Categories of affixes

Affix

Example

Schema

Description

Prefix

un-do

prefix-stem

Appears before the stem

Suffix/Postfix

look-ing

stem-suffix

Appears after the stem

Suffixoid[1]/Semicat-like suffix[2]

stem-suffixoid

Appears after the stem, but is only partially bound to it

Infix

Minneflippin'sota

stinfixem

Appears within a stem common in BorneoPhilippines languages

Circumfix

ascattered

circumfixstemcircumfix

One portion appears before the stem, the other after

Interfix

speed-o-meter

stema-interfix-stemb

Links two stems together in a compound

Duplifix

teeny~weeny

stem~duplifix

Incorporates a reduplicated portion of a stem (may occur before, after, or within the stem)

Transfix

Maltese: kiteb "he wrote" (compare

stransfixtetransfixm

A discontinuous affix that interleaves within a

root ktb "write")

discontinuous stem

Simulfix

mouse mice

stem\simulfix

Changes a segment of a stem

Suprafix

produce (noun) produce (verb)

stem\suprafix

Changes a suprasegmental feature of a stem

Disfix

Alabama: tipli "break up" stdisfixm (compare root tipasli"break")

The elision of a portion of a stem

Prefix and suffix may be subsumed under the term adfix in contrast to infix. When marking text for interlinear glossing, as in the third column in the chart above, simple affixes such as prefixes and suffixes are separated from 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. Affixes which cannot be segmented are marked with a back slash. In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, genderand case. Conjugation is the inflection of verbs; declension is the inflection of nouns, adjectives andpronouns. In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy fromhappy, or determination from determine. Derivation stands in contrast to the process of inflection, which uses another kind of affix in order to form grammatical variants of the same word, as with determine/determines/determin-ing/determin-ed.[1] Generally speaking, inflection applies to all

members of a part of speech (e.g., every English verb has a past-tense form), while derivation applies only to some members of a part of speech (e.g., the nominalizing suffix -ity can be used with the adjectives modern and dense, but not withopen or strong). A derivational suffix usually applies to words of one syntactic category and changes them into words of another syntactic category. For example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow slowly). Examples of English derivational patterns and their suffixes:

adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow slowness) adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern modernise) in British English or ize (archaic archaicize) in American English and Oxford spelling adjective-to-adjective: -ish (red reddish) adjective-to-adverb: -ly (personal personally) noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation recreational) noun-to-verb: -fy (glory glorify) verb-to-adjective: -able (drink drinkable) verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver deliverance) verb-to-noun (concrete): -er (write writer)

Although derivational affixes do not necessarily alter the syntactic category, they do change the meaning of the base. In many cases, derivational affixes change both the syntactic category and the meaning: modern modernize ("to make modern"). The change of meaning is sometimes predictable: Adjective + ness the state of being (Adjective); (white whiteness). A prefix (write re-write; lord over-lord) will rarely change syntactic category in English. The prefix un- applies to adjectives (healthy unhealthy) and some verbs (do undo), but rarely to nouns. A few exceptions are the derivational prefixes en- and be-. En- (embefore labials) is usually used as a transitive marker on verbs, but can also be applied to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs:circle (verb) encircle (verb); but rich (adj) enrich (verb), large (adj) enlarge (verb), rapture (noun) enrapture (verb), slave (noun) enslave (verb).

Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes. In that respect, derivation differs from compounding by which free morphemes are combined (lawsuit, Latin professor). It also differs from inflection in that inflection does not create new lexemes but new word forms(table tables; open opened). Derivation can occur without any change of form, for example telephone (noun) and to telephone. This is known as conversion or zero derivation. A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. 2. A physiological or temperamental peculiarity. 3. An unusual individual reaction to food or a drug. The term can also be applied to symbols or words. Idiosyncratic symbols mean one thing for a particular person, as a blade could meanwar, but to someone else, it could symbolize a surgery. By the same principle, linguists (such as Ferdinand de Saussure) state that words are not only arbitrary, but also largely idiosyncratic signs.[citation needed] In linguistics, a causative (abbreviated CAUS) is a form that indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state of a non-volitional event. All languages have ways to express causation, but differ in the means. Some languages have morphological devices (such as inflection) that change verbs into their causative forms, or adjectives into verbs of becoming. Other languages employ periphrasis, with idiomatic expressions or auxiliary verbs. All languages also have lexical causative forms (such as English rise raise).