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Affixes 1

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18 views9 pages

Affixes 1

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zidsontamiga
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Affixes

According to Richard (1985, p.184), ‘’affix means a letter or sounds, a group of letters
of sounds, which are added to word, and will change the meaning of function of the
word’’. affixes are word part added either to the beginning or end of a root (or base
word) to change its meaning. Are small words particle, usually only a few letters, added
to a root word (base word) to change its meaning or grammatical properties. Most
affixes are one or two syllables, and some like -s and -es are just sounds.

Often, affixes modify a word’s definition. For instance, adding the affix re- before read
create reread, which mean read again.

Example: Gerard is rereading the verse Isaiah 432.

According to Crowley, lynch, Siegel, and Piau. (1995, p.6) ‘’affixes are morphemes
that are not free, in that must always be attached to a root morpheme’’. Swan (2005,
p.149) ‘’affix is a standard set of letters attached to a root word that create a new word’’.
An affix must be attached to another unit such as a root word because it is not able to be
alone in language’’.

THE USAGE OF AFFIXES


Affixes have two main purposes:

Grammar and simplifying communication. Primarily, affixes are used in English


grammar: they make a word singular or plural, create new verb tenses, and change the
class of a word. For example, you can add an -s or -es to the end of most nouns to make
them plural.

Example: Erica’s dog eats watermelon.

Example: the dogs are fighting in the street.

Esta Foto de Autor Desconhecido está licenciado


em CC BY-ND

licenciado em CC BY-SA-NC

Second, affixes are used to make communication faster and more efficient. Instead of
saying he does not depend on anyone, you can simply add the affixes in- and -ent to the
root word depend and make the word independent.

Example: he is independent

TYPES OF AFFIXES
PREFIX

Lieber (2009, p.35)’’ states that prefix is an affix added in the beginning of a word’’.
Prefix is also to create a new word with a different meaning. Prefixes are often used to
give adjective a negative or an opposite meaning. For example,
comfortable/uncomfortable, and similar/dissimilar are opposites.

Esta Foto de Autor Desconhecido está licenciado em CC BY-ND

Example: he feels uncomfortable while typing the work

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Example: he feels comfortable when he takes a rest.


Other examples are ‘unjust’, ‘inedible’, ‘disloyal’. Unfortunately, there is no easy way
of knowing which prefix and adjective will use to form its opposite.

RULES TO BE FOLLOWED WHEN ADDING A PREFIX

 No need of making any changes to the spelling of the base word; you must just
write the prefix followed by the base word.

For example, popular -unpopular.

Esta Foto de Autor Desconhecido está licenciado em CC BY-SA-NC

Example: Maratane refugee center is unpopular place in Mozambique.

 In case of prefixes such as ‘non’ and ‘ex’, you might have to add a hyphen in
between the prefix and root word. For example, no-violence, ex-serviceman.
Example: Gerard is Luísa’s ex-boyfriend

Common Prefixes

Here table to show some English Prefixes which is provided by Alice Thomas:

No. Prefix Meaning Examples


1. un- not; opposite unhappy, unlike
2. re- again; back rewrite, reread, return
3. In-, im-, ir-, i- not; into incorrect, illegal, irregular,
important, inability
4. dis- not; away; apart; disagree, discord, discomfort,
negative discontent, distrust
5. en-, em- cause to enjoy, endure, enlighten, entail,
embrace
(retired from The Center for development & leaning in 2013 website: http://www.cdl.or)
Esta Foto de Autor Desconhecido está licenciado em CC BY-NC

Example: Gerard is unhappy today.

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Example: it’s illegal to have a gun without license in Mozambique.

List of prefixes

No. prefix Meaning Examples


1. non- Not Nonsense; nonverbal; nonstick,
nonspecific
2. in-, im- In; into; not Invade, implant, imperfect, immoral,
inedible
3. over- too much overload, overboard, overdose, overact
4. mis- Wrongly misjudge, miscall, misunderstand
5. sub- Under submarine, subtext, subtitle
6. pre- Before preview, protest, preplan, prevent
7. inter- Between international, interface
8. fore- Before foreshadow, foresight
9. de-, dis opposite, of, not depose, detour, discord
10. tans- across, move between transfer, translate, transport
11. super- Above superstar, supernatural
12. anti- Against antitrust, antidote, antisocial
13. sem- Half semicircle, semifinal
(retired from The Center for development & leaning in 2013 website: http://www.cdl.or)

Suffixes

Lieber (2009, p.35) ‘’state that suffix is an affix that is added in end of base words’’.
Suffixes are affixes that come at the end of a word, after the root word. Unlike prefixes,
which mostly change a word’s meaning, suffixes are mainly used for grammar
proposes:

 Verb conjugation (work -> worked)


 Plurality (fox -> foxes)
 Possession (Juliana -> Juliana’s)
 Comparatives and superlative (fast -> faster, fastest)
 Changing word class (swim -> swimmer)

Common suffixes

Suffixes usually have special requirements for the sorts of base suffixes can attach to.
Here some examples of most English suffix which is provided by Alice Thomas:

N. Suffix Meaning Examples


1. -s, -es plural more than one hotels, cats, wishes
2. -ed past tense in the past walked, jumped, helped, cooked
3. -ing present tense in the present walking, singing, driving
4. -ate verb become complicate, demonstrate, eradicate
5. -en verb become, to make frighten, fasten, loosen, straighten
Examples: laurino has cats as his pets.

Example: laurino walked 2 kilometres in a way to school.

List of suffixes

N. Suffix Meaning Examples


1. ful- ful of careful
2. ic- having characteristic of linguistic
3. ion- act, process occasion, attraction
4. ity- state of infinity
5. less- Without fearless
6. ous- possessing the qualities of joyous
7. y- characterized by happy

Infixes

According to Lieber (2009, p.76) ‘’ infixes are affixes that are inserted right into a root
or base of word’’. In English language, does not have any productive process of
infixation. There are common in other language, including Greek, Austronesia, America
language like Choctaw.

Circumfixes
According to Lieber (2009, p.78), ‘’a circumfix consists of two parts- a prefix and a
suffix that together create a new lexeme from a base word’’. For example:

Remarkable: this word consists of ‘’ re-’’, suffix ‘’-able’’ and also the base word ‘’
mark’’

impressive: this consist of a prefix ‘’ im-’’, suffix ‘’ive-’’, and the base word ‘’press’’

Requirement: this word consist of a prefix ‘’re’’, suffix ‘’ment’’, and the base word
‘’quire’’

Circumfix would stand if it combined with prefix and suffix int base word, and if the
base word lost one of affixes (prefix or suffix), then the words does not have meaning or
structure.

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