Derivational Affixes
Lesson Vocab
| English | Part of speech | IPA | Lugso | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| idiot | N compound* | ɣuʃixzən | gu5ixzon | sapient-DIM-NMLZ.DER |
| AUG | suffix | θux | tux | augmentative - more … than, a large … |
| DIM | suffix | ix | ix | diminutive - less … than, a small … |
| SUPER | suffix | ɮi | li | superlative - the most …, the largest … |
| deity_bestial | N compound* | θɮuɮi | tluli | beast-SUPER |
| deity_intelligent | N compound* | ɣuʃɮi | gu5li | sapient-SUPER |
| NMLZ.DER.act | suffix | zʌn | zon | the act of verbing: verb-ation; also for nouns and adjs: noun-ness, adj-ness |
| NMLZ.DER.agent | VB suffix | zʌβ | zob | the one who verbs: verb-er, verb-ess, verb-ator, verb-atrix |
| NMLZ.DER.patient | VB suffix | zʌf | zof | the one who is verbed: verb-ee, verb-ling |
| ADJ.DER | suffix | n | n | adjectivizing suffix |
| ADV.DER | suffix | uv | uv | -ly |
| VB.DER | suffix | i | i | verb-izing suffix |
| great | ADJ | juɣ | yug | |
| distant | ADJ | βʌθuθ | botut | |
| gorge | VT | χʒunβ | h3unb | |
| parasite | N compound | ɸʌɮ-xux | pol-xux | follower-food |
| food | N | xux | xux | |
| follower | N | ɸʌɮ | pol | |
| priest | N | θuʃə | tu5o | |
| PRV | N suffix | inʃ | in5 | privative case (“N-less”, without N) |
| revolve | VB | ɮni | lni | circle, encircle |
| thought | N | sʌθ | sot | |
| servant | N | fβuʃ | fbu5 | |
| snake | N | snuɮʔɮ | snul’l | limbless organism |
| solid | N | βinʃ | bin5 | |
| way | N | zʌθ | zot | path, road |
Part-of-speech affixes
Oftentimes you wish to communicate something complex, and you almost have the right word, but not quite - you know mortal, but not mortality - you know death, but not deathly… etc.
The act of turning one word into another part of speech is called derivation. Hence, “derivational affixes”.
In English, -ity turns an ADJ into a N. It’s a “nounifier”. English also has -ness, -ism, and so on for this purpose. Meanwhile, -ly turns a N into an ADJ. It’s an “adjectifier”. See also -y, -ish, -ful…
Lugso has a special suffix for many types of derivation, and several additional affixes for more specific derivations.
verb -> noun
Lugso has three noun-ifying (“nominalizing”) derivational affixes: one for the act of verbing, one for the one who verbs, and one for the one who is verbed.
| English | Part of speech | IPA | Lugso | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NMLZ.DER.act | suffix | zʌn | zon | the act of verbing: verb-ation; also for nouns and adjs: noun-ness, adj-ness |
| NMLZ.DER.agent | VB suffix | zʌβ | zob | the one who verbs: verb-er, verb-ess, verb-ator, verb-atrix |
| NMLZ.DER.patient | VB suffix | zʌf | zof | the one who is verbed: verb-ee, verb-ling |
hunzon
mortal-NMLZ.DER.act
mortal-ness, the act of being mortal, mortality…
turzof
birth-NMLZ.DER.patient
that which is born, the birthed…
3figzob zotso
open-NMLZ.DER.agent way-GEN
Opener of the Way…
fih lnizon
rise revolve-NMLZ.DER.act
Revolution rises…
h3unbzon nogu
satisfy-NMLZ.DER.act 1SG-POSS
Satisfaction is mine.
-zon non-verb -> noun
For nominalizing a non-verb, you can also use -zon - e.g. blackness 3xigzon (lit. “the act of black”).
-n: non-adj -> adj
death-ly* fhtogn
thought-ful sotn
serpent-ine snul’ln
servile (servant-ish) fbu5n
unpriestlike tu5onzi
* Note that English actually has two different -ly words: one turns nouns into adjectives, like deathly, and the other turns adjectives into adverbs, like hugely or roughly. n is only used for the first kind of part-of-speech transformation.
-uv: non-adv -> adv
Adverbs modify verbs. I can run, or I can run quickly.
Any noun or adjective can be converted into an adverb with -uv.
solid-ly bin5uv
black-ly 3xiguv
parasitical-ly pol-xuxuv*
* Note that, unlike English, which must go from parasite to parasit-ical to parasit-ical-ly, lugso just goes from pol-xux to pol-xuxuv “parasitely”.
Comparative affixes - Augmentative and Diminutive
Augmentative - tux: “more … than, -er”
greater yugtux
prettier, weirder oldri5tux
Diminutive - ix: “less … than”
less dead fhtognix
less far botutix
Privative and Superlative
Privative - in5: “-less”, “without …”
lunin polszon’niy norso lugin5 pus noso
wilt throb-NMLZ.DER.act-COM heart-GEN blood-PRV soul 1SG-GEN
My soul wilts at the throbbing of the bloodless heart.
Superlative affix - li “the most”, “the largest”, “the best”
greatest yugli
prettiest, weirdest oldri5li
You may also use these for non-adjectives to indicate nouns that are smaller or larger than usual, like Spanish “-ito”.
a little helper yni5zobix
a big fish tlu-lu5tux
a friend - follower-AUG poltux