Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Affixes in English Word Formation

Affixes are a key part of word formation in English. The process of adding affixes to words is affixation. Here are twenty words with the adverbial suffix -ly:

academically
accidentally
automatically
basically
dramatically
emotionally
genetically
historically
logically
magically
musically
nationally
organically
positionally
rationally
realistically
romantically
specifically
structurally
theoretically

Let us illustrate the different parts of each word:

academically academ(y) + ic + al + ly
accidentally accident + al + ly
automatically automat(e) + ic + al + ly
basically bas(e) + ic + al + ly
dramatically drama + tic + al + ly
emotionally emot(e) + ion + al + ly
genetically gene + tic + al + ly
historically histor(y) + ic + al + ly
logically logic + al + ly
magically mag(e) + ic + al + ly
musically mus(e) + ic + al + ly
nationally nation + al + ly
organically organ + ic + al + ly
positionally posit + ion + al + ly
rationally rat(e) + ion + al + ly
realistically real + ist + ic + al + ly
romantically roman(ce) + tic + al + ly
specifically specif(y) + ic + al + ly
structurally structur(e) + al + ly
theoretically theor(y) + etic + al + ly

Though all the words end with the suffix -ly, they do not always share the same number of parts. For example, organically can be divided into four parts, but accidentally can only be divided into three. The word realistically is divided into five. Certain forms such as *automatical and *basical are never used. The examples illustrate that affixation is a very important part of word formation in English.


No comments:

Featured Post

Finding the Proto-Form

Related languages have a number of words which are similar to one another. In the branch of linguistics known as historical linguistics, the...