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    Conversion of adjectives to verbs is very productive in Frisian. An example is wyt white > wytsje to whiten. In principle, three different meaning classes can be distinguished: ''to make {adjective}, 'to become {adjective}' and 'to be {adjective}'. In practice, however, one of these readings is dominant. As with other verbal conversions, the resulting verbs belong to class II of the weak verbs.

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    Conversion of A to V is fairly productive. Three different meaning classes can be distinguished: 'to make {adjective}', 'to become {adjective}' or 'to be {adjective}'. At first sight, all verbs converted from an adjective can have these three meanings. Compare the following sentences with the verb grienje, from the adjective grien green:

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    a. to make {adjective}
    De ferve griene it wetter
    The paint made the water green
    b. to become {adjective}
    De beammen grienje al wer
    The trees become green again
    c. to be {adjective}
    Wat in gers, it grienet deroer
    What a lot of grass, it is so green outside

    However, in most cases one of the meanings is lexicalized, cf. deadzje to murder (= to make one dead), rypje to ripen (= to become ripe), slûgje to slumber (= to be sleepy). More examples are given in the table below:

    Table 1
    Meaning Base Adjective Resulting Verb
    to make A suver pure suverje to purify
    iepenbier public iepenbierje to reveal
    waarm warm waarmje to warm
    fol full folje to fill (up)
    dea dead deadzje to murder
    sêd satisfied sêdzje to satisfy
    wiid wide wiidzje to widen
    koel cool kuolje to cool down
    lotter pure lotterje to purify
    iepen open iepenje to open
    to become A rot rotten rotsje to rot
    soer sour suorje to turn sour
    grien green grienje to become green
    ryp ripe rypje to ripen
    to be A slûch tired slûgje to slumber
    sunich stingy sunigje to be stingy

    The stem vowel of some verbs may undergo breaking, as already can be detected from the spelling of koel cool > kuolje and soer sour > suorje.

    In a few cases, the base adjective must be interpreted adverbially, according to the meaning of the derived verb . The best way to describe this meaning is 'to do {adjective}'. Examples are healwiis foolish > healwiizje to act foolishly, wyld wild > wyldzje to be on the go and gek crazy > gekje to act crazy.

    As can be observed above, adjectives convert to weak verbs that belong to class II, i.e. verbs that take an infinitive ending in -je. Exceptions are nominal stems ending in the glide [j] that occurs as the final element of some diphthongs. A relevant example is rampoaie to destroy (from the adjective rampoai broken down).

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    Linking elements or suffixes

    Hoekstra (1998:153-154) argues that the adjectival base that is to be converted may be extended with a linking element. However, we have decided here to treat these elements as suffixes, as they consist of overt linguistic material. Moreover, subsuming such derivations under the heading of conversion would go against the spirit of the idea of conversion as it is usually understood, i.e. derivation without adding extra material. The relevant suffixes (or "augments", as Hoekstra calls them) for the derivation of verbs on the basis of adjectives are -ear, -ig and -k.

    extra
    Literature

    This topic is based on Hoekstra (1998:152).

    References
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
    About this article
    Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Joke Weening
    Category: Frisian Morphology
    Keywords: conversionverbadjective
    Version: ,
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