Classification of suffixes and prefixes

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YEREVAN BRUSOV STATE UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

CONTROL WORK

SUBJECT: LEXICOLOGY

CLASSIFICATION OF SUFFIXES AND PREFIXES

STUDENT:

MARIAM GRIGORYAN

YEREVAN, 2017



Table of contents

Introduction

1. Suffixes

1.1 Nominal suffixes

1.2 Verbal suffixes

1.3 Adjectival suffixes

1.4 Adverbial suffixes

2. Prefixes

Conclusion

Bibliography



Introduction

In English there are various types and ways of forming words. Word - Formation is the system of derivative types of words and the process of creating new words from the material available in the language after certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns. For instance, the noun driver is formed after the pattern v er, i.e. a verbal stem the noun-forming suffix -er.

Some of the ways of forming words in present-day English can be resorted to for the creation of new words whenever the occasion demands - these are called productive ways of forming words, other ways of forming words cannot now produce new words, and these are commonly termed non-productive or unproductive. For instance, affixation has been a productive way of forming words ever since the Old English period. Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of bases.

Derived words formed by affixation may be the result of one or several applications of word-formation rule and thus the stems of words making up a word-cluster enter into derivational relations of different degrees. The zero degree of derivation is ascribed to simple words In conformity with the division of derivational affixes into suffixes and prefixes affixation is subdivided into suffixation and prefixation.



1. Suffixes

Classification.

When dealing with suffixes they can be analyzed from two perspectives: syntactic and semantic. From the syntactic point of view they are classified according to the part of speech they form.

Thus, they fall into the following subclasses: nominal suffixes, verbal suffixes, adjectival suffixes and adverbial suffixes or nominalizers, verbalizers, adjectivizers and adverbializers. The semantic classification of suffixes regards the meaning of derivatives and their particular aspects.

1.1 Nominal suffixes

Nominal suffixes are often used to derive abstract nouns from verbs, adjectives and other nouns. They are called nominalizers and are formed from verb and adjective stems. The syntactic classification regards the general aspect of the formation of a word and it analyzes from this aspect.

According to Hulban (2001:73) the general formula for the syntactic classification with several examples is:

1) Verb stem + Nominalizer - Noun marry -age - marriage, arrive -al - arrival;

2) Adjective stem + Nominalizer - Noun drunk -ard - drunkard free -dom - freedom;

3) Noun stem + Nominalizer - Noun brother + -hood - brotherhood taxi + -man - taximan.

According to the derivative class they form, Katamba (1994:44, 45, 46) makes the followingclassifications of nominal suffixes:

a. Suffixes which derive nouns from verbs:

- ation derives nouns of action - don-ation, reconcil-ation, regul-ation, confisc-ation, stimul-ation;

- er: instrument - cook-er, strain-er, drain-er, pok-er;

- ant/-ent: agentive nouns or person that does whatever the verb means - inhabit-ant, celebr-ant, particip-ant, protest-ant, occup-ant, ag-ent;

- ant: instrument that is used to do whatever the verb means - stimul-ant, intoxic-ant;

- er:person who does whatever the verb means: teach-er, runn-er, writ-er, build-er, paint-er;

- ing act of doing whatever the verb indicates: learn-ing, read-ing, writ-ing, sav-ing, rid-ing,wait-ing;

- ist derives agent nouns from verbs-one who does X: cycl-ist, typ-ist, copy-ist;

- ion derives nouns of condition or action from verbs: eros-ion (from erode), corros-ion(from corrode), persuas-ion (from persuade);

- ment the result or product of the action of the verb, the instrument used to perform the action of the verb: pave-ment, appoint-ment, accomplish-ment, govern-ment, pay-ment;

- ery derives nouns indicating a place where animals are kept or plants grown: catt-ery, pigg-ery, orang-ery, shrubb-ery;

- ery, derives nouns indicating place where the action specified by the verb takes place: bak-ery,cann-ery, brew-ery, fish-cry, refin-ery, tann-ery;

