Inchoative verb

An inchoative verb, sometimes called an "inceptive" verb, shows a process of beginning or becoming. Productive

Productivity (linguistics)

In linguistics, productivity is the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation. Since use to produce novel structures is the clearest proof of usage of a grammatical process, the evidence most often appealed to as establishing productivity is...

 inchoative infixes

Infix

An infix is an affix inserted inside a stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Infixes in English:...

 exist in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

, and consequently some Romance languages. Not all verbs with inchoative infixes have retained their inceptive meaning. In Italian, for example, present indicative finisco 'I finish' contains the form of the infix, while present indicative finiamo 'we finish' does not, yet the only difference in meaning is that of person subject; the infix is now semantically inert.

The Latin language uses the infix -sc- to show inchoative force.

An inchoative verb, sometimes called an "inceptive" verb, shows a process of beginning or becoming. Productive

Productivity (linguistics)

In linguistics, productivity is the degree to which native speakers use a particular grammatical process, especially in word formation. Since use to produce novel structures is the clearest proof of usage of a grammatical process, the evidence most often appealed to as establishing productivity is...

 inchoative infixes

Infix

An infix is an affix inserted inside a stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Infixes in English:...

 exist in several languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece and the ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

, and consequently some Romance languages. Not all verbs with inchoative infixes have retained their inceptive meaning. In Italian, for example, present indicative finisco 'I finish' contains the form of the infix, while present indicative finiamo 'we finish' does not, yet the only difference in meaning is that of person subject; the infix is now semantically inert.

Latin

The Latin language uses the infix -sc- to show inchoative force. The infix is normally seen in the present tense

Present tense

The present tense is the tense that may be used to express:* action at the present* a state of being;* an occurrence in the near future; or* an action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present....

 stem, and is not present in the third and fourth principal parts

Principal parts

In language learning, the principal parts of a verb are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate the verb through all its forms.- English :...

.

• apiscor, apisci, aptus sum reach
• cresco, crescere, crevi, cretus come into being, spring up, grow up
• convalesco, convalescere, convalui recover, get better, grow strong
• disco, discere, didici learn
• irascor, irasci, iratus sum be in a rage
• lapidesco, lapidescere become stone
• misceo, miscere, miscui, mixtus mix
• nanciscor, nancisci, nactus/nanctus sum get
• nosco, noscere, novi, notus get to know
• obdormisco, obdormiscere, obdormivi, obdormitus fall asleep
• posco, poscere, poposci demand
• proficiscor, proficisci, profectus sum set out
• rubesco, rubescere, rubui (

Ancient Greek

Greek also uses -sk- to show inchoative force in the present stem. -σκ- is added to verb-stems ending in vowels, --ισκ- is added to consonant stems.

• αρεσκω to please
• φασκω to feed

Swedish

In Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...

, inchoative verbs end in -na. Some examples and their non-inchoative counterparts:

• att blekna, to go pale; att bleka, to bleach
• att tystna, to fall silent; att tysta, to silence
• att fastna, to get stuck; att fästa, to attach
• att hårdna, to be hardened; att härda, to harden
• att kallna, to become cold; att kyla, to cool
• att ruttna, to rot; att röta, to cause something to rot

This class of verbs is today not productive, and the umlaut relationship between some inchoative verbs and their non-inchoative counterparts indicates that they in fact are quite old.