Everything about Affixes totally explained
An
affix is a
morpheme that's attached to a
stem to form a word. 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.
Positional categories of affixes
Affixes are divided into several categories, depending on their position with reference to the stem.
Prefix and
suffix are extremely common terms.
Infix and
circumfix are less so, as they're not important in European languages. The other terms are uncommon.
| Affix |
Example |
Schema |
Description |
| Prefix |
undo |
prefix-stem |
Appears at the front of a stem |
| Suffix/Postfix |
looking |
stem-suffix |
Appears at the back of a stem |
| Infix |
saxomaphone |
st<infix>em |
Appears within a stem — common in Borneo-Philippines languages |
| Circumfix |
ascattered |
circumfix>stem<circumfix |
One portion appears at the front of a stem, and the other at the rear |
| Interfix |
speedometer |
stema-interfix-stemb |
Links two stems together in a compound |
| Duplifix |
teeny-weeny |
stem~duplifix |
Incorporates a reduplicated portion of a stem
(may occur in front, at the rear, or within the stem) |
| Transfix |
Maltese: kiteb "he wrote"
(compare root ktb "write") |
s<transfix>te<transfix>m |
A discontinuous affix that interleaves within a discontinuous stem |
| Simulfix |
mouse → mice |
|
Changes a segment of a stem |
| Suprafix |
produce (noun)
produce (verb) |
|
Changes a suprasegmental phoneme of a stem |
| Disfix |
Alabama: tipli "break up"
(compare root tipasli "break") |
stm |
The elision of a portion of a stem |
Prefix and
suffix may be combined as
adfix, a term that's rarely used except in contrast with
infix.
In transcription, for example in the third column in the chart above, simple affixes such as prefixes and suffixes are shown connected to the stem with hyphens. Affixes which disrupt the stem, or which themselves are discontinuous, are often marked off with angle brackets. Reduplication is often shown with a tilde.
Lexical affixes
Lexical affixes (or
semantic affixes) are bound elements that appear as affixes, but function as
incorporated nouns within verbs and as elements of
compound nouns. In other words, they're similar to word roots/stems in function but similar to affixes in form. Although similar to incorporated nouns, lexical affixes differ in that they never occur as freestanding nouns, for example they always appear as affixes.
Lexical affixes are relatively rare. The
Wakashan,
Salishan, and
Chimakuan languages all have lexical suffixes — the presence of these is an
areal feature of the Pacific Northwest of the
North America.
The lexical suffixes of these languages often show little to no resemblance to free nouns with similar meanings. Compare the lexical suffixes and free nouns of
Northern Straits Saanich written in the Saanich orthography and in
Americanist notation:
Lexical Suffix
| Noun |
| -O, |
-aʔ |
"person" |
,EL̶TÁLṈEW̱ |
ʔəɬtelŋəxʷ |
"person" |
| -NÁT |
-net |
"day" |
SC̸IĆEL |
skʷičəl |
"day" |
| -SEN |
-sən |
"foot, lower leg" |
SXENE, |
sx̣ənəʔ |
"foot, lower leg" |
| -ÁWTW̱ |
-ew̕txʷ |
"building, house, campsite" |
,Á,LEṈ |
ʔeʔləŋ |
"house" |
Lexical suffixes when compared with free nouns often have a more generic or general meaning. For instance, one of these languages may have a lexical suffix that means water in a general sense, but it may not have any noun equivalent referring to water in general and instead have several nouns with a more specific meaning (such "saltwater", "whitewater", etc.). In other cases, the lexical suffixes have become
grammaticalized to various degrees.
Some linguists have claimed that these lexical suffixes provide only adverbial or adjectival notions to verbs. Other linguists disagree arguing that they may additionally be syntactic
arguments just as free nouns are and thus equating lexical suffixes with incorporated nouns. Gerdts (2003) gives examples of lexical suffixes in the
Halkomelem language (the
word order here's
Verb Subject Object):
»
In sentence (1), the verb "wash" is
šak’ʷətəs where
šak’ʷ- is the root and
-ət and
-əs are inflectional suffixes. The subject "the woman" is
łə słeniʔ and the object
"the baby" is
łə qeq. In this sentence, "the baby" is a free noun. (The
niʔ here's an
auxiliary, which can be ignored for explanatory purposes.)
In sentence (2),
"baby" doesn't appear as a free noun. Instead it appears as the lexical suffix
-əyəł which is affixed to the verb root
šk’ʷ- (which has changed slightly in pronunciation, but this can also be ignored here). Note how the lexical suffix is neither "the baby" (
definite) nor "a baby" (indefinite); such referential changes are routine with incorporated nouns.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Affixes'.
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