Pejorative gerund?

Question

Take a look at the following words: > Gelaufe, > Gelerne, > Geschufte, > Geballer, > Geschredder, > Geschwätz, > Gelaber There seems to be an construction one could call "pejorative gerund", which nominalizes a verb into something regarded pointless, boring, annoying and/or repititive. Although nouns like > *Geverbarikadiere, *Geharpuniere, *Geprogrammiere sound at least grammatical in my ears, they also appear to be _very_ awkward. I suppose the construction is generally possible, but practically restricted to a certain subclass of verbs. Do you how this construct is called in proper linguistical terms, and where I can find more about it? Of course, if you can tell me more about the rules of applicability, it would be interesting, too.

Answer 1

The prefix Ge- implies the Gesamtheit of the word to which it is appended. While it often has a pejorative sense (reden, Gerede; tun, Getue; haben, Gehabe et al.), it is not always so. Consider Feld, Gefilde.