin
gyn	shape, especially polygon
gyn-ma	fractal

 

-dô	violation of standard ~
-ja	in accordance with ~, fitting or suitable to ~
fĭm	health
fĭm-ja	healthy
fĭm-dô	an unhealthy act or habit
žâj	the moral law
žâj-ja	moral, right
žâj-dô	sin
ĝâ	human law
ĝâ-dô	crime, lawbreaking
ðâ	logic
ðâ-dô	paradox; inconsistency; illogic
ðurm	work
vlym ðurm-ja	work clothes

 

-hô	qualities a ~ can potentially have
-ĵam	the kind of thing that can have quality ~
-pôm	derives evidentiality or attitudinal adverb from root word

The suffixes {-hô} and {ĵam} are a bit tricky, and admittedly less frequently useful than most of the other suffixes in gzb. {-hô} derives a word for the qualities a particular kind of thing can have. For instance, {mâ-hô} refers to all the qualities that people can have, or (in a linguistics context) all the modifiers that could appear modifying a word for person. E.g., intelligent, foolish, pious, angry, female, healthy, etc. {gâ-zuň-hô} refers to the qualities (or modifiers that refer to qualities) that living things in general can have — a superset of {mâ-hô} because {mâ} are a subset of {gâ-zuň}.

Nouns derived from adjectives with {-ĵam} refer to the set of things that can have the quality described by the root (or nouns that can be modified by such adjectives, in a linguistic context) — those things for which having that quality would not be a meaningless notion or a contradiction in terms, whether they actually have much of those qualities or not. For instance, {ĉâ-ĵam} refers to the set of things which might be described as intelligent — all thinking beings, human or otherwise — even if some particular ones would be more aptly described as stupid ({ĉâ-cô-bô}). {Φu-ĵam} describes all physical things (even those which actually have zero rest mass).

For {-pôm} and the use of evidentiality adverbs derived from it, see the relevant section of the grammar document.

 

-Φa	thing, stuff that's a result of action described by root
-ŋô	chemical that's primary/active incredient of root substance

I think more often of tea ({těn'ju}) than of caffeine ({těn'ju-ŋô}), etc. Zipf's law again.

 

-šar	form conjunction from root
vĭj-šar	next, then (a while later)
nu-šar	next, then (a moment later)
gân-šar	because (as a result of) [less specific than than wǒj, ŝǒj, ʝǒj]
kujm-šar	for, in order to

 

-baw	derives phonemic terms from example words
šî'fy-baw	fricative consonant

{-baw} derives a word for a type of phoneme from an example word that contains two or more phonemes that belong to that class. E.g. {kě'pâ-baw} signifies "stop (plosive) consonants". I'm not sure I'll keep this long-term because given gzb's morphophonology, it's hard to come up with sample words for all the categories of vowel.

All proper names are marked with a suffix indicating the kind of thing named.

The distinct name suffixes allow me to unambiguously put names in the normal order for their native language, i.e. personal name + family name for English, family name + personal name for Hungarian, etc. Mostly these apply to foreign names and titles; however, they could apply to gjâ-zym-byn words which are used as names or titles, e.g. if a foreign name or title is translated rather than merely transliterated. For instance,

If {-šam} follows a family name that ends in a fricative, then an epenthetic schwa is inserted in pronunciation (though not in writing).

smĭθ-šam

/'smIθ.ə.çɑm/

These Esperanto affixes have equivalents that in gjâ-zym-byn are regular root morphemes (or compounds). But in E-o there's not such a sharp distinction between suffix & root.

Main {gjâ-zym-byn} index
Phonology
Syntax and inflectional morphology
Derivational morphology
Abbreviations used in the interlinear glosses
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Last updated September 2010