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-aal and -eel

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The suffixes -aal /al/ and -eel /el/ are non-native, stress-bearing, cohering suffixes found in adjectives based on non-native nouns and roots, as found in muzikaal musical < muziek music, experimenteel experimental < experiment experiment. In cases such as banaal banal and reëel real there is no corresponding base noun: these forms are only formally complex. The suffixes are in (unpredictable) complementary distribution. The semantics of these suffixes is rather unspecific and can be described as related to base noun: a musical comedy is a comedy with music, whereas a musical child is a child with a talent for music.

There are various minor allomorphs, e.g. -icaal (as in nonsensicaal nonsensical < nonsens nonsense) and -ueel (as in tekstueel textual < tekst text). In other cases we find stem allomorphy in the derivations, e.g. in nationaal national < natie nation. Variants ending in /r/ (-aar and -air) occur after stems in /l/, e.g. familiaar familiar(ly), familiair familiar(ly). Some -aal and -eel formations also occur as nouns of common gender (e.g. crimineel criminal), and there are a few formations containing -aal and -eel that occur as nouns only, e.g. kwartaal quarter of a year, three month period and liniaal ruler, implement to draw straight lines.

Morphosyntactic properties
Productivity
Phonological properties
Inflectional properties
Morphological potential

[+]Morphosyntactic properties

The suffixes -aal /al/ and -eel /el/ are non-native suffixes found in adjectives derived from, or related to, non-native nouns (muzikaal musical is related to muziek music) and roots (e.g., there is no Dutch base noun corresponding to the adjective banaal banal). There are no forms on the basis of native stems. Etymologically related and expressing the same semantics, the suffixes are in complimentary distribution, although the exact mechanisms underlying the division of labor is unclear.

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Most formations in -eel or -aal have a corresponding form in another language (cf. infra); many of the Dutch forms may be loans. A possibility we did not find discussed in the literature is that the choice of the allomorph is related to the language from which the word was taken: in Latin and English it would be something that looks like -aal, French is more like -eel. There are a few double forms, e.g. potentieel potential (noun and adjective) vs. potentiaal potential (only a noun for many speakers).

Next to the forms -aal and -eel, there exist various minor allomorphs, e.g. -icaal (as in nonsensicaal nonsensical < nonsens nonsense) and -ueel (as in tekstueel textual < tekst text). In other cases we find stem allomorphy in the derivations, e.g. in nationaal national < natie nation and in regionaal regional < regio region (note that this same stem allomorph appears also in the alternative plural form regionen regions, but not in the standard plural regio's regions. There are also variants ending in /r/, viz., -aar and -air, that occur after stems in /l/, e.g. familiaar familiar(ly), familiair familiar(ly) (< familie family), nucleair nuclear (nucleus). Some -aal and -eel formations also occur as nouns of common gender (e.g. crimineel criminal), and there are a few formations containing -aal and -eel that occur as nouns only, e.g. kwartaal quarter of a year and liniaal ruler, implement to draw straight lines.

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Again, the choice of the allomorphs is to a large extent unpredictable, but note that the English translation often has a comparable form.

In derivation, certain edge processes may occur: stem-final vowels may be dropped (giraal giral < giro giro, money transfer, grammaticaal grammatical < grammatica grammar, piramidaal pyramidal < piramide pyramid), but do not have to (regionaal regional < regio region). Final /i/ is usually retained: serieel serial < serie series. If the base ends in schwa plus /r/, the schwa is omitted (kadastraal < kadaster, semestrieel < semester semester). If the vowel of the last syllable of the stem is ij /ɛi/ (historically long /i/), it becomes /i/ in the derivation: rabbinaal rabbinical < rabbijn rabbi.

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In De Haas & Trommelen (1993), a few more idiosyncratic changes in phonology and orthography of the stems (i.e., stem allomorphy) are mentioned, e.g. change of vowel quality in zonaal /zoˈnal/ zonal (< zone /ˈzɔnə/ zone) and raciaal /ˌrasiˈjal/ racial < ras /rɑs/), as well as vowel lengthening in open syllables: rectoraal, doctoraal (< rector, doctor).

