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-heid, -ens and -ichheid

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The most prominent suffixes for deriving nouns from adjectives are -ens, -heid and -ichheid. These suffixes are closely related, and will therefore be dealt with in a single topic. The former two suffixes have, to a large extent, the same function and distribution. Iensumheid and iensumens, for instance, both mean loneliness. Whereas both suffixes can convey the meaning of the adjective to a noun, -heid may have the additional feature that it creates concrete, countable nouns denoting an object that displays the property of the adjective. For example, from the adjective mooglik possible, both mooglikens and mooglikheid may be formed, with a joint abstract meaning which could be described as 'state of being possible'. Next to this, mooglikheid may also mean 'something that is possible'. In contrast to this semantic extension, -heid is subject to a phonological restriction: it may not attach to bases with a stressed final syllable. One way of overcoming this is to use the suffix -ichheid instead. However, -ichheid primarily induces a collective meaning on the derived noun. The noun swietichheid, for example, means sweets.

The suffixes -heid and -ens
Input restrictions
Influence of Dutch
Exclusion of both -ens and -heid
Semantic properties
Morphological potential
The suffix -ichheid in relationship to -heid and -ens

[+]The suffixes -heid and -ens

The suffixes -heid and -ens can be used to nominalize an adjective. The adjective twatalich bilingual, for instance, can be nominalized into twatalichheid or twataligens, both meaning bilingualism. Both suffixes also occur side by side in words like minsklikens/minsklikheid humanity, ferantwurdlikheid/ferantwurdlikens responsibility, dúdlikheid/dúdlikens clearness, etc. These nominalized adjectives in -ens and -heid always have common gender, i.e. they take the definite article de the, cf. de/*it tinkberheid, de/*it tinkberens possibility.

Although -ens developed before 1500 (from the suffix -nisse, see Van der Meer (1988:364)), Hoekstra and Hut (2003:24) show that in Middle Frisian texts - a corpus consisting of a million tokens from the period between 1550-1800 - only twenty -ens-derivations can be found, all from the end of the Middle Frisian period. Hence, it may be considered as a relatively new suffix. Attestations with -heid are often older, according to Van der Meer (1988:366).

In contrast to its spelling, -heid is pronounced with a short [[i], as [hit]. The suffix -ens shows more possibilities. One is that it undergoes nasalization, which results in the sequence [ə̃s]. The other choice is to drop the schwa, which turns /n/ to a syllabic consonant /n̩/. This syllabic /n̩/ may then undergo regressive place assimilation. The upshot is that we have three possible ways of pronunciation, not only [n̩s] but also [m̩s] and [ŋ̩s], depending on the preceding consonant.

[+]Input restrictions

Although for some words it applies that -ens and -heid occur side by side, this does not mean that the suffixes are completely interchangeable. It appears that the stress of the last syllable of the base is an important factor: if stressed, it only allows -ens; the suffix -heid is excluded in that case. For example, a word like barBAARSK barbarous has its primary stress on the last syllable. Hence, it may be followed by -ens: barbaarskens barbarity. On the other hand, *barbaarskheid is unacceptable in Frisian. Correspondingly, monosyllabic adjectives, whose only syllable is automatically stressed, only select -ens, as is illustrated in the table below:

Table 1

base	derivation
moai beautiful	MOAIens/*moaiheid beauty
sleau negligent	SLEAUwens/*sleauheid inertia
bernsk childish	BERNskens/*bernskheid dotage
bang anxious	BANGens/*bangheid anxiety
kreas handsome	KREAzens/*kreasheid beauty
slûch sleepy	SLÛgens/*slûchheid sleepiness

Adjectives like oranje orange or fereale in love also follow this pattern. On the surface, they end in a schwa, but as this is truncated in the nominalization process, these formations follow the rule of the stressed final syllable. Thus, they take -ens: oranjens extent of being orange and ferealens amorousness.

extra

-ens as an alternative for non-native -iteit

Non-native adjectives, usually having stress on their last syllable, may also opt for -ens, as an alternative to the non-native suffix -iteit. So, the adjective banaal banal may not only be nominalized to banaliteit banality, but to banalens as well. Because of the final stress of the base, *banaalheid is excluded. A more detailed comparison of the suffixes -ens and -iteit can be found in a separate section of the topic on -iteit.

