Salahaddin University-Hawler

The Nature of affixal polysemy

A Fourth Year Graduation Paper Submitted to the Department of English, College of

Languages at the University of Salahaddin – Hawler, in Partial Fulfilment of the

Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor in English Language and Literature.

By:

Shady Kamal Othman

Supervised by:

Assist. Instructor. Hajan M. Maruf

Hawler, April 2020

Abstract I

The purpose of this study is to explain how affixes are used in English Language

according to their meanings. Affixation falls in the scope of Morphology where

bound morphemes are either roots or affixes. The two most common types of affixes

are prefixes and suffixes.

This study further aimed to deals with suffixes, prefixes and infixes in general.

Polysemy has the same spelling but different and related meaning. Polysemous

affixes is the tendency for affixes to have several closely related meanings.

Lots of references are used to enrich this research. Experts and scholars have

described affixes in different ways. Examples and explanations are given to clarify

and simplify to understand the arguments of affixal polysemy in an academic way.

This research consists of three sections to clarify the topic. First section is about affixation

in general. The second section is about types of affixal meanings. The third section is about

affixal polysemy.

Outline II

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………. I

Outline………………………………………………………………………… II

Section One: Affixation………………………………………………………. 1

1.1: Affixes…………………………………………………………………… 1-2

1.2: Free and Bound Morpheme……………………………………………… 3-4

1.3: Inflectional Affixes and Derivational Affixes…………………………… 5-7

Section Two: Types of Meaning……………………………………………... 8

2.1: Affixal Polysemy…………………………………………………………. 8

Section Three: Affixal Polysemy …………………………………………..... 9

3.1: Polysemy in Derivational Affixes………………………………………… 9

3.1.1: Diminutives…………………………………………….... 10-11

3.2: Polysemous Prefix………………………………………………………..12

3.2.1: Polysemy and synonymy in Prefixes over- and under-.….12-13

3.3: Polysemous Suffix ………………………………………………………14-17

3.3.1: Polysemy and synonymy in suffixes -ery and -age ..…..…18-19

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 20

References…………………………………………………………………… 21

Section One: Affixation 1

1.1: Affixes

An affix is a bound morpheme that occurs before or within or after a base. They are

of three kinds: prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. Prefixes are those bound morphemes

that occur before a base, as in import, prefix, reconsider. Prefixes in English are a

small class of morphemes, numbering around seventy-five. Their implications are

frequently those of English prepositions and adverbials.

The following examples illustrates prefixes:

anti+freeze=antifreeze

co+pilot=co-pilot

im+bibe=imbibe

(Stageberg, N., 1981, p.83-113)

Infixes are bound morphemes that have been embedded within a word. In English

these are rare. Occasionally they are additions within a word, as in un get at able,

where the preposition at of get at is kept as an infix in the -able adjective, though the

preposition is usually dropped in similar words, like reliable (from rely on) and

accountable (from account for). Infixes in English are most commonly replacements,

not additions. They occur in a few noun plurals, like the -ee- in geese, replacing the

-oo- of goose, and more often in the past tense and past participles of verbs, like the

-o- of chose and chosen replacing the -oo- of choose.

The following examples illustrates infixes:

foot, feet

mouse, mice

tear, tore, torn

(Stageberg, N., 1981, p.83-113)

2

Suffixes are bound morphemes that occur after a base, like shrinkage, failure, noisy,

realize, nails, dreamed. Suffixes may pile up to the number of three or four, whereas

prefixes are commonly single, except for the negative un- before another prefix. In

normalizers maybe arrive at the cut-off with four: the base norm plus the four

suffixes -al, -ize, -er, -s. When suf- fixes multiply like this, their order is fixed: there

is one and only one order in which they occur.

The following examples illustrates suffixes

affect+ -ion+ -ate+ -ly=affectionately

marry+ -age+ -abil+ -ity=marriageability

mor+ -al+ -ize+ -er+ -s=moralizers

(Stageberg, N., 1981, p.83-113)

1.2: Free and Bound Morphemes 3

Morphemes are the smallest units in a language that have meaning. Morphemes are

of two kinds, free and bound.

A free morpheme, is one that can be uttered alone with meaning. For instance, eat,

big, sofa.