The table below gives an overview of the allomorphs.

Table 1

Suffix	Derivation	Base
-aal	muzikaal musical	muziek music
-aal	banaal banal	cf. French banaleordinary (Etymologiebank)
-eel	experimenteel experimental	experiment experiment
-eel	fideel decent	cf. Latin fidestrust, faith (Etymologiebank)
-iaal	collegiaal fraternal, brotherly	collega colleague
-ieel	presidentieel presidential	president president
-icaal	nonsensicaal nonsensical	nonsens nonsense
-onaal	nationaal national	natie nation
-oneel	sensationeel sensational	sensatie sensation
-ueel	tekstueel textual	tekst text

extra

There are also a few formations containing -aal and -eel that occur as nouns only, e.g. kwartaal quarter of a year, three month period and liniaal ruler, implement to draw straight lines. Given that they are exceptional in referring to objects rather than persons, that their morphosyntactic properties are unpredictable (kwartaal is of common gender and has a plural in -en, lineaal is both of neuter and common gender, and has two plural forms, in -en and -s), and that new cases cannot be formed, it seems best to consider these cases as formally complex only.

For most nouns in -aal and -eel, such as koloniaal colonial and industrieel industrialist, an analysis in terms of conversion appears to be applicable, as there is a corresponding adjective. The pertinent nouns are of common gender and have a plural form in -en. The few comparable person-denoting nouns without such an adjectival counterpart (De Haas and Trommelen 1993: 227) are usually loans ((Van der Sijs 2010)), e.g. commensaal boarder, lodger (< ME Lat. commensaliseating at the same table; see Etymologiebank), rivaal rival (< Lat. rīvālissomeone who has or uses the same brook, neighbor, competitor in love via French rival(e)competitor in love; see Etymologiebank), vandaal vandal (< ME Lat. WandaliVandalen, name of a wandering German tribe famous for the plundering of Rome in 455 (Wikipedia) via Old French wandalethief, plunderer; see Etymologiebank), and bursaal grant holder, student with a grant (< ME Lat. bursalisrelated to the purse; see Etymologiebank).

There is another (small) group of person denoting nouns of common gender in -aal (taking the singular definite article de) that have a plural in -s, viz., words like admiraal admiralgeneraal general and korporaal corporal that refer to military ranks. They are loans from French; no new forms can be expected.

There is also a number of neuter object names in -aal (taking the singular definite article het), such as tribunaal tribunal, kwartaal quarter of a year, three month period, portaal portal, materiaal material, schandaal scandal ((De Haas and Trommelen 1993: 227), (Smessaert 2013: 48)), and a few in -eel such as differentieel differential and materieel material. Formally, these words may be complex, but they should probably be seen as complex loans, and not as part of Dutch morphology ((Van der Sijs 2010)). E.g., kwartaal three month period probably derives from ME Latin quartalefourth part (Etymologiebank), missaal missal from ME Latin missalisbelonging to the mass < missamass (Etymologiebank), materiaal and materieel ultimately from Latin māteriastuff, substance (Etymologiebank), portaal from Old French portal ‘(monumental) porch’ ), tribunaal via French from Latin tribūnustribune, Roman staff, head of a tribe’ (Etymologiebank), and schandaal from French scandaleoffense, occasion of sin, via Latin ultimately going back to New Testament Greek skándalontrap, obstacle, offense (Etymologiebank). The neuter words ideaal ideal, totaal total, doctoraal doctoral exam, doctoral diploma and moreel morale may be loans, or they may be cases of conversion of the homophonous adjectives (De Haas and Trommelen 1993).

lineaal ruler (also spelled lineaal) can be both of neuter and common gender. The etymology is unclear, but it is likely that the word is not the result of Dutch word formation (Etymologiebank).

