Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian affixes in Albanian

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Xhuvani and Çabej (1962), Demiraj (1988:122–123), Svane (1992:290), Orel (1998), Boretzky (2004:1647), and Johanna Nichols (personal communication 14.7.2011). Examples were compiled by Lisa Morgenroth, some additional translation by Suzana Dibrani.

5 gender or declension class differentiated suffixes that form masculine nouns and adjectives

  • -ac ［ats］ ‘adjectivizer’ (Boretzky 2004:1647; Demiraj 1988:122), e.g. sqepac ‘beak-shaped’ (from sqep ‘beak’), thumbac ‘metal tip of a goad’ (from thumb ‘thorn’), dorac ‘one-handed’ (from dorë ‘hand’)
  • -aç ［atʃ］ ‘nominal derivation’ (Boretzky 2004:1647; Svane 1992:290), e.g. biraç ‘wall niche next to the hearth’ (from birë ‘hole’), gjembaç ‘thistle, sharp spine’ (from gjemb ‘thorn’), kungullaç ‘unripe, immature’ (from kungull ‘marrow, pumpkin, bottle’)
  • -ak ［ak］ ‘nominal derivation’ (Boretzky 2004:1647), e.g. dorak ‘handle’ (from dorë ‘hand’), fytak ‘small wooden jug with a spout’ (from fyt ‘throat, gullet’), pishak ‘thick pine tree, stump’ (from pishë ‘pine’)
  • -ash ‘adjectivizer’ (Demiraj 1988:122), e.g. buzash ‘lips’ (from buzë ‘end, edge’), gjumash ‘sleepy’ (from gjumë ‘sleep’), jargash ‘slobbering, drooling’ (from jargë ‘spit, phlegm’), kromash ‘scabious’ (from kromë ‘scabies, dogrose’)
  • -avec ‘agent nominalizer’ (Demiraj 1988:122), e.g. jargavec ‘slug, slobbering’ (from jargë ‘spit, phlegm’), ligavec ‘slug, sniveling coward’ (from lig ‘evil, cowardly’), qullavec ‘person who is slow and clumsy’ (from qull ‘porridge, get soaked, soggy’)

3 gender or declension class differentiated suffixes that form masculine (-ik) and feminine (-itsə) nouns and adjectives

  • -icë ［itsə］ ‘nominal derivation’ (Boretzky 2004:1647; Svane 1992:290; Demiraj 1988:123), e.g. petkicë ‘small sized garment’ (from petk ‘clothes’), tulicë ‘tender meat’ (from tul ‘meat, flesh’), balticë ‘ground that gets muddy quickly’ (from baltë ‘swamp, dirt’)
  • -içë ‘nominal derivation or adjectivizer’, e.g. hardhiçë ‘wall lizard’ (from hardhucë ‘lizard’), barkiç ‘potbellied’ (from bark ‘belly, abdomen’), guriçkë ‘small rock’ (from gur ‘stone, rock’)
  • -ik ［ik］ ‘nominal derivation or adjectivizer’ (Boretzky 2004:1647), e.g. balik ‘animal with white spotted face or body’ (from balë ‘badger’), baltik ‘muddy, marshy’ (from baltë ‘swamp, dirt’), çapik ‘impudent, saucy’ (from çap ‘to chew’)

2 gender or declension class differentiated affixes that form masculine (-iʃtə) and feminine (-inə) nouns, often having to do with locations

  • -inë ［inə］ ‘location noun derivation’ (Boretzky 2004:1647; Svane 1992:290; Demiraj 1988:123), e.g. baltinë ‘muddy ground’ (from baltë ‘swamp, dirt’), botinë ‘swampland’ (from botë ‘earth, world’), djerrinë ‘wilderness, fallow land’ (from djerr ‘to destroy’)
  • -ishtë ［iʃtə］ ‘location noun derivation’ (Boretzky 2004:1647; Svane 1992:290; Demiraj 1988:123), e.g. ahishtë ‘beech forest’ (from ah ‘beech-tree’), arrishtë ‘walnut grove’ (from arrë ‘walnut tree’), baltishtë ‘ground that gets muddy quickly’ (from baltë ‘swamp, dirt’)

3 other nominal suffixes

  • -nik ‘nominal derivation’ (Svane 1992:290; Demiraj 1988:123), e.g. danik ‘special purpose room’ (from daj ‘to divide’), drithnik ‘granary’ (from drithë ‘grain’), kohënik ‘contemporary’ (from kohë ‘time’)
  • -kë ‘nominal derivation’ (Svane 1992:290), e.g. vickë ‘perverseness’ (from vithe ‘crupper, ramp’), veshkë ‘kidney’ (from vesh ‘ear, vine’)
  • -ar ‘nominal derivation’ (Xhuvani and Çabej 1962:18), e.g. grunar ‘granary’ (from grunë ‘wheat’), lumare ‘riverbanks’ (from lumë ‘river’)

1 verbalizer

  • -it (Demiraj 1988:123), e.g. djersit ‘to sweat’ (from djersë ‘perspiration’), shoshit ‘to sift, screen, scan’ (from shosh ‘to sift’)