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Definition of affixation and general classification of affixes. Prefixation. Suffixation
|t. Definition of affixation and general classification of affixes
As was mentioned above, all lexical affixes may be divided into word building, or derivational (as — er in worker), and stem building affixes (as ham— in hamlet). This chapter on affixation in English concerns derivational affixes, though the borderline between them is not always clear (cf: -ant as a word building suffix in assistant and as a stem building affix in arrogant).
Affixation [fr. L affigere 'to attach to'] is the formation of new words by adding derivative affixes to derivational bases.
Since the Old English period affixation has always been one of the most important resources of vocabulary replenishment, though affixes differ greatly in the number of the words they cause to be derived. According to the number of words they create all affixes may be classified into productive, as ««-, re-, -er, -ish and non-productive, as, for example, the affixes demi-, -ard, -hood.
From the point of view of their current participation in word-formation processes the derivational affixes are divided into active and non-active, or dead affixes as for- in forgive, forbid, forget, -d in dead, seed, and -t in gift.
Other classifications of affixes may also be made from the point of view:
of their origin into native (-dom, -hood, -ship; under-, over-, out-) and borrowed (-able, -ist, -ism; dis-, inter-, re-, non-),
of motivation into motivated (-like, -some, under-) and non-motivated (-er, -ish, a-\
of their functional characteristics into convertive, or class-changing affixes that change the words they are added to into another part of speech (horse n — unhorse v, bark n - debark v), and nonconvertive, or class-maintaining affixes (moral a - amoral a, president n - ex-president n).
of the number of concepts standing behind them into monosemantic (-al adj suf'of relating to, or characterized by') and polysemantic affixes (-ist 'I. one that performs a
specified action as in cyclist, or produces a specified thing as in novelist, 2. one that specializes in a specified art or science or skill as in geologist, 3. one that adheres to or advocates a specified doctrine or system or code of behavior as in royalist').
One should be aware that the meaning of an affix should be studied alongside the character of the derivational pattern of a derived word with which the affix is used. Thus the general meaning of the suffix -er 'doer' acquires a more specific meaning 'person, animal or instrument that does' when it is added to the verbal derivational base like work in worker, or the meaning 'the person belonging to a place' when it is added to the nominal base like in Londoner, Britisher, sixth-former.
Like any other lexical units, affixes may be homonymous like -al acting as an adjective-forming suffix as in fictional and a homonymous noun-forming suffix as in rehearsal, arrival.
As mentioned above, there are two major types of affixes in English that take into account their structural position in relation to the base they are added to: prefixes and suffixes. Prefixation and suffixation are similar but they are also highly specific word-formation processes that need separate analyses.
The number of prefixes (from Lpre- 'before' +flx - fr. Pp offigere 'to attach' = to attach before) in modern English is estimated to be from 50 to 80 (for example, Hans Marchand lists nearly 80 prefixes /Marchand 1969/, M.M. Poluzhin also points to 79 prefixal lexical units in modern English /Полюжин 1992: 247/).
The number of prefixes is approximate because the status of some of them is still not clear. The elements over- and under- are treated by some scholars as roots and complexes with them are regarded as compound words while combining forms like hyper-, tele-, mini- may be treated as prefixes. Some scholars differentiate between derivational and non-derivational, stem-building prefixes that were borrowed as parts of certain words like dis- "apart, away' in dissuade, distinguish, or opo-'away from', 'separate' in apocalypse, apocope, apochromatic, apogee, and some do not. Some scholars distinguish between active in modern English prefixes and dead, or non-active, even if they were productive in the past, such as a- in away, aback, aside, and some do not.
All prefixes in English as well as in other languages may be traced back to originally free roots (this is especially clear in the observable process of prefix formation in Creole languages).
From the etymological point of view one may distinguish between native and borrowed prefixes. In some native prefixes their relation to free roots can still be observed and they remain to be motivated by, for example, prepositions or adverbs (the most common
sources for prefixes) as prefixes over- or under-. Loan prefixes with a specific meaning that were borrowed by English like the prefix ante- 'before, preceding' as in anteroom, antenatal which came from Latin where they were used as adverbs usually are not traced back to their original free roots by modern English speakers.
