4.3 The
rest
4.3.1 Inserted
o
To make the pronunciation easier, it is possible to insert a vowel
o between two roots in a composite:
puŝoŝipo – tugboat,
skribotablo – writing
desk. With some words the letter o is inserted to make them more
recognizable, because of the tradition or because the words have ends with an o
in international usage:
diosimila
– like a god,
radioelsendi
– radiobroadcast.The letter
o
cannot be inserted in front of suffixes or after prefixes.
In
PAG
[33], this problem is described
differently – as conserving of endings. The conserving of endings has the
same reason as inserting of an
o. However, in
this case the o between two roots is not an inserted vowel but an nominal ending
of the first root. Another consequence is, that also adjectival ending a and
adverbial e can be found between two roots. The type of the ending is driven by
so called vortefiko rules (vortefiko – effect of the
word)
[34].
This theory seams
reasonable to me. Except the problems with vortefiko rules, I do not know if the
theory could be confronted with real data. This problem would require further
study, especially of a large corpus. Provisionally, I look at the
o as an inserted character.
4.3.2 Hyphen
According to PAG
[35], hyphen
(
dividstreko) in composites is used in
following cases:
- In composites with three or more roots (not counting affixes) to show
theoretical bracketing of the main and determining elements:
vapoŝip-asocio – steamboat
association in contrast to
vapor-ŝipasocio – steamy
boat-association
- In composites with two roots, to make them more easily to recognize:
sen-tema – without any theme;
especially when the second root starts with a vowel:
bel-aspekta – looking pretty. The
hyphen is not used before suffixes (incl. suffixoids) and after prefixes (incl.
prefixoids). However, it is recommended to use it, if the affixoid is used as
classical root: il-riparo – reparation
of the tool (ilo – a tool, a
suffixoid).
- It is recommended to use it in coordinative
composites (see 4.1.2):
membro-abonanto –
member-subscriber; and it is necessary to use it if the elements are
inflected: esperantistoj-amikoj –
Esperantists-friends.
4.3.3 Sciences
Names of sciences are full of
pseudosuffixes
[36], however some of
the sciences can be regarded as composites.
The most often suffix is
io (unofficial), that makes the name of the
science from the scientist. The scientist ends very often with
ologo – partly pseudosuffix
(
astrologo,
ekologo), partly unofficial suffix
(
antrop|ologo,
soci|ologo).
Words for sciences
sometimes contain pseudosuffix
iko
(
poetiko – poetics,
stylistko – stylistics).
Ik can be regarded in some cases as suffix
forming the name for the science from the scientist
(
stylisto – stylist)
.
However these cases are very rare and the rest before the
iko is very often not a scientist
(
simbolo – symbol,
simboliko – symbolism) or the
result is not a science (
gimnasto –
gymnast, gimnastiko –
gymnastics).
4.3.4 Names
of countries
The problem of the names of countries and nationalities has been often
discussed. There are two ways – to form the name of the inhabitant from
its country or vice versa. The current state of the names of countries is
evolved tradition, international influences and tendency to use some simple
system.
Originally, an inhabitant was primary for the Old Word and a country
for the New World; with some exceptions. The inhabitant was formed by the suffix
ano and the country by suffix
ujo. Names of some were derived from a town or
a river by the suffix
io
(
Meksiko – Ciudad de Mexico
◊
Meksikio – Mexico)
.
However, there was a tendency to make the names more international. Some
names were using the word
lando
(
Finnlando), the suffix
io was used more and more instead of the suffix
ujo and a new suffix
istan was used for some countries.
Today,
there is a list of standard names of countries (
Listo de
normaj landnomoj)
[37]. This
list put all countries into two categories and some subcategories:
1) Country
is primary, inhabitant is formed by suffix
ano.
Peruo
◊ Peru|ano,
Aŭstralio
◊
Aŭstrali|ano,
Nepalo ◊
Nepal|ano 2) Inhabitant is primary,
country is formed by various suffixes:
a) by the suffixes
io or
ujo.
Hungaro
◊
Hungario/
Hungarujo,
Turko ◊
Turkio/
Turkujob)
by the root
lando.
Finno
◊
Finnlando,
Skoto ◊
Skotlandoc) by the suffix
istano.
[38]Uzbeko
◊
Uzbekistano,
Afgano ◊
AfganistanoThe names derived from the name
of a town or a river by the suffix
io are in
the first category.
4.3.5 Abbreviations
Abbreviations (mallongigoj) have nearly the same
form as in other languages:
E.g.: ekz.
– ekzemle – for example,
k.t.p. – kaj tiel
plu – etc., p. –
pago – page,
t.e. – tio
estas – i.e., PIV
– Plena Ilustrita Vortaro – The
Full Illustrated Dictionary
Very often, the abbreviations are formed by
conserving few letters from the beginning and possibly some from the end and by
replacing the rest by a hyphen. Such abbreviation has grammatical ending and is
normally declined.
d-ro –
doktoro – doctor,
s-ro –
sinjoro – Mister,
s-rino –
sinjorino – Mistress
[33] See PAG
§309
[34] See chapter
4.1.1.
[35]
See PAG §14B – I.
[36]
Sequences of characters that very often repeat in Esperanto words, mostly
suffixes in languages the words originate from. See chapter
4.2.5.
[37] Oficialaj Informoj de la
Akademio de Esperanto, n-ro 9, 1989
[38]
Pakistano belongs to the lexicon country, the
inhabitant is called
Pakistan|ano.