The only exception to the stress rule are some settled dutchisms which have monosyllabic bases and nevertheless end in -heid; see De Haan and Hoekstra (1993:26). The most important are the following:

Table 2

Base form	Derived noun in -heid
frij free	FRIJheid freedom
wier true	WIERheid truth
wiis wise	WIISheid wisdom

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Stress shift

In the case of adjectives ending in -leas, the stress often shifts to that suffix: SOARgeleas careless > soargeLEAzens carefreeness. The derivation with -leas has primary stress in its base (SOARgeleas), but since the stress shifts to the final syllable in case of nominalization, the noun has the affix -ens.

If the last syllable does not bear primary stress, the restriction does not hold, that is, both suffixes are available in principle. However, a certain preference for one of them can be observed. Monomorphematic adjectives prefer -ens. This boils down to those adjectives ending in the sequences -el, -em, -en and -er, all containing a schwa. In the following examples, the reduced degree of acceptability is represented by the sign ?:

Table 3

base	derivation
mûtel plump	mûtelens plumpness (cf. ?mûtelheid)
stikem secret	stikemens secrecy (cf. ?stikemheid)
neaken nude	neakenens nudity (cf. ?neakenheid)
meager skinny	meagerens leanness (cf. ?meagerheid)

On the other hand, suffixed adjectival bases have a certain preference for the ending -heid. This concerns, for instance, derivations with the suffixes -ich, -lik, -ber and -sum. However, formations with -ens are certainly possible here:

Table 4

base	first order derivation	second order derivation
dize haze	dizich hazy	dizichheid haziness (also dizigens)
ôfhingje to depend	ôfhinklik dependent	ôfhinklikheid dependency (also ôfhinklikens)
brûke to use	brûkber useful	brûkberheid use (also brûkberens)
ien one	iensum lonely	iensumheid loneliness (also iensumens)

This preference for -heid in the case of complex bases is even more outspoken with those adjectives ending in the unstressed suffix -end (in fact the ending of the present participle of verbs). Here, the suffix -ens is simply not allowed:

Table 5

Base form	Derived noun in -heid
ûnwittend ignorant	ûnwittendheid/*ûnwittendens ignorance
razend mad	razendheid/*razendens madness
opfallend conspicuous	opfallendheid/*opfallendens conspicuousness
behâldend conservative	behâldenheid/*behâldendens conservatism
wolmienend well-meaning	wolmienendheid/*wolmienendens well-meaningness

[+]Influence of Dutch

The stress rule is the main force for the distribution of -heid and -ens. That being so, another force may be observed, which is influence from Dutch. For nominalization of adjectives, Dutch only possesses one suffix, i.e. -heid. Now, it appears that if the Frisian base is more or less similar to the Dutch one, then relatively more formations with -heid occur in Frisian. The other way round is also true. For example, the word boartlik playful does not have a direct formal equivalent, as Dutch has the word speels. It turns out that the formation boartlikens is more frequent then boartlikheid.

The influence of Dutch may also work out in a negative way. That is, some speakers (but writers in particular) try to keep their language as "Frisian" as possible, and hence try to avoid forms that are similar to Dutch. In this way, as a distancing factor, the suffix -ens may be favoured.

