The Kinds of Derivation

The formation of new words through derivation processes may involve large numbers of affixes. Here quirk and his friends suggested the variations of the affixes depending on their positions towards the bases and the meanings that the affixes have. 

Derivational prefixes 

A variety of derivational that may be attached to different bases are classified into ten categories they are: 

1. Negative prefixes

• A- or AN- (especially before vowels), 'lacking in', 'lack of, combines with adjectives, as in amoral, asexual and is found in some nouns (e.g. anarchy).
• DIS- 'not', 'the converse of, combines with open-class words including verbs: e.g. disobey, disloyal(ly), disorder (n), discontent (n).
• IN- (and variants IL- before /I/, IM- before labials, IR- before /r/ 'not', ' the converse of, combines with adjectives of French and Latin origin, and is less common than un-; e.g. incomplete.
• NON- 'not', combines (usually hyphenated) with nouns, adjectives, and open-class adverbs: e.g. non-smoker, non-perishable, non-trivially.
• UN- 'not', 'the converse of, combines fairly freely with adjectives and participles; e.g. unfair, unwise, unforgettable.

2. Reversative or privative prefixes

• DE- [i] 'reversing the action', combines fairly freely with (especially denominal) verbs and deverbal nouns; e.g. decentralize, defrost, denationalization. [ii] 'depriving of, combines with verbs and deverbal nouns (e.g. decapitate, deforestation), including one or two items already connoting deprivation (e.g. denude, defraud).
• DIS- [i] 'reversing the action', combines fairly freely with verbs; e.g. disconnect, disinfect, disown; in some cases with privative force, as in dishearten, dispossess. [ii] 'Lacking', combines limitedly with denominal adjectives; e.g. disinterested, discoloured.
• UN- [i] 'reversing the action', combines fairly freely with verbs; e.g. undo, untie, unpack. [ii] 'Depriving of, releasing from', 'degrading', combines limitedly with nouns, turning them into verbs, e.g. unseat, unmask, unman.

3. Pejorative prefixes

• MAL- badly, bad', combines with verbs, participles, adjectives, and abstract nouns: e.g. maltreat, malodorous, malfunction.
• MIS- 'wrongly', 'astray', combines with verbs, particles, and abstract nouns: e.g. miscalculate, mishear, misfire, mislead(ing); misconduct (n). 
• PSEUDO-'false', 'imitation', combines freely with nouns and adjectives, e.g. pseudo-Christianity, pseudo-intellectual (n or adj); pseudo -scientific.

4. Prefixes of degree or size

• ARCH-'supreme', 'most', combines with nouns, mainly with human reference (e.g. archduke, archbishop), and usually with pejorative effect (e.g. arch­enemy, arch -hypocrite).
• CO- Joint(ly)', 'on equal footing', combine with nouns and verbs: co­education, co-heir, co -pilot, cooperate, co-opt.
• HYPER- 'extreme' (sometimes pejorative, 'too'), combines with adjectives: hypersensitive, hypercritical, hyperactive.
• MINI- 'little', combines freely (and especially informally) with nouns: mini­market, mini-skirt. Another contrasting prefix is maxi- 'large' (maxi-length) and less commonly midi-'medium'.
• OUT- 'surpassing', combines with nouns and intransitive verbs to form transitive verbs: outnumber, outclass, outgrow, outrun.
• OVER- 'excessive (hence pejorative), combines with verbs and adjectives; overeat, overestimate, overact; overconfident, overdressed. In locative senses, 'from above', it combines freely with verbs (overflow, overshadow).
• SUB-’below’, combines with adjectives: subconscious, subnormal.
• SUPER- 'more than', 'very special', combines with adjectives (e.g. supernatural, supersensitive) and nouns (e.g. supermarket, superman, etc.); 'on top', 'hierarchically superior', combines less freely with verbs (super-impose) and nouns (superstructure).
• SUR-‘over and above’ combines with nouns: surcharge, surtax.
• ULTRA- 'extreme', 'beyond’, combines with adjectives (hyperboles like ultra­modern, ultra-conservative; technical items like ultrasonic, ultraviolet) and with nouns in technical usage (ultramicroscopic, ultrasound).
• UNDER 'too little', combines with verbs and -ed particles (undercharge, underestimate; underprivileged, underprovided), and corresponding nouns (underprovision); with the meaning 'subordinate', it combines less commonly with nouns (e.g. undermanager).

