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    N > V
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    Conversion of nouns to verbs is very productive in Frisian. An example is bondel bundle > bondelje to bundle. Almost all imaginable meaning relations between the base noun and the derived verb may be found. Most input nouns are simplex, but this is not necessarily so. An example of a complex base is kloat-sek [[ball](N)[bag](N)](N) scrotum; bastard, from which can be derived the verb kloatsekje to trudge. With a few phonologically based exceptions, all converted verbs belong to weak class II.

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    Conversion of N to V is productive, at least for simplex nouns. The semantic relations between the base noun and the derived verb can be quite diverse. Broadly speaking, the semantics of this type of conversion can best be described as 'to V, with N playing a role in the action denoted by V'. Examples are given in the table below:

    Table 1
    Base Noun Converted Verb
    hûs house húzje to live
    kompjûter computer kompjûterje to work with a computer
    baarch piglet bargje to make a mess
    jong young one jongje give birth
    kroade (wheel)barrow kroadzje to wheel a wheelbarrow
    seage saw seagje to saw
    hoep hoop hoepje to play with a hoop
    keal calf kealje to calve
    jûn evening jûnje to become dark
    bêd bed bêdzje to offer a sleeping place
    flibe slaver flybje to slaver
    skroar tailor skroarje to be a tailor
    tsjerke church tsjerkje to go to church
    mich fly migje to catch flies
    kloet punting pole kloetsje to pole
    sou sieve souje to sieve
    besite visit besytsje to visit
    each eye eagje to see
    diggel pottery diggelje to fall to pieces
    leppel spoon leppelje to spoon (up)
    hamster hamster hamsterje to hoard (up)
    tennis tennis tennisje to play tennis
    Most of the converted nouns are simplex, but compound nouns also occur, such as fuotbal football > fuotbalje to play football, sniebal snowball > sniebalje to throw snowballs, kloatsek bastard > kloatsekje to trudge and húsman (litt.:) house man > húsmanje to run the house.

    As can be observed above, nouns convert to weak verbs that belong to class II, i.e. verbs taking an infinitive ending in -je. Exceptions are those nominal stems ending in [i] or the related glide [j] that occurs as the final element of some diphthongs. So, the noun sky ski converts to the verb skye to ski, which has the paradigm of class I, for example in hja skide she skied. A verb like raaie (from the noun raai, a certain dance) is similar in its behaviour.

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    Dutch influence

    Class I derivations after other final segments can be found in actual language use. As it typically appears that these verbs show a striking similarity with the corresponding Dutch conversion verbs, it may safely be assumed that these class I verbs are direct loans from Dutch. Examples are lakke to varnish (from lak varnish, cf. Dutch lakken), reve to reef (from reef reef, cf. Dutch reven) or rouwe to mourn (from rouw mourning, cf. Dutch rouwen). Moreover, these verbs also have Frisian variants regularly following the paradigm of class II: lakje, reevje and rouje.

    [+]Linking elements or suffixes

    Hoekstra (1998:153-154) argues that the nominal base that is to be converted may be extended by 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 nouns are -k (and its allomorph -tsje), -ig, and also -ear, the latter taking non-native bases.

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    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: conversionverbnoun
    Version: ,
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