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Order of suffixes

貼文者: rev_peterson, 2014年11月26日

訊息: 5

語言: English

rev_peterson (顯示個人資料) 2014年11月26日上午3:28:02

I can't find this anywhere else.

I want to talk about an acquaintance - So a friend, but a not very intense one (-et). At the same time, she's a girl, so (-in).

So should I say amikineto or amiketino?

The problem is not the word per se... It's the deeper question: what is the logic behind the order of suffixes, if I have two or even more? I know it might be a rare thing, I'm not sure... But what should I do in such cases?

Thanks in advance,

mjhinds57 (顯示個人資料) 2014年11月26日上午3:50:16

rev_peterson:...
So should I say amikineto or amiketino?
...
Esperanto uses some of the same logic as Hungarian and other word-building languages. The most important is that you have a friend, so start there. Next depends on what you want to say about it. Perhaps it's subtle, but the way I would interpret the two would be as follows:

amiko — friend
amikino — female friend
amikineto — friend who is just a little bit female

or

amiko — friend
amiketo — small friend or acquaintance
amiketino — female acquaintance

You can follow the same logic in word compounding. The most important word usually goes last (or you can think of it as being centered between the suffixes and the other modifying words) and each successive word added modifies the idea conveyed to the whole of the compounding.

Good question, btw.

Duko (顯示個人資料) 2014年11月26日下午5:44:04

You could use the word "konatulino".

You are trying to apply a diminutive to the notion of friendship, but friendship is "amikeco" in EO.

When constructing "amiketo", since "amiko" means friend and refers to a person, you apply the diminutive and get "tiny friend" - not what you were looking for.

As for the order, it might depend on which particular suffixes appear. With -in and -et I would choose et at the end. For instance:

knabo = boy
knabino = girl
knabineto = little girl

-in seems to be always applied directly to a root that means a gendered person/being.

sudanglo (顯示個人資料) 2014年11月27日上午10:33:15

Yes, it is doubtful that amiketo can be considered as a synonym for acquaintance, though perhaps context could force that meaning.

Amiketo, derived from amiko (rather than amika - friendly), means little friend. It seems to me more a jocular form of address or reference than literally meaning short or small person.

EldanarLambetur (顯示個人資料) 2014年11月27日下午5:20:54

For your deeper question, it's like mjhinds57 says, you just gotta look at the semantics of adding each suffix. Slightly contrived example:

purigi = to clean
purigeti = to do a spot of cleaning (e.g. light surface clean)
purigilo = tool for cleaning
purigileto = [small/pocket] tool for cleaning
purigetilo = tool for doing a spot of cleaning

A side point: your friend is an "amiko", you only want the "-in" if you're trying to emphasise that it's a female friend.
When constructing "amiketo", since "amiko" means friend and refers to a person, you apply the diminutive and get "tiny friend" - not what you were looking for.
Incidentally, I'd agree with Sudanglo that the sense of "-et" is a more abstract meaning than just "small/tiny", it means lesser in degree/intensity, diminutive in some sense, which sometimes means smaller, but not always. This is a far more useful meaning than just having a suffix that means "small", because that's what malgranda means.

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