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    -ief
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    -ief /iv/ is a stress-bearing cohering non-native suffix found in adjectives and nouns based on non-native stems and bound forms. The adjectival semantics is relational (e.g. explosief explosive). Most nouns in -ief appear to be cases of conversion and denote something that is A. Most nouns in -ief are of neuter gender, but common gender occurs as well. Adjectives in -ief show standard adjectival inflection (explosieve stoffen explosive.e substances), nouns have a plural in -en (explosieven explosives).

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    [+]General information

    -ief /iv/ is a stress-bearing cohering non-native suffix. It is found in adjectives and nouns based on non-native stems and bound forms.

    [+]Adjectives

    The suffix -ief is found in adjectives, based on non-native bound forms, that often correspond to nouns ending in non-stress-bearing -ie: explosief explosive (cf. explosie explosion), informatief informative (cf. informatie information). Other forms relate to other types of nouns (e.g. abortief abortive cf. abortus abortion, ultimatief ultimative cf. ultimatum ultimatum) or to none at all (e.g. naïef naive). According to De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 338), the process is productive. Occasionally the base is a noun, e.g. in instinctief instinctive (< instinct) and sportief sportsmanlike (< sport). The semantics of adjectives in -ief is often relational, i.e., rather vague related to the base(Booij 2002: 108).

    Adjectives in -ief show standard adjectival inflection: een naïeve jongen a naive boy. When semantically appropriate, comparative (deze jongen is nog naïever this boy is even more naive) and superlative forms (maar dit is the naïefste but this one is the most naive) are possible.

    Adjectives in -ief can be input to further derivation: abstract nouns can be formed with the native suffix -heid (passiefheid passivity) and (more often) non-native -iteit (passiviteit passivity), agentive nouns can be constructed with -ist (activist activist, recidivist recidivist), abstract nouns can be formed with -isme (activisme activism), and occasionally a new causative verb is formed with the suffix -eerrelativeren to relativize.

    [+]Nouns

    Noun formation with -ief is less productive than adjective formation; many cases seem to involve conversion of the pertinent adjective. De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 362-3) distinguish two groups of nouns in -ief: neuter nouns such as explosief explosive and nouns of common gender such as occlusief occlusive. For formations of the first group, the semantics of the suffix is hard to characterize: De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 362) mention the semantic subgroups drug (e.g. laxatief laxative and preservatief condom), photographic equipment (e.g. statief tripod, objectief lens) and collective (e.g. collectief collective, massief massif). The common nouns in -ief usually belong to the terminology of linguistics, e.g. fricatief fricative and optatief optative.

    All nouns in -ief have a plural form in -en: preservatieven condoms, statieven tripods, occlusieven occlusives. Nouns in -ief can be basis for diminutive formation with -je (statiefje small tripod) and enter easily into compounding, both as a right-hand part (overheidsinitiatief initiative taken by the government) and as a left-hand one (initiatiefwetsontwerp private member's bill).

    [+]Allomorphs

    Sometimes there appears to be extra material between the bound form and the suffix, e.g. in facultatief optional, sensitief sensitive and directief directive. For De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 338) this is reason to suggest that there are three allomorphs -atief, -itief and -tief.

    extra

    De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 338) hypothesize that these allomorphs might be a merger of -ief and suffixes -at, -it and -t, but they remain silent as to the semantics of these elements (but cf. (Booij 2002: 128)). An alternative approach would be to assume one suffix -ief combining with stem allomorphs (facultat-, sensit-direct-, respectively).

    [+]Phonological properties

    In -ief formations, the suffix bears the main stress: ac'tief active, objec'tief lens, The suffix is cohering: syllabification does not respect the morphological structure: explosief explos.ief [εks-plo-'siv].

    References
    • 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
    About this article
    Author(s): Ton van der Wouden
    Category: Dutch Morphology
    Keywords: derivationsuffixnon-nativeadjectivenoun
    Version: 1.0, December 2015
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Ton van der Wouden December 2015
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