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    -elijk
    quickinfo

    The suffix ‐(e)lijk /(ə)lək/ creates adverbs from adjectives. Examples are de-adjectival wijs-elijk wisely and recent-elijk recently.

    Example 1

    Dat mijn moeder van Duitse komaf was verzweeg ik wijs-elijk.
    That POSS.1SG mother(C)SG of German.C ancestry(C)SG be.3SG.PST conceal.1SG.PST 1SG wise-ly
    That my mother had German ancestry I wisely concealed.
    Example 2

    Archeologen hebben recent-elijk meer ontdekkingen in het gebied gedaan.
    Archeologist.PL have.3PL.PRS recent-ly more discovery.PL in DEF.N.SG area(N)SG do.PTCP
    Archeologists have recently made more discoveries in the area.
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    [+]General properties

    The suffix -(e)lijk is usually considered as the Dutch adverbial suffix par excellence and thus it is put on a par with English adverbialising -ly. However, -(e)lijk is not always grammatically required, e.g. adverbially used recent-elijk recently may be substituted by the unsuffixed base word recent.

    Example 3

    Toen Victor haar had leren kennen had ze recent de kaap van de veertig gerond.
    When Victor her had learn know had she recently the cape of forty rounded
    When Victor got to know her she had just turned forty.

    Hence, the productivity of this suffix is low. The form of the suffix is ‐lijk or ‐elijk. This variation signals that there is a linking phoneme /ə/. In certain cases the insertion of a linking phoneme is free (e.g. hooglijk/hog-elijk highly, lief(e)lijk lovely. According to ANS (Haeseryn et al. 1997), the linking phoneme is inserted more generally in spoken Dutch. than in written Dutch.

    [+]Stratum, input and phonological properties

    This suffix attaches to adjectives. The only exception is the adverb alleenlijk alone which is archaic. It belongs to the native stratum, and thus combines with both native and non-native bases. It attaches to both simplex and derived adjectives. Adverbs of this type are mainly used in written language of a rather formal nature. The suffix is stress-neutral, and thus preserves the location of the main stress on the base word.

    [+]Meaning

    Adverbs with –elijk express various types of modification which are illustrated in the following.

    Example 4

    Qualifying modification
    Werknemers werden vele jaren vals-elijk voorgelicht, bedreigd en geïntimideerd.
    Employees were many years false-ly informed, threatened and intimidated
    For years employees were falsely informed, threatened and intimidated.
    Example 5

    Quantifying modification
    De portier keek hem licht-elijk verbaasd aan.
    The doorkeeper looked him slight-ly surprised at
    The doorkeeper looked at him slightly surprised.
    Example 6

    Temporal localization
    Dergelijke ruzietjes komen regelmatig voor, laatst-elijk kolommen lang tussen Rudy Kousbroek en Hans Ree.
    Such quarrels come regularly for, late-ly columns long between Rudy Kousbroek and Hans Ree
    Such quarrels occur all the time, recently for columns in a row between Rudy Kousbroek and Hans Ree.
    Example 7

    Modal and evaluative modification
    Mijn zwager, die wijs-elijk zijn sigaret gedoofd had, hielp me uit de penarie.
    My brother‐in‐law, who wise-ly his cigarette extinguished had, helped me out the trouble
    My brother‐in‐law, who had wisely put out his cigarette, got me out of trouble.

    For more information, see Diepeveen (2012: chapter 7;available here) and Diepeveen & Van de Velde (2010).

    References:
    • Diepeveen, Ariane2012Modifying words. Dutch adverbial morphology in contrast.FU BerlinThesis
    • Diepeveen, Janneke & Velde, Freek van de2010Adverbial morphology. How Dutch and German are moving away from English.Journal of Germanic Linguistics22389-413
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    ABOUT THIS TOPIC
    Author(s):
    Geert Booij
    Category:
    Dutch Morphology
    Publication date:
    14 May 2020
    Keywords:
    suffixadverbialadverbderivation
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