Frequentative
Encyclopedia
In grammar
, a frequentative form' (abbreviated or ) of a word is one which indicates repeated action. The frequentative form can be considered a separate, but not completely independent word, called a frequentative. English frequentative is no longer productive
, but in some languages, such as Finnish
or Lithuanian
, it is.
-er as suffix
es. Some frequentative verbs surviving in English
and their parent verbs are listed below. Additionally, some frequentative verbs are formed by reduplication
of a monosyllable (e.g., English coo-cooing, Latin
murmur). Frequentative nouns are often formed by combining two different vowel grades
of the same word (as in teeter-totter, pitter-patter, chitchat, etc.)
, a frequentative verb
signifies a single action repeated, "around the place" both spatially and temporally. The complete translation would be "go — around aimlessly". There is a large array of different frequentatives, indicated by lexical agglutinative markers. In general, one frequentative is -:i-, and another -ele-, but it is almost always combined with something else. Some forms:
There are several frequentative morphemes, underlined above; these are affected by consonant gradation
as indicated. Their meanings are slightly different; see the list, arranged infinitive~personal:
Frequentatives may be combined with momentane
s, that is, to indicate the repetition of a short, sudden action. The momentane -ahta- can be prefixed with the frequentative -ele- to produce the morpheme -ahtele-, as in täristä "to shake (continuously)" → tärähtää "to shake suddenly once" → tärähdellä "to shake, such that a single, sudden shaking is repeated". For example, the contrast between these is that ground shakes (maa tärisee) continuously when a large truck goes by, the ground shakes once (maa tärähtää) when a cannon fires, and the ground shakes suddenly but repeatedly (maa tärähtelee) when a battery of cannons is firing.
Since the frequentative is a lexical, not a grammatical contrast, considerable semantic drift may have occurred.
For a list of different real and hypothetical forms, see: http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/~lcarlson/02-03/ctl104/ctl104h03facit.html.
Loanword
s are put into the frequentative form, if the action is such. If the action can be nothing else but frequentative, the "basic form" doesn't even exist, such as with "to go shopping".
That's also the case with an adjective: iso — isotella "big — to talk big", or feikkailla < English fake "to be fake, blatantly and consistently".
, the past iterative or frequentative signifies a single action repeated in the past.
The past iterative does not exist in Latvian
and its construction is different in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian.
It is created from the infinitive
without the infinitive suffix -ti + dav + suffix for frequentative.
For example:
stem with -tāre/-sāre, -itāre, -titāre/-sitāre added.
Notice also deponent frequentatives -
minitari (+ dative) (
and Herodotus
, there is a past frequentative, usually called past iterative, formed like the imperfect, but with an additional -sk- suffix before the endings. "I used to have" (imperfect ékh-on)
The same suffix is used in inchoative verb
s in both Ancient Greek
and Latin
.
, the frequentative form of verbs to denote a repeated or customary action is produced by inserting the suffix -ив/-ыв, often accompanied with a change in the root
of the word (vowel alternation, change of the last root consonant).
also has a similar form. The 'helping verbs' ( 'yardımcı eylem' / 'yardımcı fiil' ) are used as suffixes to denote ability ( '-ebilmek' ), close miss (narrow escape) situation ('-eyazmak'), and repetition ('-egelmek').
For other helping verbs, see Helping verbs section under Turkish grammar.
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, a frequentative form' (abbreviated or ) of a word is one which indicates repeated action. The frequentative form can be considered a separate, but not completely independent word, called a frequentative. English frequentative is no longer productive
Productivity (linguistics)
In linguistics, productivity is the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation. Since use to produce novel structures is the clearest proof of usage of a grammatical process, the evidence most often appealed to as establishing productivity is...
, but in some languages, such as Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
or Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, it is.
