tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617645231526652205.post945342910653677182..comments2019-11-19T16:48:24.899-03:00Comments on Katanik κατὰ Νικ: Affixes in EsperantoDro. Esplorantohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01669332568523067135noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617645231526652205.post-89023385029925010172010-08-06T16:52:33.886-03:002010-08-06T16:52:33.886-03:00Well, in Spanish the opposite happens, you have th...Well, in Spanish the opposite happens, you have the suffixes and all, but sometimes there is a limit as to how many of them can appear and also some are not as productive as others, meaning they can appear in certain 'fosilized' words and not in any other words. For instance, sometimes you'll be able to use up to 2 diminutives if the first has become very common. You can say 'amiguillo' meaning 'little friend' as endearment and if you call someone like that all the time and want to show more endearment you can use 'amiguillito' but using another diminutive and '*amiguillitincito' would just be ridiculous and hard to follow, while using two times the same diminutive would just be cacophonic.Dro. Esplorantohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01669332568523067135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617645231526652205.post-55471603322901321602010-07-31T08:10:01.068-03:002010-07-31T08:10:01.068-03:00I definitely agree with that. I occasionally illus...I definitely agree with that. I occasionally illustrate how handy affixes are by the German word Un-ab(-)steig-bar-keit. It is not officially in the dictionaries, but it can immediately understood from its stem absteigen (actually probably steigen, but ab- as affix is a bit difficult). I do wonder how the term would look like in Esperanto. How do you express the ability of a soccer club not to be relegated?<br /><br />In English 'Intolerability' might be a similar example.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617645231526652205.post-52737223843273563762010-07-31T01:09:25.971-03:002010-07-31T01:09:25.971-03:00I agree. Affixes can complicate a language a lot, ...I agree. Affixes can complicate a language a lot, but you can always limit them, for instance, not to use more than two or three affixes in one word. In Spanish we have something like this, we have many suffixes, but there's a limit of intelligibility to them. Also, as you point out, affixes don't need to all be as freely productive. You could make some affixes more productive than others and thus preventing this problem.<br /><br />In any case I think it's an useful tool and also interesting when the meaning is more open or ambiguous than when it's very specific.Dro. Esplorantohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01669332568523067135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617645231526652205.post-1558517644974914802010-07-30T06:25:34.025-03:002010-07-30T06:25:34.025-03:00Affixes are a double-edged sword, IMHO. They can m...Affixes are a double-edged sword, IMHO. They can make it much harder to find the meaning in a long, complicated word. Especially when the morphology is not self-seggregating (a learner of English for example could see the un- in unwilling also in university).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com