Delvinancey 词汇学（5）Word Formation Ⅱ：Suffixation
Contents
Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivation affixes to bases. This process is also known as derivation, by which new wods are derived from old or base forms. The words created in this way are called derivations. According to the positions affixes occupy in words, affixation falls into two subcategories: prefixation and suffixation.
Suffixation
Suffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to bases. Unlike prefixes which primarily effect a semantic modification of the base, suffixes have only a small semantic role, their primary function being to change the grammatical function of the base.
Noun Suffixes
Denominal nouns
Concrete nouns :The suffixes in this group are added to noun bases to produce concrete nouns.
-eer
Meaning “skilled in, engaged in”
E.g. profiteer, engineer, auctioneer, mountaineer
-er
Meaning “having as dominant characteristic, denizen of”
E.g. teenager, glover, Londoner, three-wheeler
-ess
Meaning “female”
E.g. empress, priestess, hostess
-ette
Meaning “compact”
E.g. kichenette, dinereete, cigarette
Meaning “imitation” and “female”
E.g. leatherette, suffragette
-let
Meaning “small, unimportant”
E.g. droplet, booklet, starlet
-ster
Meaning “involved in”
E.g. trickster, gangster, songster
Abstract nouns : The following suffixes are attached to the end of noun bases to form abstract nouns
-age
Meaning “measure of, process or state”
E.g. mileage, poundage, footage, coverage
-dom
Meaning “state, condition”
E.g. martyrdom, dukedom, officialdom
-ery(-ry)
Meaning “condition or behaviour associated with”
E.g. slavery, savagery, roguery
Meaning “place”
E.g. bakery, winery
Meaning “collection of”
E.g. jewelry, pottery
-ful
Meaning “amount contained in”
E.g. mouthful, pocketful
-hood
Meaning “state, condition”
E.g. adulthood, childhood, windowerhood
-ing
Meaning “the material of”
E.g. tubing, matting, carpeting
Meaning “activity connected with”
E.g. farming, golfing, crickesting
-ism
Meaning “doctrine of, practice of”
E.g. absenteeism, consumerism, sexism
-ship
Meaning “occupation, position”
E.g. ambassadorship, authorship
Meaning “skill and ability”
E.g. craftsmanship, sportsmanship
Meaning “relation”
E.g. aquaintanceship, parternership
Deverbal nouns
The following suffixes combine with verbs bases to yield largely agential nouns.
-ant
Meaning “occupations and participations”
E.g. assistant, applicant, informant
Meaning “an object or substance”
E.g. coolant, pollutant, decongestant
-ee
Meaning “reciever of the action”
E.g. addressee, internee, transferee
-ent
Meaning “a person or thing”
E.g. respondent, correspondent, dependent
-er(-or)
Meaning “doer of the action”
E.g. commander, recorder, collsborator, speculator
-age
Meaning “action of, instance of”
E.g. spillage, marriage, linkage
-al
Meaning “the process or state of”
E.g. dismissal, potrayal, survival
-ance
Meaning “action, state, process”
E.g. preformance, insurance, attendence
-ation(-ition,-tion,-sion,-ion)
Meaning “process or state of”
E.g. realization, imagination, operation
-ence
Meaning “action, state, process”
E.g. adherence, persistence, recurrence
-ment
Meaning “result of”
E.g. assessment, puzzlement, resentment
De-adjective nouns
-ity
Meaning “state or consition”
E.g. productivity, intensity,superiority
-mess
Meaning “state or quality”
E.g. youthfulness, up-to-dateness
Noun and adjective suffixes
-ese
Meaning “member of, language of”
E.g. Chinese, Maltese
Meaning “style of”
E.g. journalese, Americanese
-an(-ian)
Meaning “citizen and language of”
E.g. Cambodian, Australian
Meaning “adherent to, relating to”
E.g. Elizabethan, Darwinian
-ist
Meaning “adherent to beliefs and behaviour”
E.g. loyalist, racist, socialist
-ire
Meaning “adherent to, member of”
E.g. Chomskyite, Thatcherite
Adjective Suffixes
Denominal Suffixes
-ish
Meaning “some what like, approximately”
E.g. monkeyish, snobbish, sixtyish
-ly
Meaning “have the quality of”
E.g. sodierly, cpwardly, deathly
Meaning “frequency”
E.g. hourly, fornightly
-al(-ial,-ical)
Meaning “trlating to”
E.g. residential, sentimental, philosophical
-esque
Meaning “having the propeties of”
E.g. Dantesque, Beethovenesque
-ous(-eous,-ious,-uous)
Meaning “having a paticular quality”
E.g. sensuous, marvellous, courageous, anxious
Deverbal nouns
-able(-ible)
Meaning “possibility”
E.g. washable, admirable, identifiable
-ative(-ive,-sive)
Adverb Suffixes
-ly
-ward(-wards)
Meaning “direction”
E.g. homewards, downwards, skyward
-wise
Meaning “in a manner of”
E.g. ostrich-wise, sleepwalker-wise
Meaning “as far as conxerned”
E.g. percentage-wise, education-wise
Verb Suffixes
-ate
Meaning “give or make or become”
E.g. originate, validate, hyphenate
-en
Meaning “make or become”
E.g. flatten, dampen
-ify(-fy)
Meaning “make, endow with”
E.g. solidify, glorify, amplify
-ize(-ise)
Meaning “invoving or related to”
E.g. sybolize, fantasize, visualize
New Suffixes
-nik
Meaning “one devoted to or member of”
E.g. folknik, jazznik, citynik
-holic
Meaning “addicted to”
E.g. *chocoholic, pokerholic, spendaholic
No Comments