There are two kinds of free morphemes based on what they do in a sentence: content

words and function words.

Content Words:

Free morphemes that make up the main meaning of a sentence are content words.

Their parts of speech include nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Examples of content words from everyday speech.

• Nouns: girl, hat, house, fire

• Verbs: walk, sleep, say, eat

• Adjectives: quick, nice, fun, big

These words are the most important parts of a sentence. The meaning of content

words might change when combined with other morphemes, but their free

morphemes will still make up the sentence's content.

Function Words: 4

Free morphemes also include function words. These words consist of articles,

demonstratives, auxiliaries, quantifiers, prepositions, pronouns, and conjunctions.

Examples of free morphemes as function words:

• Articles: the, a, an

• Demonstratives: this, that, those, these

• Auxiliary Verbs: will, is, must, does

• Quantifiers: some, many, few

• Prepositions: under, over, to, by

• Pronouns: he, she, his, her

• Conjunctions: for, and, but, or

Function words serve as a grammatical connection between content words. They are

not typically combined with affixes that change their meaning.

A bound morpheme, unlike the free, cannot be uttered alone with meaning. It is

always annexed to one or more morphemes to form a word. Bound morphemes

typically appear as affixes in the English language.

Bound morphemes have no linguistic meaning unless they are connected to a root or

base word, or in some cases, another bound morpheme. Prefixes and suffixes are

two types of bound morphemes. Depending on how they modify a root word, bound

morphemes can be grouped into two categories: inflectional morphemes and

derivational morphemes.

1.3: Inflectional and Derivational Affixes 5

English has nine inflectional affixes. They are affixes which have a grammatical

function but do not change the class of a word. They always follow derivational

suffixes.

Inflectional Affix Examples Name

1.{-s pl.} dogs, oxen, mice noun plural

2.{-s sg ps} boy’s noun singular possessive

3.{-s pl ps} boys’, men’s noun plural possessive

4.{-s 3d} vacates present third-person singular

5.{-ING vb} discussing present participle

6.{-D pt} chewed, rode past tense

7.{-D pp} chewed, eaten, swum past participle

8.{-ER cp} bolder, sooner, nearer comparative

9.{-EST sp} boldest, soonest, nearest superlative

6

The words to which these affixes (suffixes and infixes) are attached are called stems.

The stem includes the base or bases and all the derivational affixes. Thus, the stem

of playboys is playboy and that of beautified is beautify.

The inflectional suffixes differ from the derivational suffixes in the follow- ing ways,

to which there are few exceptions.

1-They do not change the part of speech.

Examples: sled, sleds (both nouns)

cough, coughed (both verbs)

cold, colder (both adjectives)

2-They come last in a word.

Examples: shortened, villainies, industrializing

3-They go with all stems of a given part of speech.

Examples: He eats, drinks, dreams, entertains, motivates.

4. They do not pile up; only one ends word.

Examples: flakes, working, higher, written

The exception here is {s pl ps}, the plural possessive of the noun, as in "The students'

worries."

(Stageberg, N., 1981, p.83-113)

7

Derivational Suffixes In addition to a short list of inflectional suffixes English has

a large supply of another kind of suffix, called derivational suffixes. These consist

of all the suffixes that are not inflectional. Among the characteristics of derivational

suffixes there are three that will be our immediate concern.

1-The words with which derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary matter. To

make a noun from the verb adorn must add -ment-no other suffix will do-whereas

the verb fail combines only with -ure to make a noun, failure.

2- In many cases, but not all, a derivational suffix changes the part of speech of the

word to which it is added. The noun act becomes an adjective by the addition of -

ive, and to the adjective active can add -ate, making it a verb, activate. Although it

has not yet taken up the parts of speech, you probably know enough about them to

distinguish between nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, as you are asked to do in

the next exercise.

3. Derivational suffixes usually do not close off a word; that is, after a derivational

suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can frequently add an

inflectional suffix. For example, to the word fertilize, which ends in a derivational

suffix, one can add another one, -er, and to fertilizer one can add the inflectional

suffix -s, closing off the word.

The derivational paradigm is a set of related words composed of the same base

morpheme and all the derivational affixes that can go with this base. Here is an

example: man, manly, mannish, manful, manhood, manikin, unman, manliness,

manward, manfully, mannishly.