5. Prefixes of orientation and attitude

• ANTI- 'against', combines with denominal adjectives (anti-social, anti-clerical, anti-clockwise), and nouns (mainly to form premodifying adjectives; the anti-war campaign), as in anti-missile, anti­-war.
• CONTRA- 'opposite', 'contrasting', combines with nouns, verbs, and denominal adjectives: contradiction, contrafactual.
• COUNTER-'against', 'in opposition to', combines with verbs, abstract nouns, and denominal adjectives: counter-espionage, counter-clockwise.
• PRO- [i] 'for', 'on the side of, combines with denominal adjectives and nouns (mainly to form premodifying adjectives), e.g. pr -communist, pro­-American. [ii] 'On behalf of, ‘deputizing for’, combines with nouns, e.g. pro-­consul, pro-provost.

6. Locative prefixes

• FORE- 'front part of, 'front', combines with nouns such as forearm, foreshore; foreleg, forename.
• INTER-'between', 'among', combines with denominal adjectives, verbs, and nouns; e.g. international, interlinear, intermarry, interweave. With nouns, the product is chiefly used in premodification: (the) inter-war (years), (an) inter-­school (event).
• SUB- 'under', combines with adjectives, verbs, and nouns; e.g. subnormal, sublet, subdivide, subway.
• SUPER- 'above', combines rather infrequently with nouns; e.g. superstructure, superscript.
• TRANS- 'across', 'from one place to another', combines with denominal adjectives and with verbs; e.g. transatlantic, trans-Siberian; transplant, transship.

7. Prefixes of time and order

• EX 'former', combines with human nouns, e.g. ex president, ex-husband. The more general use of ex- is found in borrowed words with totally unstressed ex­-(expect) and with voicing before a vowel (examine).
• FORE- 'before', combines with verbs and nouns; e.g. foretell, foreshadow, foreknowledge, foreplay, foretaste.
• POST ‘after’ combines with nouns (mainly as premodifiers) and denominal adjectives; e.g. post-war, post-election; post-classical.; borrowed words: postpone.
• PRE- 'before', 'in advance', combines with nouns (mainly as premodifiers) and denominal adjectives, e.g. pre-war, pre-school (children), pre-marital More rarely, it combines with verbs, such as pre-heat, pre-cook. However, another prefix ante-, having the same meaning 'before', is found almost entirely in borrowed and neo-classical words (antenatal).
• RE- 'again', 'back', combines with verbs and deverbal nouns such as rebuild, reclaim, re-use; re-analysis. Occasionally, it combines with an adjective to yield a verb: renew.

8. Number prefixes

Some number prefixes are combined fairly free with nouns and denominal adjectives. Those prefixes are indeed likely to be applied in certain terminology.

• BI-, DI-'two' as in biplane, 'bicycle, bilateral, bilingual, dichotomy.
• POLY-, MULTI-'many as in polyglot, polygamy, polysemy, multi- items are used chiefly in premodification: multi-storey (building), multi-lateral, multi-­purpose.
• SEMI-, DEMI- (less productive, HEMI-: chiefly scientific), 'half as in semicircle, semivowel, semi-conscious,; demigod, demitasse; hemisphere, hemimorphic.
• TRI-'three', as in tripod, tricycle, trinomial.
• UNI- ; MONO- ‘one’, as in unisex, unilateral, monorail, monoplane, monologue.

9. Miscellaneous neo-classical prefixes

• AUTO- 'self combines with nouns and adjectives; e.g. autosuggestion, autobiography, automation.
• EXTRA- 'exceptionally combines freely with adjectives and sometimes is written as a separate word: 'She was extra affectionate that day.'
• NEO- 'new', 'revived, combines with nouns and adjectives, especially with reference to political, artistic movements: neo-classicism, neo-Gothic, neo-Nazi.
• PALEO-’old’, is chiefly in learned words like paleography, Paleolithic.
• PAN- 'all', 'world-wide', combines especially with nouns and premodifying denominal adjectives with reference to world-wide or continent wide activities; e.g. pan African, pan American.
• PROTO-'first', ‘original’, combines with nouns and adjectives, such as Proto-Germanic, prototype.
• TELE- ‘distant’, combines chiefly with classical bases to form nouns: telescope, telegram, telephone; new items are largely concerned with electronic communication: television.
• VICE- 'deputy' combines with nouns, as in vice-chairman, vice-admiral, vice-president.

