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-ast
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-ast, as in cineast cinematographer (a loan) and gymnasiast high school student (< gymnasium), is a stress-bearing non-native unproductive cohering suffix found in nouns of common gender denoting male persons, based on words and bound forms of foreign origin.

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-ast is a stress-bearing non-native unproductive cohering suffix found in nouns of common gender denoting male persons, as in cineast cinematographer (a loan) and gymnasiast high school student (< gymnasium). Various forms in -ast are loans. All -ast formations are of common gender, selecting the singular definite article de. Plural is in -en (cineasten, gymnasiasten), the diminutive is in -je (cineastje, gymnasiastje) and often gets a depreciatory meaning.

The suffix -ast is stress-bearing: stress is on the suffix: cineast /si.ne.'ɑst/ cinematographer (a loan) and gymnasiast /ɣɪm.na.si.'jɑst/ high school student. As the phonological representation shows, the suffix is cohering: syllabification does not respect the morphological structure.

(De Haas and Trommelen 1993: 226) suggest that forms such as fantast dreamer, visionary (cf. fantasie fantasy) are not derived by means of -ast but through another suffix -t. In any case, (almost) all complex words ending in -ast have a relationship with another complex word of foreign origin, but there is no one-to-one relationship between affixes.

Table 1
formation in -ast related form
cineast cinematographer cinema cinema
gymnasiast high school student gymnasium high school
sarcast sarcastic person sarcasme sarcasm
enthousiast enthusiast enthousiast enthusiast (A) or enthousiasme enthusiasm
fantast dreamer, visionary fantasie fantasy
scholast scholast school school or scholastiek scholasticism
pederast pederast pederastie pederasty

References
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
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