- ee (passive) person who undergoes action indicated by the verb: employ-ee, detain-ee, pay-ee, intern-ee.

b. Suffixes which derive nouns from adjectives:

- ness forms a noun expressing state or condition: good-ness, fair-ness, bitter-ness, dark-ness;

- ity forms a noun expressing state or condition: timid-ity, banal-ity, pur-ity, antiqu-ity;

- ship state or condition of being X: hard-hardship;

- ery having the property indicated by the adjective: brav-ery, effront-ery, trick-ery, chican-ery.

c. Suffixes which derive nouns from other nouns:

- aire to be possessed of X: million-aire, doctrin-aire, solit-aire;

- acy derives a noun of quality, state or condition from another noun or adjective (normally the baseto which it is added also takes the nominal suffix-ate): advoc-acy, episcop-acy, intim-acy, accur-acy, obdur-acy;

- er a person who practises a trade or profession connected to the noun: marin-er, geograph-er, football-er, haberdash-er, hatt-er;

- ery derives nouns indicating general collective sense “-ware, stuff”: machin-ery, crock-ery, jewell-ery;

- ling derives a diminutive noun from another noun: duck-ling, prince-ling, found-ling;

- hood quality, state, rank of being X: boy-hood, sister-hood, priest-hood;

- ship state or condition of being X: king-ship, craftsman-ship, director-ship, steward-ship;

- ism forms nouns which are the name of a theory, doctrine or practice: femin-ism, capital-ism, Marxism, structural-ism;

- ist adherent to some-ism, a protagonist for X, an expert on X (usually a base that takes-ist also takes ism): femin-ist, capital-ist, Marx-ist, structural-ist.

Being the largest group of suffixes, nominal suffixes can be also classified according to their meaning, while the other derivative suffixes aren't. The semantic classification of the nominal suffixes regards the meaning of the derivatives and their particular aspects. Abstract nouns usually may denote actions, results of action, concepts, but also properties, qualities and the like:

a. suffixes denoting “doer of an action”:

- er/-or/-ar: is the most productive in the series and it forms names of occupation from the corresponding verb: teacher, diver, singer, advisor, and registrar. Some of the nouns formed with er” have counterparts formed with the suffix “-ee” which denote suffer of the action: tutor-tutee, employer-employee. But it also generates words as: absentee, refugee, escapee;

- ent/-ant: is less productive: student, attendant;

- eer/-ier: is even less productive: musketeer, gondolier, collier;

- ist: can also denote” doer of action”: typist, dramatist, artist, but it is rather consecrated as denoting “adherent to a trend of thought, doctrine, literally trend, etc”: Impressionist, Realist, classicist, capitalist.

b. feminine suffixes:

- ness: as in: lioness, duchess, marchioness, actress etc;

- ine: heroine;

- ette: usherette;

- ix: aviatrix;

- euse: chauffeuse.

c. suffixes denoting nationality (The most frequent among them are):

- an/-ian: Korean, Hungarian, Estonian;

- ese: Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, the suffix has extended its applicability also to other nouns than those denoting nationality, nowadays such derivations as journalese or legalese have been coined by means of it;

- ard: Spaniard.

d. diminutives, they which usually express feelings with which the person or thing described is regarded:

- y/-ey/-ie: as in: daddy, hanky, Charley, auntie, nightie;

- et/-ette: coronet, leaflet, kitchenette;

- kin/-kins: manikin, Munchkins, catkin;

- ock: hillock, bullock.

