Suffix Epenthesis

The English suffix -tion is very productive. It occurs in many words. However, in a number of cases, epenthesis also occurs to produce the variant -ation.

Here are words with the suffix variant -ation:

adoration
categorization
cessation
continuation
civilization
conservation
deprivation
determination
explanation
fossilization
globalization
nationalization
organization
presentation
preservation
radicalization
realization
regularization
restoration
salutation

Epenthesis usually occurs with roots that end with a word-final consonant. However, no epenthesis occurs in the words action, invention and location. Epenthesis also occcurs with words that end in a vowel such as continuation.

These are the final consonants of the words from the list:

/z/ 9
/r/ 3
/n/ 2
/v/ 2
/t/ 2
/s/ 1
/u/ 1

Most of the words have undergone changes to the root. The only one which has no changes is presentation. In cessation, the root is cease and in explanation it is explain.

Many words can be created with the suffix -tion. This suffix also has a variant which is formed with epenthesis. The epenthetic vowel helps to preserve a CV syllable structure and can thus be viewed as a syllable structure process.