Chinese affixes in Santa
Summary
Description
Information and examples are from Kim (2003).
5 derivational suffixes forming denominal nouns (out of a total of 13 of such derivational suffixes in Santa)
- -kai ‘agent or occupation noun’, e.g. su-kai (vinegar-nominalization) ‘vinegar seller’, nienjinzi-kai (eye_glasses-nominalization) ‘a person wearing glasses’
- -tu ‘possessive adjectival nouns’, e.g. amin-tu (life-nominalization) ‘living, alive’
- -sha ‘noun denoting a person having a characteristic’, e.g. taghu-sha (fat-nominalization) ‘a fat person’
- -bao ‘noun denoting a person having a characteristic’, e.g. yara-bao (tumor-nominalization) ‘a person with a tumor’
- -jian ‘noun denoting a person having a characteristic’, e.g. borun-jian (right_side-nominalization) ‘a right-handed person’
1 plural suffix for pronouns and kinship terms (out of a total of 2 such plural markers in Santa)
- -xie, e.g. gayijio-xie(-la) ‘younger brothers’
1 passive marker
- neyi- ‘passive’, e.g. bi gayi-se-ne (idun) neyi-wo ‘I was hit (one blow) by my brother’, ene kewon changbang pipin neyizhi wo ‘this boy is frequently being rebuked’.