[+]Exclusion of both -ens and -heid

The suffixes -heid and -ens are both impossible in the following cases:

Adjectives in the comparative or superlative grade. From moai-er beautiful-COMP more beautiful we cannot form *moaierens/*moaierheid, nor *moaistens from the superlative moai-st beautiful-SUP most beautiful.
Adjectives that may not be used predicatively. This yields material adjectives. Thus from goud gold we can form the adjective gouden golden, but this can not be nominalized to *goudenens or *goudenheid. Another example is the suffix -er which may form geographical adjectives, for instance Snitser related to the town of Snits. However, *Snitserens/*Snitserheid the extent of being an inhabitant of Snits is impossible. The same applies to the adjectives lofter left and rjochter right, witness the unacceptability of *lofterens/*lofterheid the extent of being left.
Adjectively used past participles ending in -e, which are derived from verbs of the weak class II. Thus the past participle of fersmoargje to pollute is fersmoarge, but this cannot be the basis of *fersmoargens extent of being well-groomed. Adjectively used past participles ending in -e are only possible in two cases, in which the meaning of the past participle has become obscure because the base form does not exist anymore: ferealens amorousness from fereale in love (< *ferealje) and feralterearrens astonishment from feralterearre upset (< *feralterearje).

[+]Semantic properties

A general pattern is that -ens-derivations are non-countable and abstract. They can be considered to be no more than transpositions of adjectives to nouns. Since adjectives are non-countable and abstract anyway, these transpositions to nouns automatically have the same semantic content:

Table 6

Non-countable abstract -ens-derivations	Base form
ferealens amorousness	fereale in love
smoargens dirt	smoarch dirty
lilkens anger	lilk angry
bangens anxiety	bang anxious
blidens happiness	bliid happy
tsjusterens darkness	tsjuster dark
gekkens craziness	gek crazy

Likewise, derivations of -heid are in principle non-countable and abstract. However, derivations with -heid may get something extra. As can be seen in the table below, some countable and more concrete -heid-derivations exist as well:

Table 7

Countable concrete -heid-derivations	Base form
begryplikheid understandability	begryplik understandable
lêsberheid readability	lêsber readable
ûntfanklikheid susceptibility	ûntfanklik susceptible
mooglikheid possibility	mooglik possible
minderheid minority	minder less
gelegenheid opportunity	gelegen convenient

As can be seen in the table above, a word like mooglikheid possibility may be countable, and hence, it can be pluralized: ien mooglikheid one possibility, twa mooglikheden two possibilities, et cetera. As such, this is a concrete instantiation of the concept mooglik possible. The same applies to minderheid minority, which is a concrete instantiation of the adjective minder less. Or take gelegenheid opportunity, which is a concrete instantiation of gelegen convenient.

[+]Morphological potential

If formations with the suffix -heid have a more concrete/countable character, then they can be pluralized by adding the plural ending -en. At the same time, the vowel of the suffix changes to /e:/. The result -heden is an ending that could be qualified as an irregular plural form. An example is aardichheid small present, from aardich nice. This can be pluralized to aardichheden small presents. Many plurals are pluralia tantum. Examples are nuverheden peculiarities (from nuver strange), nijmoadrichheden modernisms (from nijmoadrich new-fashioned), ûnhuerichheden disgusting things (from ûnhuerich disgusting) and idelheden vanities (from idel vain).

Diminutive formation is possible as well. After /d/, this regularly results in the allomorph -tsje, where <t> is not shown in the spelling. An example is aardichheidsje small present.

Since suffixation with -ens never results in count nouns, pluralization is impossible for such forms. We do not have formations like *smoargensen dirts or *lilkensen angers. Diminutives with -ens are impossible as well.

Formations with -ens are avoided as a first member of a compound. So, from the twins ûnbewenberens/ûnbewenberheid uninhabitability, only the latter is used in a compound like ûnbewenberheidsferklearring a declaration of uninhabitability. A word like *ûnbewenberensferklearring is excluded. However, if a variant with -heid is not available, -ens is nevertheless sometimes used in a compound. Examples are sûnenssoarch health care (cf. sûnens/*sûnheid health or wurkleazenssifer number of jobless people (cf. wurkleazens/*wurkleasheid unemployment). Undoubtedly, such words emerged under the influence of Dutch compounds like gezondheidszorghealth care and werkloosheidscijfernumber of jobless people. To avoid this, writers sometimes decide to define the word; for instance, in order to translate the Dutch word gezondheidsattesthealth certificate, one can choose to describe the concept in Frisian as bewiis fan sûnens proof of health.

