AFFIXES: PREFIXES, INFIXES AND SUFFIXES

A. Different in Morphemic Analysis

1. Based on the individual limit vocabulary or understanding it. Example: which one free morpheme, bound morpheme and base morpheme

2. Difficult to differ degree of word. Example: writer (-er as person) and better (-er as comparative degree)

3. Difficult differ addictive meaning. Example: suppose (su- prefix)

B. Affixes

An affix is a bound morpheme that occurs before or within or after a base. There are three kinds of affixes:

1. Prefixes are those bound morphemes that occur before a base. Prefixes in English are a small class of morphemes, numbering about seventy-five. Their meanings are often those of English prepositions and adverbials. Example: Antifreeze, copilot, subway,

2. Infixes are bound morphemes that have been inserted within a word. In English these are rare. Infixes in English are most commonly replacements, not additions. They occur in a few noun plurals and more often in the past tense and past participles of verbs. Example:

a. Geese – Goose

b. Choose – Chosen

c. Foot – Feet

3. Suffixes are bound morphemes that occur after a base. Suffixes may pile up to the number of three or four, whereas prefixes are commonly single, except for the negative (un-) before another prefix. Example: Instrumental, longest, waited

C. Inflectional Affixes

The inflectional affixes can be schematized as follows: 

No	Symbol	Examples	Name
1	-s pl	Birds, hens, cows, doors, cats	Noun plural
2	-s sg ps	Ani’s, boy’s, father’s, mother’s, uncle’s	Noun singular possessive
3	-s pl ps	Mens’, womens’, students’	Noun plural possessive
4	-s 3d	Reads, cooks, plays, writes, sleeps	Present third person
5	-ing vb	Reading, cooking, playing, sleeping	Present participle
6	-d pt	Wanted, played,	Past tense
7	-d pp	Drunk, written, sung,	Past participle
8	-er cp	Smaller, nearer, older , younger	Comparative
9	-est sp	Smallest, oldest, youngest	Superlative

The words to which these affixes are attached are called stems. The stem includes the base or base and all the derivational affixes. The inflectional affixes differ from the derivational suffixes in the following ways, to which there are few exceptions:

1. They do not change the part of speech. Examples:

Apple, apples (both nouns)

Want, wanted (both verbs)

Small, smaller (both adjectives)

2.  They come last in a word. Examples: Shortened, studies, playing

3. They go with all stems of a given part of speech. Examples:

Mia sleeps, drinks, plays

4. They do not pile up; only one ends a word. Example: Sleeps, reading, older

5. The exception here is -s pl ps), the plural possessive of the noun. Example: “The teachers’ worries”

D. Derivational Suffixes
It is change the part of speech. Among the characteristics of derivational suffixes there are three that will be our immediate concern.
1. The words with which derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary matter.  Example: Happy = Happiness
2. In many cases, but not all, a derivational suffix changes the part of speech of the word to which it is added. Example: Act=Active
3. Derivational suffix usually do not close off a word that is after a derivational suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can frequently add an inflectional suffix. Example: Formal=Formality
 
E. Suffixal Homophones
Some suffixes, both inflectional and derivational, have homophones forms.
The inflectional morpheme (-er cp) has two homophones. The first is the derivational suffix (-er n), which is attached to verbs to form nouns. The second derivational –er morpheme appears at the end. The verbal inflectional suffix (-ing vb) has two homophones. The first one is the nominal derivational suffix (-ing nm), which in words like meetings, weddings, readings. The second homophone of (-ing vb) is the adjectival morpheme (-ing aj), as in a charming woman.
The verbal inflectional (-d pp) has a homophone in the adjectival derivational (-d aj). The derivational suffix (-ly aj) is added to most adjectives to form adverbs of manner. This adverbial (-ly av) has as a homophone the derivational suffix (-ly aj), an adjectival morpheme that is distributed as follows:
1. It is added to monosyllable nouns to form adjectives that are inflected with –er, -est.
2. It is added to nouns to form adjectives that are not inflected with –er, -est.
3. It is added to a few adjectives, giving alternate adjectival forms that are also inflected with–er, -est.
4. it is added to a short list of “time” nouns to form adjectives.