Section Two: Types of Meaning 8

2.1: Affixal Polysemy

Affixation is the morphological process in by which bound morphemes are attached to

roots or stems to mark changes in meaning, part of speech, or grammatical relationships.

Affixes take on several forms and serve different functions.

Affixal polysemy is the tendency for affixes to have several closely related meanings.

For instance, the affix that is used for making agent nouns in languages is frequently also

used for making instrument nouns.

-er

agent writer, driver, thinker, walker

instrument opener, printer, pager

experiencer hearer

patient/theme fryer, sinker

-ant/-ent

agent accountant, claimant, servant

instrument adulterant, irritant

experiencer discernant

patient/theme descendant

(Stageberg, N., 1981, p.83-113)

It appears that in English the suffix -er forms not only agent and instrument nouns, but also

nouns that denote the experiencer of an action, or even the patient or theme of an action.

Section Three: Affixal Polysemy 9

3.1: Polysemy in Derivational Affixes

The question of whether lexical elements and grammatical elements are semantically

similar has been debated. Some linguists, e.g. Beard (1988, 1990, 1992), argue that

lexemes and affixes, especially derivational affixes, are quite different, while others,

show they are similar in that they are signs. Derivational affixes and lexemes share

many semantic relations, such as synonymy, antonymy, and polysemy. Beard (1990)

made an important observation about the semantics of derivational affixes (and

function words), namely that the meanings expressed are limited to those concepts

that also become grammaticalized: space, time, agency, possibility, animacy, etc.

Since the range of semantic concepts as well as most examples of metaphor and

metonymy involve highly lexical concepts, the question arises as to whether and! or

to what extent the polysemy found in derivational affixes parallels that found in

lexemes. Yet even with limitations expected to find the same types of polysemy that

have been identified in the traditional studies of meaning change and in the works

of many cognitive linguists interested in polysemy. If the concepts and relationships

represented by words change and expand, then expected to find the same

phenomenon in derivational morphemes too.

10

3.1.1: Diminutives

Another domain with well-known polysemy involves diminutives, affixes denoting

small size, with a cluster of senses related to small size, such as young age and small

quantity. In addition, there are extensions to meanings of affection and pejoration.

The diminutive is carried by suffixes, the meaning of small easily shifts to

endearment, the affection feels for small children and small animals, and also to

pejoration, since small can denote "lesser importance". English has a few suffixes,

although their productivity is limited. Interacting with diminutives is at least one

feminine suffix, -ette, which also carries diminutive meanings, but the base is either

meaningless or requires some re-interpretation.

For example, although booklet can be glossed as "little book", anklet is not "a little

ankle". However, the suffix -let stilI connotes "small size". A hamlet is a "small

town", but the base, ham- (not the homonymous pork product) has no independent

identifiable sense.

11

The polysemy of size and amount:

Suffix: Size-Amount-Age Other senses

-ette dinette, kitchenette [PLACE] launderette, luncheonette

[FEMININE] majorette

-kin(s) napkin [ENDEARMENT] babykins

-let booklet, hamlet, anklet, [PLACE] anklet

starlet [PEJORATION] kinglet

-ling duckling, sapling [ENDEARMENT] darling

[PEJORATION] weakling

-y baby, doggy, horsy [ENDEARMENT, BABYTALK]

(Stageberg, N., 1981, p.83-113)

3.2: Polysemous Prefix 12

Prefixes are a type of affix. Prefixes are “pre” (before) “fix” ed (attached) to a root

or stem to create a new word with a new meaning.

Prefixes themselves are not words. They must be attached to a root or a stem in order

to create new words. Prefix is a letter or a group of letters that appears at the

beginning of a word and changes the word’s original meaning. An easy example

would be the word ‘prefix’ itself! It begins with the prefix pre-, which means

‘before’. It is quite important to understand what different prefixes mean as they can

help to understand the meanings of any new vocabulary. Sometimes a prefix can

have more than one meaning! For instance, im-, this can mean ‘not’ or ‘into’.

3.2.1: Polysemy and synonymy in Prefixes over- and under-

The prefixes under- and over- are among the top 20 most commonly used prefixes,

according to the The American Heritage Word Frequency Book (Carroll, Davies, &

Richman, 1971). According to that source, in the school texts examined, the prefix

over- was the 8th most common, and the prefix under- was the 20th most common.

