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<div>Dear John, </div> <div>Very well put. Perhaps the writer realised that the prefix "em" was redundant but felt it sounded plausible.<BR><BR><B><I>John Roberts <dr_john_roberts@sil.org></I></B> escribió:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><!-- Network content --> <DIV id=ygrp-text> <div>Sebastian Drude asked:<BR>> Are there cases (in English or elswhere) where there is conversion or<BR>> derivation by other means such as _-en_, of an adjective (or noun) X<BR>> into an *intransitive* verb (with the meaning "to become X"?<BR>> In English, in this case, if there is a contrasting pair of derivations<BR>> (_Xen_
-- "to become X" vs. _emXen_ "to make sth. X"), _em-_ could<BR>> arguably be said to carry the transitivizing meaning component.<BR><BR>According to my English affix dictionaries -en2 is the suffix that applies <BR>in this case. It has four different uses as described below. It is used to <BR>derive both intransitive and transitive verbs from both adjectives and <BR>nouns. Interestingly the -en suffix has an OE origin, whereas the em- prefix <BR>has a Latinate origin. That probably explains why they overlap in function.<BR><BR>-en2 is a derivational suffix from OE -n(ian) through ME -nen with four <BR>functions:<BR><BR>1) derives transitive verbs from an adjective meaning 'to cause to be of a <BR>condition or quality', e.g. sharp ~ sharpen, dead ~ deaden, bold ~ embolden<BR>Indeed this set of derivations are only transitive and the logical <BR>structures would be:<BR>sharpen [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [BECOME sharp' (y)] x sharpened y slowly/for an <BR>hour<BR>deaden [do' (x, Ø)
CAUSE [INGR dead' (y)] x deadened y *slowly/*for an hour<BR>embolden [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR bold' (y)] x emboldened y *slowly/*for an <BR>hour<BR><BR>2) derives transitive verbs from nouns, 'to cause to have the quality named' <BR>e.g. long ~ lengthen, strong ~ strengthen, high ~ heighten<BR>Contrary to what the book says these derivations are both transitive and <BR>intransitive, but only the transitive sense is causative, of course:<BR>lengthen [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR long' (y)] x lengthened y *slowly/*for an <BR>hour<BR>INGR long' (y) y lengthened *slowly/*for an hour<BR>strengthen [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR strong' (y)] x strengthened y <BR>*slowly/*for an hour<BR>INGR strong' (y) y strengthened *slowly/*for an hour<BR>heighten [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR high' (y)] x heightened y *slowly/*for an <BR>hour<BR>INGR high' (y) y heightened *slowly/*for an hour<BR><BR>3) derives intransitive verbs from adjectives meaning 'to become', e.g. <BR>steep ~ steepen, dark ~ darken,
bright ~ brighten<BR>Again contrary to what the book says these derivations are intransitive and <BR>transitive, and only the transitive sense is causative:<BR>steepen BECOME steep' (y) y steepened slowly/for an hour<BR>[do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [BECOME steep' (y)] x steepened y slowly/for <BR>an hour<BR>darken BECOME dark' (y) y darkened slowly/for an hour<BR>[do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [BECOME dark' (y)] x darkened y slowly/for an <BR>hour<BR>brighten BECOME bright' (y) y brightened slowly/for an hour<BR>[do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [BECOME bright' (y)] x brightened y slowly/for <BR>an hour<BR><BR>4) derives intransitive verbs from nouns meaning 'to have', e.g. leaf ~ <BR>leafen, breadth ~ breadthen, heart ~ hearten<BR>I could only find 'hearten' in my dictionaries and they say it is both <BR>intransitive and transitive. (I have 'broaden' but not 'breadthen'.<WBR>)<BR>hearten INGR have' (x, heart)<BR>[do' (x, Ø)] CAUSE [INGR have' (x, heart)]<BR><BR>But for the following verbs, all of which are only
transitive, the 'em-' <BR>prefix has the same function as the '-en' suffix.<BR><BR>embitter [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR bitter' (y)] x embittered y *slowly/*for an <BR>hour<BR>embrown [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR brown' (y)] x embrowned y *slowly/*for an <BR>hour<BR>embusy [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR busy' (y)] x embusied y *slowly/*for an hour<BR><BR>So my conclusion is that either the 'em-' or the '-en' is redundant in <BR>'embiggen'. The sense of [do' (x, Ø) CAUSE [INGR big' (y)] can be expressed <BR>by either 'embig' or 'biggen'. 'embiggen' says the same thing twice. So the <BR>'em-' must be being used emphatically here. Can't we ask Homer what he meant <BR>when he coined the term?<BR><BR>John Roberts<BR><BR></div></DIV><!--End group email --></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>
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