10. Conversion prefixes

• A- combines chiefly with verbs to yield predicative adjectives: asleep, aloud, astride, awash. The meaning is similar to that of progressive: 'Her cheeks were aglow' ~ 'Her cheeks were glowing'.
• BE- [i] functions along with -ed to turn noun bases into adjectives with more intensified force ('wearing or surrounded by') than is suggested by -ed alone: bewigged, befogged, bespectacled. [ii] Intensifies the force of verbs: bedazzle, bestir. [iii] Combines with nouns to yield transitive verbs: bewitch, bedevil. Most such be- items have a pejorative or facetious tone.
• EN-, EM- before /p/, /b/, combines chiefly with nouns to yield verbs ('to put into’, ‘to provide with'): enmesh, empower, endanger, entrain; embitter. 

Derivational Suffixes

The primary function of derivational suffixes is to change the grammatical function or the word class of the base. In spite of that, there are some that do not carry such function. These two conditions can be seen from various suffixes which are grouped according to the word class that happens when they are added to a base.

1. Noun suffixes

a. Denominal nouns: Abstract

• AGE ‘measure of, 'collection of, as in baggage, frontage, mileage.
• DOM, as in officialdom; this suffix is not very productive and tends to convey pejorative overtones.
• -ERY, -RY (especially after /U and /t/): [i] 'the condition or behavior associated with', as in drudgery, slavery; often used in ironic nonce- formation: nitwittery, takeover-biddery, day-trippery. The suffix is also used with adjective bases, such as in bravery. [ii] 'location of, as in nursery, rookery, refinery, bakery; these are used as concrete count nouns, and verb bases can be involved; there are occasional nonce­formations: eatery 'canteen'. [iii] Noncount concrete nouns are rather freely formed, such as machinery, rocketry.
• -FUL ‘the amount contained in', as in spoonful, glassful; such freely formed nouns approach concreteness in meaning and are count.
• -HOOD, as in boyhood, brotherhood, widowhood; only slightly productive; the base is occasionally an adjective, as in falsehood, which is both count and noncount.
• -ING: [i] noncount concrete items are rather freely formed, such as tubing, panelling, matting, all with reference to the material of which the base is made; [ii] 'activity connected with', as in cricketing, farming, blackberrying. Such nouns, abstract and noncount, are fairly freely made.
• -ISM ‘doctrine of’, ‘practice of’ as in Calvinism, idealism, fanaticism. The items concerning religion, politics, philosophy, and art usually have a corresponding item in -ist to denote adherents.
• -OCRACY 'government by', as in democracy, aristocracy; they can be count and have corresponding personal nouns; democrat, etc. they might be seen as combining-form compounds.
• -SHIP, as in friendship, membership; most items with this limitedly productive suffix can also be count and some have an adjective base (as in hardship); lecturership is less common than irregular lectureship.

b. Denominal nouns: Concrete

• -EER 'skilled in', 'engaged in', as in pamphleteer, profiteer; often pejorative (especially where this is suggested by the base), but not in mountaineer, engineer.
• -ER 'having as dominant characteristics', ‘denizen of’, as in teenager, north-wester (of wind). In cooker, roaster, boiler [`cooking apple', `boiling fowl'] the base seems to be a verb which is in -ing form
• -ESS as in waitress, actress, stewardess, lioness; adds feminine marking to animate nouns; sometimes the vowel of the preceding unstressed agential suffix is elided: waiter, waitress.
• -ETTE [i] 'compact', fairly productive, as in kitchenette, dinerette. [ii] 'Imitation', as in flannelette, leatherette. [iii] A feminine marker, as in suffragette, usherette.
• -LET 'small', ‘unimportant’, as in booklet, leaflet, piglet
• -LING 'minor', 'offspring of, as in princeling, duckling; other bases beside nouns are involved, as in hireling, underling.
• -STER 'involved in', as in trickster, gangster, gamester; usually pejorative, but not in roadster (style of vehicle).

c. Deverbal nouns

The following suffixes combine with verb bases to produce concrete count nouns, largely of personal reference; -er is particularly productive.