More Words shows 406 words that begin with the letter string under and 1,681 words

that begin with over.

Over-: Excessively; extra; outer; above {English}

The form has several of the senses of the preposition over and appears in a very large

number of compounds that can be nouns, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs. Over- can

be freely prefixed to other words for a momentary need. Its meanings are rather

variable and diffuse, and difficult to categorize.

13

Having said that, there are some groupings that are commonly encountered. The one

most often found refers to something beyond what is usual or desirable, even

excessively so (overambitious, overcareful, overexert, overindulgence, overfull,

overprecise, overprepared, overweight), which leads into a rarer sense of ‘utterly’

or ‘completely’ (overawed, overjoyed).

In others, the form has a spatial sense of something above or higher up, which

broadens into a figurative sense of something that is superior (overhang, overbridge,

overarching, overlook, overtone, overlord, overrule).

Another set is of words in which the meaning is of something upper, outer, or extra

(overcoat, overshoes, overtime).

Another sense is of motion forward and down, and hence of inversion (overturning,

overbalance, overthrow, overboard). The form can also suggest covering a surface

(overpaint, overgrow).

Under-: Below {Old English}

Some terms refer to something being placed, literally or figuratively, underneath

something else: underclothes, undercover, undergrowth, underpass. The sense of

lower position can figuratively refer to someone in a subordinate role:

undersecretary, understudy, undersheriff.

Some have lost a direct link to position: understand, undertake.

A related and common sense is of something that is insufficient or incomplete: to

underachieve is to do less well than expected; a firm that is undercapitalized has

insufficient funds to achieve its desired results; a person who is undernourished

lacks enough food for good health; an area that is underpopulated has an insufficient

or very small population.

3.3: Polysemous Suffix 14

Suffixes are a type of affix. Suffixes are “suf” (under/after) “fix” ed (attached) to a

root or stem to create a new word with a new meaning.

Suffixes themselves are not words. They must be attached to a root or a stem in order

to create new words. Suffix is a letter or a group of letters that is usually added onto

the end of words, to change the way a word fits into a sentence grammatically.

Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs all tend to use different suffixes.

Depending on whether it is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, a different suffix would

be required. For example, the verb read can be altered to become the noun reader

by adding the suffix --er. The same verb can also be turned into the adjective

readable by adding the suffix –able.

15

Here is a list of the most common suffixes and their meaning:

SUFFIX MEANING EXAMPLE

NOUN SUFFIXES

-acy state or quality democracy, accuracy, lunacy

-al the action or process of remedial, denial, trial, criminal

-ance, -ence state or quality of nuisance, ambience, tolerance

-dom place or state of being freedom, stardom, boredom

-er, -or person or object that reader, creator, interpreter,

does a specified action inventor, collaborator, teacher

-ism doctrine, belief Judaism, scepticism, escapism

-ist person or object that Geologist, protagonist, sexist,

does a specified action scientist, theorist, communist

-ity, -ty quality of extremity, validity, enormity

-ment condition enchantment, argument

-ness state of being heaviness, highness, sickness

-ship position held friendship, hardship, internship

-sion, -tion state of being position, promotion, cohesion

16

VERB SUFFIXES

-ate become mediate, collaborate, create

-en become sharpen, strengthen, loosen

-ify, -fy make or become justify, simplify, magnify, satisfy

-ise, -ize become publicise, synthesise, hypnotise

ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES

-able, -ible capable of being edible, fallible, incredible, audible

-al having the form or character of fiscal, thermal, herbal, colonial

-esque. in a manner of or resembling picturesque, burlesque, grotesque

-ful notable for handful, playful, hopeful, skilful

-ic, -ical having the form or character of psychological, hypocritical,

methodical, nonsensical, musical

-ious, -ous characterised by pious, jealous, religious, ridiculous

-ish having the quality of squeamish, sheepish, childish

-ive having the nature of inquisitive, informative, attentive

-less without meaningless, hopeless, homeless

-y characterised by dainty, beauty, airy, jealousy

ADVERB SUFFIXES

-ly related to or quality softly, slowly, happily, crazily, madly

-ward, -wards direction towards, afterwards, backwards, inward

-wise in relation to otherwise, likewise, clockwise

17

MEDICAL, BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, AND SCIENCE SUFFIXES:

-it is Medicine – meaning: infection, inflammation

-pathy Medicine – meaning: have a condition

-penia Medicine – meaning: deficiency

-tomy/otomy Medicine and biology – meaning: condition, procedures, etc.

