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-sel

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–sel is a Germanic deverbal suffix, the only suffix in Dutch that specifically makes names for inanimate entities, primarily for the effected objects of transitive verbs, e.g. bedenksel idea from the verb bedenken to think. With intransitive (ergative) verbs that express a change, -sel formations function as subject names, e.g. aanslibsel deposit from the verb aanslibben deposit. The unifying qualification for these two uses of -sel-nouns is 'Theme name'. All -sel nouns have neuter gender, even nouns that denote humans and other animate beings such as schepsel creature. New formations with -sel are rare, and often have a pejorative meaning.

The suffix -sel [səl] is a Germanic, nominalising deverbal suffix, the only suffix in Dutch that specifically makes inanimate entities, primarily for the effected objects of transitive verbs (Taeldeman 1990), e.g. bedenksel idea from the verb bedenken to think. With intransitive (ergative) verbs that express a change, -sel formations function as subject names, e.g. aanslibsel deposit from the verb aanslibben deposit. The unifying qualification for these two uses of -sel-nouns is 'Theme name' since both the subjects of such intransitive verbs and the objects of transitive verbs bear the Theme role(Booij 1986). Most -sel nouns have neuter gender, even nouns such as schepsel creature that denote humans and other animate beings; deksel lid (< dekken to cover) is an exception that occurs both as neuter an non-neuter noun (ANS), the non-neuter use being a recent development (onzetaal); individual speakers may have stong preferences for one or the other option, and various compounds with deksel as a right-hand head are of neuter gender (e.g. hoofddeksel headgear).

-sel exhibits polysemy: it can also be used for deriving instrument nouns, e.g. voedsel food from the verb voeden to feed and, incidentally, personal nouns such as schepsel creature from the verb scheppen to create and onderkruipsel titch, shorty from the complex verb onderkruipen to creep under. The table below gives an overview.

Table 1

verb	type of verb	-sel formation	function of formation
aanhang-en to append	transitive	aanhang-sel appendix	object name
bedenk-en to think	transitive	bedenk-sel idea	object name
bouw-en to build	transitive	bouw-sel structure	object name
schepp-en to create	transitive	schep-sel creature	object name
aanslibb-en to deposit	intransitive (ergative)	aanslib-sel deposit	subject name
uitvloei-en to flow out	intransitive (ergative)	uitvloei-sel consequence	subject name
stijv-en to starch	transitive	stijf-sel starch	subject/instrument name
voed-en to feed	transitive	voed-sel food	subject/instrument name
wit-ten to white-wash	transitive	wit-sel whitewash	subject/instrument name

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In Smessaert (2013: 50) the various meaning possibilities of -sel are called Patient (e.g. baksel (the product of) baking (< bakken to bake), Theme (e.g. overblijfsel rest < overblijven to stay) and Instrument (e.g. voedsel food < voeden to feed).

In object names, the meaning is usually resultative (e.g. bedenk-sel idea, i.e. that which has been thought), but raad-sel riddle, i.e. that which has to be guessed <raden to guess is not.

Quite a number of -sel derivations have developed a semantics that is not completely transparent, e.g. verschijnsel phenomenon < verschijnen to appear and weefsel tissue < weven to weave, schoeisel footwear (schoeien to shoe), vormsel (religious (esp. catholic) confirmation, and misbaksel mostrosity (< mis bakken to bake wrongly).

Phonological properties: the suffix is unstressed (due to the schwa) and does not influence the stress pattern of the base word. Stem-final stops are devoiced before -sel: voedsel /'vut.səl/ food from the verb voeden /vu.dən/ feed.

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As syllabification respects the morphological boundary (schraap-sel scrapings < schrapen to scrape rather than *schraa-psel), one might be inclined to view -sel as a cohering suffix; other syllabifications are, however, often impossible as they would yield impossible onsets such as /ks/ and /ps/. Zwarts (1975) argues that devoicing is because of the fact that processes such as -sel affixation are ordered after final devoicing; Booij (p.c.) suggests that devoicing may also be the result of syllable structure, which would make Zwarts's rule ordering unnecessary.

In the form hengsel handle < hangen to hang, vowel change has occurred; in afsnijsel cutting < afsnijden to cut off the /d/ is lost.

Phonological restrictions: the suffix -sel occurs after liquids and dental consonants, after labial and velar consonants, and after vowels and semi-vowels (Zwarts 1975). -sel, however, does not occur after verbal stems that end in voiceless fricatives (s, f) (*eis-sel < eis-en to demand, *besef-sel < besef-en to realize) or in a syllable with schwa (*teken-sel < teken-en to draw, *predik-sel < predik-en to preach).

Syntactic properties: nominalizations in -sel do in general not inherit the argument structure of the input verb: -sel formations typically do not have an Agent slot and even if the base verb is subcategorized for a fixed preposition, the -sel derivation is not (Knopper 1984).

Morphological potential: -sel derivations with a countable meaning have a plural form, usually in -s (aanhang-sel-s appendices), occasionally in -en. If both plural variants exist, the form in -en is usually more abstract, belongs to a higher style or register, refers to humans only, or something along these lines, e.g. overblijfsels left-overs vs overblijfselen human remains. -sel formations occur easily in nominal compounds, both as left-hand part (e.g. beginselverklaring principle-declaration statement of principles) (usually without a link morpheme) and as right-hand part (e.g. geloofsbeginsel faith-s-principle principle of faith). -sel derivations can also be input for diminutive formation (e.g. raad-sel-tje small/simple riddle <raden to guess), and other derivations (e.g. raad-sel-achtig-heid guess-SUFF-SUFF-SUFF the property of being riddle-like, mysteriousness.

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Occasionally, deverbal -sel nouns can be verbalized. A case in point is hakselen to shred in which haksel chaff (<hakken to chop). This verb in turn can be nominalized into hakselaar shredder, machine to cut branches and tree trunks into wood chips.

The suffix is not very productive; new formations with -sel tend to have a depreciating connotation: brouwsel concoction (< brouwen to brew), schrijfsel writing product (< schrijven to write) (see Etymologiebank).

References

Booij, Geert1986Form and meaning in morphology: the case of Dutch 'agent nouns'Linguistics24503-518
Knopper, Rob1984On the morphology of ergative verbs and the polyfunctionality principleBennis, Hans & Lessen Kloeke, W.U.S. van (eds.)Linguistics in the Netherlands 1984DordrechtForis Publications119-127
Smessaert, Hans2013Basisbegrippen morfologieBasisbegrippen taalkundeLeuven/Den HaagACCO
Taeldeman, Johan1990Afleidingen op -sel: semantiek, produktiviteit en integratie in een globale verantwoording van deverbatieve nominaBetekenis en produktiviteit. Gentse bijdragen tot de studie van de Nederlandse woordvormingStudia Germania Gandensia19GentSeminarie voor Duitse taalkunde, Universiteit Gent77-115
Zwarts, Frans1975-aar, -arij, -sel en -teTABU69-23

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About this article

Author(s): Ton van der Wouden

Category: Dutch Morphology

Keywords: derivationsuffixnominalisationobject noun

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Ton van der Wouden	December 2015

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