Affixation
Affixation
is the adding of bound morphemes to the base to base to form a word. The adding
of the bound morphemes initially to a base is called prefixes, the adding of the bound morphemes inside the base is
called infixes, while the combination
of prefix and suffix which constructs a unity is named confixes and the adding of the bound morphemes to the end of base
is called suffixes.
Affixation
is the morphological process of attaching or adding an affix to the root, stem
or base form. According Bauer (1983: 20) root, stem and base are all terms used
in the literature to designate that part of a word that remains when all
affixes have been removed. A root is a form which is not further analyzable,
either in terms of derivation or inflection morphology. A stem is of concern
only when dealing with inflectional morphology. And base is any form to which
affixes of any kind can be added.
Affixes
can be defined as a closed class of grammatical elements within the word. They
are bound morphemes and cannot occur on their own. A fair number of affixes
change the word class of the root to which they are affixed. Formally, the
following categories can be distinguished: prefixes, suffixes, confixes and
infixes.
There
are two types of affixation is derivational
and inflectional. Derivational suffixes, however, are used to change both
meaning and use of existing lexical items.
In other words, when a derivational morpheme is added to a word, it “results in either a different part of
speech or the same part of speech with a different lexical meaning” (Celce-Murcia
and Larsen-Freeman 1999: 31). For
example, –ment, as in the word
achievement (achieve + ment), makes a noun from a verb, changing both the part
of speech and the meaning.
1. Prefixes
Prefix may be classified into two
categories depending on whether they change or maintain the word-class
categories of the derived words. The word prefix is composed of a root and a
prefix. A prefix is a meaningful unit of one or more syllables added to the
beginning of a root to form a new word.
The
following are some prefixes that are commonly used in English.
1. Negative
Prefixes
a) in-
e.g. : in- + operable = inoperable
b) dis-
e.g. : dis- + order =
disorder
c) un-
e.g. : un- + rest =
unrest
d) non-
e.g. : non- + stop =
nonstop
e)
a-
e.g. : a- + sleep =
asleep
2. Pejorative
Prefixes
This
prefix is attached to give the meaning of “wrongly”.
a)
mis-
e.g. : mis- + lead =
mislead
mis- + fortune = misfortune
b) mal-
e.g. : mal- + nutrition =
malnutrition
mal- + adjusted = maladjusted
3.
Prefix of Degree or Size
a)
over-
e.g. : over- + charge =
overcharge
over- + growth = overgrowth
b) out-
e.g. : out- + grow =
outgrow
out- + number = outnumber
4. Prefix
of Position in Time or Space
a)
under-
e.g. : under- + ground =
underground
under- + world = underworld
b) fore-
e.g. : fore- + tell =
foretell
fore- + warn = forewarn
c) mid-
e.g. : mid- + night =
midnight
mid- + semester =
mid-semester
d) inter-
e.g. : inter- + dependence = interdependence
inter- + mix = intermix
5. Prefix of
number
a)
bi-
e.g. : bi- + lingual =
bilingual
bi- + labial =
bilabial
b) multi-
e.g. : multi- + media =
multimedia
multi- + talented =
multitalented
2. Suffixes
Suffix
is a morphological process whereby a bound morpheme is process whereby a bound
morpheme is attached to the end of a stem. There are two kinds of
suffixes; they are inflectional and derivational suffixes. Inflectional
suffixes do not change the word class of the word it is attached to. In
contrast, derivational suffixes usually but not always change the word class of
the word it is attached to.
a.
Inflection
Suffixes
- added to nouns to form plurals and
possessives
e.g. : book =>
books
Boy => boys
John => John’s
- added to
verbs to indicate tense
e.g. : change => changed
Kick => kicked
Drink => drinking
- added to
adjective to indicate tense
e.g. : fast => faster => fastest
Bright => brighter => brightest
b. Derivational Suffixes
Derivational
suffixes usually change the word class from one part of
speech
to another one.
-
From a verb to a noun
e.g. : achieve => achievement
Survive => survival
Press => pressure
Bank => banker
-
From a noun to a verb
e.g. : victim => victimize
Class => classify
Beauty => beautify
-
From a noun to an adjective
e.g. : care => careful
Legend => legendary
Week => weekly
President => presidential
Humor => humorous
-
From an adjective to a noun
e.g. : eager => eagerness
Ready => readiness
Intelligent => intelligence
-
From a verb to an adjective
e.g. : communicate => communicative
Differ => different
Read => readable
Please => pleasant
-
From an adjective to a verb
e.g. : black => blacken
Sharp => sharpen
Based on the class of the words, English suffixes can be divided
into four types, they are:
1. English
suffixes of noun
a.
Denoting agent or doer
-er
e.g. : Bake + -er =
baker
-ster
e.g. : Gang + -ster =
gangster
b. Denoting
state, action, condition, being
- dom
e.g. : king + -dom =
kingdom
-hood
(-head)
e.g. : Child + -hood = childhood
-lock (-ledge)
e.g. : Know + -ledge = knowledge
c. Forming
diminutives (smallness)
-let
e.g. : stream + -let = streamlet
-ling
e.g. : duck + -ling = duckling
2.
English
suffixes of adjective
a.
–ed means having
e.g. : gift => gifted
b. –en
means made of
e.g. : wood => wooden
3.
English
suffixes of verbs
a.
–en means causative, forming transitive verbs
e.g. : week => weaken
b. –se
means to make
e.g. : clean => cleanse
4.
English
suffixes of adverbs
a.
–ly means like
e.g. : bold => boldly
b. –long
e.g. : head => headlong
3. Infixes
An infix is an affix inserted inside a
stem (an existing word). It contrasts with affix, a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a
stem, such as a prefix or suffix. An infix is
a word element (a type of affix) that can be inserted within the base form of a word (rather than at its beginning or end) to
create a new word or intensify meaning. Also called an integrated
adjective.
4. Confixes
A confix is an affix which consists of at least a prefix and a suffix that is placed before and
after a root word. It
needs to be considered that the prefix and suffix must be appeared together.
Take the example in Indonesian language, the word “berdatangan” and
“berhalangan”. For instance, the word “berdatangan” is derived from “datang”
and confix “ber-an” which is attached together. The word “berdatangan” is a
unity because there is no word “datangan” in Indonesia. While, the word
berhalangan is not a confix. It is firstly formed from word “halang” and suffix
“an” and then prefix “ber” is added. The word “halangan” can be found in
Indonesian language. That is why the word “berhalangan” is not a confix. The word
"confix" is itself made up of the suffix -fix (meaning "attach", in this case), and the prefix con- (meaning "with"), both
of which are derived from Latin roots.
Examples of confixes in Indonesian :
1.
One
prefix and one suffix on a non-reduplicative word: kebaikan (ke+baik+an) - "goodness"
2.
One
prefix and one suffix on a compound word: dijungkirbalikkan (di+jungkir balik+kan) - "being overthrown", jungkir
balik lit. "upside down"
References :
http://uhn.ac.id/uploads/fbs/episteme4
http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/infixterm.htm
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/wordtypes.html
