"Glasið brotnaðist, amma"

Suffix or not?: On verbs that end in -na+st

Abstract

Icelandic has a number of anticausative/inchoative verbs suffixed with -na, i.e., verbs like batna, hitna, stirðna ‘become better/warm(er)/stiff (er)’. They are, from a synchronic point of view, all related to adjectives. It has been generally assumed that the na-formation and -st formation do not combine, in other words, that na-verbs can’t be suffixed with -st (sofnast being an exception). This is mainly based on the assumption that -na is a productive suffix forming an agentless verb. The paper concludes that this is not the case. The assumption is that -na is not a suffix any longer. Many examples of st-cliticized na-verbs are found in Icelandic, e.g. batnast, hitnast, stirðnast. They are found in written Icelandic sources, both in the oldest as well as in very young sources of a different kind. For comparison, the behaviour of two verbal groups are discussed in the paper. On the one hand, there are -k(k)a/-ga-verbs suffixed with -st, having an anticausative/ergative meaning, i.e. fjölgast ‘increase’, stækkast ‘become big(ger)’. Numerous verbs belong to this group. On the other hand, there is a very small group of verbs, i.e. batast ‘become better’, hitast ‘become warm(er)’, meyrast ‘become tender’; these verbs, that have the same root as the na-verbs, are used in an anticausative/ergative meaning and have a causative counterpart as well.