Affixation in English; suffixes and prefixes

Lecture 4

Word-building. Affixation in English

Outline

Methods of vocabulary extension

2. Affixation in English: suffixes and prefixes

Word-building patterns and their meaning

Methods of vocabulary extension

A new concept may be expressed by adapting an existing word for the purpose, with either a transfer or extension of meaning. A suitable word may also be borrowed from another language. Finally, an entirely new word may be formed from parts already existing in the language.

Due to the peculiarities of the history of Britain borrowings have been very productive in English, the main source being Latin, French and various Germanic languages. So extensive has the process been that by now, a large part of the English vocabulary – up to 70 per cent – is made up of borrowed words. However, those words became adapted to the existing patterns – with very few exceptions, mostly later borrowings – so we hardly feel now that sky and skirt are of Scandinavian origin, and mutton and table are French.

Several different methods, or types, of word-formation are recognized in linguistics. They could be classified into the morphological and syntactic-morphological types. To the morphological type belong affixation; word-composition or compounding; shortening or clipping of words; abbreviation; blending; root creation and some others. Sound and stress interchange, sound imitation and reduplication could be included into this class or classified separately as phonetic or morphophonetic types of word-formation. Conversion is usually classified separately as a syntactic, or syntactic-morphological method of word-formation. Finally, transfer and extension of meaning, especially the so-called divergence of meaning, when an existing word splits into two or several homonyms, is sometimes regarded as a separate semantic type of word-formation, but this view is open to doubt, since there are no regular patterns in English according to which new meanings could appear in existing words, and it is usually very difficult to tell between one word with several widely divergent meanings, and two or more homonymous words. Sometimes both affixation and conversion are classified under derivation, to distinguish it from word composition, while sound and stress changes, abbreviation, etc. are considered separately as minor ways of word-formation.

Affixation in English; suffixes and prefixes

Affixation can be defined as formation of new words by means of adding affixes (either suffixes or prefixes or both) to existing stems or root. Affixation has always been very productive in English, as well as in many other Indo-European languages. Affixation can be further classified into suffixation and prefixation, according to the type of affix added. A derived word can be split into the stem and the affix added to it, but the stem, in its turn, may be simple, derived (containing other affixes) or compound (containing two roots).

Words can be classified according to the level, or degree of derivation. Root words have a zero level of derivation; the first level is achieved by adding one derivational affix to it. Adding further affixes results in the second, third, etc. degree of derivation (e.g. nation – nation al – national ize – denational ize – denationaliz ation).

In Modern English suffixation is characteristic of noun and adjective formation, while prefixation is typical of verb formation. As a rule, prefixes only modify the lexical meaning of stems to which they are added, while a suffix both modifies the lexical meaning of a stem, and changes its part-of-speech meaning, e.g. care (v) – care less (adj); suit (v) – suit able (adj); good (adj) – good ness (n). Besides, a suffix is more typically part of a stem, while a prefix is more independent semantically.

Suffixes in English; classification

There are several different methods of classifying English suffixes.

1) The most obvious classification is by the part of speech they form. Thus, noun-forming suffixes are: -er (writer), -ist (journalist), -ment (government), -ness (whiteness), -ism (feminism), -or (author), -dom (freedom), -ation (civilization), etc. Verb-forming suffixes are: -ize (neutralize), -ify (electrify), -ate (navigate), -en (redden, lighten), etc. Adjective-forming suffixes are: -ish (reddish), -able/-ible (eatable, edible), -less (fearless), -ful (doubtful), -ic (poetic), -ous (courageous), etc. Adverb-forming suffixes are: -ly (quickly), -wise (crosswise), -ward/-wards (southward, homeward, backwards).

2) Suffixes, as other affixes, are classified according to their degree of productivity. A productive suffix is one used in a great number of words. Usually it is actively used to produce new words. In theory, there is no limit to a number of words this suffix may produce. A semi-productive suffix is used to produce a limited number of words. A non-productive suffix can nolonger produce new words and is only recognized by comparing existing words. However, there is no direct connection between the productivity of a suffix and the number of words in which it is used. For example, the suffixes -ance/ -ence and -th are no longer productive, but they can be recognized in a large number of existing words (independence, existence, correspondence; warmth, length, depth, strength, etc.). Among the noun-forming suffixes, the most productive are -er, -ist, -ness, -ism; the adjective-forming -ish, -y, -ed, -able; the most productive verb-forming suffix is -ize and the most productive adverb-forming is -ly. Among noun-producing suffixes, -or (author), -ship (partnership), -dom (freedom), -ster (gangster), - ling (hireling), -ee (employee), -eer (profiteer, racketeer) are considered to be semi-productive.

