Types of affixes

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INTRODUCTION

70% of all English words are complex forms, that's how they are constructed according to the norms and rules of the English word-building processes:

Ш Affixation

Ш Conversion

Ш Composition or some other minor word-building process

Affixation is one of the most productive ways in a word formation process throughout the history of English. In English grammar and morphology, affixation is the process of adding a morpheme -- or affix-- to a word to create either a different form of that word or a new word with a different meaning; affixation is the most common way of making new words in English and works best in enriching our vocabulary in target language.

Structurally, words are divided into smaller units - morphemes. (The smallest lexical unit of form but unlike a word it can't be used autonomously.

Affixation is a morphological process whereby a bound morpheme, an affix, is attached to a morphological base. Diachronically, the English word affix was first used as a verb and has its origin in Latin: affixus, past participle of the verb affigere, ad- `to' + figere `to fix'.

Affixation falls in the scope of Morphology where bound morphemes are either roots or affixes. Prefixes (affixes that precede the root) and suffixes (affixes that follow the root) are the most common types of affixes cross-linguistically.

For future teachers of English language it is crucial to understand the rules of the word formation process. Besides theoretical understanding of how affixes form new words, these rules can be easily applied in practice when writing or speaking. Moreover, such knowledge can equip us, as future teachers, with useful tools when it comes to teaching others new language.

The main purpose of this course work is to perform detailed study of affixation and its types in English language, investigate its theoretical properties and to discover its practical value. According to this general aim the following particular tasks have been set:

1. To explore the theory of word formation process in English

Language, in order to distinguish the role of affixation in this process;

2. To classify the affixes according to its structure and semantics in different aspects of English language such as: Lexicology, Morphology, Linguistics and Grammar in order to understand its different types;

3. To display the practical value and usage of different types of affixes.

The word formation process is a vast area, and in order to understand the role of affix in this process we should take a closer look at “morphemes'' and its forms, as affix is a morpheme itself.



1. MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF WORDS.AFFIXATION

1.1 AFFIX AS A MORPHEME

If we describe a word as an autonomous unit of language in which a particular meaning is associated with a particular sound complex and which is capable of a particular grammatical employment and able to form a sentence by itself we have the possibility to distinguish it from the other fundamental language unit, namely, the morpheme.

A morpheme is also an association of a given meaning with a given sound pattern. But unlike a word it is not autonomous. Morphemes occur in speech only as constituent parts of words, not independently, although a word may consist of a single morpheme. Nor are they divisible into smaller meaningful units. That is why the morpheme may be defined as the minimum meaningful language unit.

The term morpheme is derived from Gr morphe 'form'+ eme. Linguists to denote the smallest unit or the minimum distinctive feature have adopted the Greek suffix - eme. (Cf. phoneme, sememe). The morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of form. A form in these cases is a recurring discrete unit of speech.

A form is said to be free if it may stand alone without changing its meaning; if not, it is a bound form, so called because it is always bound to something else. For example, if we compare the words sportive and elegant and their parts, we see that sport, sportive, elegant may occur alone as utterances, whereas eleg - - ive, - ant are bound forms because they never occur alone. A word is, by L. Bloomfield's definition, a minimum free form. A morpheme is said to be either bound or free. This statement' should be taken with caution. It means that some morphemes are capable of forming words without adding other morphemes: that is, they are homonymous to free forms.

According to the role they play in constructing words, morphemes are subdivided into roots and affixes. The latter are further subdivided, according to their position, into prefixes, suffixes and infixes, and according to their function and meaning, into derivational and functional affixes, the latter also called endings or outer formatives.

When a derivational or functional affix is stripped from the word, what remains is a stem (or a stem base). The stem expresses the lexical and the part of speech meaning. See also: П A. Coболева, об ocновах слов, связанных отношениями конверсии. Сб «Иностранные языки в высшей школе», вып. 2, 1963. For the word hearty and for the paradigm heart (Sing.) - hearts (Pl.) A paradigm is defined as the system of grammatical forms characteristic of a word. the stem may be represented as heart- This stem is a single morpheme, it contains nothing but the root, so it is a simple stem. It is also a free stem because it is homonymous to the word heart.

A stem may also be defined as the part of the word that remains unchanged throughout its paradigm. The stem of the paradigm hearty - heartier - (the) heartiest is hearty- It is a free stem, but as it consists of a root morpheme and an affix, it is not simple but derived. Thus, a stem containing one or more affixes is a derived stem. If after deducing the affix the remaining stem is not homonymous to a separate word of the same root, we call it a bound stem. Thus, in the word cordial 'proceeding as if from the heart', the adjective-forming suffix can be separated on the analogy with such words as bronchia/, radial, social. The remaining stem, however, cannot form a separate' word by itself: it is bound. In cordially and cordiality, on the other hand, the stems are free.

Bound stems are especially characteristic of loan words. The point may be illustrated by the following French borrowings: arrogance, charity, courage, coward, distort, involve, notion, legible and tolerable, to give but a few. Historical lexicology shows how sometimes the stem becomes bound due to the internal changes in the stem that accompany the addition of affixes; cf. broad: breadth, clean: cleanly ['klenhj, dear: dearth [dе:и ], grief : -.grievous. After the suffixes of these words are taken away the remaining elements are: arrog-, char-, cour-, cow-, - tort, - voIve, nat-, leg-, toler-, which do not coincide with any semantically related independent words.

