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Thanks, Margaret. Chris Barker presents a good argument that the
derivation of -ee noun forms are semantically based rather than
syntactically based. He says:<br>
<br>
The formation of -ee nouns systematically adheres to three essentially
semantic constraints: <br>
first, the referent of an -ee noun must be sentient; <br>
second, the denotation of an -ee noun must be episodically linked (as
defined below) to the denotation of its stem; <br>
and third, a use of an -ee noun entails a relative lack of volitional
control on the part of its referent.<br>
<br>
(39) A derived noun N is EPISODICALLY LINKED to its stem S iff for
every stage <<i>x, e</i>> in the stage set of N, <i>e</i> is a
member of the set of events that characterizes S.<br>
<br>
But my question is: What is the verb stem that describes the set of
events to which the derived noun is episodically linked in the forms we
have been discussing? I.e.<br>
<br>
-or form        BACKFORM  -ee form<br>
mentor (n) -> ment (v) ->      mentee (n)<br>
donor (n) ->  don (v) ->        donee (n)<br>
debtor (n) ->  debt (v) ->      debtee (n)<br>
tutor (n) ->      tute (v) ->       tutee (n)<br>
<br>
*mentoree* and *tutoree* supply the missing verb stem and are therefore
more viable derivations but *donoree* and *debtoree* don't, so they
aren't. That probably explains why the second two show lower google
scores compared to the first two.<br>
<br>
mentor (n/v)<br>
mentee 805,000 vs. mentoree 31,000 (3.9%)<br>
tutor (n/v)<br>
tutee 138,000 vs. tutoree 34,700 (25%)<br>
donor (n) related verb *donate*<br>
donee 832,000 vs. donoree 703 (0.0008%)<br>
debtor (n) related verb *debit*?<br>
debtee 726 vs. debtoree 0 (0%)<br>
<br>
John Roberts<br>
<br>
-- <br>
********************<br>
John R Roberts<br>
SIL International Linguistics Consultant<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dr_john_roberts@sil.org">dr_john_roberts@sil.org</a><br>
********************

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