3) Suffixes can be classified semantically, according to the meaning they express – or rather the meaning they add to the stems of words (the meaning of the derived words). Thus noun-forming suffixes can be further classified into: forming personal or agentive nouns (i.e. nouns defining the doer or agent of the action) –

-er, -or, -ist; forming abstract nouns – -hood, -ship, -ness, -ity; forming concrete nouns – -ing, -ery (mercenary); forming nationality nouns – -ian (Russian, Arabian), -ese (Chinese, Japanese); forming collective nouns – -age (coverage), -dom (officialdom), -(e)ry (peasantry, infantry, gentry); forming diminutive nouns, – -ie (birdie), -let (cloudlet), -ling (duckling), etc.

4) Suffixes can be classified etymologically i.e. from the point of view of their origin. We could differentiate native and borrowed suffixes, which, in their turn, are classified according to the language of their origin. Among the native English suffixes are -er, -ish, -en, -ness, -ship, -hood etc., while -or, -able, -ism, -ist, -ify are borrowed. Of these, -able, -ment, -tion are of Romanic (French or Latin) origin; -ist, -ism, -ic are of Greek origin; -ie and -y (in girlie, pussy) are of Scandinavian origin.

5) Suffixes can be classified according to their valency or combining ability, i.e. by the lexico-grammatical or part-of-speech meaning of the stem the suffix usually combines with. For example, - er, -ing, -ment, -able are added to verbal stems (speaker, reading, agreement, suitable); -less, -ful, -ist, -some are added to noun stems (fearless, handful, violinist, troublesome); -en, -ly, -ness are added to adjectival stems (blacken, slowly, brightness).

6) Suffixes can be classified by their stylistic reference, the two main classes being neutral and marked. Neutral suffixes can occur in words of both neutral and bookish character; marked, like -oid, -aceous, -tron, are restricted to learned words like ovoid, asteroid, crustaceous, herbaceous, bevatron, cyclotron, or, at best, to words parodying them, like cockroachoid. A small number of suffixes, like -ling, may be said to have a pejorative meaning (hireling, Earthling); but duckling, wolfing have no derogatory connotations.

Prefixes in English: classification and problems

Since prefixes do not have such a close connection with the stem as affixes do, there is a tendency to regard prefixation as related to word-composition, prefixes having the same function as the first component of a compound word. In this case, prefixes are regarded as semi-bound morphemes – especially those that coincide with words: out-, over-, up-. This view, however, is open to doubt, and it is probably safer to treat out-, over- and up- as homonyms to the corresponding prepositions, Since they do not display the grammatical features of those words when prefixed to a stem. (Note the parallel with the so-called post-positions.)

The opinion that prefixes do not change the part-of-speech meaning of the modified stems, as it turns out, is also not quite correct if applied to Modern English. There are about 25 prefixes which, although rarely used, can modify the part-of-speech meaning of stems – usually changing nouns to verbs or nouns to adjectives: gulf (n) – engulf (v), bug (n) – debug (v), war (n) – prewar, postwar, antiwar (adj), tank (n) – anti-tank (adj), wit (n) – outwit (v). The trend, however, is not universal: missile (n) – anti-missile (n), Impressionism (n) – Post-Impressionism (n). If this really is a regular phenomenon, and not just a few isolated examples, it can reasonably be argued that English prefixes are not different from suffixes in their ability to modify the lexico-grammatical meaning of words, i.e. like suffixes, they can also be convertive or non-convertive.

