Affix

{{Short description|Morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word}} {{Affixes}}

In linguistics, an '''affix''' is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. The two main categories are derivational and inflectional affixes. Derivational affixes, such as ''un-'', ''-ation'', ''anti-'', and ''pre-'', introduce a semantic change to the word they are attached to. Inflectional affixes introduce a syntactic change, such as singular into plural (e.g. ''-(e)s''), or present simple tense into present continuous or past tense by adding ''-ing'' or ''-ed'' to an English word. All of them are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes.

==Affixes, infixes and their variations== Adding a morpheme at the beginning of a word is called ''prefixation'', in the middle ''infixation'', and at the end ''suffixation''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Matthews |first=Peter Hugoe |title=Morphology |date=October 17, 1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521422567 |edition=2nd |pages=131 |language=en}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" |+ Categories of affixes ! Affix !! Example !! Schema !! Description |- | '''Prefix'''/'''superfix''' || un-do || prefix-stem || Appears before the stem |- | '''Prefixoid'''/'''semi-prefix'''/'''pseudo-prefix'''<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H93nAVbwZwwC&q=%22semi-prefix”+“english”&pg=PA55 | title=Lexical Change in Present-day English: A Corpus-based Study of the Motivation, Institutionalization, and Productivity of Creative Neologisms| isbn=9783823349402| last1=Fischer| first1=Roswitha| year=1998| publisher=Gunter Narr Verlag}}</ref> || flexi-cover || prefixoid-stem || Appears before the stem, but is only partially bound to it |- | '''Suffix'''/'''postfix''' || look-ing || stem-suffix || Appears after the stem |- | '''Suffixoid'''<ref>Kremer, Marion. 1997. ''Person reference and gender in translation: a contrastive investigation of English and German''. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, p. 69, note 11.</ref>/'''semi-suffix'''<ref>Marchand, Hans. 1969. ''The categories and types of present-day English word-formation: A synchronic-diachronic approach''. Munich: Beck, pp. 356 ff.</ref>/'''pseudo-suffix''' || cat-like || stem-suffixoid || Appears after the stem, but is only partially bound to it |- | '''Infix''' (see also tmesis) || edu{{infix|ma}}cated || st{{angle bracket|infix}}em || Appears within a stem — common e.g. in Austronesian languages |- | '''Circumfix''' || en{{circumfix|light}}en || circumfix{{circumfix|stem}}circumfix || One portion appears before the stem, the other after |- | '''Interfix''' || speed-o-meter || stema-interfix-stemb || Links two stems together in a compound |- | '''Duplifix''' || money~shmoney (shm-reduplication) || stem~duplifix || Incorporates a reduplicated portion of a stem (may occur before, after, or within the stem) |- | '''Transfix''' || Maltese: k{{angle bracket|i}}t{{angle bracket|e}}b "he wrote" (compare root ''ktb'' "write") || s{{angle bracket|transfix}}te{{angle bracket|transfix}}m || A discontinuous affix that interleaves within a discontinuous stem |- | '''Simulfix''' || mouse → mice ||stem\simulfix || Changes a segment of a stem |- | '''Suprafix''' || ''pro''duce (noun) pro''duce'' (verb) ||stem\suprafix || Changes a suprasegmental feature of a stem |- | '''Disfix''' || Alabama: tipli "break up" (compare root ''tipasli'' "break") || st{{circumfix|disfix}}em || The elision of a portion of a stem |}

''Prefix'' and ''suffix'' may be subsumed under the term ''adfix'', in contrast to ''infix.''<ref>{{cite book |last=Powell |first=Barry |date=2012 |title=Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |page=255 |isbn=9781118293515|doi=10.1002/9781118293515.gloss |chapter=Glossary }}</ref>

When marking text for interlinear glossing, as shown in the third column in the chart above, simple affixes such as prefixes and suffixes are separated from the stem with hyphens. Affixes that disrupt the stem, or that are themselves discontinuous, are often marked off with angle brackets. Reduplication is often shown with a tilde. Affixes which cannot be segmented are marked with a back slash.

