Learn about interfixes in Norwegian
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are interfixes? |
| Inger: And why are they important? |
| Michael: At NorwegianClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: The Lee family and their neighbors, the Tvedt family, are out together on a birdwatching trip. Suddenly, Mark Lee says, "Can you hear that?" |
| Mark: Kan du høre det? |
| Dialogue |
| Mark: Kan du høre det? |
| Trine: Fuglesang? |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Mark: Kan du høre det? |
| Michael: "Can you hear that?" |
| Trine: Fuglesang? |
| Michael: "A birdsong?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In linguistics, affixes are short segments that are attached to a word stem to create a new word. The most common ones are prefixes, which are attached before a word stem, and suffixes, which are attached after a word stem. In this lesson, we will learn about infixes in Norwegian. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue to better understand how infixes work. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says "Can you hear that?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Inger as Mark Lee: Kan du høre det? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Trine Tvedt says "A birdsong?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Inger as Trine Tvedt: Fuglesang? |
| Michael: Here, we encounter a word with an infix. The word, |
| Inger: Fuglesang, |
| Michael: or "birdsong" is composed of two words, |
| Inger: fugle |
| Michael: which means "bird," and |
| Inger: sang |
| Michael: which means "a song." Between these two words is the infix, |
| Inger: -e- |
| Michael: Interfixes are unique in the sense that they have no semantic meaning unlike prefixes and suffixes. The prefix pre-, for instance, means "before," while the suffix -ment denotes the resulting state of an action, such as in the word "refreshment." Interfixes, on the other hand, do not mean anything on their own. That doesn’t mean they don’t have any function at all aside from making words easier to pronounce. That, by the way, is the exact function of the interfix -e-. What this interfix does is give the pronunciation of words a better sense of flow without changing their meaning. Another Norwegian interfix you should be aware of is |
| Inger: -s- |
| Michael: One word that carries this interfix is |
| Inger: aldersgrense |
| Michael: which means "age limit." Here, we have the word, |
| Inger: alder |
| Michael: which means "age," and the word |
| Inger: grense |
| Michael: which is akin to the English word "limit." Between them is a genitival interfix indicating that the first word is a characteristic of the second word. Here’s another example: |
| Inger: bergingsbil |
| Michael: This word means "rescue vehicle" or "tow truck," with the word |
| Inger: berging |
| Michael: meaning "rescue," and the word |
| Inger: bil |
| Michael: meaning "car; automobile." And then we have two interfixes that are only used in Nynorsk. The first one is |
| Inger: -a- |
| Michael: as in the word, |
| Inger: ferdamann. |
| Michael: Here, we have the words, |
| Inger: ferd |
| Michael: which means "journey," and, |
| Inger: mann |
| Michael: which refers to "a man." The interfix between the words functions in the same manner that the interfix -e- does, and that is to link compound words to give them a better flow in terms of pronunciation. Another word carrying this interfix is |
| Inger: strandabu |
| Michael: which means "beach dweller," with the word |
| Inger: strand |
| Michael: meaning "beach," and the word |
| Inger: bu |
| Michael: meaning "dweller." And, finally, we have the second interfix that’s only used in Nynorsk, |
| Inger: -es- |
| Michael: which works the same way as the interfix -s. You will observe this interfix in words such as |
| Inger: makteslaus |
| Michael: or "powerless," and |
| Inger: stundesløyse |
| Michael: which means "restlessness." |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we’ve heard in this lesson. I’ll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Norwegian. Inger will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "Can you hear that?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Inger: Kan du høre det? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Inger: Kan du høre det? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Inger: Kan du høre det? |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "a birdsong?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Inger: Fuglesang? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Inger: Fuglesang? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Inger: Fuglesang? |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: In this lesson, we’ve learned that Norwegian has a total of four interfixes. One thing you should understand is that only two of these are used in the Norwegian Bokmål. These are the infixes |
| Inger: -e- and -s- |
| Michael: The other two infixes, |
| Inger: -a- and -es- |
| Michael: are only used in Nynorsk. However, in Nynorsk, all four infixes are used. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Inger: Ha det! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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