[+]The suffix -ichheid in relationship to -heid and -ens

There is a third suffix that can be used to nominalize an adjective. This is -ichheid, pronounced as [əxit]. It looks as if the relevant nouns are built from an adjective ending in -ich, plus the suffix -heid. It can be argued, however, that -ichheid, apart from being a combination of the suffix -ich plus the suffix -heid, can also be a suffix itself. This is evident in those nouns in which the sequence -ichheid cannot be split up. For example, gauwichheid rush has to come from gau quick + -ichheid, since *gauwich does not exist. The same applies to wissichheid certainty. This must have been derived from wis certain + -ichheid, since there is no such formation as *wissich. The upshot is that many words ending in -ichheid are ambiguous. The ending can be one suffix -ichheid or a combination of the suffixes -ich plus the suffix -heid. For example, the noun sleauwichheid can be formed directly from sleau negligent. Then it simply means negligence. Or sleauwichheid is derived from sleauwich a bit negligent by adding the suffix -heid. Subsequently, the meaning is still negligence, but on a weaker scale, as a result of a base with a slightly different meaning.

As a rule, the final syllable of the adjectival base of -ichheid-words is stressed: SWIETichheid sweets, grutskichheid pride, WIETichheid moisture. Adjectives that end in an unstressed syllable do occur, but are exceptional: DIMmenichheid shyness.

Primarily, -ichheid carries a collective meaning. Thus grutsk-ichheid (from grutsk proud) can be described as the set of instantiations of being proud. Swiet-ichheid can be translated as sweets.

The fact that formations with -ichheid are not pure nominalizations of a property, in contrast to those ending in -ens, can be read off from the following examples, in which the context triggers such a property reading:

Grutskens/?grutskichheid is in minne eigenskip

Pride is a bad trait

De dommens/?dommichheid fan syn opmerking ûntgie him

The stupidity of his remark escaped his notice

Lilkens/?lilkichheid is in utering fan ûnmacht

Anger is an expression of impotence

It seems, on the other hand, that -ichheid is also used to circumvent the restrictions presented by -ens and -heid. That is, adjectives with stress on the final syllable should take -ens, but on the other hand, formations with -ens cannot be used to denote to concrete, countable entities, where such a reading is reserved for -heid. Presumably, -ichheid, with a schwa in its first syllable, is selected to attach -heid to a stressed syllable. In this sense, the part -ich- functions as a kind of linking element. The effect is that a formation like dommichheid may function as other formations with -heid. As such, -heid may not combine with dom stupid, because of the stress clash: *domheid. However, the stress clash does not apply in dommichheid. This word may therefore mean, in a concrete reading, stupid action. As a count noun, it can also be pluralized to the plurale tantumdommichheden stupid actions), and diminuation is also possible: dommmichheidsje.

extra

Literature

A general description of the three suffixes can be found in Hoekstra 1998:110-112). A good source for the properties of -ichheid and its relation to -ens and -heid is Hoekstra (1990).

A first description of the stress criterion is Tamminga (1963:224-227). More information about the input restrictions concerning -ens and -heid can be found in Hoekstra and Hut (2003) and in Hoekstra (1990) and Hoekstra (1998). See also various articles by Geart van der Meer: Van der Meer (1986), Van der Meer (1987) and Van der Meer (1988).

Dutch influence is discussed in Van der Meer (1988) and especially in Hoekstra and Hut (2003), who use a great many corpus data. Versloot and Hoekstra (2016) couch data from a corpus in a psycholinguistic model, zooming in on linguistic distance and frequency.

