Suffix

For other uses, seeSuffix (disambiguation).

Inlinguistics,asuffixis anaffixwhich is placed after thestemof a word. Common examples arecase endings,which indicate thegrammatical caseof nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form theconjugationof verbs. Suffixes can carry grammatical information (inflectionalendings) or lexical information (derivational/lexical suffixes).Inflection changes the grammatical properties of a word within itssyntactic category.Derivational suffixes fall into two categories: class-changing derivation and class-maintaining derivation.

Particularly in the study ofSemitic languages,suffixes are calledaffirmatives,as they can alter the form of the words. InIndo-European studies,a distinction is made between suffixes and endings (seeProto-Indo-European root).

A word-final segment that is somewhere between afree morphemeand abound morphemeis known as asuffixoidor asemi-suffix(e.g.,English-likeorGerman-freundlich"friendly" ).

Examples

English

Girls—where the suffix-smarks theplurality.

He makes—where suffix-smarks thethird personsingularpresent tense.

It closed—where the suffix-edmarks thepast tense.

It's brighter—where the suffix-ermarks theComparative.

French

De beauxjours—where the suffix-xmarks theplural.

Elle est passablement jolie—where the suffix-emarks thefeminineform of the adjective.

German

mein Computer—where the lack of suffixes is because its case, nominative, is "unmarked"

meinesComputers—genitive case

meinemComputer—dative case

meinenComputer—accusative case

Russian

мой компьютер—where the lack of suffixes is because its case, nominative, is "unmarked"

моегокомпьютера—genitive case

моемукомпьютеру—dative case

мой компьютер—accusative case

за-туш-и-тьсвечу—where first word has -и- suffix, -ть ending (infinitive form); second word with ending -у (accusative case, singular, feminine).

добр-о-жел-а-тель-н-ый—добр- root, -о- interfix, -жел- root, verbal -a- interfix, nominal-тельsuffix, adjectival -н- suffix, adjectival -ый ending (nominative case, singular, masculine).

Barngarla

wárraidya"emu"— where the lack of suffixes is because its grammatical number, singular, is" unmarked "

wárraidyalbili"two emus" — dual

wárraidyarri"emus" — plural

wárraidyailyarranha"a lot of emus", "heaps of emus" — superplural

Inflectional suffixes

Inflectionchanges the grammatical properties of a word within itssyntactic category.In several languages, this is realized by an inflectional suffix, also known asdesinence.In the example:

I was hoping the cloth wouldn't fade, but it has fadedquite a bit.

the suffix-dinflects theroot-wordfadeto indicate past participle.

Inflectional suffixes do not change the word class of the word after the inflection.Inflectional suffixes in Modern English include:

Verbs

• -sthird person singular simple present indicative active
• -edpast tense and past participle
• -tpast tense (weak irregular)
• -ingpresent participle and gerund
• -enpast participle(irregular)

Nouns

• -splural number
• -enplural number (irregular)

Adjectives and adverbs

• -ercomparativedegree
• -estsuperlativedegree

Derivation

Derivationalsuffixes can be divided into two categories: class-changing derivation and class-maintaining derivation.In English, they include

• -able/-ible(usually changes verbs into adjectives)
• -al/-ual(usually changes nouns into adjectives)
• -ant(usually changes verbs into nouns, often referring to a human agent)
• -ess(usually class-maintaining, with the word class remaining a noun)
• -ful(usually changes nouns into adjectives)
• -fy(usually changes nouns into verbs)
• -hood(usually class-maintaining, with the word class remaining a noun)
• -ise/-ize(usually changes nouns into verbs)
• -ish(usually changes nouns into adjectives/class-maintaining, with the word class remaining an adjective)
• -ism(usually class-maintaining, with the word class remaining a noun)
• -ist(usually class-maintaining, with the word class remaining a noun)
• -ity(usually changes adjectives into nouns)
• -less(usually changes nouns into adjectives)
• -like(usually changes nouns into adjectives)
• -logy/-ology(usually class-maintaining, with the word class remaining a noun)
• -ly(usually changes adjectives into adverbs, but also some nouns into adjectives)
• -ment(usually changes verbs into nouns)
• -ness(usually changes adjectives into nouns)
• -oid(usually changes nouns into adjectives)
• -tion/-ion/-ation(usually changes verbs into nouns)
• -um(usually) museum; stadium; auditorium; aquarium; planetarium; medium
• -wiseFrom wīse ( "manner, way, condition, direction" )

Altered pronunciation in English

A suffix will often change the stress or accent pattern of a multi-syllable word, altering the phoneme pattern of the root word even if the root's morphology does not change.An example is the difference between "photograph" and "photography". In this case, the "-y" ending governs the stress pattern, causing the primary stress to shift from the first syllable ( "pho-" ) to the antepenultimate ( "-to-" ). The unaccented syllables have their ordinary vowel sound changed to a schwa. This can be a particular problem for dyslexics, affecting their phonemic awareness,as well as a hurdle for non-native speakers.

External links

• Media related toSuffixesat Wikimedia Commons