Roots-are main morphemic vehicles of a given idea in a given language at a given stage of its development. A root may be also regarded as the ultimate constituent element which remains after the removal of all functional and derivational affixes and does not admit any further analysis. It is the common element of words within a word-family. Thus, - heart - is the common root of the following series of words: heart, hearten, dishearten, heartily, heartless, hearty, heartiness, sweetheart, heart-broken, kind-hearted, whole-heartedly, etc. In some of these, as, for example, in hearten, there is only one root; in others the root - heart is combined with some other root, thus forming a compound like sweetheart.

It will at once be noticed that the root in English is very often homonymous with the word. This fact is of fundamental importance as it is one of the most specific features of the English language arising from its general grammatical system on the one hand, and from its phonemic system on the other. The influence of the analytical structure of the language is obvious. The second point, however, calls for some explanation. Actually the usual phonemic shape most favoured in English is one single stressed syllable: bear, find, jump, land, man, sing, etc. This does not give much space for a second morpheme to add classifying Lexico-grammatical meaning to the lexical meaning already present in the root-stem, so the Lexico-grammatical meaning must be signaled by distribution. In the phrases a morning's drive, a morning's ride, a morning's walk the words drive, ride and walk receive the Lexico-grammatical meaning of. a noun not due to the structure of their stems, but because they are preceded by a noun in the Possessive case.

An English word does not necessarily contain formatives indicating to what part of speech it belongs. This holds true even with respect to inflexible parts of speech, i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives. Not all roots are free forms, but productive roots, i.e. roots capable of producing new words, usually are. The semantic realization of an English word is therefore very specific. Its dependence on distribution is further enhanced by the widespread occurrence of homonymy both among root morphemes and affixes. Note how many words in the following statement might be ambiguous if taken in isolation: A change of work is as good as a rest.

The above treatment of the root is purely synchronic, as we have taken into consideration only the facts of present-day English. But the same problem of the morpheme is serving as the main signal of a given lexical meaning is studied in etymology, i.e. in that branch of linguistics which deals with the origin and development of words tracing them back to their earliest determinable source.

When approached thus historically or diachronically the word heart will be classified as Common Germanic. One will look for cognates, i.e. words descended from a common ancestor. The cognates of heart are the Latin cor, whence cordial 'hearty', 'sincere', and so cordially and cordiality; also the Greek kardia, whence English cardiac condition. The cognates outside the English vocabulary are the Russian сердце, the German Herzt the Spanish corazon and somе other words.

To emphasize the difference between the synchronic and the diachronic treatment, we shall call the common element of cognate words in different languages not their root but their radical element. An interesting example of historical treatment may be found in Potter's book.¹¹ S. Potter, Modern Linguistics, p. 81, London, 1957 Potter shows that the same radical element s-d is to be recognized in the English monosyllables sit, seat, soot and nest. The radical element is s-d, the vowels may be different. Potter distinguishes five grades: (1) - sed - as in Latin sedere, whence the English sedentary 'requiring much sitting', 'physically inactive' (sedentary work, sedentary person) and sediment 'the part that settles to the bottom of a liquid'. From sedare, sedat (the causative of sedere) the English vocabulary has sedate 'quiet', 'calm' and its derivatives: sedately, sedateness, sedative; supersede is 'to sit above', hence 'to replace'. This meaning developed, as Potter explains, at the time when seats at schools were assigned by quality of work, so if a pupil surpassed another he superseded him. The verb sit belongs to this group also, being developed from Common Germanic setjan. (2) The variant - - sod - is represented by the Past Tense sat, (3) [-se:d] - is observed in Mode seat<old Norse s?ti<; Common Germanic s?t. (4) [-so:d-l as in English soot with its Northern pronunciation [su:t]<OE and ON sot 'that which sits or settles in the chimney'. (5) From the vanishing grade E-sad_1 combined with the adverb ni-'down' which is cognate with the German nieder, the Indo-European noun ni-sd-os 'place where the bird sits down' is formed, whence both the English nest and the Russian гнездо. The Latin cognate is nidus, which is used in English as a scientific term 'place in which insects deposit eggs'; nidiflcation means 'nest building'.

These two types of approach, synchronic and diachronic, give rise to two different principles of arranging morphologically related words into groups. In the first case series of words with a common root morpheme in which derivatives are opposable to their unsuffixed and unprefixed bases, are combined cf. heart, hearty, etc..The second grouping results in families of historically cognate words, cf. heart, cor (Lat), etc.

Unlike roots, affixes are always bound forms. The difference between suffixes and prefixes, it will be remembered, is not confined to their respective position, suffixes being «fixed after» and prefixes «fixed before» the stem. It also concerns their function and meaning.