• -ANT, a chiefly formal agential, as in inhabitant, contestant, informant, it often corresponds to verbs in -ate: participate - participant, lubricate - lubricant. As the list example shows, reference may be nonpersonal.
• -EE 'one who is object of the verb', as in appointee, payee; in some cases, as with -ant, it may replace the verb ending -ate: nominee. There are examples without verb base or 'object' meaning: absentee, refugee.
• -ER, -OR, forms agential nouns, as in singer, writer, driver; used informally also with phrasal verbs washer-up, chucker-out and with object-verb compounds and some comparable compounds (window cleaner, high-flier). Agentials may also be nonpersonal: silencer, computer, thriller. With neo-classical bases, the suffix is often spelled - or (accelerator, incubator, actor); so too in cases where there is no free base (author, doctor).

The following suffixes combine with verb bases to produce largely abstract nouns, nominalizations of the action expressed by the base:

• -AGE, 'action of, ‘instance of’ abstract and usually noncount, as in breakage, coverage, drainage.
• -AL 'the action or result of, chiefly count, as in refusal, revival, dismissal
• -ATION [i] 'the process or state of, normally used as noncount, as in exploration, starvation. [ii] 'The product of', 'the institution produced by, aggregate count nouns, as in foundation, organization. This suffix freely combines with verb bases in -ize, -ify, -ate.
• -ING, concrete count nouns referring to what results from the action of the base, as in building, opening; some are obligatory plurals: earnings, savings. Occasionally the formations are noncount: stuffing, clothing. The abstract count items christening, wedding refer to the occasion of the base verb's activity.
• -MENT, 'the result of, as in arrangement (count), amazement, embodiment; in some cases the formation is concrete (e.g. equipment, noncount), and management can be both abstract noncount and concrete count.

d. De-adjectival nouns

There are two very common suffixes by which abstract (and normally noncount) nouns are formed from adjective bases:

• -ITY, especially associated with adjectives of neo-classical or French origin. The suffix is freely productive, especially with adjectives in -able (respectability), -al (actuality), and -ar (regularity). But there are examples in which the affix was already present when the word was adopted: e.g. etenity, humility; these lacks a direct adjective base in English.
• -NESS, fairly freely added to any type of adjective, as in meanness, happiness, falseness. Items (including phrase) in common premodifying or predicative use can equally take the suffix: up -to -dateness.

e. Noun/adjective suffixes

• -ESE [i] 'a member of (nationality or race), as in Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese. [ii] '(in) the language of, the style of, as in Chinese, Cantonese, journalese, both nouns and adjectives, except those relating to style (such as officialese) which are nouns only and are pejorative.
• - (I)AN [i] 'adherent to', as in Darwinian, republican. [ii] 'Relating to', as in Shakespearian, Elizabethan, (sub)urban (adjectives only). [iii] ‘Citizen of’ as in Parisian, Indonesian. [iv] '(in) the language of, Indonesian, Russian (where the base ends in -a). Most items can be used both as nouns and as adjectives.
• -IST 'skilled in', 'practicing', as in violinist, stylist. Items relating to adherence are normally paired with abstract nouns in -ism and may be adjectives or nouns, though adjectival endings, -ic(al), may be added. Skill items may have verb bases, as with typist, and are nouns only.
• -ITE [i] 'adherent to', 'member of (set)' as in Benthamite, shamanite; these are primarily nouns but may be adjectives (He is a Luddite). The bases are mainly personal names of those who have led movements. [ii] 'Denizen of, as in Brooklynite, Hampsteadite; these are nouns only.

2. Adjective suffixes

a. Denominal suffixes

A large numbers of existing suffixes have the function of forming adjectives, especially from nouns. The suffixes involve:

• -ED, 'having', forms nongradable adjectives from nouns and especially from noun phrases: wooded, pointed; simple-minded, blue-eyed. These formations are to be distinguished from compounds like much-traveled, self-styled, where the second part is a verb. Several formations are gradable, such as aged, crooked ragged.
• -FUL 'full of, 'providing', combine with chiefly abstract nouns to form gradable adjectives, as in useful, delightful; sometimes the base is a verb: forgetful.
• -ISH [i] freely used with largely concrete nouns, ‘somewhat like’, as in childish, foolish; with adjective bases, the meaning is 'somewhat', as in coldish, brownish; with people's ages, 'approximately', as in sixtyish. [ii] With names of races, people, and languages, -ish forms nongradable adjectives and (concerning languages) nouns: Swedish, Turkish.
• -LESS 'without', combine with both abstract and concrete nouns. Formations with the latter are usually nongradable: careless, restless. The suffix is often used as the antonym of -ful.
• -LIKE 'like' used with largely concrete nouns, as in childlike, monkeylike. Such formations might be regarded as compounds, and the relation between base and suffix is very direct: x-like means 'like (an) x'.
• -LY [i] with largely concrete nouns, 'having the qualities of, as in (wo)manly, motherly; there also combines with adjective bases: deadly. [ii] with nouns that are units of time, 'every, as daily, weekly.
• -Y 'somewhat like, 'characterized by', used with largely concrete nouns to form gradable adjectives, often of colloquial tone, as in sandy, meaty; comfy; the bases may also be verbs as in runny (nose).

