Coalescence of Formatives with the Root to form the
Word-base.
85. The most important linguistic means whereby word-bases are fashioned from roots consists in the indissoluble union of a formative with the root, so that they solidify into a new entity. These formatives are put before, into, or after the root; they are prefixes, infixes, or suffixes.
86. As already observed, the number and importance of the infixes and suffixes are much less considerable than those of the prefixes. So far as infixes and sufiixes are concerned the following remarks will suffice for our purposes:
I. Formatives serving as suffixes are: -an, otherwise -ĕn or -n, and -i. Examples: Old Jav. gahan, “ renowned ”, beside Gayo gah, “ renown ”; Karo buni, “ to hide ”, beside Karo bunbun, “ to cover ”.
II. As infixes we find: -ĕr-, -ĕl-, -um-, -in-. Examples: Mal. kĕriṅ, “ dry ”, beside Old Jav. kiṅ, “ dry ”; Old Jav. tĕluṅ, “ to hang ”, beside Old Jav. gantuṅ, “ to hang ”; Day. kuman, “ to eat ”, beside Magindanao kan, “ food ”; Tontb. tinĕp, “ to dive ”, beside Tontb. tĕgtĕp, “ to sink in ”.
III. Examples of infixes that run through several languages: kuman, “ to eat ”, is not only Day. but also Sampit, Tonsea, and Bulu; Mal. kĕras, “ hard ” — beside Old Jav. kas, “ hard ” — is also Old Jav. and Gayo, and in conformity with the laws stated in § 19 the Toba horas is identical with it.
IV. All the six formatives mentioned under I. and II. have other functions as well. They occur, the one in one language, another in another, as means for forming out of word-bases actual living derivatives, mostly in great numbers, e.g., -um- in Old Jav. serves to form the aorist. — Compare herewith the quite different conditions mentioned in § 95 in relation to the prefixes.