A suffix is a derivational morpheme following the stem and forming a new derivative in a different part of speech or a different word class, cf. - en, - y, - less in hearten, hearty, heartless. When both the underlying and the resultant forms belong to the same part of speech, the suffix serves to differentiate between Lexico-grammatical classes by rendering some very general lexico-grammatical meaning. For instance, both - ify and - er are verb suffixes, but the first characterizes causative verbs, such as horrify, purify, whereas the second is mostly typical of frequentative verbs: flicker, shimmer, twitter and the like.

If we realize that suffixes render the most general semantic component of the word's lexical meaning by marking the general class of phenomena to which the referent of the word belongs, the reason why suffixes are as a rule semantically fused with the stem stands explained.

A prefix is a derivational morpheme standing before the root and modifying meaning, cf. to hearten - to dishearten. It is only with verbs and statives that a prefix may serve to distinguish one part of speech from another, like in earth n-unearth v, sleep n - asleep (stative).

Preceding a verb stem, some prefixes express the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb: stay v and outstay (smb) v t. With a few exceptions prefixes modify the stem for time (pre-t post-), place (in-, ad-), negation (un-, dis-) and remain semantically rather independent of the stem.

An infix is an affix placed within the word, like - n - in stand. This type is not productive.

An affix should not be confused with a combining form. A combining form is also a bound form but it can be distinguished.



2.ROLE OF AFFIX IN WORD FORMATION PROCESS

2.1 PRODUCTIVE AND NONPRODUCTIVE TYPES OF AAFFIXES

The synchronic analysis of the preceding paragraph studies the present-day system and patterns characterized of the English vocabulary by comparing simultaneously existing words. In diachronic analysis Lexical elements are compared with those from which they have been formed and developed and their present productivity is determined.

The diachronic study of vocabulary establishes whether the present morphological structure of each element of the vocabulary is due to the process of affixation or some other word-forming process, which took place within the English vocabulary in the course of its development, or whether it has some other source. The possible other sources are: (1) the borrowing of morphologically divisible words, e.g. i/-liter-ate from lat. Illiterates or litera-ture from lat litteratura: (2) reactivation, e.g. When in a number of Latin verbs harrowed in the second participle form with the suffix - at (us), this suffix became - ate (separate), and came to be understood as a characteristic mark of the infinitive; (3) False etymology: when a difficult, usually borrowed, word structure is destroyed in to some form suggesting a motivation, as, for instance, in the change of asparagus into sparrowgrass, or OF r and ME crevice into crayfish.

Synchronic analysis concentrates on structural types and treats word-formation as a system of rules, aiming at the creation of a consistent and complete theory by which the observed facts cab be classified, and the non-observed facts can be predicted. This aim has not been achieved as yet, so that a consistently synchronic description of the English language is still fragmentary still requires frequent revision. Diachronic analysis concentrating on word-forming possesses is more fully worked out.

All the foregoing treatment has been strictly synchronic i.e. only the present state of the English vocabulary has been taken into consideration. To have a complete picture of affixation, however one must be acquainted with the development of the stock of morphemes involved. A diachronic approach is thus indispensable.

The basic contrast that must be detalt with in this connection is the opposition of productive and non-productive affixes.

2.2 DERIVETIONAL AND INFLECTIONAL PROCESS

Affixes mark derivational (-er in teach-er) and inflectional (-s in teacher-s) changes, and affixation is the most common strategy that human languages employ for derivation of new words and word forms. However, languages vary in the ways they express the same semantics, and if in English the noun biolog-ist is derived from biology through the addition of the suffix -ist, in Russian (and other Slavic languages) the same derivation does not involve the addition of an affix but subtraction of form: biolog-ija `biology' > biolog `biologist'.

Most languages make an extensive use of affixes (most European, African, Australian, and Amerindian languages are of this type), whereas others ( e.g., Vietnamese), hardly do. In languages that use affixes, there is a general preference for suffixes over prefixes

In English language the two primary kinds of affixation are prefixation, the addition of a prefix, and suffixation, the addition of a suffix, while clusters of affixes can be used to form complex words.

In linguistic process speakers use affixations to form different words by adding: morphemes (affixes) at the beginning (prefixation); the middle (infixation); or the end (suffixation) of words.

A large majority of new words in English language today are either a result of blending -- mashing two words or partial words together to form a new one -- or affixation. There are cases, however, where it is very difficult to drawer hard and fast line between roots and affixes on the one hand, and derivational affixes and in flexional formatives on the other. The distinction between these has caused much discussion and is no easy matter altogether.

There are a few roots in English which have developed great combining ability in the position of the second element of a word and a very general meaning similar to that of an affix. They receive this name because semantically, functionally, structurally and statistically they behave more like affixes than like roots. Their meaning is as general. They determine the lexicon-grammatical class the word belongs to. Cf sailor: seaman, where - man is a semi-affix.

Another specific group is farmed by the adverb-forming suffix - ly, following adjective stems, and the noun-forming suffixes: - ing, - ness, - er and by - ed added to a combination of two stems: fainthearted, long legged. By their almost unlimited combining possibilities (high valiancy) and the almost complete fusion of lexical and lexicon-grammatical meaning they resemble inflectional formatives.

The derivation with these suffixes is so regular and the meaning and function of the derivatives so obvious that such derivatives are very often considered not worth an entry in the dictionary and therefore omitted as self-evident. Almost every adjective stem can produce an adverb with the help of - ly and an abstract noun by taking up the suffix - ness.