1.2 Verbal suffixes

There are four suffixes which derive verbs from other categories (mostly adjectives and nouns), -ate, -en, -ify and -ize:

- ate Forms ending in this suffix represent a rather heterogeneous group. There is a class of derivatives with chemical substances as bases, which systematically exhibit so-called ornative and resultative meanings. However, a large proportion of forms in -ate do not conform to this pattern, but show various kinds of idiosyncrasies, with -ate being apparently no more than an indicator of verbal status. Examples of such non-canonical formations are back-fomations (formate - formation), local analogies (stereoregular: stereoregulate:: regular: regulate, conversion (citrate), and completely idiosyncratic formations such as dissonate or fidate. Phonologically, -ate is largely restricted to attachment to words that end in one or two unstressed syllables. If the base ends in two unstressed syllables, the last syllable is truncated: nitrosyl - nitrosate, mercury -mercurate;

- en The Germanic suffix -en attaches to monosyllables that end in a plosive, fricative or affricate. Most bases are adjectives (e. g. blacken, broaden, quicken, ripen), but a few nouns can also be found (e. g. strengthen, lengthen). The meaning of -en formations can be described as causative `make (more) X';

- ify This suffix attaches to base words that are either monosyllabic, stressed on the final syllable or end in unstressed /I/. Neologisms usually do not show stress shift, but some older forms do (humid - humidify, solid - solidify). These restrictions have the effect that -ify is in (almost) complementary distribution with the suffix -ize (see below). The only, but systematic, exception to the complementarity of -ize/-ify can be observed with trochaic base words ending in /I/, which take -ify under loss of that segment (as in nazify), or take -ize (with no accompanying segmental changes apart from optional glide insertion, as in toddyize). Semantically, -ify shows the same range of related meanings as -ize and the two suffixes could therefore be considered phonologically conditioned allomorphs;

- ize Both -ize and -ify are polysemous suffixes, which can express a whole range of related concepts such as locative, ornative, causative/factitive, resultative, inchoative, performative, similative. Locatives can be paraphrased as `put into X', as in computerize, hospitalize, tubify. Patinatize, fluoridize, youthify are ornative examples (`provide with X'), randomize, functionalize, humidify are causative (`make (more) X'), carbonize, itemize, trustify and nazify are resultative (`make into X'), aerosolize and mucify are inchoative (`become X'), anthropologize and speechify are performative (`perform X'), cannibalize, vampirize can be analyzed as similative (`act like X'). Derivatives in -ize show rather complex patterns of base allomorphy, to the effect that bases are systematically truncated (i.e. they lose the rime of the final syllable) if they are vowel-final and end in two unstressed syllables (cf. truncated vowel-final memory - memorize, vs. non-truncated consonant-final hospital - hospitalize). Furthermore, polysyllabic derivatives in -ize are not allowed to have identical onsets in the two last syllables. In the pertinent cases truncation is used as a repair strategy, as in feminine - feminize and emphasis - emphasize.

1.3 Adjectival suffixes

The adjectival suffixes of English can be subdivided into two major groups. A large proportion of derived adjectives are relational adjectives, whose role is simply to relate the noun the adjective qualifies to the base word of the derived adjective. For example, algebraic mind means a mind having to do with algebra, referring to algebra, characterized by algebra, colonial officer means `officer having to do with the colonies', and so on. On the other hand, there is a large group of derived adjectives that express more specific concepts, and which are often called qualitative adjectives. Sometimes, relational adjectives can adopt qualitative meanings, as can be seen with the derivative grammatical, which has a relational meaning having to do with grammar:

- able The suffix chiefly combines with transitive and intransitive verbal bases, as in deterrable and perishable, respectively, as well as with nouns, as in serviceable, fashionable. The semantics of deverbal - able forms seem to involve two different cases, which have been described as `capable of being Xed' (cf. breakable, deterrable, readable), and `liable or disposed to X' (cf. agreeable, perishable, variable, changeable can have both meanings). What unites the two patterns is that in both cases the referent of the noun modified by the -able adjective is described as a potential non-volitional participant in an event. In this respect, -able closely resembles episodic -ee. Denominal forms can convey the same meaning, as e. g. marriageable, jeepable, kitchenable, roadable. There are also some lexicalized denominal forms with the meaning `characterized by X', as in fashionable (but cf. the concurrent compositional meaning `that can be fashioned'), knowledgeable, reasonable. Phonologically, -able exhibits diverse properties. Only some lexicalized derivatives exhibit stress shift (e. g. comparable), and base verbs in -ate are often, but not systematically, truncated, as in allocable, irritable, navigable, permeable, operable vs. cultivatable, emancipatable, operatable. In established loan words we also find the orthographic variant -ible: comprehensible, discernible, flexible, reversible;