English
English has -le and geminateGemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
-er as suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es. Some frequentative verbs surviving in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and their parent verbs are listed below. Additionally, some frequentative verbs are formed by reduplication
Reduplication
Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
of a monosyllable (e.g., English coo-cooing, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
murmur). Frequentative nouns are often formed by combining two different vowel grades
Apophony
In linguistics, apophony is the alternation of sounds within a word that indicates grammatical information .-Description:Apophony is...
of the same word (as in teeter-totter, pitter-patter, chitchat, etc.)
| frequentative | original |
|---|---|
| batter | bat |
| blabber | blab |
| bobble | bob |
| burble | burp |
| chuckle | - |
| crackle | crack |
| crumble | crumb |
| curdle | curd |
| dabble | dab |
| dribble | drip |
| dazzle | daze |
| flicker | flick |
| flitter | flit |
| flutter | float |
| fondle | fond |
| gobble | gob |
| gruntle | grunt |
| haggle | hag = hew, hack |
| jiggle | jig |
| jostle | joust |
| muddle | mud |
| nestle | nest |
| patter | pat |
| piddle | piss |
| prattle | prate |
| prickle | prick |
| pucker | pock, poke |
| scuffle | scuff |
| scuttle | scud |
| slither | slide |
| sniffle | sniff |
| snuggle | snug |
| spackle | speck |
| sparkle | spark |
| speckle | speck |
| straddle | stride |
| swaddle | swathe |
| tickle | tick |
| topple | top |
| trample | tramp |
| waddle | wade |
| waggle | wag |
| wiggle | wag |
| wrestle | wrest |
Finnish
In FinnishFinnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, a frequentative verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
signifies a single action repeated, "around the place" both spatially and temporally. The complete translation would be "go — around aimlessly". There is a large array of different frequentatives, indicated by lexical agglutinative markers. In general, one frequentative is -:i-, and another -ele-, but it is almost always combined with something else. Some forms:
- sataa — sadella — satelee "to rain — to rain occasionally — it rains occasionally"
- ampua — ammuskella — ammuskelen "to shoot — go shooting around — I go shooting around"
- juosta — juoksennella — juoksentelen "to run — to run around (to and fro) — I run around"
- kirjoittaa — kirjoitella — kirjoittelen "to write — to write (something short) occasionally — I write "around""
- järjestää — järjestellä — järjestelen "to put in order — to arrange continuously, to play around — I play around (with them) in order to put them in order"
- heittää — heittelehtiä — heittelehdit "to throw — to swerve — you swerve"
- loikata — loikkia — loikin "to jump once — to jump (again and again) — I jump (again and again)"
- istua — istuksia — istuksit "to sit — to sit (randomly somewhere), loiter — you loiter there by sitting"
There are several frequentative morphemes, underlined above; these are affected by consonant gradation
Consonant gradation
Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation, in which consonants alternate between various "grades". It is found in some Uralic languages such as Finnish, Estonian, Northern Sámi, and the Samoyed language Nganasan. In addition, it has been reconstructed for Proto-Germanic, the parent...
as indicated. Their meanings are slightly different; see the list, arranged infinitive~personal:
- -ella~-ele-: bare frequentative.
- -skella~-skele-: frequentative unergative verbUnergative verbAn unergative verb is an intransitive verb distinguished semantically by having an agent subject. For example, in English, run, talk and resign are unergative verbs ....
, where the action is wanton (arbitrary) - -stella~-stele-: frequentative causativeCausativeIn linguistics, a causative is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event....
, where the subject causes something indicated in the root, as "order" vs. "to continuously try to put something in order". - -nnella~-ntele-: a frequentative, where an actor is required. The marker -nt- indicates a continuing effort, therefore -ntele- indicates a series of such efforts.
- -elehtia~-elehdi-: movement that is random and compulsive, as in under pain, e.g. vääntelehtiä "writhe in pain", or heittelehtiä "to swerve"
- -:ia-~-i-: a continuing action definitely at a point in time, where the action or effort is repeated.
- -ksia~-ksi-: same as -i-, but wanton, cf. -skella
Frequentatives may be combined with momentane
Momentane
In Finnish grammar, the momentane is a verb aspect indicating that an occurrence is sudden and short-lived.Finnish has a number of momentane markers; they differ in the valency and voice of the verbs they produce, but all indicate sudden, short-lived occurrences; for example, the verb ammahtaa is...
s, that is, to indicate the repetition of a short, sudden action. The momentane -ahta- can be prefixed with the frequentative -ele- to produce the morpheme -ahtele-, as in täristä "to shake (continuously)" → tärähtää "to shake suddenly once" → tärähdellä "to shake, such that a single, sudden shaking is repeated". For example, the contrast between these is that ground shakes (maa tärisee) continuously when a large truck goes by, the ground shakes once (maa tärähtää) when a cannon fires, and the ground shakes suddenly but repeatedly (maa tärähtelee) when a battery of cannons is firing.