Finally, there is a small number of object names of common gender in -aal (vocaal vowelinitiaal initialdecimaal decimalmoraal moralitydiagonaal diagonal), which may again be loans, or the result of conversion of the homophonous adjectives (De Haas and Trommelen 1993).

[+]Productivity

In the literature (e.g. De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 335) and ANS(Haeseryn et al. 1997)) derivation by means of -aal or -eel is considered to be productive.

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The notion of morphological productivity is a complex one (Baayen 2008). Philippa (2003-2009 s.v. liniaal) hold the opinion that -aal formation is not productive in German and Dutch. In any case, it is very difficult to coin new derivations in -aal or -eel (or their allomrphs): *computeriaal of *computerieel are impossible with the recent loan computer, nor can we make such formations on bases such as business, vakantie holiday (< Fr. vacances), competitie competition, prisma prism, auto car, syllabe syllable, oekaze ukase, dinosaurus dinosaur, or whatever (cf. also Affixes.org for a possible relationship with French and/or Latin word formation). It is therefore questionable whether the received opinion on -aal's and -eel's productivity can be maintained without further qualification.

The semantics of adjectives in -aal and -eel is completely parallel to what Bauer (2013: 314) say concerning the semantics of English suffixes like -al: "These are as close as affixes come in English to being purely transpositional, in the sense that they appear to add no specific meaning beyond what would be attributed to their categorial status as adjectives". Booij (2002: 108 ff) describes the semantic contribution of this type of affixes as nothing else but related to what is denoted by the base. "In the phrase een muzikale aanleg a musical disposition, a talent for music, the only function of the suffix -al is to express that there is a relation between the head of the NP, aanleg, and the base word of the adjective muzikaal, muziek music. In other words, this type of expression is an alternative to using the compound muziekaanleg lit. music disposition.

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Dutch has fourteen of such denominal relational adjectival suffixes (Heynderickx 2001; Booij 2002: 108, Table 3.5):

Table 2

Suffix	Example
-aal	muzik.aal talent musical talent
-air	atom.aire fysica nuclear physics
-eel	structur.ele analyse structural analysis
-en	zilver.en ring silver ring
-er	Edamm.er kaas Edam cheese
-ief	educat.ief verlof educational sabbatical leave
-iek	period.ieke controle regular check
-iel	civ.iel effect civil effect
-ig	toekomst.ige man husband to be
-isch	filosof.ische discussie philosophical debate
-lijk	vader.lijk gezag paternal authority
-ling	monde.ling examen oral exam
-oir	emancipat.oire activiteiten emancipatory activitities
-s	buitenland.se betrekkingen foreign relations
	Amerikaan.se regering American government

Due to their relational nature, these adjectives cannot be modified (by a degree adverb, comparative or superlative), nor can they be preceded by the negative prefix on- (instead, they can be preceded by niet- or non- because these latter prefixes do not assign a specific property ). Also, they cannot be followed by suffixes such as -achtig and -heid that denote qualities and hence attach to qualitative adjectives only, and [they do] not appear in predicative position, as shown here for the relational adjective presidentieel presidential:"

het presidentiële paleis

the presidential palace

*erg presidentiëel

very presidential

*presidentiel-er

more presidential

*presidenteel-st

most presidential

een niet-presidentieel paleis

a non-presidential palace

*een on-presidentieel paleis

an unpesidential palace

*presidentieel-achtig

presidential-ish

*presidentieel-heid

presidentiality

*dit paleis is presidentieel

this palace is presidential

Exceptions to the rule that relational adjectives do not appear in predicative position are their predicate use with a restrictive modifier, as in deze ziekte is viraal van aard these illness is viral in nature, and cases of contrastive use.

extra

Booij (2002: 109) notes that individual instances of relational adjectives may also function as qualitative adjectives that express a specific property. The adjective muzikaal, for instance, has the qualitative interpretation having musical talent, just like the English equivalent musical. The qualitative interpretation can also be obtained by type coercion: in the sentence zij ziet er zeer Amerikaans uit she looks very American, the degree adverb imposes a qualitative interpretation on the adjective, and hence it is going to mean typically American.