- al This relational suffix attaches almost exclusively to Latinate bases (accidental, colonial, cultural, federal, institutional, modal). All derivatives have stress either on their penultimate or antepenultimate syllable. If the base does not have its stress on one of the two syllables preceding the suffix, stress is shifted to the antepenult of the derivative (e. g. colony - colonial). Apart from the allomorphy (-ar after bases ending in (l), -al elsewhere), there are the two variants -ial (as in confidential, labial, racial, substantial) and -ual (as in contextual, gradual, spiritual, visual). With bases ending in (s) or (t), -ial triggers assimilation of the base-final sound to (S) (e. g. facial, presidential). The distribution of -ial and -ual is not entirely clear, but it seems that bases ending in -ant/ance (and their variants) and -or obligatorily take -ial (e. g. circumstantial, professorial);

- ary Again a relational adjective-forming suffix, -ary usually attaches to nouns, as in complementary, evolutionary, fragmentary, legendary, precautionary. We find stress-shifts only with polysyllabic base nouns ending in -ment (cf. complimentary vs. momentary);

- ed This suffix derives adjectives with the general meaning `having X, being provided with X', as in broad-minded, pig-headed, wooded. The majority of derivatives are based on compounds or phrases (empty-headed, pig-headed);

- esque The suffix -esque is attached to both common and proper nouns to convey the notion of `in the manner or style of X': Chaplinesque, Hemingwayesque, picturesque, Kafkaesque. There is a strong preference for polysyllabic base words. - ful Adjectival;

- ful has the general meaning `having X, being characterized by X' and is typically attached to abstract nouns, as in beautiful, insightful, purposeful, tactful, but verbal bases are not uncommon (e. g. forgetful, mournful, resentful);

- ic Being another relational suffix, -ic also attaches to foreign bases (nouns and bound roots). Quite a number of -ic derivatives have variant forms in -ical. Derivatives in -ic are stressed on the penultimate syllable, with stress being shifted there, if necessary (e. g. hero - heroic, parasite - parasitic);

- ing This verbal inflectional suffix primarily forms present participles, which can in general also be used as adjectives in attributive positions (and as nouns, see above). The grammatical status of a verb suffixed by -ing in predicative position is not always clear. In the changing weather the -ing form can be analyzed as an adjective, but in the weather is changing we should classify it as a verb (in particular as a progressive form). In the film was boring, however, we would probably want to argue that boring is an adjective, because the relation to the event denoted by the verb is much less prominent than in the case of changing;

- ish This suffix can attach to adjectives (e. g. clearish, freeish, sharpish), numerals (fourteenish, threehundredfourtyish), adverbs (soonish, uppish), and syntactic phrases (e. g. stick-in-the-muddish, out-of-the-wayish, silly-little-me-late-again-ish) to convey the concept of `somewhat X, vaguely X'. When attached to nouns referring to human beings the derivatives can be paraphrased as `of the character of X, like X', which is obviously closely related to the meaning of the non-denominal derivatives. Examples of the latter kind are James-Deanish, monsterish, summerish, townish, vampirish. Some forms have a pejorative meaning, e. g. childish;

- ive This suffix forms adjectives mostly from Latinate verbs and bound roots that end in (t) or (s): connective, explosive, fricative, offensive, passive, preventive, primitive, receptive, speculative. Some nominal bases are also attested, as in instinctive, massive;

- less Semantically, -less can be seen as antonymic to -ful, with the meaning being paraphrasable as `without X': expressionless, hopeless, speechless, thankless;

- ly This suffix is appended to nouns and adjectives. With base nouns denoting persons, - ly usually conveys the notion of `in the manner of X' or `like an X', as in brotherly, daughterly, fatherly, womanly. Other common types of derivative have bases denoting temporal concepts (e. g. half-hourly, daily, monthly) or directions (easterly, southwesterly).