Every verbal stem can produce the name of the doer by adding - er and the name of the process or its result by adding - ing. A suffix approaching those in productivity is - ish denoting a moderate degree of the quality named in the stem. Therefore these words are explained in dictionaries by referring the reader to the underlying stem. For example, in Concise Oxford dictionary we read: «womanliness-the quality of being womanly; womanized in senses of the verb; womanishly-in a womanish manner; womanly adv-in a womanly manner, womanishness-the quality or state of being womanish.»

These affixes are remarkable for their high valence also in the formation of compound derivatives corresponding to free phrases. Examples are: every day: everydayness.

Lexicology is primarily concerned with derivational affixes, the other group being the domain of grammarians. The derivational affixes in fact, as well as the whole problem of word-formation, form a boundary area between lexicology and grammar and are therefore studied in both.

Language being a system in which the elements of vocabulary and grammar are closely interrelated, our study of affixes cannot be complete without some discussion of the similarity and difference between derivational and functional morphemes.

The similarity is obvious as they are so often homonymous. Otherwise the two groups are essentially different because they render different types of meaning.

Functional affixes serve to convey grammatical meaning. They build different forms of one and the same word. A word-form, or the form of a word, is defined as one of the different aspects a word may take as a result of inflection. Complete sets of all the various forms of a word when considered as inflectional patterns, such as declensions or conjugations, are termed paradigms. A paradigm is therefore defined as the system of grammatical forms characteristic of a word, e.g. near, nearer, nearest; son, son's, sons, sons'.

Derivational affixes serve to supply the stem with components of lexical and lexico-grammatical meaning, and thus form different words. One and the same lexico-grammatical meaning of the affix is sometimes accompanied by different combinations of various lexical meanings. Thus, the lexico-grammatical meaning supplied by the suffix - y consists in the ability to express the, qualitative idea peculiar to adjectives and creates adjectives from noun stems.

The lexical meanings of the same suffix are somewhat variegated: 'full of, as in bushy or cloudy, 'composed of, as in stony, 'having the quality of, as in slangy, 'resembling', as in baggy and some more. This suffix sometimes conveys emotional components of meaning. E.g. My school reports used to say: «Not amenable to discipline; too fond of organizing» which was only a kind way of saying: «Bossy?» (M. DICKENS) Bossy not only means 'having the quality of a boss' or 'behaving like a boss'; it is also an unkind derogatory word.

This fundamental difference in meaning and function of the two groups of affixes results in an interesting relationship: the presence of a derivational affix does not prevent a word from being equivalent to another word, in which this suffix is absent, so that they can be substituted for one another in context. The presence of a functional affix changes the distributional properties of a word so much that it can never be substituted for a simple word without violating grammatical standard.

To see this point consider the following familiar quotation from Shakespeare:

ь Cowards die many times before their deaths;

ь The valiant never taste of death but once.

Here no one-morpheme word can be substituted for the words cowards, times or deaths because the absence of a plural mark will make the sentence ungrammatical. The words containing derivational affixes can besubstituted by morphologically different words, so that the derivative valiant can be substituted by a root word like brave.

2.3 SYNCHRONIC AND DIACHRONIC AFFIXES

In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes. Affixations, the linguistic process speakers use form different words by adding morphemes (affixes) at the beginning (prefixation), the middle (infixation) or the end (suffixation) of words.

To emphasize the difference between the synchronic and the diachronic treatment, we shall call the common element of cognate words in different languages not their root but their radical element..

These two types of approach, synchronic and diachronic, give rise to two different principles of arranging morphologically related words into groups. In the first case series of words with a common root morpheme in which derivatives are opposable to their unsuffixed and unprefixed bases, are combined cf. heart, hearty, etc..The second grouping results in families of historically cognate words, cf. heart, cor (Lat), etc.

Unlike roots, affixes are always bound forms. The difference between suffixes and prefixes, it will be remembered, is not confined to their respective position, suffixes being «fixed after» and prefixes «fixed before» the stem. It also concerns their function and meaning.

A suffix is a derivational morpheme following the stem and forming a new derivative in a different part of speech or a different word class, cf. - en, - y, - less in hearten, hearty, heartless. When both the underlying and the resultant forms belong to the same part of speech, the suffix serves to differentiate between Lexico-grammatical classes by rendering some very general lexico-grammatical meaning. For instance, both - ify and - er are verb suffixes, but the first characterizes causative verbs, such as horrify, purify, whereas the second is mostly typical of frequentative verbs: flicker, shimmer, twitter and the like.

If we realize that suffixes render the most general semantic component of the word's lexical meaning by marking the general class of phenomena to which the referent of the word belongs, the reason why suffixes are as a rule semantically fused with the stem stands explained.

A prefix is a derivational morpheme standing before the root and modifying meaning, cf. to hearten - to dishearten. It is only with verbs and statives that a prefix may serve to distinguish one part of speech from another, like in earth n-unearth v, sleep n - asleep (stative).

Preceding a verb stem, some prefixes express the difference between a transitive and an intransitive verb: stay v and outstay (smb) v t. With a few exceptions prefixes modify the stem for time (pre-t post-), place (in-, ad-), negation (un-, dis-) and remain semantically rather independent of the stem.

