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.a.-ize derivativesacademicize accessorize absolutize acronymize adjectivizeaerosolize anodize anthropologize bacterize BaskonizeBolshevize Bonderize bovrilize cannibalize capsulize*artize *massize *bourgeoisize *Japanize *speechizeb.-ify derivativesartify bourgeoisify gentrify jazzify karstifymassify mucify mythify Nazify negrify*randomify *federalify *activify *modernify *GermanifyChapter 4: Affixation904.AFFIXATIONOutlineThis chapter provides an overview of the affixational word-formation processes of English.First, it discusses how affixes can be distinguished from other entities.This is followed by anintroduction to the methodological problems of data gathering for the study of affixationthrough dictionaries and electronic corpora.Then some general properties that characterizethe system of English affixation are introduced, and a survey of a wide range of suffixes,prefixes is presented.Finally, we investigate cases of infixation.1.What is an affix?In chapter 1 we defined affix as a bound morpheme that attaches to bases.Althoughthis seems like a clear definition, there are at least two major problems.First, it is notalways easy to say whether something is a bound morpheme or a free morpheme,and second, it is not always obvious whether something should be regarded as a rootor an affix.We will discuss each problem in turn.Consider the data in (1) through (4), which show the putative affixes -free, -less,-like, and -wise in a number of derivatives, illustrated with quotations from the BNC:(1) There was never an error-free text, Cropper said.(2) Now the lanes were carless, lawless.(3) Arriving on her broomstick at the prison-like school gates, Mildred peeredthrough the railings into the misty playground.(4) She had been a teacher, and made sure the girl went to a good school: mygranny had more influence on me education-wise.Which of the four morphemes in question would you consider a bound morpheme,which of them free? Given that very many words are formed on the basis of the sameChapter 4: Affixation91pattern, one could think that we are dealing with suffixes in all four cases.We willsee that things are not so clear upon closer inspection.In chapter 1 we defined a bound morpheme as a morpheme that can onlyoccur if attached to some other morpheme.When we apply this definition, it turnsout that all four morphemes also occur on their own, and should therefore beclassified as free morphemes, and not as affixes.However, we should also testwhether the free element really has the same meaning as the bound element.Forexample, error-free can be paraphrased by free of error(s), which means that free inerror-free and free in free of error(s) are most probably the same lexical item, and nottwo different ones (a suffix and a free form).This would mean that error-free shouldbe regarded as a compound and not as a derivative.An analogous argument can bemade for prison-like (cf.like a prison).However, when we try to do the same thingwith the words involving -wise and -less, we fail.The word education-wise can beparaphrased as in terms of education, with regard to education , which shows thatthere is a difference between the morpheme -wise we find in complex words such asthose in (4) and the morpheme wise clever.The latter is a free morpheme, the formera form that only occurs attached to a base.A similar analysis holds for -less.Whilethere is a free morpheme less denoting the opposite of more, the -less in (2) means without , and this meaning only occurs when -less is attached to a base.Thus wehave good evidence that in the case of -less and -wise, we have two homographicmorphemes in each case, one being a suffix, the other a free morpheme.This analysisis corroborated by the syntactic categories of the items.While the free morpheme lessis an adverb, the suffix -less creates adjectives, and while the free morpheme wise isan adjective, the suffix -wise creates adverbs.Thus, in both cases, the suffix and thefree morpheme do not only differ in meaning and boundness, but also in theirsyntactic category.To summarize, we can say that an element can occur both as part of a complexword and as a free morpheme.In such cases, only a careful analysis of its linguisticproperties can reveal whether the element in question is really the same in bothcases.If (and only if) there are significant differences between the two usages we cansafely assume that we are dealing with two different items.If there are no significantChapter 4: Affixation92differences, the element should be treated as a free morpheme and the pertinentcomplex word as a compound.We can now turn to the second problem concerning the notion of affix, namelythe distinction between an affix and a bound root.Given that affixes are alsoobligatorily bound, it is not particularly obvious what the difference between abound root and an affix may be.In chapter 1 we have loosely defined a root as thecentral meaningful element of the word, to which affixes can attach.But when canwe call an element central, when non-central? This problem is prominent with awhole class of words which are formed on the basis of morphemes that are calledneoclassical elements.These elements are lexemes that are originally borrowed fromLatin or Greek, but their combinations are of modern origin (hence the termNEOclassical).Examples of neoclassical word-formation are given in (5):(5) a.biochemistry b.photograph c.geologybiorhythm photoionize biologybiowarfare photoanalysis neurologybiography photovoltaic philologyIt is not obvious whether the italicized elements should be regarded as affixesor as bound roots.If the data in (5a) are taken as evidence for the prefix status of bio-,and the data in (5c) are taken as evidence for the suffix status of -logy, we are facedwith the problem that words such as biology would consist of a prefix and a suffix.This would go against our basic assumptions about the general structure of words.Alternatively, we could assume that we are not dealing with affixes, but with boundroots, so that we are in fact talking about cases of compounding, and not ofaffixation.Speakers of English that are familiar with such words or even know someGreek would readily say that bio- has the meaning life , and this insight would leadus to think that the words in (5a) behave exactly like compounds on the basis ofnative words.For instance, a blackboard is a kind of board, a kitchen sink is a kind ofsink, a university campus is a kind of campus, etc
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