[+]Phonological properties

-aal /al/, -eel /el/ and their allomorphs are stress-bearing and cohering: the stress pattern of the base word is overridden in the derivation, and syllabification does not respect the morphological structure, witness muzikaal /my-zi-'kaal/ musical < muziek /my-'zik/ music.

[+]Inflectional properties

Adjectives in -aal and -eel show standard adjectival inflection (muzikale kinderen musical children, banale grappen banal jokes) . Often, there are no comparative or superlative forms because of the relational semantics, but they are possible under qualificational readings, e.g. dit kindje is muzikaler dan je verwacht this child.DIM is musical.COMP than you expect this child is more musical than one expects.

[+]Morphological potential

Formations in -aal can be the basis for nominalisations with the foreign suffix -iteit (muzikaliteit musicality < muzikaal musicality; mentaliteit mentality < mentaal mental) and verbalisations with -iseer (normaliseren to standardize < normaal normal). The same holds for a number of adjectives in -aal without a recognizable stem, such as banaal banal (> banaliteit banality, platitude, banaliseren to trivialize) and legaal legal (> legaliteit legality, legaliseren to legalize). Adjectives in -eel can also be the basis for nominalization with -iteit and verbalization with -iseer, but then -aal changes into -eel: crimineel criminal > criminaliteit criminality, criminaliseren criminalizer, actueel actual > actualiteit actuality, actualiseren to update. Formations in -aal can also be the basis for nominalisations with the suffix -isme: nationalisme, kapitalisme ,legalisme; the same holds for formations in -eel, but then we get -alisme rather than expected *-elisme: rationalisme rationalism < rationeel rational,realisme realism < reëel realistic. Native derivation, e.g. adjectivization with -achtig and nominalization with -heid of adjectives in -aal and -eel, is rare (but De Haas and Trommelen (1993) report punctueelheid punctuality and paradoxaalheid paradoxicality, and forms like radikaalheid radicality and crimineelheid can be found on the internet).

Various adjectives in -aal and -eel correspond to person-denoting nouns of the same form: provinciaal provincial, liberaal liberal, crimineel criminal, industrieel industrial. De Haas and Trommelen (1993) suggest these are cases of conversion. These nouns are of common gender, taking the definite singular article de, and have a plural in -en. Most personal nouns in -aal or -eel lack a morphologically marked feminine counterpart; rivale rival.e female rival is an exception.

References

Baayen, R. Harald2008Corpus linguistics in morphology: morphological productivityLüdeling, Anke, Kyto, M. & McEnery, T. (eds.)Handbook of corpus linguisticsBerlinDe Gruyter
Bauer, Laurie, Lieber, Rochelle & Plag, Ingo2013The Oxford Reference Guide to English MorphologyOxford University Press
Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
Booij, Geert2002The morphology of DutchOxfordOxford University Press
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
Heynderickx, Priscilla2001Relationele adjectieven in het NederlandsAntwerpenLessius Hogeschool
Philippa, Marlies, Debrabandere, Frans, Quak, Arend, Schoonheim, Tanneke & Sijs, Nicoline van der2003-2009Etymologisch Woordenboek van het NederlandsAmsterdam University Press
Sijs, Nicoline van der2010Etymologiebank, http://etymologiebank.nl/
Sijs, Nicoline van der2010Etymologiebank, http://etymologiebank.nl/
Smessaert, Hans2013Basisbegrippen morfologieBasisbegrippen taalkundeLeuven/Den HaagACCO

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About this article

Author(s): Ton van der Wouden, Geert Booij

Category: Dutch Morphology

Keywords: suffixderivationadjectivenounnon-native

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

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

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