Buruya Nzaysa/Derivation
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Compounding
Some of the most common compounding patterns found in Buruya Nzaysa are given in the table below. Nominal compounds are almost exclusively head-initial; for compounds resulting in a verb, both head-initial and head-final constituent order are attested.
Note that example words whose source components are written in italics rather than bold are older formations, dating to at least a few centuries before the stage of Buruya Nzaysa as described in this grammar, and the source words (given in their Ndak Ta form) may not be in use any longer. However, the patterns exemplified by these compounds are for the most part still productive synchronically.
| noun + noun → noun | genitive relation | ñunɛ "middle" + mo "town" → ñunɛmo "city center" xol "foot" + nalo "horse" → xolnálo "hoof" |
| locative relation | mlu "home" + sɔmɛ "water" → mlusɔmɛ "houseboat" | |
| essive-compositive relation | ñanɛ "link, connection" + sɔmɛ "water" → ñanzɔmɛ "canal, waterway" | |
| attributive relation | mlu "home" + ñunɛ "middle" → mluñunɛ "inn, hostel" ame "fly" + dalsu "honey" → amedalsu "bee" ntse "blood" + imbi "moon" → ntsəbe "menstruation" | |
| descriptive relation | mabm "mouth" + elge "clean" → maməlgɛ "honest, straightforward" robm "feather" + oldau "eye" → romoldu "peacock" (i.e. one who has eye-feathers) | |
| noun + -o-/-n- + noun → noun | coordinate relation | mɛwɛ "father" + omɔ "mother" → mɛwɛnomɔ "parents" |
| noun + -(a)y- + noun → noun | genitive relation | kak "border" + wimès "neighbor" → kaywemə "fence, boundary" pap "shield" + mos "city" → pawaymó "city walls" |
| verb + noun → noun | instance of event | pawu "to name, to declare" + daba "clean" → paudába "amnesty, pardon" |
| place of event | mɛsɛ "to meet" + ɔtsə "river" → mɛsɔtsə "confluence" | |
| resulting instance of patient/theme | mpi "to cry" + sɔmɛ "water" → mpɛsɔmɛ "teardrop" | |
| noun + verb → noun | instrument | buli "soil" + nanɔ "to cut" → bulnanɔ "plough" to "hand" + tsɛ "to wash" → totsɛ "washbowl" rɔnzo "sound" + mve "to speak" → rɔnzobe "voice" |
| object associated with action | bâpu "root" + mpaim "to cry" → bapsɛ "onion" | |
| noun + verb → verb | locative relation | sɔmɛ "water" + mpɛ "to sit" → sɔmpɛ "to float" |
| result relation | itso "contract" + kwɛ’a "to prepare" → itsokwɛ’a "to negotiate" | |
| patient relation | xat "wood" + nanɔ "to cut" → xananɔ "to carve" oldau "eye" + wapa "to hit" → olduwa "to hit the target" | |
| verb + verb → verb | sequential relation | tsɔve "to watch" + ruyɔ "to invent" → tsɔvruyɔ "to improve, to optimize" səma "to wait" + kəye "to challenge" → səŋkəye "to counter-attack" |
| adverbial relation | lail "to flow" + nde "to touch" → lɛldɛ "to caress" (i.e. to touch flowingly) | |
| verb + -o-/-n- + verb → verb | sequential relation | nta "to stop" + ande "to stand" → ntɔnadɛ "to have a closer look at" |
| preposition + verb → verb | directional relation | ntats "around" + kota "to cover" → ntaskɔda "to wrap" |
Derivational morphology
| suffixes | |||
| -vo¹ | any part of speech → noun | associated person or instrument, "active participle" | lire "young" → lirevo "teenager" we’ɔ "to expect" → we’ɔvo "optimist" |
| -la | verb → noun | patient of verb, "passive participle" | noxa "to trade" → noxala "goods" məle "to read" → məlela "text" |
| -(n)a | verb → noun | instance of action, event, process | ogab "to suffer" → ogava "misery" kasəl "to examine" → kasəna "check, inspection" |
| -lu | any part of speech → noun | location | bawo "anchor" → baulu "harbour" mɛsɛ "to meet" → mɛsɛlu "tavern" |
| -ɔra² | noun or verb → noun | associated thing | uma "to play" → umɔra "toy" pɛnə "to bite" → pɛnɔra "jaw, chin" |
| -tsu | quantifier → adverb | temporal | ñe "two" → ñetsu "twice" oba "many" → obatsu "often" |
| -ga | any part of speech → adverb | adverbial | kɛfol "unhappy" → kɛfolga "sadly" rabɛ "during" → rabəga "at the same time" pɛpɔy "to dance" → pɛpɔyga "lively" |
| -lɛ | any part of speech → no change | diminutive, attenuative | mevuna "task" → mevunlɛ "favour" mlu "home" → mlulɛ "one's own room" əvre "to destroy" → əvrelɛ "to spoil" |
| -(’)u | noun → noun | attenuative (rare) | nɛsɔ "sick" → nɛsɔ’u "not feeling well" |
| -(’)ə | noun → noun | intensive (rare) | nzesu "different" → nzesu’ə "incompatible" |
