Classification of suffixes

Depending on purpose of research, various classifications of suffixes have been used and suggested. Suffixes have been classified according to their origin, parts of speech they served to form, their frequency, productivity and other characteristics.

Within the parts of speech suffixes have been classified semantically according to lexico-grammatical groups, and last but not least, according to the types of stems they are added to.

In conformity with our primarily synchronic approach it seems convenient to begin with the classification according to the part of speech in which the most frequent suffixes of present-day English occur. They will be listed accordingly together with words illustrating their possible semantic force.

It shall be, noted that diachronic approach would view the problem of morphological analysis differently, for example, in the word complete they would look for the traces of the Latin complet-us.

Noun-forming suffixes:

– age (bondage, breakage, mileage, vicarage); – ance/ – ence (assistance, reference); – ant/ – ent (disinfectant, student); – dom (kingdom, freedom, officialdom); – ee (employee); – eer (profiteer); – er (writer, type-writer); – ess (actress, lioness); – hood (manhood); – ing (building, meaning, washing); – ion, – sion, – tion, ation (rebellion, creation, tension, explanation); – ism/ – icism (heroism, criticism); – ist (novelist, communist); – ment (government, nourishment); – nees (tenderness); – ship (friendship); – (i) ty (sonority).

Adjective-forming suffixes:

– able/ – ible/ – uble (unbearable, audible, soluble); – al (formal); – ic (poetic); – ical (ethical); – ant/ – ent (repentant, dependent); – ary (revolutionary); – ate/ – ete (accurate, complete); – ed/ – d (wooded); – ful (delightful); – ian (African, Australian); – ish (Irish, reddish, childish); – ive (active); – less (useless); – like (lifelike); – ly (manly); – ous/ ious (tremendous, curious); – some (tiresome); – y (cloudy, dressy).

Numeral-forming suffixes:

– fold (twofold); – teen (fourteen); – th (seventh); – ty (sixty)

Verb-forming suffixes:

– ate (facilitate); – er (glimmer); – en (shorten); – fy/ – ify (terrify, speechify, solidify); – ize (equalize); – ish (establish).

Adverb-forming suffixes:

– ly (coldly); – ward/ – wards (upward, northwards); – wise (likewise).

If we change our approach and become interested in the lexico-grammatical meaning the suffixes serve to signalize, we obtain within each part of speech more detailed lexico-grammatical classes or subclasses.

A lexico-grammatical class may be defined as a class of lexical elements possessing the same lexico-grammatical meaning and a common system of forms in which the grammatical categories inherent in these units are expressed. The elements of one class are substituted by the same prop-words the term prop-word is a term of syntax. It denotes a word whose main function is to provide the structural completeness of a word-group. A prop-word or an an aphonic word stands for another word already said or written. Personal pronouns he or she substituting nouns class them as personal nouns for either male or female beings.

The words one, do and to are the most specifically English examples of prop-words. Compare the various functions of do and to in the Following: «Even if I did go, couldn’t do any good»Charles paused and said: «I m afraid that I want you to». «Why do you? (SAAU)» and characterized by identical morphological patterns and a common set of derivational affixes. Taking up nouns we can subdivide them into proper and common nouns. Among common nouns we shall distinguish personal names, names of other animate beings, collective nouns, falling into several minor groups, material nouns, abstract nouns and names of things.

Abstract nouns are signaled by the following suffixes:

– age, – ance/ – ence, – ancy/ – ensy, – dom, – hood, – ing, – ion/ – tion/ – ation, – ism, – ment, – ness, – ship, – th, – ty.

See examples above.

Personal nouns that are emotionally neutral occur with the following suffixes: – an (grammarian), – ant/ – ent (servant, student), – arian (vegetarian), – ee (examinee), – er (porter), – ician (musician), – ist (linguist), – ite (sybarite), – or (inspector), and a few others.

