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-mannich

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The unproductive suffix -mannich derives neuter nouns on the basis of nouns. Examples are deimannich couple of days (from dei day) and metermannich couple of meters (from meter meter). The suffix -mannich adds the meaning couple of. Most of the times, the base form is a noun that indicates a measure, although other bases are possible as well: boekmannich couple of books. The indefinite article in is part of these formations, i.e. we have in deimannich instead of bare deimannich.

General input and restrictions
-mannich and articles
The origin of -mannich
Phonological properties
Use

[+]General input and restrictions

The suffix -mannich can be seen as a grammaticalization of the indefinite numeralmannich, which means a couple of or several. The suffix only has the former meaning, i.e. 'a couple of'. The list of derivations with -mannich is limited. Examples are given in the table below:

Table 1

Base form	Derivations
dei day	deimannich couple of days
gûne guilder	gûnemannich couple of guilders
jier year	jiermannich couple of years
kear time	kearmannich couple of times
meter meter	metermannich couple of meters
minút minute	minútmannich couple of minutes
oere hour	oeremannich couple of hours
pûn pound	pûnmannich couple of pounds
reis journey	reismannich couple of times
stap step	stapmannich couple of steps
stik piece	stikmannich couple of
tel moment, second	telmannich couple of seconds
wike week	wykmannich couple of weeks
wurd word	wurdmannich couple of words

The base form is often a noun that indicates a measure of time, distance, weight, etc., but other nominal bases are also possible to certain extent:

Ik haw in boekmannich op 'e planke stean

I have a book-many on.the shelf stay

I've got a couple of books on the shelf

Ik haw in famkemannich op it feest troffen

I have a girl-many on the party met

I've met a couple of girls on the party

There are a few input restrictions, mentioned by Hoekstra (1992:83-84). Firstly, a noun ending in -mannich cannot be preceded by an adjective:

*Ik haw in spannend boekmannich op 'e planke stean

I have an exciting book-many on.the shelf stay

I've got a couple of adventure books on the shelf

*Ik haw in tsjep famkemannich op it feest troffen

I have a handsome girl-many on the party met

I've met a couple of handsome girls at the party

Secondly, a sentence in which the noun is followed by a complement is not allowed. An example of such an ungrammatical sentence is given in (a) below. The solution is to put the word ending in -mannich before the complement, as can be seen in (b):

*Ik seach in famke mei blauwe eagen mannich

I saw a girl with blue eyes many

I saw a couple of girls with blue eyes

Ik seach in famkemannich mei blauwe eagen

I saw a girl-many with blue eyes

I saw a couple of girls with blue eyes

If the base noun indicates a measure, like kroade barrow in (4a) below and hûndert a hundred in (4b), the complement also has to be moved to the right-hand side of the derivation with -mannich:

a.	*Ik brocht in kroade dong mannich fuort
	I brought a barrow dung many away
	I took away a barrow of dung

a.'	Ik brocht in kroademannich dong fuort
	I brought a barrow-many dung away
	I took away a barrow of dung

b.	*Der stienen in hûndert kij mannich yn it lân
	there stood a hundred cows many in the land
	A few hundred cows stood in the meadow

b.'	Der stienen in hûndertmannich kij yn it lân
	there stood a hundred-many cows in the land
	A few hundred cows stood in the meadow

[+]-mannich and articles

Most of the times, the formation with -mannich is used in combination with the indefinite article in a(n). According to Hoekstra (1998:89), it is probably best to see in rather as an extension of the base than as an article, since the construction cannot exist without it:

Wy hawwe in deimannich fuort west

we have a day-many away been

We've been away some days

Wy hawwe *deimannich fuort west

we have day-many away been

We've been away some days

Alternatively, we could consider this as an example of construction-dependent morphology, as the indefinite article forms part of the nominal construction.

