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-rice
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-rice /ri.sə/ is a stress-bearing non-native cohering suffix found in nouns of common gender, the feminine counterparts of agent nouns based on the suffixes -(-at)eur and -(at)or, e.g. directrice female director (cf. directeur director) and organisatrice female organiser (cf. organisator organiser). Plurals are formed with -s.

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-rice /'ri.sə/ is a non-native suffix found in nouns of common gender, selecting the definite singular article de. -rice formations are the feminine counterparts of agent nouns based on the non-native suffixes -(at)eur and -(at)or, e.g. directrice female director (cf. directeur director) and organisatrice female organiser (cf. organisator organiser), that are best analyzed as derivations with -eur and -or on bases with stem allomorphy going back, ultimately, to intricacies of Latin morphology. The suffix -rice competes with -euse /'ø.zə/, which is found as the female counterpart of derivations in -eur and -or that have no stem allomorph in -at, e.g. masseuse female masseur. This includes cases such as aborteuse female abortionist where the t is part of the stem (plus a few instrument names like friteuse deep frying pan that lack a corresponding form in -eur). Various forms in -rice may be direct loans from French.

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Alternatively, De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 209, 212) argue that the suffixes -(-at)eur and -(at)or are best analyzed as combinations of the affixes -at (which does not occur independently and cannot be attributed a semantics either) and -eur and -or, respectively. De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 212) list the forms ambassadrice female embassador, enquêtrice female investigator, and rapportrice female rapporteur as not complying with this morphological restriction. cantatrice singer is noteworthy for the non-existence of a corresponding form *cantator; cantor cantor, however, does exist. mentor mentor, quaestor treasurer and rector school director have a (more Latinate) feminine counterpart in -rix: mentrix, quaestrix and rectrix, respectively.

Some forms in -eur such as amateur amateur have no female form at all.

The suffix -rice is stress-bearing (stress on the first syllable of the suffix) and cohering: syllabification does not respect the morphological structure, witness organisatrice organisat-rice /ɔr.ɣa.ni.sa.'tri.sə/. Forms in -rice do occur as righthand parts of nominal compounds (kostschooldirectrice female boarding school director) but not as lefthand parts, and they cannot be input to further derivational processes: even diminutive formation (predictably with the allomorph -etje) is rare. Plural forms are in -s.

References
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
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