-logy Science and medicine – meaning: various branches of science

-lysis Biology and science – meaning: decomposition, loosening, etc.

-osis Biology – meaning: infection, condition, state, etc.

-centisis Medicine – meaning: surgical puncture

3.3.1: Polysemy and synonymy in suffixes -ery and -age 18

-ery (also -ry and -erie):

{French -erie, based on Latin -arius and -ator.} (Forming nouns)

It is often unclear whether words contain this suffix by borrowing from French, or

whether they have been created in English from nouns in -er by adding -y. The -ry

form is a shortened version of -ery.

The suffix has several meanings that can be broadly classified, though not all words

fit neatly into one of the groups.

One very broad set denotes a class or kind of objects: confectionery, crockery,

cutlery, finery, greenery, machinery, scenery. Another set marks places where some

occupation, trade, or activity is carried on: bakery, brewery, cemetery, distillery,

fishery, grocery, nunnery, nursery.

Another one indicates an occupation, state, condition, or behaviour: archery,

bravery, butchery, devilry, mastery, rivalry, slavery, treachery; sometimes a

depreciatory reference is meant: knavery, tomfoolery. A fourth denotes a place set

aside for an activity or a place to keep things, animals or the like: fernery, piggery,

orangery, rookery, shrubbery, swannery, vinery.

The form -erie sometimes signals a direct import from French: boulangerie,

charcuterie, menagerie, patisserie, rotisserie; it can also mark an informal,

affectionate or dismissive version of a form in -ery, as with eaterie for eatery; some

of this latter sort have been created directly in -erie: niterie for a night club, nosherie

for a restaurant, drinkerie for a bar or public house.

Not all examples come from French -erie. Words such as skulduggery and sitooterie

are of Scots origin; country is from Old French cuntree, based on Latin contra,

against, opposite; lottery is probably from Dutch loterij; gantry probably from

Middle English dialect gawn.

19

-age:

{Old French, based on Latin -aticum, neuter form of the adjectival ending -aticus.}

(Forming nouns)

Some of the oldest examples came into English from French, such as language,

voyage, or courage.

Many others have been formed subsequently in English on their models. They are

a diverse collection. A few examples of a large group are coinage, cottage, damage,

marriage, mileage, mortgage, peerage, plumage, postage, village, and voltage.

Some relatively recent borrowings from French retain their French pronunciation:

entourage, montage.

20

Conclusion

In light of the findings and conclusions. Through reading from the different reliable

books and references, it can be seen that the affixes generally divided into three

groups as suffixes, prefixes and infixes. This research paper clearly illustrated each

of them separately with lots of examples and explanation.

It also shows that lots of words have been made because of adding affixes to the

root, stem or the base. It also found out that by adding affixes the meaning of the

base word changes in many cases.

Affixal polysemy is the tendency for affixes to have several closely related meanings.

For instance, the affix that is used for making agent nouns in languages is frequently also

used for making instrument nouns.

Moreover, it realized by sticking affixes to the root, base or stem will also change

the formation and classification of the word such as verb to noun, adjective, adverb.

21

References

1- Bisang, W., Hock, H., Winter, W., 2003. Trendes in linguestics. Berlin: Walter

de Gruyter GmbH.

2- Francis, K., 1993. Morphology. England: Macmillan.

3- Lieber, R., 2004. Morphology and lexical semantics. New York: Cambridge

University Press.

4- Lieber, R., 2009. Introducing Morphology. New York: Cambridge University

Press.

5- Martin, H, Andrea, D. 2010. Understanding Morphology. Great Britain: hodder

education, a Hachette UK company.

6- Stageberg, N., 1981. An introductory English Grammar. Florida: Holt, Rinehart

and Winston.

7- Sergio, S., 1984. Generative Morphology. Holland: Cinnaminson, U.S.A.: Foris

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