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Thursday, 1 December 2016

Derivational Suffixes

Derivational Suffixes

Derivational suffixes are concerned with the formation of new lexemes by affixes You can modify the meaning of any root by adding a derivational suffix. The new root+suffix compound then acts as if it were a root itself, and can be modified further by adding more derivational suffixes.
In linguistics, derivation is "Used to form new words, as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine. A contrast is intended with the process of inflection, which uses another kind of affix in order to form variants of the same word, as with determine/determine-s/determin-ing/determin-ed.[1]
A derivational suffix usually applies to words of one syntactic category and changes them into words of another syntactic category. For example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).
Examples of English derivational patterns and their suffixes:
  • adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)
  • adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise) in British English or -ize (archaic → archaicize) in American English and Oxford spelling
  • adjective-to-adjective: -al (characteristic → characteristical)
  • adjective-to-adverb: -ly (personal → personally)
  • noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)
  • noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)
  • verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)
  • verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver → deliverance)
  • verb-to-noun (concrete): -er (write → writer)
In the example:
"The weather forecaster said it would be clear today, but I can't see clearly at all"
the suffix -ly modifies the root-word clear from an adjective into an adverb. Derivation can also form a semantically distinct word within the same syntactic category. In this example:
"The weather forecaster said it would be a clear day today, but I think it's more like clearish!"
the suffix -ish modifies the root-word clear, changing its meaning to "clear, but not very clear".


Conclusion
Derivational suffixes are not as stable as their inflectional counterparts, resulting in both the form and the meaning of the suffix changing over time. In addition, the category of suffixes is subject to change. Borrowing, clipping, and analogy all bring new derivational morphemes into a language. As new ones are added, old ones are not necessarily lost. This frequently causes several suffixes to contribute to the same process, e.g. transforming a verb into a noun. As suffixes gain in productivity, they eventually achieve a point where they can attach to words of etymology outside their origin language. While not all suffixes can attach to all roots, even if two that cause the same class change attach, the formed words will have some variation in meaning.

With time, some suffixes gain in popularity, and others fall out of favor, sometimes disappearing from the language entirely. Living or dying, suffixes can be re-adopted back into a language, and can be applied to new words to create other new words. This process is observable in the speech of teenagers, as exemplified on television shows and in books written for the young adult audience

References


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivation_(linguistics)

Pearsall, Judy and Bill Trumble, eds. (1995). Oxford English Reference Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Urdang, Laurence. (1982). Modifiers. Gale Research Company, Detroit.

Urdang, Laurence. (1982). Suffixes and Other Word-Final Elements of English. Gale Research Company, Detroit.

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