ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY
"To have another language is to possess a second soul..."
Charlemagne
5.1 Derivation/Affixation
Russian lexicologists approach the problem of derivation slightly differently. They term one of the word-formation processes as affixation, not derivation. The principle is the same, but the difference is in terms. We will use affixation and derivation interchangeably. Affixation is defined as “the formation of words by adding derivational affixes to different types of bases” (Ginzburg, Khidekel, Knyazeva, & Sankin, 1979, p. 114). Derivational affixes are divided into suffixes and prefixes. Prefixes are added to the beginning of bases, e.g., upload (up+load), and suffixes are added to the end of bases, e.g., employment (employ+ment). The formation of words with the help of prefixes is prefixation, while the process of formation of words with adding suffixes to the bases is suffixation.
Derivation, or affixation, creates a new word by changing the category or the meaning of the base to which it applies, e.g., teach (v)+ er (suffix) = teacher (n); beauty (n)+ful (suffix)=beautiful (adj). Derivation is a productive means of coining new words in English. There are more than sixty common derivational affixes, and there is no limit to their application.
Some English Derivational Affixes
Each line in this table can be considered a word-formation rule, which predicts how new words may be formed. Thus, if there is a rule whereby the suffix –ment may be added to the verb achieve, resulting in a noun, denoting the act or result of achieving, then we can predict that if the suffix –ment is added to certain verbs, the result will be a new noun.
These rules may be used to analyze words as well as to form new words. Derivation can also create multiple levels of word structure. Although it may seem complex, correctional, unkindness, and organizational have structures consistent with the rules in the table (above).
Organizational
In the example with the word unkindness, the observation here is that the prefix un- readily combines with adjectives before it converts to a noun. We see from these examples that complex words have structures consisting of hierarchically organized constituents.
5.1.1 Types of Derivational Affixes
Derivational affixes are subdivided into two groups: class-changing and class-maintaining. Class-changing derivational affixes change the word class to which they are added. Thus, the verb achieve and the suffix -able create an adjective achievable. However, class-maintaining derivational affixes do not change the word class but change only the meaning of the word; for example, the noun adult and the suffix -hood create another noun adulthood, but now it is an abstract noun rather than a concrete noun. Class-changing affixes, when added to the stems, immediately change the class of the words, making them alternatively as a verb, a noun, an adverb, or an adjective. Therefore, derivational affixes determine or govern the word class of the stem. For instance, nouns may be derived from verbs or adjectives; adjectives may be derived from verbs and nouns; adverbs – from either adjectives or nouns; and verbs may be derived from nouns or adjectives. English class-changing derivations are mostly suffixes. Noun-derivational affixes, which are also called nominalizers, are the following:
Verb-derivational affixes, also known as verbalizers, are used to coin verbs from other classes of words. Although verbs are used to form other classes of words, they are not readily formed from other parts of speech. The following derivational affixes build verbs from nouns and adjectives.
Adjective derivational affixes, or adjectivizers, are used to form adjectives mostly from the nouns and rarely from the verbs.
Adverb-derivational affixes, or adverbializers, are affixes which help form adverbs frequently from adjective and rarely from the nouns.
Class-maintaining derivations refer to those derivations which do not change the class of the stem to which they are added but change its meaning. Unlike class-changing derivations, which are mainly suffixes, class-maintaining derivations are prefixes and suffixes.
Noun patterns:
Adjective patterns:
English adverbs are not used to form words of other classes; therefore, there are no adverb patterns, as nouns, verbs, and nouns have.