An infix is an affix placed within the word, like - n - in stand. The type is not productive.

An affix should not be confused with a combining form.

A combining form is also a bound form but it can be distinguished from an affix historically by the fact that it is always borrowed from another language, namely, from Latin or Greek, in which it existed as a free form, i.e. a separate word, or also as a combining form.

Thus, the combining form cyclo - and its variant cycl - are derived from the Greek word kuklos 'circle', giving the English word cyclic.

The French adjective mat 'bad' gives the English combining form mat-, as in malnutrition. The same meaning we observe in the Greek combining form kako - derived homkakos 'bad' (cacophony 'ill sound', cacoepy 'bad pronunciation'). They differ from all other borrowings in that they occur in compounds and derivatives that did not exist in their original language but were formed only in modern times in English, Russian, French, etc. Cf. polyclinic, polymer; stereophonic, stereoscopic, telemechanics, television.

Combining forms are mostly international. Descriptively a combining form differs from an affix because it can occur as one constituent of a form whose only other constituent is an affix, as in cyclic.

2.4.DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AFFIXATION AND BLENDING

One form of word alteration and invention that is commonly mistaken for being an example of affixation is the process of blending words to form new ones, most notably present in the example of the marketing term "cranapple," where people naturally assume the root word "cran-" from "cranberry" is being applied as an affix.

However, affixes must be able to universally be attached to other morphemes and still make sense.

This is not the case with the "cran-" root, which is only seen attached to another morpheme in marketing examples of juices that also contain cranberry juice like "crangrape" and "cranapple." Instead of being a stand-alone morpheme which conveys "of cranberry," the suffix "cran-" can only make sense when applied to other juices and is therefore considered a blend of two reduced words (cranberry and apple).

Though some words and prefixes can be both stand-alone morphemes or parts of blended words, meaning the phrases aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, most often words that are products of blending do not contain any actual productive affixes.



3. CATEGORIES AND TYPES OF AFFIXES

3.1 TYPES OF AFFIXES

Types of affixes:

ь Derivational (help to form new words with the same root)

(use -ful;-less) (Prefixes and suffixes)

ь Functional (do not form new words but they change the word within its paradigm) (work - ed;-s;-ing) (endings, flections)

According to their position affixes can be:

ь Prefixes - is a derivational affix which is placed before the root and it changes the meaning of the word and very seldom the grammatically category of a word.

a) (meanings) before some words prefixes express the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs (stay -- outstay)

b) can have a very generalized meaning of time (pre-;post-)

c) have negative meanings (un-;dis-;im-;in-;ir-;il-;de-;ab-;mis-)

d) one prefix denotes repetition (re-)

e) some prefixes define the manner (out-, over-; under-; to outlive, overpay, underpay)

ь Suffixes (is derivational morpheme which is added after the root or stem and can change both the lexical meaning of a word and its grammatical category) (criteria of classification)

ь According to their origin

a) French -ance( hidrance);-ence (intelligence);- ment(development); --age (village); --ess (lioness); -ous (joyous); --fy(terrify); --ize (organize)

b) Latin -- --ion (union); --tion (revolution); --ate (create); -ute(distribute); --de (divide); --able(curable); --ent (evident); --or(junior); --al (final)

c) Greek -izm () -ist (nationalist)

a) Native suffixes: -er (teacher); --ing (feeling); --dom (freedom); --ship (friendship); --th (truth); --hood (manhood); --ful (joyful); -less(sleepless); --y (snowy); -ly (ugly); --en (golden).

ь According to what part of speech they form (noun forming; adj.-forming; verb-forming);

ь According to frequency - affix which is no more productive but frequent

ь According to what meaning they possess (-ful; full of; ish - quality; green-greenish)

ь According to their productivity - ability of an affix to form new words.

(-er; -ing; -y; -ish; -able; -ate; un-; pre-; dis-)

ь Non-productive affixes (-th; -hood; -ly; -some; -en; -ous;)

ь Dead affixes - lost both their productivity and their frequency and merged with roots. They are not considered as affixes any more.

1. -d- seed, deed

2. -le/l sale

3. -nd friend

4. -red catered

5. -k walk, talk

ь Infixes - derivational affix which is placed within the root and change the grammatical category of a word. It is practically never used in English) (stand-stood)

ь Hybrids (words comprising elements of different languages) (artist; art- French; ist-Greek suffix)

Prefix is an element placed at the beginning of a word to adjust or qualify its, meaning, for example de-, non-, and re-. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix un- is added to the word happy, it creates the word unhappy. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.

Prefixes, like other affixes, can be either inflectional, creating a new form of the word with the same basic meaning and same lexical category (but playing a different role in the sentence), or derivational, creating a new word with a new semantic meaning and sometimes also a different lexical category.[2] Prefixes, like all other affixes, are usually bound morphemes.[1]

In English, there are no inflectional prefixes; English uses suffixes instead for that purpose.

The word prefix is itself made up of the stem fix (meaning "attach", in this case), and the prefix pre- (meaning "before"), both of which are derived from Latinroots.