There is some disagreement in the literature on the exact meaning difference between -ens and -heid. For various views, see: Van der Meer (1986), De Jong (1987), Van der Meer (1988) and Hoekstra (1990).

The restriction of -ens with respect to being the first member of compounds is dealt with in De Haan and Hoekstra (1993).

References

Haan, Rienk de & Hoekstra, Jarich1993Morfologyske tûkelteammen by de leksikale útwreiding fan it FryskIt Beaken5514-31
Haan, Rienk de & Hoekstra, Jarich1993Morfologyske tûkelteammen by de leksikale útwreiding fan it FryskIt Beaken5514-31
Hoekstra, Eric & Hut, Arjan2003Ta de nominalisearjende efterheaksels -ENS en -HEIDIt beaken : meidielingen fan de Fryske Akademy6519-39
Hoekstra, Eric & Hut, Arjan2003Ta de nominalisearjende efterheaksels -ENS en -HEIDIt beaken : meidielingen fan de Fryske Akademy6519-39
Hoekstra, Eric & Hut, Arjan2003Ta de nominalisearjende efterheaksels -ENS en -HEIDIt beaken : meidielingen fan de Fryske Akademy6519-39
Hoekstra, Jarich1990Adjectiefnominalisatie in het FriesInterdisciplinair Tijdschrift voor Taal- en tekstwetenschap9273-285
Hoekstra, Jarich1990Adjectiefnominalisatie in het FriesInterdisciplinair Tijdschrift voor Taal- en tekstwetenschap9273-285
Hoekstra, Jarich1990Adjectiefnominalisatie in het FriesInterdisciplinair Tijdschrift voor Taal- en tekstwetenschap9273-285
Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
Hoekstra, Jarich1998Fryske wurdfoarmingLjouwertFryske Akademy
Jong, Jan de1987Twataligens en twatalichheid, alla, elk syn sin, beide kinFrysk en Frij12-12-1987xx
Meer, Geart van der1986De achterheaksels ens en heid yn it FryskUs wurk: tydskrift foar Frisistyk Us Wurk35108-130
Meer, Geart van der1986De achterheaksels ens en heid yn it FryskUs wurk: tydskrift foar Frisistyk Us Wurk35108-130
Meer, Geart van der1987Nominaliseringen op ENS en HEID (in het Fries en elders)Taal en tongval Morfologie; onder red. van A. Goeman ... [et al.]. Taal tongval, Themanummer Morfologie3922-37
Meer, Geart van der1988Friese afleidingen op -heid en -ens: (een geval van morfologische rivaliteit?)Spektator: tijdschrift voor Neerlandistiek17360-367
Meer, Geart van der1988Friese afleidingen op -heid en -ens: (een geval van morfologische rivaliteit?)Spektator: tijdschrift voor Neerlandistiek17360-367
Meer, Geart van der1988Friese afleidingen op -heid en -ens: (een geval van morfologische rivaliteit?)Spektator: tijdschrift voor Neerlandistiek17360-367
Meer, Geart van der1988Friese afleidingen op -heid en -ens: (een geval van morfologische rivaliteit?)Spektator: tijdschrift voor Neerlandistiek17360-367
Meer, Geart van der1988Friese afleidingen op -heid en -ens: (een geval van morfologische rivaliteit?)Spektator: tijdschrift voor Neerlandistiek17360-367
Tamminga, Douwe Annes1963Op 'e taelhelling. Losse trochsneden fan Frysk taellibben. IBoalsertA.J. Osinga
Versloot, Arjen P. & Hoekstra, Eric2016Attraction between words as a function of frequency and representational distance: Words in the bilingual brainLinguistics541223-1240

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Author(s): Siebren Dyk, Truus de Vries

Category: Frisian Morphology

Keywords: suffixnounstress tendency

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