However, we can evoke a definite article by attaching a complement, as in

It deimannich dat ik fuort west haw

the.N day-many that.N I away been have

The couple of days that I have been out

We then see that derivations with -mannich have neuter gender, determined by the suffix. In the example above, the base dei day.C day has common gender, which is overridden by the gender of the suffix.

[+]The origin of -mannich

The suffix -mannich originates from the expression in {noun} of {numeral} a {noun} of {numeral}. An example is in dei of trije a day of three about three days (see also The construction in N of Num. In older Frisian, the numeral in this construction could also be represented by mannich, as can be seen in the following quotation:

Och, scipper, hie ik mar in stik of mannich fen dy scepsels...

Oh, skipper, had I PRT a piece of many of those creatures

O skipper, if I only had a couple of those creatures...

Later on, the small word of of got elided, and in this way nouns in -mannich came into existence.

extra

A related construction

From the same expression in {noun} of {numeral} the deletion of of also occurred before the numerals twa two, trije three, oardeheal one-and-a-half and treddeheal two-and-a-half, as can be seen in the examples below:

in deitwa

a day.two

a couple of days

in wyktrije

a week.three

a couple of weeks

in wurd oardeheal

a word other.half

a couple of words

in gûne treddeheal

a guilder third.half

a couple of guilders

Higher numbers are excluded, however, cf. *in deitsien a day-ten about ten days. More information on this pattern can be found in the topic Nnum.

It would be questionable to consider elements such as twa etc. as suffixes, as in this case the gender of the construction depends on the gender of the measure noun: de deitwa vs. it jiertwa, in keeping with the gender contrast between dei day.C and jier year.N. Derivations with -mannich are always neuter; the gender is determined by the suffix. Moreover, in contrast to -mannich, where of of cannot be added anymore (*in stik of mannich a couple of), the construction in dei of twa a couple of days is even more common in everyday language than in deitwa.

More information about the construction in {noun} (of) {numeral} can be found in the construction in N of Num.

[+]Phonological properties

The suffix -mannich does not alter the stress pattern of the base form: DEI day > DEImannich couple of days and minÚT minute > minÚTmannich a couple of minutes. In most cases, there are no extra phonological shifts either: the suffix can just be added to the base form, as in gûne [ɡunə] guilder > gûnemannich [ɡunəmɔnəx] couple of guilders. However, in wykmannich couple of weeks the final schwa of the base form wike [vikə] week has been dropped.

[+]Use

Formations with bases that are not measure nouns tend to become restricted to the written language nowadays. However, they can easily be replaced by another derivation with -mannich, i.e. stikmannich. Hence, instead of in boekmannich a couple of books we then get in stikmannich boeken a couple of books. This derivation with the semantically 'empty' base noun stik piece actually functions as an indefinite numeral: in stikmannich beammen a couple of trees, in stikmannich gebouwen a couple of buildings, etcetera. However, for many speakers also in stikmannich will be rather archaic. For them, it would be more common to use the connected construction in stik of wat {noun} a piece or what a couple of, as in in stik of wat boeken a couple of books.

extra

Literature

This topic is primarily based on Hoekstra (1998:88-89) and Popkema (2006:114 and 181). A detailed treatment of the construction in {N} of {Num} and its derivatives can be found in Hoekstra (1992:83-87).

References

Hoekstra, Jarich1992In dei of trije : tusken leksikon en syntaksisPhilologia Frisica anno 1990, Fryske Akademy63-89
Hoekstra, Jarich1992In dei of trije : tusken leksikon en syntaksisPhilologia Frisica anno 1990, Fryske Akademy63-89
Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
Popkema, Jan2006Grammatica FriesUtrecht/ LjouwertUitgeverij Het Spectrum BV Prisma Woordenboeken en Taaluitgaven/ Fryske Akademy

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About this article

Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Truus de Vries

Category: Frisian Morphology

Keywords: suffixnoungrammaticalizationconstruction dependent morphology

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