==Lexical affixes== Semantically, lexical or semantic affixes often convey more general or abstract meanings than their corresponding free nouns. For instance, an affix meaning “water” in a broad sense may lack a direct noun equivalent, since available nouns typically refer to more specific types such as “saltwater” or “whitewater.” (while in other cases the lexical suffixes have become grammaticalized to various degrees.) Although they behave as incorporated noun roots/stems within verbs and as elements of nouns, they never occur as freestanding nouns. Lexical affixes are relatively rare and are used in Wakashan, Salishan, and Chimakuan languages — the presence of these is an areal feature of the Pacific Northwest of North America - where they 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:

{| class="wikitable" |- style="font-size: 85%; background: #efefef;" ! colspan="3" | Lexical Suffix ! colspan="3" | Noun |- | -o, | -aʔ | "person" |, ełtálṉew̱ | ʔəɬtelŋəxʷ | "person" |- | -nát | -net | "day" | sȼićel | skʷičəl | "day" |- | -sen | -sən | "foot, lower leg" | sxene, | sx̣ənəʔ | "foot, lower leg" |- | -áwtw̱ | -ew̕txʷ | "building, house, campsite" |, á,leṉ | ʔeʔləŋ | "house" |}

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 is verb–subject–object):

:{| class="wikitable" |- style="line-height: 1.0em; font-size: 75%" | | | style="background: #bbbbff" | VERB | style="background: #ffebad" | SUBJ | style="background: #ffbbbb" | OBJ |- | (1) | niʔ | šak’ʷ-ət-əs | łə słeniʔ | łə qeq |- | | colspan="4" | "the woman washed the baby" |- style="line-height: 1.0em; font-size: 75%" | bgcolor=white colspan=5|  |- style="line-height: 1.0em; font-size: 75%" | | | style="background: #bbbbff" | VERB+LEX.SUFF | style="background: #ffebad" | SUBJ | |- | (2) | niʔ | šk’ʷ-əyəł | łə słeniʔ | |- | | colspan="4" | "the woman baby-washed" |}

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 is an auxiliary, which can be ignored for explanatory purposes.)

In sentence (2), "baby" does not 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). The lexical suffix is neither "the baby" (definite) nor "a baby" (indefinite); such referential changes are routine with incorporated nouns.

==Orthographic affixes== In orthography, the terms for affixes may be used for the smaller elements of conjunct characters. For example, Maya glyphs are generally compounds of a ''main sign'' and smaller ''affixes'' joined at its margins. These are called ''prefixes, superfixes, postfixes,'' and ''subfixes'' according to their position to the left, on top, to the right, or at the bottom of the main glyph. A small glyph placed inside another is called an ''infix.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharer |first=Robert J. |title=The ancient Maya |last2=Traxler |first2=Loa P. |date=2006 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-4816-2 |edition=6th |location=Stanford, Calif.}}</ref> Similar terminology is found with the conjunct consonants of the Indic alphabets. For example, the Tibetan alphabet utilizes prefix, suffix, superfix, and subfix consonant letters.<ref>Andrew West, [http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2006/09/precomposed-tibetan-part-1-brdarten.html "Precomposed Tibetan Part 1 : BrdaRten"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017112015/http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2006/09/precomposed-tibetan-part-1-brdarten.html |date=2010-10-17 }} ''BabelStone,'' September 14, 2006</ref>

==See also== {{Div col|colwidth=22em}} * {{annotated link|Agglutination}} * {{annotated link|Augmentative}} * {{annotated link|Binary prefix}} * {{annotated link|Clitic}} * {{annotated link|Combining form}} * {{annotated link|Concatenation}} * {{annotated link|Diminutive}} * {{annotated link|English prefixes}} * {{annotated link|Family name affixes}} * {{annotated link|Internet-related prefixes}} * {{annotated link|Marker (linguistics)}} * {{annotated link|Morphological derivation}} * {{annotated link|Separable affix}} * {{annotated link|SI prefix}} * {{annotated link|Stemming}} * {{annotated link|Unpaired word}} * {{annotated link|Word formation}} {{div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite journal|last=Gerdts|first=Donna B.|year=2003|title=The morphosyntax of Halkomelem lexical suffixes|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|volume=69|issue=4|pages=345–356|doi=10.1086/382736|s2cid=143721330}} * Montler, Timothy. (1986). [http://www.cas.unt.edu/~montler/Saanich/Outline/index.htm ''An outline of the morphology and phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish''.] Occasional Papers in Linguistics (No. 4). Missoula, MT: University of Montana Linguistics Laboratory. * Montler, Timothy. (1991). ''Saanich, North Straits Salish classified word list''. Canadian Ethnology service paper (No. 119); Mercury series. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. {{ISBN|0-660-12908-6}}

==External links== {{Wiktionary|Appendix:English_prefixes|Appendix:English_suffixes}} {{Wiktionary|affix}} *{{Commons category-inline}} *[http://www.prefixsuffix.com/ Comprehensive and searchable affix dictionary reference]

Category:Affixes Category:Lexical units Category:Linguistics terminology