Derivational and

Inflectional
Word
 Word Parts
There are two kinds of word parts:
roots and affixes.
A root is a word part that comes
from another language, such as
Greek or Latin.
An affix is a word part that can be
attached to either a root or a base
word to create a new word.
Inflections vs Derivations
1. Inflectional affixes:
o Mark grammatical properties
o (person, number, gender, tense, aspect)
o dont change other aspects of meaning
o are required by rules of sentence structure
o create a new word form
2. Derivational affixes:
o change meaning
o create a new word
o (typically) have clear meaning
o may change the lexical category of the word
 Inflectional
There are precisely eight inflectional
affixes in English:
1. -s 3rd person wait --> waits
2. -ing progressive wait -->
waiting
3. -ed past tense wait -->
waited
4. -en past participle eat --> eaten
5. -s plural card --> cards
6. -s possessive dad --> dads
7. -er comparative tall --> taller
8. -est superlative weak -->
 Affixation
Affixes are divided following categories:
Personal affixes; create people nouns.
Two types of personal affixes:
Form agent nouns (the doer of the action)
for example: the suffix -er
writer, runner, broadcaster etc
Form patient nouns (the person the action is done to).
for example: the suffix ee
employee, testee, interviewee
 Affixation
Negative and privative affixes
Negative adds the meaning not to their
base.
e.g. the prefixes un-, in-, non-
unhappy, inattentive, non-functional
Privative means something like without
X.
e.g. the suffix less (useless, hopeless)
The prefix de- (mean something like cause
to be without).
e.g. debug or debone
 Affixation
Prepositional and relational affixes often
convey notions of space and/or time.
e.g. prefixes over- and out-
overfill, overcoat, outrun, outhouse
Quantitative affixes have something to
do with amount.
e.g. affixes ful, multi- , re-
handful, helpful, multicultural, reread
 Affixation
Evaluative affixes consist of:
Diminutives are affixes that signal a smaller
version of the base.
e.g. let as in booklet or droplet
Augmentatives are affixes that signal a
bigger version of the base.
e.g. the prefix mega- as in megastore,
megabyte.
 Suffixes
Type of suffixes:
1.Nominal suffixes
are often employed to derive
nouns from verbs, adjectives and
nouns.
-age Coverage, leakage,
voltage, orphanage,
yardage
-al Arrival, renewal, recital,
referral
 Suffixes
-dom Kingdom, martyrdom, freedom
-ee Standee, employee, trainee
-ess Princess, stewardess, hostess
-hood brotherhood, neighborhood,
childhood
-ism Racism, feminism, fatalism
-ship Friendship, censorship,
membership
 Suffixes
2. Verbal suffixes
There are four suffixes which derive
verbs from other categories.
-ate Fluorinate, regulate, originate
-en Blacken, broaden, quicken,
ripen
-ify Humidify, solidify, purify
-ize Computerize, hospitalize,
emphasize
 Suffixes
3. Adjectival suffixes
can be divided into two groups:
Relational adjectives
the role is to relate the noun the
adjective qualifies to the base
word. e.g.
Colonial officer means officer
having to do with the colonies.
 Suffixes
Some adjectival suffixes:
-able Readable, fashionable, comprehensible,
-ible flexible
-al Cultural, accidental, colonial
-ous Homogeneous, prestigious, ambiguous
-less Speechless, hopeless, thankless
-ive Connective, explosive, offensive,
preventive
 Suffixes
Qualitative adjectives
express more specific concept of
qualitative meaning. e.g.
This a grammatical sentence.
(compare to; she is a grammatical
genius)
Adverbial suffixes
type of
-ly adverbial
Shortly, suffixes:
hardly, dryly
- Lengthwise, marketwise,
wise saleswise
 Prefixes
English prefixes can be classified
semantically into some groups.
1.The group that quantify over their
base words meaning.
one uni- : unilateral, unification
twice bi- : bilateral, bifurcation
or two
many Multi-: multi-lateral,
polyclinic
half Semi-: semi-conscious
 Prefixes
2. Locative prefixes
against Counter-: counterbalance,
counterattack
inside Intra-: intramuscular, intravenous
along Pare-: paramedic, paranormal
with
3. Temporal prefixes that express notions
across Trans-: transcontinental, transmigrate
like before, after or new.
before Ante-, pre-, fore-: antechamber,
preconcert, foresee
after Post-: postmodern, postmortem
new Neo-: neoclassical, neo-Latin
 Prefixes
4. Prefixes which express negation
wrong Mal-: malfunction, malnutrition
wrongl Mis-: misinterpret, mistrial
y
against Anti-: anti-abortion, anti-hero

Dis-: disagree, discharge,
disproof
Un-: uneducated,
uncomplicated, unreadable
 References

Lieber, R. (2009). Introducing morphology.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Plag, I. (2003). Word formation in English.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scalise, S. (1984). Generative morphology.
Holland: Foris Publication.