1.4 Adverbial suffixes

- ly The presence of this exclusively de-adjectival suffix is for the most part syntactically triggered and obligatory, and it can therefore be considered inflectional. However, in some formations there is a difference in meaning between the adjective and the adverb derived by -ly attachment: shortly, hardly and dryly are semantically distinct from their base words and hotly, coldly and darkly can only have metaphorical senses. Such changes of meaning are unexpected for inflectional suffix, which speaks against the classification of adverbial -ly as inflectional;

- wise This suffix derives adverbs from nouns, with two distinguishable sub-groups: manner/dimension adverbs, and so-called view-point adverbs. The former adverb type has the meaning `in the manner of X, like X' as in the towel wound sarongwise about his middle, or indicates a spatial arrangement or movement, as in The cone can be sliced lengthwise. It is, however, not always possible to distinguish clearly between the `manner' and `dimension' readings (e. g. is `cut X crosswise' an instance of one or the other?).

Classification.

Hulban (2001:67-69) classifies suffixes according to the two major language families that provide these loans: Germanic and Romance. English belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages, while in the Romance family are included Latin, French and Italian. Greek belongs also to the Hellenic branch and it is a source of important borrowings.

Germanic origin:

- ard, -art: braggart, dullard, drunkard;

- dom: Christendom, earldom, freedom, kingdom;

- ed: red-blooded, salaried, tired;

- en: ashen, darken, earthen, wooden;

- er: actioner, hacker, Londoner, networker, poker, worker;

- ful: beautiful, painful, restful, spiteful;

- hood: brotherhood, childhood, knighthood, manhood;

- ing: growing, learning, meeting, sinking, wedding;

- ish: bookish, boyish, English, prudish, selfish, womanish;

- le: sparkle, wrestle, wriggle;

- ling: darling, hackling, lordling, sibling, youngling;

- ly: beastly, brotherly, chiefly, daily, godly, quickly, recently;

- man: barman, cameraman, gentleman, salesman, taximan, townsman;

- ness: cleverness, greatness, kindness, meaningless, possessiveness, selfishness;

- ster: prankster, songster, teamster, youngster;

- th: growth, health, tenth, thousandth, width;

- ward, -wards: backward, heavenward, skywards.

Romance - Latin, French, Italian - origin:

- able: acceptable, bankable, comparable, survivable;

- age: baggage, bondage, marriage, orphanage, passage;

- al: arrival, autumnal, basal, recital, renewal;-

- an, -ian: American, Christian, Corsican, Elizabethan, Shakespearean;

- ance, -ancy: acquaintance, hindrance, tenancy, resemblance;

- ant, -ent: astringent, claimant, correspondent, deodorant, dependent, pleasant, protestant;

- ary: abortuary, cautionary, rudimentary;

- ate: carbonate, condensate, felicitate, fortunate, Latinate;

- ation: Albanisation, arbitration, collection, formation, publication;

- cy: accuracy, chieftaincy, infancy, intimacy;

- ee: absentee, assignee, bootee, employee, grantee, lessee, vendee;

- ette: cigarette, kitchenette, majorette, novelette;

- eur: entrepreneur;

- fy, -ify: beautify, exemplify, intensify, signify, simplify;

- ic: allergic, critic, Germanic, heroic, music;

-ical: botanical, economical;

- ion, -on: creation, objection;

- ism: colloquialism, criticism, individualism, spiritualism;

- ive: defensive, derivative, detective, festive, massive;

- ment: acknowledgement, development, judgement, movement, ornament;

- or: actor, conductor, doctor, error, sailor, terror.

Greek origin:

- cy: infancy, lunacy, plutocracy;

- graphy: lexicography, photography;

- iad: Olympiad, presidential;

- ic: allergic, Germanic, magnetic, periodic;

- ism: patriotism, organism, realism, womanism;

- ist: feminist, philologist;

- ite: ammonite, dynamite;

- logy: biology, musicology, trilogy;

- phobia: arachnophobia, claustrophobia, homophobia;

- rama: Futurama, panorama.



