The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)

Kambaata, a Cushitic language of Ethiopia, has a productive, word-class changing approximation derivation. The process marked by the suffix -lab takes adjectival, nominal and verbal roots as inputs and generates approximatives that belong to the adjective word class, whose members are characterised...

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Main Author: Yvonne Treis
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main 2023-04-01
Series:Zeitschrift für Wortbildung
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author Yvonne Treis
author_facet Yvonne Treis
author_sort Yvonne Treis
collection DOAJ
description Kambaata, a Cushitic language of Ethiopia, has a productive, word-class changing approximation derivation. The process marked by the suffix -lab takes adjectival, nominal and verbal roots as inputs and generates approximatives that belong to the adjective word class, whose members are characterised by their agreement behaviour in the NP. The meaning of the Kambaata approximatives is dependent on the word class of its input. Deadjectival approximatives express a vague, attenuated degree of a property, deverbal forms convey similarity or near-identity in manner, while denominal forms express similarity in nature or function and create ad hoc categories. The sub-meanings are subsumable under an overarching meaning of approximation, understood as deviation from a prototypical realisation. The source of the -lab suffix is a verb ‘resemble’. From a Cushitic perspective, the Kambaata approximative derivation is unique of its kind. No related language is known to have approximative morphology.
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spelling doaj-art-679a7b5e4aef49f0b5a67eefb6b310a12025-08-20T02:39:38ZdeuUniversitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am MainZeitschrift für Wortbildung2367-38772023-04-0171204233https://doi.org/10.21248/zwjw.2023.1.88The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)Yvonne Treis0CNRSKambaata, a Cushitic language of Ethiopia, has a productive, word-class changing approximation derivation. The process marked by the suffix -lab takes adjectival, nominal and verbal roots as inputs and generates approximatives that belong to the adjective word class, whose members are characterised by their agreement behaviour in the NP. The meaning of the Kambaata approximatives is dependent on the word class of its input. Deadjectival approximatives express a vague, attenuated degree of a property, deverbal forms convey similarity or near-identity in manner, while denominal forms express similarity in nature or function and create ad hoc categories. The sub-meanings are subsumable under an overarching meaning of approximation, understood as deviation from a prototypical realisation. The source of the -lab suffix is a verb ‘resemble’. From a Cushitic perspective, the Kambaata approximative derivation is unique of its kind. No related language is known to have approximative morphology.approximationderivationadjectiveadjectivisationcushitic
spellingShingle Yvonne Treis
The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)
Zeitschrift für Wortbildung
approximation
derivation
adjective
adjectivisation
cushitic
title The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)
title_full The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)
title_fullStr The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)
title_full_unstemmed The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)
title_short The approximative derivation in Kambaata (Cushitic)
title_sort approximative derivation in kambaata cushitic
topic approximation
derivation
adjective
adjectivisation
cushitic
work_keys_str_mv AT yvonnetreis theapproximativederivationinkambaatacushitic
AT yvonnetreis approximativederivationinkambaatacushitic