Feminine suffixes may be classed as a subgroup of personal noun suffixes. These are few and not frequent: – ess (actress), – ine (heroine), – rix (testatrix), – ette (suffragette).

The above classification should be accepted with caution. It is true that in a polysemantic word at least one of the variants witl show the class meaning signaled by the affix. There may be other variants, however, whose different meaning will be signaled by a difference in distribution, and these will belong to some other lexico-grammatical class. C.f. settlement, translation denoting a process and its result, or beauty which, when denoting qualities that give pleasure to the eye or to the mind, is an abstract noun, but occurs also as a personal noun denoting a beautiful woman. The word witness is more often used in its several personal meanings that (in accordance with its suffix) as an abstract noun meaning evidence or «testimony». The coincidence of two classes in the semantic structure of some words may be almost regular. Collectivity, for instance may be signaled by such suffixes as – dom, – ery, – hood, – ship. It must be borne in mind, however, that words with these suffixes are poly semantic and show a regular correlation of the abstract noun denoting state and a collective noun denoting a group of persons of whom this state is characteristic. CF. knighthood.

Alongside with adding some lexico-grammatical meaning to the stem, certain suffixes charge it with emotional force. They may be derogatory: – ard (drunkard); – ling (underling); – ster (gangster); – ton (simpleton). These seem to be more numerous in English that the suffixes of endearment.

Emotionally coloured diminutive suffixes rendering also endearment differ from the derogatory suffixes in that they are used to name not only persons but things as well. This point may be illustrated by the suffix – y/ – ie/ – ey: auntie, cabbie (cabman), daddie, but also: hanky (handkerchief), nightie (nightgown). Other suffixes that express smallness are – en (chicken): – kin/kins (mannikin); – let (booklet); – ock (hillcack); et (cornet).

The connotation of same diminutive suffixes is not one or endearment but of some outlandish elegance and novelty, particularly in the case of the borrowed suffix – ette (kitchenette, launderette, lecturette, maisonette, etc). The diminutive suffixes being not very productive, there is a tendency to express the same meaning by the semiaffix mini– : mini-bus, mini-car, mini-crisis, mini-skirt, etc. Which may be added to words denoting both objects situations.

A suffix is a derivative final element which as or formely was productive in forming words. A suffix has semantic value, but it does not occur as an independent speech unit.

Suffixes and endings

It is necessary to point out the similarity and difference between derivative and functional morphemes. Morphologically, two words such as citizen and citizenry are formed after the same principle of root plus affix. At first sight, the conceptual structure also looks very much alike: the-s of citizens and the – ry of citizenry both express the idea of plurality, collectivity. But the difference in valued is one between grammatical function and lexical meaning. The – s of citizens is the inflectional formative of the grammatical category «plural» where – ry forms a class of words with the semantic basis «group», collectivity of…».

A suffixal derivative is primarily a lexical form. It is a two-morpheme word which behaves like a one-morpheme word in that it is «grammatically equivalent to any simple word in all the constructions where it occurs» (Bloch-Trager, OLA 54). An inflected word is primarily a grammatical form which does not meet the requirements just stated. While in a sentence such as this citizenry feels insulted we could substitute the simple, one-morpheme words crowd, multitude, nation for bi-morphemic citizenry without any change in the behavior of the other members of the sentence, replacement by the two-morpheme word citizens would involve a change of this to these and of feels to feel. The formatives – er, – est as expressing degree of comparison are endings, not suffixes. In a sentence such as Paul is older than Peter we could not substitute any one-morpheme word for bi-morphemic old-er whereas in he is rather o l dish the adj old can take the place of old-ish. It will also be interesting to note the different phonetic make-up of comparatives and super lateness compared with derived adjectives. Youngish, longish betray the morpheme boundary before – ish in that the final consonant does not change before the initial vowel of the derivative suffix whereas in younger, longer the consonants are treated as standing in medial position in unit words, just like finger or clangor, [jg] being the ante vocalic (and ante sonantic) allophone of [j].