Suffixes Creating Verbs : Part Two

I have been thinking further on the affix system for Diinlang. I decided to start with the verb suffixes since these were likely to be the smallest category. Many Diinlang words become verbs simply by using them as verbs, as in English. The verbal suffixes create particular meanings.

The first two suffixes are “-ika” and “-ija”. Both of these convert attributes (adjectives or adverbs) into verbs.

-ika creates a verb meaning the action of making, causing or rendering into the root or causing an object to gain the characteristic of the root. –ika verbs are causative. For example, “redika”, from “red” means “to cause to turn red” and “duika” from “du” means “to have something done”. In the latter case the verb is formed from another verb. “ika” (or possibly “ka”) on their own mean “to cause, make or render”.

-ija means to become or begin to be in the state described by the root. It forms inchoative/ inceptive verbs. Using the same examples “redija” means “to become red” (“to blush” perhaps?) and “duija” “to start doing”. “Ija” means “to become”, “to begin”. Note that -ija verbs are likely to be intransitive. For more complex statements “ija” can be used as an auxiliary verb with other verbs. For example, the English construction “I began to cause something to be red” is simply “Mi ija redika je”.

-ika and –ija may be considered equivalents to Esperanto’s “-ig-/ -igi” and “-iĝ/ --iĝi”. In Esperanto these affixes also have the function of converting intransitive verbs into transitive (igi) and transitive into intransitive (-iĝi). Consideration of this mechanism for Diinlang needs to be made.

The next verb suffix for Diinlang is “-iza”. This creates verbs from nouns.  –iza forms a transitive verb meaning: to “cover with, add to, supply with or ornament with”. Some of its applications may overlap with –ika, as was noted for Novial’s “-isa” and “-ifika”. “to fletch” something is to add feathers, so the Diinlang verb would be created from the word for feather with an “-iza” ending. Likewise, salting something would be an “-iza” verb.

“-ifa” also creates verbs from nouns. “-ifa” means to generate or produce the root or produce as the root. For example, the Diinlang verb for “to bleed” would be created from the word for blood (“blud”, “sang”?) with an “-ifa” ending. Ifa on its own can be taken to mean construct, fabricate, generate etc. The word for blood with an -ika ending would mean “to wound drawing blood”.

“-imu” creates verbs from nouns with the meaning of turning something into the root. “mu” or “imu” have the meaning of changing or transforming. In many cases nouns can be turned into verbs without the need of a suffix. For example “the heat” becomes “to heat”. -imu can be used when clarity or emphasis is needed. Some uses of -imu may overlap that of -ika or -ija.

To create a verb that indicates something is repetitive the earlier suggestion of “-ada” is replaced by “-adre”, formed by combining “ad” (to) and “re” (repeat). For some verbs this suffix may be used before the other suffixes listed above. For example, a verb meaning to produce a constant hammering would end in “-adreifa”.

For an equivalent to Novial’s “-ira” I am going to suggest “-adu”, created from “ad” and “du” (do).