Since the frequentative is a lexical, not a grammatical contrast, considerable semantic drift may have occurred.
For a list of different real and hypothetical forms, see: http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/~lcarlson/02-03/ctl104/ctl104h03facit.html.
Loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s are put into the frequentative form, if the action is such. If the action can be nothing else but frequentative, the "basic form" doesn't even exist, such as with "to go shopping".
- surfata — surfailla "to surf — to surf (around in the net)"
- *shopata — shoppailla "*to shop once (impossible) — to go shopping"
That's also the case with an adjective: iso — isotella "big — to talk big", or feikkailla < English fake "to be fake, blatantly and consistently".
Lithuanian
In LithuanianLithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, the past iterative or frequentative signifies a single action repeated in the past.
The past iterative does not exist in Latvian
Latvian language
Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language...
and its construction is different in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian.
It is created from the infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
without the infinitive suffix -ti + dav + suffix for frequentative.
For example:
- dirbti — dirbau — dirbdavau "to work — to work occasionally — to work regularly (repeated action in the past)"
| dirbti = to work | norėti = to want | skaityti = to read | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. sg. | dirb-dav-au | norė-dav-au | skaity-dav-au |
| 2. sg. | dirb-dav-ai | norė-dav-ai | skaity-dav-ai |
| 3. sg. | dirb-dav-o | norė-dav-o | skaity-dav-o |
| 1. pl. | dirb-dav-ome | norė-dav-ome | skaity-dav-ome |
| 2. pl. | dirb-dav-ote | norė-dav-ote | skaity-dav-ote |
| 3. pl | dirb-dav-o | norė-dav-o | skaity-dav-o |
Latin
In Latin, frequentative verbs show repeated or intense action. They are formed from the supineSupine
In grammar a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages.-In Latin:In Latin there are two supines, I and II . They are originally the accusative and dative or ablative forms of a verbal noun in the fourth declension, respectively. The first supine ends in -um. It has two uses. The first...
stem with -tāre/-sāre, -itāre, -titāre/-sitāre added.
- ventitāre, 'come frequently or repeatedly' (< venio, 'come'; see Catullus 8, l. 4)
- cantāre, '(continue to) sing' (< canere, 'sing a song')
- cursāre, 'run around' (< currere, 'run')
- dictāre, 'dictate' (< dīcere, 'speak, say')
- āctitāre, 'zealously agitate' and agitāre, 'put into motion' (< agere, 'do, drive')
- pulsāre, 'push/beat around' (< pellere, 'push (once), beat')
- iactāre, 'shake, disturb'(< iacio, 'throw, cast')
Notice also deponent frequentatives -
minitari (+ dative) (
Greek
In HomerHomer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, there is a past frequentative, usually called past iterative, formed like the imperfect, but with an additional -sk- suffix before the endings. "I used to have" (imperfect ékh-on)
The same suffix is used in inchoative verb
Inchoative verb
An inchoative verb, sometimes called an "inceptive" verb, shows a process of beginning or becoming. Productive inchoative infixes exist in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek, and consequently some Romance languages. Not all verbs with inchoative infixes have retained their...
s in both Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
.
Russian
In the Russian languageRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, the frequentative form of verbs to denote a repeated or customary action is produced by inserting the suffix -ив/-ыв, often accompanied with a change in the root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
of the word (vowel alternation, change of the last root consonant).
- видеть (to see) → видывать (to see repeatedly)
- сидеть (to sit) → сиживать
- ходить (to walk) → хаживать
- носить (to wear) → нашивать
- гладить (to stroke) → поглаживать
- писать (to write) → пописывать
- An interesting example is with the word брать (to take); an archaic usage recorded among hunters, normally used in the past tense, in hunter's boasting: бирал, бирывал meaning "used to take (quite a few) trophies".
Turkish
TurkishTurkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
also has a similar form. The 'helping verbs' ( 'yardımcı eylem' / 'yardımcı fiil' ) are used as suffixes to denote ability ( '-ebilmek' ), close miss (narrow escape) situation ('-eyazmak'), and repetition ('-egelmek').
- anlat- (to recite) → anlatagelmek (to be reciting repetitively.)
For other helping verbs, see Helping verbs section under Turkish grammar.