Friday, October 23, 2015

A Noun Formation Pattern common to Ćwarmin and Sargaĺk

Sargaĺk and Ćwarmin share a few patterns in word formation, patterns that have spread from one to the other, and generally also tend to be present in the area at large. These are, however, not present in Dairwueh and Bryatesle, which do not form part of the same convergence zone.

A good example of a very common pattern is the noun pair question - answer. The verb to ask is ŕebat in Sargaĺk, and kinil and kinən in Ćwarmin. The nouns for 'question' are related - ŕeber in Śargalk, kinij in Ćwarmin.

However, answer also derives from the same root, using the suffix -ada in Sargaĺk and -elə/-ola in Ćwarmin, thus ŕebada, kinelə. The suffix goes back to an early ĆŊ participle, the passive causative participle. It has later come to be used on nouns that are results of other nouns, as well as nouns that are results of verbs.

Thus, you also get nouns like Ćwarola, "those caused by the Ćwar people", which essentially means 'the next generation of Ćwar", or Sargada, with a similar meaning with regards to the Sarg people.

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