Suffix is an element placed at the end of a word to form a derivative, such as -ation, -fy, -ing, frequently one that converts the stem into another part of speech. Suffix sometimes termed postfix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs.

Particularly in the study of Semitic languages, suffixes are called afformatives, as they can alter the form of the words.

In Indo-European studies, a distinction is made between suffixes and endings (see Proto-Indo-European root). Suffixes can carry grammatical information or lexical information.

An inflectional suffix is sometimes called a desinence or a grammatical suffix or ending. Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within its syntactic category

Derivational suffixes can be divided into two categories: class-changing derivation and class-maintaining derivation.

Combining form can be either a prefix or a suffix; the difference is that the combining form adds a layer of extra meaning to the word. For example, bio-adds the idea of life or living things to words, as in biochemistry, the study of the chemical processes which occur within living organisms; -cide adds the idea of killing or a killing agent, as in pesticide. Compare these examples with a prefix such as ex- or a suffix such as -ic, neither of which add meaning, but only modify an existing meaning.

Combining forms only appear as elements in a compound. If it can stand alone as a word it is not a combining form. For example, carbo- only appears in compounds to indicate carbon, but there are many related words that begin with carbon-; these are considered to be compound words and carbon- is not listed on this site as a combining form. Having said that, in some cases a combining form has at some point in its life taken on the status of a free-standing word (cyber- is an example), but if its primary function is as a combining form, it appears in its place in the text.

To be a combining form an element must be found attached to stems that also have intrinsic meaning; this excludes stems whose only compounds are grammatical variations, such as intense (intensive, intensively, intensiveness).

Infix is placed within a word; these are rare in English, though cupful can be made plural as cupsful by inserting the plural s as an infix; infixes sometimes occur in facetious creations like absobloodylutely (which some grammarians would rather describe as tmesis). Infixes often appear as linking vowels between prefixes and stems, for example the final letters of narco- and calci-. They are also found between a stem ending in a consonant and a suffix beginning with one, as with -ferous, which frequently appears as -iferous, or -logy, which is commonly seen as -ology. The only examples of such linking vowel infixes here are -i- and -o-.

No formal identification is made in the text of the class of affix to which entries belong. The position of the hyphen is sufficient indication whether it is placed at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a word: neo-, -i-, -graphy.

Many prefixes that end in a vowel can lose that vowel when attached to a stem that begins in one, as for example phlebo- loses its final letter in phlebitis. Such cases are marked by enclosing the final letter of the headword in parentheses: phleb(o)-.

The term Roductive has a special sense throughout the site: it refers to an affix which is active in the language and which is being used by writers today to create new words.

Circumfix or confix is an affix which has two parts, one placed at the start of a word, and the other at the end. Circumfixes contrast with prefixes, attached to the beginnings of words; suffixes, attached at the end; and infixes, inserted in the middle.

Circumfixes are far less common in English than in other languages, and so you are much more likely to see either suffixes or prefixes. In addition, they are not productive affixes. An affix is productive if new words are coined by using them. Typically in English, new words use either suffixes or prefixes, not circumfixes. However, historically, circumfixes used to be more productive, and there are some examples that we still use in conversation and literature.

Interfix - more commonly called as linking element, is a phoneme which is placed in between two morphemes and does not have a semantic meaning.

Tranfix - discontinuous affix which is inserted into a word root, as in root-and-pattern systems of morphology. In linguistic morphology, a transfix is a discontinuous affix which is inserted into a word root, as in root-and-patternsystems of morphology, like those of many Semitic languages.

A discontinuous affix is an affix whose phonetic components are not sequential within a word, and instead, are spread out between or around the phones that comprise the root. The word root is often an abstract series of three consonants, though single consonant, biliteral, and quadriliteral roots do exist.[1] An example of a triconsonantal root would be d-r-b in Arabic, which can be inflected to create forms such as daraba 'he beat' and idribunna 'beat them (feminine)'.[2] While triconsonantal roots are widely considered to be the most common state, some linguists posit that biliteral roots may in fact be the default, though at least one scholar is skeptical of the legitimacy of these claims.[3]

Transfixes are placed into these roots in assigned positions, dictated by templates which are tied to the specific meaning of a given inflection or derivation.[4] The transfixes in the examples above are a-a-a and i-i-unna.

Transfixes are different from prefixes, suffixes, and infixes in that a complete transfix is the entire structure which is placed into a root. A transfix is not a combination of prefixes, suffixes, and infixes, but its own unique structure which is split through a word. Similarly, another difference transfixes hold from other affixes is that the individual components of the transfix are meaningless on their own. If we look again at daraba, the components of the a-a-a transfix do not encode any meaning individually. Only together do they create the tense meaning.

Suprafix - In linguistics, a suprafix is a type of affix that adds a suprasegmental pattern (such as tone or stress) to a neutral base in order to convey a derivational or inflectional meaning. For example, a number of African languages express tense / aspect distinctions by tone.[1] The term was suggested by Eugene Nida[2] and taken up in Peter Matthews' influential morphology textbook[3] but is not very widely used. Some linguists prefer superfix, which was introduced by George L. Trager for the stress pattern of a word, which he regarded as a special morpheme that combines and unifies the parts of a word.[4]

In many cases, it is more appropriate to assume that the base has a tone or stress pattern which is replaced by another in inflection or derivation. An example in English is initial-stressed nouns that are derived from verbs with final stress (e.g. prodъce /pr??dju?s/ > prуduce/?pr?dju?s/). Some linguists use suprafix for such a suprasegmental change (in fact, Nida himself considered a distinction between additive suprafixes and replacive suprafixes[5]).

