jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
8.8 Agentives 547
8.8.2 Passive agentives with -m-aett-and-m-
This combination -m-astt- is rare for mainly semantic reasons, but I was able to
elicit (572.a-b).
(572) a. e-m-aett-asdasd
Sg-Agent-Pass-bite
'one who is bitten'
b. e-m-att-eraw
Sg-Agent-Pass-give.birth
'relative, kinsman' [K-d]
The underlying verb in (572.a) is -vdvd- 'bite', cf. Imprt of passive
t-sedaed. The vocalism of e-m-aett-aedaed is consistent with that of underived
verbs with the Imprt shape CaeCasC, e.g. yaewasn 'be sated', Agentive
e-m-aeyyaewaen , see (570.a) in §8.8.1, above.
The verb -m-vlvvn- 'be inept, worthless' (PerfP -amm-alraen-) has a
nominal a-m-aelron 'worthless one'. Based on comparative evidence, it is
likely that the nominal was originally based on an underived (unprefixed) verb.
The verb as attested is arguably back-formed from the nominal.
There is no alternative productive derivation with "agent of passive" sense,
but cf. §8.9, below.
8.8.3 Reciprocal agentives with -n-aemm-
The reciprocal agentive is illustrated in (573).
(573) gloss Imprt Agentive
'be close' nam-ihaz e-naemm-ehaz (PI i-naemm-ehaz-aen)
The usual sense is 'close kinsman'. It is indetermine whether the η of
-naemm- is equatable with the -m- (-n-) of the simple agentives described in
earlier sections.
In any event, the vocalism and prosodic structure of e-naemm-ehsz are
parallel to those of e.g. agentive e-m-askkeykay 'shaker' (570.c) in §8.8.1.
For ae-naem-dhaz, usually in the PI i-naem-ahaz-aen 'the one(s) who
approach each other', see §8.12.1, below. This belongs to a type with
stem-vocalism, χ-f (final-syllable lengthening), and no Agentive prefix.
