9. Frequency and productivity of affixes

By productive affixes we mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in this particular period of language development. The best way to identify productive affixes is to look for them among neologisms and so-called nonce-words, i.e. words coined and used only for this particular occasion. (unputdownable thriller). One should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency of occurrence.

10. Meaning of affixes

Counting prefixes - quantify the root:

Mono - “one” ex.: monograph

Multi - “many” ex.: multiform

Involvement prefixes - the kind of involvement of the participant in the action of the root.

Anti - “opposed or instead” ex.: antisemitic

Auto - “self” ex.: autobiography

Judgement prefixes - make a judgment about the root.

Extra- “outside the scope of” ex.: extraordinary

Mis- “badly, wrongly” ex.: mislead

Pseudo- “false, deceptive resemblance” ex.: pseudoname

Locative prefixes - place and direction.

Inter- “between, among” (interchange)

Intra-, intro- “inside” (introvert)

Super- “over, above” (supernatural)

Measurement prefixes

Hyper- “over, to access” (hypersensitive)

Macro- “large, broad scale” (macroeconomics)

Micro- “tiny, small scale” (microscope)

Ultra- “”beyond, extreme” (ultra liberal)

Negative prefixes

dis- “apart, reversal, lacking”, e. g. displease

in- “negative”, e. g. indiscreet

non- “not”, e. g. nonsense

un- “not”, e. g. unclear

Temporal prefixes – time and duration

fore- “before” in time or space, e. g. forecast

post- “after, behind”, e. g. postpone

re-, red- “anew, again, back”, regenerate

Suffixes which form adjectives

-al “having the property of”, e. g. conjectural

-ary “having a tendency or purpose”, e. g. tributary

-ful “full of X”, e. g. peaceful

-less “without, free from”, e. g. fearless

-ous “of the nature of X”, e. g. glorious

-some “like, characterized by”, e. g. cumbersome

-y “full of, characterized by”, e. g. mighty

Suffixes which form abstract nouns

-ance, -ence “state, act, or fact of”, emergence

-ation “state of being X-ed”, e. g. purification

-ment “condition of being X”, e. g. treatment

-ness “state, condition. Quality of”, e. g. idleness

Suffixes which form verbs from roots

-en “to become”, e.g. darken

-ify “to cause to be X”, e.g. purify

-ize “to cause to be X”, e.g. popularize

11. Conversion

Conversion is the process of coining a new word in a different part of speech without adding any derivative element, so that the basic form both of the original and derived words are homonymous.

E.g.: We don’t have any doubt it’s correct. (n.) We don’t doubt that it’s correct. (v.);

My account is overdrawn. (n.) I can’t account for where the money went. (v.)

It is the context that shows whether a word is to be taken as a noun or as a verb.

. Conversion can be described as a morphological way of forming words. Conversion may be considered to be the predominant method of English verb-formation.

Verbs converted from nouns denominal verbs.

The semantic relations between the nouns and verbs vary greatly. If the noun refers to some object of reality (animate or inanimate) the converted verb may denote:

Action characteristic of the object: butcher n. – butcher v. to kill animals for food, cut up a killed animal;

Instrumental use of the object: whip n. – whip v. To strike with a whip;

Acquisition or addition of the object: fish n. – fish v. to catch fish;

Deprivation of the object: dust n. – dust v. to remove dust from something.

Nouns converted from verbs deverbal substantives.

The converted nouns may denote:

Instance of the action: jump n. – v. jump “sudden spring from the ground”

Agent of the action: bore n. – v. bore “a person that bores”

Place of the action: drive n. – v. drive “a path or road along which one drives”

Object or result of the action: peel n. – v. peel “the outer skin of fruit or potatoes taken off”

Traditional conversion refers to the accepted use of words which are recorded in dictionaries, e. g. to age, to cook etc. The individual or occasional use of conversion is also very frequent, it serves to bring out the more vivid meaning in a given context only (e. g. when his guests had been washed, mended brushed and brandied).