Disfix - is a subtractive morpheme, a morpheme manifest through the subtraction of segments from a root or stem. Although other forms of disfixation exist, the element subtracted is usually the final segment of the stem.

Productive disfixation is extremely rare among the languages of the world but is important in the Muskogean languages of the southeastern United States. Similar subtractive morphs in languages such as French are marginal.

Null morpheme or zero morpheme - is a morpheme that has no phonetic form. In simpler terms, a null morpheme is an "invisible" affix. It is a concept useful for analysis, by contrasting null morphemes with alternatives that do have some phonetic realization.[1] The null morpheme is represented as either the figure zero (0) or the empty set symbol ?.

In most languages, it is the affixes that are realized as null morphemes, indicating that the derived form does not differ from the stem. For example, plural form sheep can be analyzed as combination of sheep with added null affix for the plural. The process of adding a null affix is called null affixation, null derivation or zero derivation. The concept was first used over two thousand years ago by 4th century BCE Sanskrit grammarian from ancient India, Pв?ini, in his Sanskritgrammar.

According to some linguists'[who?] view, English verbs such as to clean, to slow, to warm are converted from adjectives by a null morpheme. Null derivation, also known as conversion if the word class changes, is very common in analytic languages such as English.

The existence of a null morpheme in a word can also be theorized by contrast with other forms of the same word showing alternative morphemes. For example, the singular number of English nouns is shown by a null morpheme that contrasts with the plural morpheme -s.

· cat = cat + -? = ROOT ("cat") + SINGULAR

· cats = cat + -s = ROOT ("cat") + PLURAL

In addition, there are some cases in English where a null morpheme indicates plurality in nouns that take on irregular plurals.

· sheep = sheep + -? = ROOT ("sheep") + SINGULAR

· sheep = sheep + -? = ROOT ("sheep") + PLURAL

Also, a null morpheme marks the present tense of verbs in all forms but the third person singular:

· (I) run = run + -? = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: Non-3rd-SINGULAR

· (He) runs = run + -s = ROOT ("run") + PRESENT: 3rd-SINGULAR



3.2 CLASSIFICATION OF SUFFIXES

Depending on purpose of research, various classifications of suffixes have been used and suggested.

Suffixes have been classified according to their origin, parts of speech they served to form, their frequency, productivity and other characteristics.Within the parts of speech suffixes have been classified semantically according to lexico-grammatical groups, and last but not least, according to the types of stems they are added to. In conformity with our primarily synchronic approach it seems convenient to begin with the classification according to the part of speech in which the most frequent suffixes of present-day English occur. They will be listed accordingly together with words illustrating their possible semantic force.It shall be, noted that diachronic approach would view the problem of morphological analysis differently, for example, in the word complete they would look for the traces of the Latin complet-us

Noun-forming suffixes:

- age (bondage, breakage, mileage, vicarage); - ance/ - ence (assistance, reference); - ant/ - ent (disinfectant, student); - dom (kingdom, freedom, officialdom); - ee (employee); - eer (profiteer); - er (writer, type-writer); - ess (actress, lioness); - hood (manhood); - ing (building, meaning, washing); - ion, - sion, - tion, ation (rebellion, creation, tension, explanation); - ism/ - icism (heroism, criticism); - ist (novelist, communist); - ment (government, nourishment); - nees (tenderness); - ship (friendship); - (i) ty (sonority).

Adjective-forming suffixes:

- able/ - ible/ - uble (unbearable, audible, soluble); - al (formal); - ic (poetic); - ical (ethical); - ant/ - ent (repentant, dependent); - ary (revolutionary); - ate/ - ete (accurate, complete); - ed/ - d (wooded); - ful (delightful); - ian (African, Australian); - ish (Irish, reddish, childish); - ive (active); - less (useless); - like (lifelike); - ly (manly); - ous/ ious (tremendous, curious); - some (tiresome); - y (cloudy, dressy).

Numeral-forming suffixes:

- fold (twofold); - teen (fourteen); - th (seventh); - ty (sixty)

Verb-forming suffixes:

- ate (facilitate); - er (glimmer); - en (shorten); - fy/ - ify (terrify, speechify, solidify); - ize (equalize); - ish (establish).

Adverb-forming suffixes:

- ly (coldly); - ward/ - wards (upward, northwards); - wise (likewise).

If we change our approach and become interested in the lexico-grammatical meaning the suffixes serve to signalize, we obtain within each part of speech more detailed lexico-grammatical classes or subclasses.

A lexico-grammatical class may be defined as a class of lexical elements possessing the same lexico-grammatical meaning and a common system of forms in which the grammatical categories inherent in these units are expressed. The elements of one class are substituted by the same prop-words the term prop-word is a term of syntax. It denotes a word whose main function is to provide the structural completeness of a word-group. A prop-word or an an aphonic word stands for another word already said or written. Personal pronouns he or she substituting nouns class them as personal nouns for either male or female beings.