2. Prefixes

The prefixes of English can be classified semantically into the following groups. First, there is a large group that quantify over their base words meaning, for example, `one' (uni-, unilateral, unification), `twice or two' (bi-, bilateral, bifurcation and di-, disyllabic, ditransitive), `many' (multi-, multi-purpose, multi-lateral and poly-, polysyllabic, polyclinic), `half' (semi-, semi-conscious, semi-desert), `all' (omni-, omnipotent, omnipresent), `small' (micro-, micro-surgical, microwave), `large' (macro-, macroeconomics, macro-biotic), `to excess' (hyper-, hyperactive, hypermarket and over-, overestimate, overtax), `not sufficiently` (undernourish, underpay). Second, there are numerous locative prefixes such as circum- `around' (circumnavigate, circumscribe), counter- `against' (counterbalance, counterexample), endo- `internal to X' (endocentric, endocrinology), epi- `on, over' (epiglottis, epicentral), inter- `between' (interbreed, intergalactic), intra- `inside' (intramuscular, intravenous), para- `along with' (paramedic, paranormal), retro- `back, backwards' (retroflex, retrospection), trans- `across' (transcontinental, transmigrate).

Third, there are temporal prefixes expressing notions like `before' (ante-, pre and fore-, as in antechamber, antedate, preconcert, predetermine, premedical, forefather, foresee), `after' (post-, poststructuralism, postmodify, postmodern), or `new' (neo-, neoclassical, Neo-Latin).

A fourth group consists of prefixes expressing negation (a(n)-, de-, dis-, in-, non-, un-, see below for examples). Numerous prefixes do not fit into any of the four groups, however, and express diverse notions, such as `wrong, evil' (mal-, malfunction, malnutrition), `badly, wrongly' (mis-, misinterpret, mistrial), `false, deceptive' (pseudo-), `together, jointly' (co-), `in place of' (vice-) etc. The vast majority of prefixes do not change the syntactic category of their base words, they merely act as modifiers. Furthermore, it can be observed that they generally attach to more than one kind of syntactic category (verb, adjective, or noun) and do not influence the stress pattern of their bases:

- a(n) - This prefix only occurs in Latinate adjectives. With denominal adjectives, the meaning can either be paraphrased as `without what is referred to by the nominal base', cf. for example achromatic `without color', paraphrased as `not X', as in ahistorical, asymmetrical. Opposites formed by a(n)- are mostly contraries);

- anti This polysemous prefix can express two different, but related notions. In words like anti-war, anti-abortion, anti-capitalistic, anti-scientific, anti-freeze, anti-glare it can be paraphrased as `against, opposing', with denominal, de-adjectival and deverbal derivatives behaving like adjectives (cf. anti-war movement, Are you pro-abortion or anti-abortion?, an anti-freeze liquid). Another type of denominal anti- derivatives are nouns denoting something like `the opposite of an X' or `not having the proper characteristics of an X', as in anti-hero, anti-particle, anti-professor;

- de This prefix attaches to verbs and nouns to form reversative or privative verbs: decolonize, decaffeinate, deflea, depollute, dethrone, deselect. Very often, de- verbs are parasynthetic formations, as evidenced by, for example, decaffeinate, for which no verb caffeinate is attested. - dis Closely related semantically to un- and de-, the prefix dis- forms reversative verbs from foreign verbal bases: disassemble, disassociate, discharge, disconnect, disproof, disqualify. Apart from deriving reversative verbs, this suffix uniquely offers the possibility to negate the base verb in much the same way as clausal negation does: disagree `not agree', disobey `not obey', dislike `not like'. Dis- is also found inside nouns and nominalizations, but it is often unclear whether dis- is prefixed to the nominalization (cf. (dis-(organization))) or to the verb before the nominalizing suffix was attached. There are, however, a few forms that suggest that prefixation to nouns is possible, conveying the meaning `absence of X' or `faulty X': disanalogy, disfluency, disinformation. Finally, dis- also occurs in lexicalized adjectives with the meaning `not X': dishonest, dispassionate, disproportional;