| -ña | any part of speech → no change | intensive | kepə "herb" → kepəña "spicy food" ñova "to plan" → ñovaña "to be pedantic" |
| -wi³ | noun → noun | augmentative | arawa "dinner" → arawi "banquet" sexad "storm" → sexaspi "hurricane" |
| -ya | noun or verb → noun | honorific | sɛpsɔ "unique" → sɛpsɔya "significant other" dume "to display" → Dumeya "annual trade fair" |
| -si | verb or noun → noun | female | ɔyal "to sell" → ɔyalsi "marketwoman" sasama "lord" → sasanzi "baroness" |
| -ru | noun → noun | male (rare) | lire "young" → liru "young man" |
| -da⁴ | any part of speech → any PoS; usually noun → verb |
dynamic, inchoative, causative | desu "normal" → desuda "to standardize" ñe "two" → ñeda "to share" gəño "to praise" → gəñota "heroic deed" |
| -so | noun → verb | associated action | tsi "seed" → tsiso "to sow" ilu "flower" → iluso "to bloom" dəñe "finger" → dənzo "to grasp, to handle, to ply" |
| -xə⁵ | verb → verb | reflexive, durative, atelic | nanɔ "to cut" → nanɔxə "to hurt oneself" nzolab "to arrange" → nzolayə "to be busy" |
| circumfixes | |||
| (k-) -sa | noun → noun | collective | əsu "date" → kəsusa "calendar" ntɔh "forest" → Ntɔysa "Forest Miw" |
| ni- -yə⁶ | noun → verb | directional | vi "star" → nivíyə "to be ambitious" nolɔ "road" → ninólɔyə "to emigrate" |
| prefixes | |||
| ntɛ- | verb → adverb | adverbial, "gerund" | bɔve "to fail" → ntɛvɔ́ve "in vain" idə "to be perceived as" → ntidə "apparently, seemingly" nanɔ "to cut" → ntənánɔ "violently" |
| mvo(m)-⁷ | verb or noun → verb | causative, factitive | əño "to kill" → mvomə́ño "to have so. executed" ntuya "fake" → mvotsúya "to copy" |
| ro- | verb → verb or noun | habitual, iterative | mve "to speak" → rube "to keep on talking" bani "to pray" → rovani "devout, faithful" |
| uy-⁸ | verb → verb or noun | incompletive | tsapse "to give" → uysapse "to owe" tutsi "to commit suicide" → uysutsi "to be depressed" |
| ga- | verb → noun | prospective nominalizer | xɛtu "to retire" → gaxɛtu "veteran" olna’a "to find" → gɔlna’a "one who is searching" |
| ay-⁹ | noun → noun | partitive, member of a group | sɔmɛ "water" → aysɔ́mɛ "a drink" Nzok "Ndok" → Aydók "a person of Ndok ethnicity" |
| ña- | any part of speech → noun | abstraction, quality | mura "to decide" → ñamúra "decision" kɛmɛ "to study" → ñaxɛ́mɛ "research; education; knowledge" ədu "ocean" → ñɛdu "infinity" |
| ma- | any part of speech → no change | opposite, antonym | kwɛsta "noise" → magɛsta "silence" ɛdə "to have; to run a business" → mɛdə "to be poor" |
Many derivational affixes have one or more irregular allomorphs in older formations, typically originating in the simplification of historical consonant clusters. The examples column gives a few examples; some of the more common and at least partly productive behaviors are also listed below.
- Consonants in brackets appear only when not adjacent to another consonant.
- Suffix-initial s combines with a preceding unstressed syllable of the shape NV into -nz-.
- Suffix-initial v combines with preceding unstressed syllables of the shapes mV vV into -mv- -v-.
- When a suffix is added to a word with three or more syllables which is accented on the antepenultimate syllable, the vowel in one of the two unstressed post-tonic syllables in the stem will usually be syncopated. It is generally preferred to syncopate stem-final vowels rather than stem-medial ones, but the exact behavior depends on the phonotactics of the specific combination of stem and suffix.
- All vowel-final prefixes lose their final vowel before vowel-initial stems. In older formations, the quality of the resulting vowel is often altered; the latter does not occur in productive usage.
Affix-specific behaviors:
- ¹) Common non-productive allomorphs: -bo, -do, -ño, -spo.
- ²) The preceding vowel is deleted.
- ³) Common non-productive allomorphs: -pi, -spi.
- ⁴) Common non-productive allomorphs: -ta, -sta, -tsa, -sa.
- ⁵) Common non-productive allomorphs: -yə, -ñə, -skə.
- ⁶) The prefix component ni- is contracted to ñ- before vowels.
- ⁷) -ubo(m)- when preceded by another prefix.
- ⁸) ox- before vowels; u- before nasals and voiced plosives; stem-initial p t ts k kw become f s s Ø w; stem-initial prenasalized obstruents undergo lenition.
- ⁹) ax- before vowels; a- before nasals and voiced plosives; stem-initial p t ts k kw become f s s Ø w; stem-initial prenasalized obstruents undergo lenition.