The majority of all English prefixes are loans, only about a quarter for of them are native. So, the majority of prefixes in modern English do not have direct connection to free roots. Prefixes have been borrowed throughout the history of the English language though as many native prefixes have dropped out of the system. In Old English, for example, 53 prefixes were registered, the majority of which denoted location /Полюжин 1992:77/.
From the functional point of view prefixes may be classified as convertive and non-convertive. Half of the 50 prefixes mentioned above are convertive — they convert, or convey a word into another part of speech (e.g. pref + n —> V as in to embody, to encourage, to behead). The rest of them are non-convertive — they only change, modify the lexical meaning of a word without changing its part-of-speech meaning (pref+n —» N as in president — vice-president; pref+v —> V as in to agree — to disagree, calculate — miscalculate; pref+adj -+ Adj as in kind— unkind, normal — abnormal).
Prefixes can be used to form new words of all parts of speech and according to the part-of-speech meaning the new word belongs to, they may be classified 'nto noun-forming (ex-husband, co-pilot), adjective-forming (international, co-edi, cational, counterrevolutionary) or verb-forming (reconsider, demobilize).
Yet, most prefixation takes and has always taken place in English verbs, attaching new meanings to them or forming new verbs from other parts of speech (to enrich, to enable, to reread, to disapprove, to unload, and to demobilize). The most productive prefixes used in the verbal system are: be- (behead), en- (enable), dis- (discourage), over-(overdo), out- (outgrow), re- (rewrite), un- (uncover), and under- (underestimate). More than 20 prefixes are involved in the process of new verb formation, forming 42% of all prefixal derivatives in the language. But only 5% of these verb-forming prefixes are exclusively verb-forming (en-, be-, un-, etc.), the rest being used to create words of other grammatical classes (cf: co-operate and co-pilot).
Like any affixes, English prefixes may be added to derivational bases of a certain type, and classification of prefixes may be achieved to the part-of-speech meaning of the derivational base to which they are added.
The following prefixes are deverbal —~ they may be attached to the verbal derivational bases (pref+ v): dis-, re-, under-, over-, de-,fore-, mis-, etc. In the group of deadjectival prefixes (pref + adj) the following elements are enlisted: a-, an-, anti-, be-, extra-, re-, in-, post-, pre- etc. The list of denominal prefixes (pref+ n) include anti-, поп-, рте-, post-, sub-, dis-, a-, and hemi-. But the chief feature of English prefixes is their mixed character — there is no strict borderline between deverbal, deadjectival and denorninal prefixes and the same prefix can be attached to derivational bases with different part-of-speech meaning (pref + v/adj/n) (disagree, disloyal, disadvantage).
Prefixes are used to add the following seven major types of meaning to the derivational base, and thus may be classified semantically:
— negation, reversal, contrary (unemployment, incorrect, inequality, disloyal, amoral, non-scientific, undress, antifreeze, decentralize, disconnect);
— sequence and order in time (pre-war, post-war, foresee, ex-president, co-exist);
—•different space location (inter-continental, trans-Atlantic, subway, superstructure);
— repetition (rewrite, anabaptize 'to baptize again'),
— quantity and intensity (unisex, bilingual, polyteclmical, multilateral);
— pej oration (abnormal, miscalculate, maltreat, pseudo-morpheme);
— amelioration (super-reliable, supermarket, ultramodern).
Some prefixes are polysemantic and thus may be observed in several semantic classes. For example, the prefix over- denotes both location (oversea, overkill) and intensity (over-careful, over-do).
English prefixes, in this case both stem building and word building may also be classified according to their ability to achieve morphophonemic or spelling variation in different contexts. Some of them, and they are in the majority (more than 20), make up the group of unchanged forms that remain the same in all contexts. They are:
a- (asleep);
ambi- (ambidexterous);
auto- (autobiography);
be- (behead);
circum- (circumference);
counter- (counter-clock);
de- (decentralize);
ex- (ex-president);
hemi- (hemisphere);
neo- (neo-fascism);
non- (non-interference);
mis- (misunderstand);
out- (outcome);
over- (overflow);
para- (parapsychology);
poly- (polylingual);
post- (postscript);
semi- (semicircle);
super- (superstructure);
irons- (transaction);
ultra- (ultraviolet);
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