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Suffixation
6.1
Suffixaton
Suffixation
is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to stems. Unlike prefixes
which primarily change the meaning of the stem, suffixes have only a small
semantic role, their primary function being to change the grammatical
function of stems. In other words, they mainly change the word class.
Therefore, we shall group suffixes on a grammatical basis into noun suffixes,
verb suffixes, adjective suffixes, etc. By noun suffix or adjective suffix,
we mean that when the suffix under discussion is added to the stem, whatever
class it belongs to, the result will be a noun or an adjective. For example,
-er is treated as a noun suffix because all the derived forms from
it are nouns whether it is fixed at the end of a verb as in employer
or of a noun as in villager. The first kind is thus called deverbal
nouns and the second denominal nouns.
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Noun suffixes
1.
Noun suffixes
1)
Denominal nouns
a.
Concrete. The suffixes of this group are added to noun bases to
produce concrete nouns: -eer, -er, -ess, -ette, -let, -ster e.g.
profiteer (person who makes unfairly large profits), engineer; teenager;
hostess (female host), priestess (female priest); cigarette, kitchenette
(small kitchen); booklet (small book); gangster (member of the gang),
songster (skilled singer), trickster, rhymester, punster.
b.
Abstract. The following suffixes come at the end of noun stems to
form abstract nouns: -age, -dom, -ery (-ry), -ful, -hood, -ing, -ism,
-ship, e.g. wastage, mileage; officialdom (officials as a group);
slavery; mouthful (room, arm, spoon, hand); adulthood (condition of being
an adult); farming; terrorism (the use of violence to obtain political
demands); friendship, sportsmanship.
2)
Deverbal nouns
a.
The following suffixes combine with verb stems to create largely nouns
denoting people: -ant, -ee, -ent, -er(-or), e.g. assistant, informant
(one who gives information to police, etc); employee, trainee; respondent
(person who responds), dependent (one who depends on someone else for
food, clothing etc.)
b.
Suffixes of this group added to verb stems to produce largely abstract
nouns, denoting action, result, process, state, etc.: -age, -al, -ance,
-ation (-ition, -tion, -sion, -ion), -ence, -ing, -ment, -ity e.g.
linkage, carriage; dismissal, survival; attendance, performance, protection,
decision; existence, persistence; building, savings; statement, judgement.
3)
De-adjective nouns: -ity, -ness, e.g. popularity, productivity;
happiness, largeness.
-ity
-ve:
productivity, sensitivity
-r:
popularity, familiarity
-al:
morality, generality
-able/-ible:
ability, responsibility
4)
Noun and adjective suffixes
A
small number of suffixes, when added to stems related to human beings
or nationality names, form words that can be used both as nouns and adjectives:
-ese, -an, -ist, e.g. Lebanese, Chinese; Australian, Elizabethan;
socialist, violinist.
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Adjective suffixes
2
Adjective suffixes
1)
Denominal suffixes (added to nouns): -ed, -ful, -ish, -less, -like,
-ly, -y, e.g. wooded, simple-minded; successful; childish, foolish;
priceless, nameless; lady-like, dreamlike; cowardly, friendly; smoky,
bloody. Among them, -ish can be added to adjective stems to form adjectives,
e.g. brownish, coldish. This group also includes -al (-ial, -ical),
-esque, -ic, -ous (-eous, -ious), e.g. cultural, residential; picturesque;
economic, historic; courageous, marvellous.
-ly
can be added to father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, man, woman.
-y
can be added to cream, rain, sun, wind, winter, sand, hill, hair, water.
It
is worth noting that both -ic and -ical can be affixed to
the same stem in some cases, but differ in meaning:
classic
(great, memorable) classical
(of Latin and Greek)
comic
(of comedy)
comical (funny)
historic
(important in hist.) historical
(of history)
economic
(in the economy) economical
(money-saving)
electric
(powered by electr.) electrical
(of electricity)
2)
Deverbal suffixes (added to verbs): -able (-ible), -ive (-ative,
-sive), e.g. washable, arguable, permissible; active, decisive, productive.
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Adverb suffixes
3.
Adverb suffixes: -ly, -ward(s), -wise, e.g. calmly, naturally,
publicly; homewards, downward, onward; clockwise (in the direction in
which the hands of the clock move), education-wise (so far as education
is concerned).
-ward(s)
can be added to in, out, up, down, back, fore, side, sky, earth, east,
west, north, south.
-wise
can be added to budget, time, money, security, economy, life.
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Verb suffixes
4.
Verb suffixes: -ate, -en, -(i)fy, -ize(-ise), e.g. originate
(have as ... origin); darken, heighten, strengthen; solidify (make ...
solid), beautify (make more beautiful); modernize, symbolize.
In
modern English, there are some seemingly productive vogue affixes like
-nik (a person who becomes devoted to or a member of), which gives
birth to quite a few words such as folknik (one fond of folk music),
peacenik (devotee to peace), jazznik (jazz fan), protestnik
(one who protests against sth). But most of them, if not all, are still
considered slang and have not been widely accepted. Therefore, they are
not listed here.
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