Query Details

Query Subject:	question: -ee suffix in English
Author:	Anja Wanner
Submitter Email:	click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):	Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s):	English

Query:	I am interested in the distributional and functional properties of the -ee suffix in English. It seems that there aren't many usualized -ee nouns, most of them formed on the basis of latinate verb stems and referring to the GOAL of a transaction (narratee, nominee, awardee). On the other hand -ee nouns seem to be used as a thematic contrast to derivations on -er/-or, in which case they refer to the PATIENT argument and do not seem to underlie any morphological restrictions (for instance, in linguistic texts people talk about binders and bindees, kissers and kissees). When it comes to one-argument verbs, -ee suffixation might be a criterion to differentiate between unergative and unaccusative verbs (escapee vs. dancer). Does anybody know any corpus-based studies of the -ee suffix? Many thanks, anja wanner university of wisconsin-madison
LL Issue:	11.1240
Date posted:	02-Jun-2000
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