Prefixes are classified mostly on the semantic principle, productivity and etymology. Like suffixes, they can be productive, semi-productive and non-productive. Semantically, they are classified according to the meaning they convey to the modified word. It should be noted that prefixes have more concrete and less generalized meanings than suffixes, and that one and the same form (e.g. dis-, un-) may convey different meanings if connected to different parts of speech, and so should be regarded as two homonyms:

1) Prefixes with a negative meaning: un-, in-, dis- (if used with nouns or adjectives);

2) Prefixes with a meaning of reversal or opposition: un-, dis-, re- (if used with verbs), de-;

3) Prefixes denoting a wrong, or uncompleted action: mis-,

4) Prefixes denoting time and space relations: pre-, post-, over-, under-, super-, ultra-, extra-;

5) Oppositional prefixes: anti-, counter-;

6) Prefixes with the meaning of devoiding: de-.

According to their origin, prefixes, like suffixes, are classified into native prefixes (mis-, under-) and borrowed ones. These may be of Latin (pre-, post-, re-), French (dis-) and Greek (anti-) origin.

Synonymy, homonymy and polysemy of affixes

In the course of the development of the English language, it adopted a great number of foreign words. As a result, both their stems and the foreign affixes became adopted into the language; a number of those affixes later came to be used as productive derivative morphemes, even with native English stems: -ist, -ism, -ee, -or, -able, dis-, de-, re-, etc. In the long run, the meanings of some of the foreign affixes overlapped with those of the existing native affixes, resulting in synonymous affixes. For example, the native suffix -er, denoting the agent or doer of the action, is now synonymous with borrowed affixes -ist, -eer, -or. As is usual in such cases, the synonymous units acquired certain differences in meaning and use. The suffix -ist, unlike -er, mostly combines with noun stems, usually of non-Germanic origin (violinist, but fiddler), and typically expresses an adherence to a principle or political doctrine (chartist, Darwinist). Agent nouns with -ist are usually matched by the name of the theory, formed with -ism (chartism, Darwinism). Meanwhile the suffix -eer acquired a derogatory force (profiteer, racketeer).

At the same time, the meaning of affixes underwent a number of semantic changes, including extension, transfer and divergence of meaning. As a result, a number of commonly used affixes are polysemantic. The suffix -er, which is perhaps the most frequently used single suffix in Modern English, may imply: 1) a person following a trade or profession (writer, driver, miner, baker); 2) a person so occupied at the moment of speech (packer, taker, jumper); 3) a person living at a certain place (Londoner); 4) a person with an inclination to do something (sleeper, eater); 5) a device or tool (t ransmitter, computer, trailer). This may bring about a homonymy of words so formed: e.g. a fighter is anyone who fights, a kind of attack aircraft, and also a pilot of that aircraft.

In other cases, two different affixes coincided in the course of the development of the English language; thus we have -ly added to adjectival stems to form adverbs (quickly, slowly) and -ly added to noun-stems to form adjectives (lovely, friendly); -en used to form verbs (stiffen, strengthen) and -en used to form adjectives (wooden, golden), etc. The suffix -ish is often regarded as one suffix with two homonymous meanings; however, no semantic connection can be traced between the two, so -ish meaning ‘something like X’, ‘a weaker kind of X’ modifying adjectival stems (bluish) is something entirely different from -ish meaning resembling added to noun-stems to produce an adjective (girlish). The problem is much the same with the prefix un-, which seems to have two homonymous variants – one with a negative meaning (unhappy), the other denoting a reverse or opposite action (unbind, uncover).

Semi-affixes

A number of frequently used Modern English word-components, notably -proof, -man, -worthy and -like, have an indefinite status: on one hand, they coincide with meaningful words; on the other hand, they are regularly used to form new words, and have a more generalized meaning than the corresponding word’s standing on their own. For example, -man seems to have acquired an agentive meaning in chairman, and lost its meaning of ‘maleness’ (cf. chairman – the person who is in charge of a meeting, committee, company, or organization; chairperson); moreover, a Sony Walkman is not a man at all, but a tape-playing machine. Linguists seem to agree these are root-morphemes in the process of developing into suffixes, and so call them semi-affixes. More semi-affixes seem to enter English now as part of brand names like Sense-0-matic (= a kind of automatic switch with a sensory device), Blend-a-med (= a much-advertised toothpaste), Suntronic (= a solar-powered wristwatch) and the like, deriving from automatic, electronic, etc., by the process of clipping.