- mis Modifying verbs and nouns (with similar bracketing problems as those mentioned above for dis-), mis- conveys the meaning `inaccurate(ly), wrong(ly)': misalign, mispronounce, misreport, misstate, misjoinder, misdemeanor, mistrial. The prefix is usually either unstressed or secondarily stressed. Exceptions with primary stress on the prefix are either lexicalizations (e. g. mischief) or some nouns that are segmentally homophonous with verbs: miscount (noun) vs. miscount (verb), mismatch vs. mismatch, misprint vs. misprint;

- in This negative prefix is exclusively found with Latinate adjectives and the general negative meaning `not': incomprehensible, inactive, intolerable, implausible, illegal, irregular;

- non When attached to adjectives this prefix has the general meaning of `not X': nonbiological, non-commercial, non-returnable. In contrast to un- and in-, negation with nondoes not carry evaluative force, as can be seen from the pairs unscientific vs. nonscientific, irrational vs. non-rational. Furthermore, non- primarily forms contradictory and complementary opposites. Nouns prefixed with non- can either mean `absence of X' or `not having the character of X': non-delivery, non-member, non-profit, non-stop. The latter meaning has been extended to `being X, but not having the proper characteristics of an X': nonissue, non-answer;

- un can attach to verbs and sometimes nouns (mostly of native stock) to yield a reversative or privative (`remove X') meaning: unbind, uncork, unleash, unsaddle, unwind, unwrap. The prefix is also used to negate simple and derived adjectives: uncomplicated, unhappy, unsuccessful, unreadable. Adjectival un- derivatives usually express contraries, especially with simplex bases. Nouns are also attested with un-, usually expressing `absence of X' (e. g. unease, unbelief, uneducation, unrepair). Such nouns are often the result of analogy or backformation (e. g. educated: uneducated: education: uneducation). We also find a meaning extension similar to the one observed with anti- and non-, namely `not having the proper characteristics of X': uncelebrate, unevent, un-Hollywood (all attested in the BNC).



Conclusion

Word-formation is the process of creating words from the material available in the language after certain structural and semantic formulas and patterns. Affixation (prefixation and suffixation) is the formation of words by adding derivational affixes (prefixes and suffixes) to bases. Classifications of derivational affixes are based on different principles such as:

1) the part of speech formed;

2) the lexico-grammatical character of the stem the affix is added to;

3) its meaning;

4) its stylistic reference;

5) the degree of productivity;

6) the origin of the affix (native or borrowed).

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. Affixes - words which have particles at the beginning or end of the words which modify the meaning of the root in some way. may be: derivational - suff., prefix., functional - they convey grammatical meaning: -s verbs of 3 person singul, degrees of comparison (er, est), tenses of verbs (ed, ing).

The newest formation of affixes from independed words are called semi - affixes: she is a postman (s. a.: -man (postman), -proof (waterproof, kissproof), -tight, -wise, -monger (warmonger, gossipmonger), -like (moonlike).

Classification of aff.:

1) highly - producted;

2) semi - producted;

3) productive; language semantic suffix

4) unproductive;

5) dead., Semi - preffixes: - fellow (fellowstudent), - ill (ill-breed), -mini, -maxi, -out (outcome), -under (underline). Synonyms: - nationalities: -ish, -ian (Ukrainian, russian, british, -professions: -ist (botanist), -er (driver, - negative meaning: - un, -ill, -im, -ie, -dis, -mis, -in, -let) booklet, cloudlet). Polysemy: -y (full of smth. bony, stony, bushy).



Bibliography

1. Word-formation in English by Ingo Plag (2002) (109-127 pages).

2. R.S. Ginzburg (Moscow 1979) (108-110, 119-123).

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