Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout
the history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a
definite part of speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and
prefixation.
Suffixation.
The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of
speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical
meaning of the same part of speech. ( e.g. «educate» is a verb, «educatee»
is a noun, and « music» is a noun, «musicdom» is also a noun) .
There are different classifications of suffixes :
1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different
parts of speech are given here :
a) noun-forming suffixes, such as : -er (criticizer), -dom (officialdom),
-ism (ageism),
b) adjective-forming suffixes, such as : -able (breathable), less
(symptomless), -ous (prestigious),
c) verb-forming suffixes, such as -ize (computerize) , -ify (micrify),
d) adverb-forming suffixes , such as : -ly (singly), -ward (tableward),
e) numeral-forming suffixes, such as -teen (sixteen), -ty (seventy).
2. Semantic classification . Suffixes changing the lexical meaning of
the stem can be subdivided into groups, e.g. noun-forming suffixes can
denote:
a) the agent of the action, e.g. -er (experimenter), -ist (taxist), -ent
(student),
b) nationality, e.g. -ian (Russian), -ese (Japanese), -ish (English),
c) collectivity, e.g. -dom (moviedom), -ry (peasantry, -ship
(readership), -ati ( literati),
d) diminutiveness, e.g. -ie (horsie), -let (booklet), -ling (gooseling),
-ette (kitchenette),
e) quality, e.g. -ness (copelessness), -ity (answerability).
3. Lexico-grammatical character of the stem. Suffixes which can be added
to certain groups of stems are subdivided into:
a) suffixes added to verbal stems, such as : -er (commuter), -ing
(suffering), - able (flyable), -ment (involvement), -ation
(computerization),
b) suffixes added to noun stems, such as : -less (smogless), ful
(roomful), -ism (adventurism), -ster (pollster), -nik (filmnik), -ish
(childish),
c) suffixes added to adjective stems, such as : -en (weaken), -ly
(pinkly), -ish (longish), -ness (clannishness).
4. Origin of suffixes. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) native (Germanic), such as -er,-ful, -less, -ly.
b) Romanic, such as : -tion, -ment, -able, -eer.
c) Greek, such as : -ist, -ism, -ize.
d) Russian, such as -nik.
5. Productivity. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) productive, such as : -er, -ize, --ly, -ness.
b) semi-productive, such as : -eer, -ette, -ward.
c) non-productive , such as : -ard (drunkard), -th (length).
Suffixes can be polysemantic, such as : -er can form nouns with the
following meanings : agent,doer of the action expressed by the stem
(speaker), profession, occupation (teacher), a device, a tool
(transmitter). While speaking about suffixes we should also mention
compound suffixes which are added to the stem at the same time, such as
-ably, -ibly, (terribly, reasonably), -ation (adaptation from adapt).
There are also disputable cases whether we have a suffix or a root
morpheme in the structure of a word, in such cases we call such morphemes
semi-suffixes, and words with such suffixes can be classified either as
derived words or as compound words, e.g. -gate (Irangate), -burger
(cheeseburger), -aholic (workaholic) etc.
Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the
stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more
independent than suffixes. Prefixes can be classified according to the
nature of words in which they are used : prefixes used in notional words
and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are
proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un- (unhappy). Prefixes
used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in
the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead) ( cf over the table ).
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning
of the same part of speech. But the recent research showed that about
twenty-five prefixes in Modern English form one part of speech from another
(bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles :
1. Semantic classification :
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non-
(nonformals), un- (unfree) etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de-
(decolonize), re- (revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter-
(interplanetary) , hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-
election), over- (overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.
When we analyze such words as : adverb, accompany where we can find the
root of the word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac- as prefixes though
they were never used as prefixes to form new words in English and were
borrowed from Romanic languages together with words. In such cases we can
treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple
words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such as :
contain, retain, detain and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see
that re-, de-, con- act as prefixes and -tain, -ceive can be understood as
roots. But in English these combinations of sounds have no lexical meaning
and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat such words as simple
words, others as derived ones.
There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some
scientists, e.g. after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers
working on Webster dictionaries treat such words as compound words. British
lexicographers treat such words as derived ones.
COMPOSITION
Composition is the way of wordbuilding when a word is formed by joining
two or more stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound
word depends upon : a) the unity of stress, b) solid or hyphonated
spelling, c) semantic unity, d) unity of morphological and syntactical
functioning. These are charachteristic features of compound words in all
languages. For English compounds some of these factors are not very
reliable. As a rule English compounds have one uniting stress (usually on
the first component), e.g. hard-cover, best-seller. We can also have a
double stress in an English compound, with the main stress on the first
component and with a secondary stress on the second component, e.g. blood-
vessel. The third pattern of stresses is two level stresses, e.g. snow-
white,sky-blue. The third pattern is easily mixed up with word-groups
unless they have solid or hyphonated spelling.
Spelling in English compounds is not very reliable as well because they
can have different spelling even in the same text, e.g. war-ship, blood-
vessel can be spelt through a hyphen and also with a break, iinsofar,
underfoot can be spelt solidly and with a break. All the more so that there
has appeared in Modern English a special type of compound words which are
called block compounds, they have one uniting stress but are spelt with a
break, e.g. air piracy, cargo module, coin change, pinguin suit etc.
The semantic unity of a compound word is often very strong. In such cases
we have idiomatic compounds where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of
meanings of its components, e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain-drain etc.
In nonidiomatic compounds semantic unity is not strong, e. g., airbus, to
bloodtransfuse, astrodynamics etc.
English compounds have the unity of morphological and syntactical
functioning. They are used in a sentence as one part of it and only one
component changes grammatically, e.g. These girls are chatter-boxes.
«Chatter-boxes» is a predicative in the sentence and only the second
component changes grammatically.
There are two characteristic features of English compounds:
a) Both components in an English compound are free stems, that is they
can be used as words with a distinctive meaning of their own. The sound
pattern will be the same except for the stresses, e.g. «a green-house» and
«a green house». Whereas for example in Russian compounds the stems are
bound morphemes, as a rule.
b) English compounds have a two-stem pattern, with the exception of
compound words which have form-word stems in their structure, e.g. middle-
of-the-road, off-the-record, up-and-doing etc. The two-stem pattern
distinguishes English compounds from German ones.
WAYS OF FORMING COMPOUND WORDS.
Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of composition
but also by means of :
a) reduplication, e.g. too-too, and also by means of reduplicatin
combined with sound interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,
b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to micky-mouse, can-do, makeup etc,
c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to
bloodtransfuse, to fingerprint etc ,
d) analogy, e.g. lie-in ( on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone-in,
brawn-drain (on the analogy with brain-drain) etc.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF ENGLISH COMPOUNDS
1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:
a) nouns, such as : baby-moon, globe-trotter,
b) adjectives, such as : free-for-all, power-happy,
c) verbs, such as : to honey-moon, to baby-sit, to henpeck,
d) adverbs, such as: downdeep, headfirst,
e) prepositions, such as: into, within,
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