7.0 Classification of roots according to their system of affixation

With the rich system of derivational and inflectional affixations to which Cebuano roots are subject, there are literally hundreds of different affixed forms for any given root. Since it is manifestly impossible to list exhaustively all affixations for any given root, we follow the principle here that PRODUCTIVE FORMATIONS are generally not listed unless there is s.t. especial about their meanings or morphophonemics. By PRODUCTIVE FORMATIONS we mean affixes which are added to all, or almost all, members of a certain group of roots. For example, the affix ka-an2 is added to any root which refers to a plant to form a collective noun referring to a place where a group of that type of plant is found. The formation, ka-[plant]-an, is not listed except in cases where there is s.t. special about the affixation, as for example kalubinhan ‘coconut grove’ (from lubi) which undergoes special morphophonemics or kabaknitan ‘thicket’ (from baknit ‘k.o. vine’), where the meaning of the affixed form is not predictable from the meaning of the base and the affixes. The following productive affixes are listed only occasionally. For their meanings and a description of the type of roots to which they are added, see the entries: pa-1,2; paN-1a,c, panggi-, hi-/ha-; hiN-1; -ay/-anay; paka-2, doubling or Culu-; -in-1, -in2, ka-an2, -in-an1, -in-an2, ma-2.

The inflectional affixes which may be added to a given verb base in a given meaning are indicated by means of a formula which is explained in the following subsections. The derivational affixes paN-1a,c, pakig-, and ka- are also indicated with these formulas.

Our classification of verbs consists of two parts separated by a semicolon: the active and the passive. The active classes are indicated by capital letters A, B, C and numbers indicating subclasses; and the passive classes are indicated by minuscules a, b, and c followed by numbers indicating subclasses. E.g. palit ‘buy’, which is in class A; a, takes the active affixes listed for A (Section 7.11) and the passive affixes listed for a (Section 7.21). In the following subsections the verbs mentioned as examples of each conjugation class are listed with examples for all the relevant affixations.