In the second group, the denominal adjective suffixes are those of foreign origin and although some of them are the commonest suffixes in use, they retain something of their foreign origin in relative formality and in being largely used with bases that have also been adopted.

• -AL also IAL (especially after bases in -or), -ICAL (especially replacing the final -y of bases), as in accidential, dialectal, psychological.
• -ESQUE, it is found to be a part in adopted words, such as burlesque, arabesque, now chiefly used with names prominently associated with artistic individuality: Romanesque, Kafkaesque.
• -IC, with the same stress rule as for –al; e.g. atomic, heroic; with some bases in -em, the suffix is -atic (problematic, phonemic). The suffix is also used for nongradable ethnic adjectives and for the names of the corresponding languages: Celtic, Arabic.
• -OUS (also -IOUS, especially when replacing -ion, -ity in bases), as in desirous, virtuous, vivacious, ambitious.Several formations are slightly irregular; e.g. courteous, erroneous (courtesy, 'error').

b. Deverbal suffixes

• -ABLE fairly freely combines with transitive verbs to produce gradable adjectives, 'of kind that are subject to being V-ed, as in debatable, washable, drinkable. In many adopted words, the suffix was already present, sometimes in the variant forms -ible, -uble, which are not productive in English, but where the passive relation can still be found: inevitable 'cannot be avoided, visible 'can be seen', soluble 'can be dissolved’. In addition, however, -able yields no passive meaning but rather has a sense paraphrasable as 'apt to V’: changeable (weather), suitable, perishable. Bases may also be nouns, sometimes implying a modalized passive sense (marriageable, saleable), sometimes not (Peaceable, fashionable)
• -IVE, as in attractive, effective. In many cases the relation between the verb and adjective reflects Romance morphology: produce -productive, expand -- expansive. In others, on the pattern of decorate - decorative, a longer affix, -ative, is used: talkative, affirmative. Occasionally the base is a noun (secret - secretive) and sometimes the relation to the base is obscured (as in sensitive, emotive).

3. Adverb suffixes

• -LY can be generally added to an adjective in a grammatical environment requiring an adverb. The meaning can often be paraphrased as 'in a ...manner', as in calm ~ calmly, or 'to a ...degree, as in 'She looks extremely well', or 'in a ...respect', as in 'Personally, he would be suitable.'
• -WARD(S) forms nongradable directional adverbs where the base may be a noun as in earthward(s), a prepositional adverb as in onward(s), or a directional adverb as in northward(s).
• -WISE is used to form nongradable adverbs from noun bases: [i] in relation to manner, as in clockwise, crabwise; [ii] in relation to dimension, as in crosswise, lengthwise, it has a variant, -ways (lengthways); [iii] in the sense `so far as [the base] is concerned', as in education-wise, moneywise, it is more freely productive in AmE than in BrE.

4. Verb suffixes

• -ATE, combines with chiefly neoclassical noun bases, as in orchestrate, hyphenate: the suffix is especially productive in scientific English as in chlorinate.
• -EN combines with adjectives as in deafen, sadden, harden. As well as being causative, 'to make...', many of these can also be used intransitively, 'to become...': The news saddened him - His face saddened; this may be regarded as a conversion.
• -IFY, FY combines with adjectives and nouns, as in simplify 'to make simple', amplify 'to express more fully'. It is most commonly found with neo-classical bases (certify, identify, sometimes with a difference in stem as in electicify), and formations outside this type of lexicon are often pejorative: speechify, dandify.
• -IZE (ISE) combines with adjectives and nouns, as in modernize ('to make modern'), legalize ('to make legal), symbolize ('to act as a symbol of’)

Posted by Unknown on Sunday, 7 September 2014 - Rating: 4.5

Title : The Kinds of Derivation
Description : The formation of new words through derivation processes may involve large numbers of affixes. Here quirk and his friends suggested the v...

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