The words one, do and to are the most specifically English examples of prop-words. Compare the various functions of do and to in the Following: «Even if I did go, couldn't do any good» Charles paused and said: «I m afraid that I want you to». «Why do you? (SAAU)» and characterized by identical morphological patterns and a common set of derivational affixes. Taking up nouns we can subdivide them into proper and common nouns. Among common nouns we shall distinguish personal names, names of other animate beings, collective nouns, falling into several minor groups, material nouns, abstract nouns and names of things.Abstract nouns are signaled by the following suffixes:

See examples below.

- age, - ance/ - ence, - ancy/ - ensy, - dom, - hood, - ing, - ion/ - tion/ - ation, - ism, - ment, - ness, - ship, - th, - ty.

Personal nouns that are emotionally neutral occur with the following suffixes: - an (grammarian), - ant/ - ent (servant, student), - arian (vegetarian), - ee (examinee), - er (porter), - ician (musician), - ist (linguist), - ite (sybarite), - or (inspector), and a few others.

Feminine suffixes may be classed as a subgroup of personal noun suffixes. These are few and not frequent: - ess (actress), - ine (heroine), - rix (testatrix), - ette (suffragette).

The above classification should be accepted with caution. It is true that in a polysemantic word at least one of the variants witl show the class meaning signaled by the affix.

There may be other variants, however, whose different meaning will be signaled by a difference in distribution, and these will belong to some other lexico-grammatical class. C.f. settlement, translation denoting a process and its result, or beauty which, when denoting qualities that give pleasure to the eye or to the mind, is an abstract noun, but occurs also as a personal noun denoting a beautiful woman. The word witness is more often used in its several personal meanings that (in accordance with its suffix) as an abstract noun meaning evidence or «testimony». The coincidence of two classes in the semantic structure of some words may be almost regular.

Collectivity, for instance may be signaled by such suffixes as - dom, - ery, - hood, - ship. It must be borne in mind, however, that words with these suffixes are poly semantic and show a regular correlation of the abstract noun denoting state and a collective noun denoting a group of persons of whom this state is characteristic. CF. knighthood.

Alongside with adding some lexico-grammatical meaning to the stem, certain suffixes charge it with emotional force. They may be derogatory: - ard (drunkard); - ling (underling); - ster (gangster); - ton (simpleton). These seem to be more numerous in English that the suffixes of endearment.

Emotionally coloured diminutive suffixes rendering also endearment differ from the derogatory suffixes in that they are used to name not only persons but things as well. This point may be illustrated by the suffix - y/ - ie/ - ey: auntie, cabbie (cabman), daddie, but also: hanky (handkerchief), nightie (nightgown). Other suffixes that express smallness are - en (chicken): - kin/ kins (mannikin); - let (booklet); - ock (hillcack); et (cornet).

The connotation of same diminutive suffixes is not one or endearment but of some outlandish elegance and novelty, particularly in the case of the borrowed suffix - ette (kitchenette, launderette, lecturette, maisonette, etc). The diminutive suffixes being not very productive, there is a tendency to express the same meaning by the semiaffix mini- : mini-bus, mini-car, mini-crisis, mini-skirt, etc. Which may be added to words denoting both objects situations.

A suffix is a derivative final element which as or formely was productive in forming words. A suffix has semantic value, but it does not occur as an independent speech unit.

Suffixes and endings

It is necessary to point out the similarity and difference between derivative and functional morphemes. Morphologically, two words such as citizen and citizenry are formed after the same principle of root plus affix. At first sight, the conceptual structure also looks very much alike: the-s of citizens and the - ry of citizenry both express the idea of plurality, collectivity. But the difference in valued is one between grammatical function and lexical meaning. The - s of citizens is the inflectional formative of the grammatical category «plural» where - ry forms a class of words with the semantic basis «group», collectivity of…».

A suffixal derivative is primarily a lexical form. It is a two-morpheme word which behaves like a one-morpheme word in that it is «grammatically equivalent to any simple word in all the constructions where it occurs» (Bloch-Trager, OLA 54). An inflected word is primarily a grammatical form which does not meet the requirements just stated. While in a sentence such as this citizenry feels insulted we could substitute the simple, one-morpheme words crowd, multitude, nation for bi-morphemic citizenry without any change in the behavior of the other members of the sentence, replacement by the two-morpheme word citizens would involve a change of this to these and of feels to feel. The formatives - er, - est as expressing degree of comparison are endings, not suffixes. In a sentence such as Paul is older than Peter we could not substitute any one-morpheme word for bi-morphemic old-er whereas in he is rather o l dish the adj old can take the place of old-ish. It will also be interesting to note the different phonetic make-up of comparatives and super lateness compared with derived adjectives. Youngish, longish betray the morpheme boundary before - ish in that the final consonant does not change before the initial vowel of the derivative suffix whereas in younger, longer the consonants are treated as standing in medial position in unit words, just like finger or clangor, [jg] being the ante vocalic (and ante sonantic) allophone of

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