Word Formation AFFIXATION

Word formation is a great resource of English language. It encompasses different mechanisms through which lexical units can be created:

Compounding: A combination of words or parts of them.

Affixation: Adding affixes or suffixes to the base.

Conversion: Linguistic elements changing their grammatical category, e.g. the use of verbs as nouns and vice versa, etc.

Today we are going to speak about Affixation.

AFFIXATION

New words can be created through the use of prefixes (which are placed before the base) and suffixes (which follow the base, thus changing the grammatical category of a word, e.g. from noun to adjective: nation > national).

Prefixes                              Meaning                             Part of discourse                                            Examples

a-                                           Not, without                     Adjective                                                           amoral

dis-                                        Negation, reversal          Noun, verb                                        disagreement, disagree

un-                                        Opposite, reversal          Adjective, verb    unexpected, unhappy, unfold, unchain      

ir-                                           Not, without                     Adjective                                           irresponsible, irrelevant

in-                                          Not, without                     Adjective                                                           insignificant

mis-                                      Wrongly, badly Noun, verb        misbehaviour, misadventure, misbehave

mal-                                      Wrongly, badly Noun, verb                        maladministration, maltreat

pseudo-                              False, sham                       Noun                                                   pseudocode

counter-                             Counter,                             Noun                                    counter-revolution, counterpart

                                               in opposition to               Verb                                                    counter-balance

over-                                    Excessively                        Noun                                                                   overcharge

                                                                                              Adjective                                                           overconfident

                                                                                              Past participle                                                  overestimated

                                                                                              Verb                                                     overspend, overprotect

under-                                 Insufficiently                     Noun                                                                   undersatement

                                                                                              Adjective                                                           underdeveloped

                                                                                              Past participle                                                  underestimated

                                                                                              Verb                                                                    underpay

Suffixes                               Meaning                                             Transformation                               Examples

-ment                                  State, action, the result of          Verb to noun                                    development

                                                                                                                                                                            reinforcement

-ful                                        Full of, characterised by               Noun to Adjective                          meaningful

useful

-able                                     Able to                                                Verb to Adjective                           acceptable

-ship                                     Condition, status                            Noun to Noun                                  membership

ownership

-less                                      Without, lacking                             Noun to Adjective                          homeless

                                                                                                                                                                            useless

-ness                                    Status, condition, quality             Adjective to Noun                          blindness, sadness

-er                                         Agent performing the action                     Verb to Noun    publisher, employer

-or                                                                                                                                                       mediator, arbitrator

-ee                        Addressee, recipient of the action         Verb to Noun                   employee,addressee

                                                                                                                             trainee

-ly                                          Manner, degree                             Adjective to adverb       directly, naturally

-ing                                       Activity, the result of s.t.             Verb to Noun        dancing, teaching,learning                                                                                   Verb to Adjective      disgusting, interesting      

-ish                                        Typical of                                            Noun to Adjective                          childish, foolish                                About, approzimation                  Adjective to Adjective  oldish, tallish

-like                                      Similarity                                            Noun to Adjective          childlike, dreamlike

-al                                          Relating to                                         Noun to Adjective  accidental, classical, logical

-y                                           Characterised by                             Noun to Adjective          bloody, cloudy, sandy