INTRODUCTION

            In linguistics, a suffix, also sometimes called a postfix or ending, is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Particularly in the study of Semitic languages, a suffix is called an afformative, as they can alter the form of the words to which they are fixed. In Indo-European studies, a distinction is made between suffixes and endings (see Proto-Indo-European root). A word-final segment that is somewhere between a free morpheme and a bound morpheme is known as a suffixoid or a semi-suffix (e.g., English -like or German -freundlich 'friendly').

            Suffixes can carry grammatical information (inflectional suffixes) or lexical information (derivational suffixes). An inflectional suffix is sometimes called a desinence.

Some examples in English:

Girls, where the suffix -s marks the plural.

He makes, where suffix -s marks the third person singular present tense.

It closed, where the suffix -ed marks the past tense.

Suffixes consist of two kinds. They are inflectional suffixes and derivational sufiixes. The next chapter will discused about derivational suffixes.

DISCUSSION

A.  Derivation

           

            Derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine. Derivation stands in contrast to the process of inflection, which uses another kind of affix in order to form grammatical variants of the same word, as with determine/determine-s/determin-ing/determin-ed. Generally speaking, inflection applies to all members of a part of speech (e.g., every English verb has a past-tense form), while derivation applies only to some members of a part of speech (e.g., the nominalizing suffix –ity can be combined with –able (ability, desirability, etcetra).

B.  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 characteristic of derivational suffixes there are three that will be our immediate concern. The words with derivational suffixes combine is an arbitrary matter. To make a noun from the verb adorn we must add –ment no other suffix will do- whereas the verb fail combines only with –ure make a noun failure. 

            In many cases, but not at all, a derivational suffixes changes the part of speech of word to which is added. The noun acts become an adjectives by the addition of –ive. Although we have not yet taken up the parts of speech we probably know enough about them to distinguish between noun, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. 

          Derivational suffixes usually do not close of a word; that is after a derivational suffix one can sometimes add another derivational suffix and can frequently add an inflectional suffix. For example 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 of the word. 

          A glance in the dictionary will reveal that many words have relatives, close and distant and in grammatical study it is often necessary to examine families of related words. To lable such families we employ the word paradigm. There are two kinds of paradigms, inflectional and derivational. The derivational paradigm is set of related words composed of the same base morpheme and all the derivational affixes that can go with the base. Here is an example : man. Manly, mannish, manful, manhood, manikin, unman, manliness, manward, manfully, mannishly.

            Generally speaking, a derivational suffix is an ending that changes the meaning of the word and the part of speech. It usually applies to words of one syntactic category and changes them into words of another syntactic category. For example, the English derivational suffix -ly changes adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly). Some derivational suffixes in present day English:

Ø  -ian

Ø  -ize/-ise

Ø  -fy

Ø  -ly

Ø  -ful

Ø  -able/-ible

Ø  -hood

Ø  -ness

Ø  -less

Ø  -ism

Ø   -ment

Ø  -ist

Ø  -al

Ø  -ish

Examples of English derivational patterns and their suffixes:

Ø  adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)

Ø  adjective-to-verb: -ise (modern → modernise) in British English or -ize (archaic → archaicize) in American English and Oxford spelling

Ø  adjective-to-adjective: -ish (red → reddish)

Ø  adjective-to-adverb: -ly (personal → personally)

Ø  noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)

Ø  noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)

Ø  verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)

Ø  verb-to-noun (abstract): -ance (deliver → deliverance)

Ø  verb-to-noun (concrete): -er (write → writer)

            Although derivational affixes do not necessarily alter the syntactic category, they do change the meaning of the base. In many cases, derivational affixes change both the syntactic category and the meaning: modern → modernize ("to make modern"). The change of meaning is sometimes predictable: Adjective + ness → the state of being (Adjective); (white→ whiteness).

            A prefix (write → re-write; lord → over-lord) will rarely change syntactic category in English. The inflectional prefix un- applies to adjectives (healthy → unhealthy)and some verbs (do → undo), but rarely to nouns. A few exceptions are the derivational prefixes en- and be-. En- (em- before labials) is usually used as a transitive marker on verbs, but can also be applied to adjectives and nouns to form transitive verbs: circle (verb) → encircle (verb); but rich (adj) → enrich (verb), large (adj) → enlarge (verb), rapture (noun) → enrapture (verb), slave (noun) → enslave (verb).

            Note that derivational affixes are bound morphemes. In that respect, derivation differs from compounding by which free morphemes are combined (lawsuit, Latin professor). It also differs from inflection in that inflection does not create new lexemes but new word forms (table → tables; open → opened).

            Derivation can occur without any change of form, for example telephone (noun) and to telephone. This is known as conversion or zero derivation.

            Pay attention to this example!

"The weather forecaster said it would be clear today, but I can't see clearly at all"

the suffix -ly modifies the root-word clear from an adjective into an adverb. Derivation can also form a semantically distinct word within the same syntactic category.

In this example:

"The weather forecaster said it would be clear day today, but I think it's more like clearish!"

the suffix -ish modifies the root-word clear, changing its meaning to "clear, but not very clear".