INTRODUCTION
Affixes can be divided into two categories depending on their functions in word formation. These are derivational morphemes and inflectional morphemes. This division recognizes two major processes of word building: inflection and derivation. Inflectional and derivational morphemes behave differently in word formation.
3.1 Inflectional Morphemes
Inflectional morphemes always come at the end of words in English. They are therefore suffixes. By the rules of word formation in English no other morpheme can be added after an inflectional morpheme. It is also not possible to have more than one inflectional morpheme at a time. In the word ‘contemplations’ for instance, the root of the word is {contemplate}. The derivational morpheme is {-ation} while the inflectional morpheme is /z/ which is spelt‘s’ and it comes at the end of the word. No other morpheme can be added to ‘contemplations’ after the addition of the inflectional morpheme {s}. In the following examples none of the words can further be inflected for plural, possession, comparison or concord:
Word
Inflectional suffix
Inflected Word
Girl
-s
girls
John
-s
John’s
Go
-es
goes
Take
-en
taken
Old
-er
older
An inflectional morpheme does not alter the word class of the root to which it is added. Inflectional morphemes only modify the form of the word to enable it fit into a particular grammatical category. For instance, the {s} morpheme of nouns as in ‘tables’ merely carries the information regarding the number of tables in question. The word itself remains a noun. It is for that reason that Katamba (1993:51) describes inflectional morphemes as those which ‘do not change referential or cognitive meaning’. The frequently used inflectional suffixes (English has no inflectional prefix] are shown below:
Suffix
Stem
Function
Example
-s
Noun
Plural
cats
-s
Noun
Possessive
Mary’s
-s
Verb
3rd person singular
sings
present tense
-ed
Verb
past tense
danced
-ing
Verb
present progressive
dancing
-er
Adjective
comparative degree
bigger
-est
Adjective
superlative degree
biggest
3.2 Derivational Morphemes
Derivational morphemes form new words by:
(i) changing the meaning of the base to which they are added as for instance in the examples clean/unclean which are both adjectives;
one has a meaning which is opposite to the other.
(ii) changing the grammatical class of the base as for instance the addition of –ly to ‘slow’ forms another word ‘slowly’ therefore changing the word ‘slow’ from an adjective to an adverb. In English, it is, as a rule, possible to form adverbs by adding the suffix –ly to an adjectival base. Examine the following :
1. quick (adjective) - quickly (adverb)
2. beautiful (adjective) - beautifully (adverb)
3. break (verb)
4. joy (noun)
5. beauty (noun)
6. electric (noun)
7. fat (noun)
8. slave (noun)
9. father
10. nation (noun)
- breakage (noun)
- joyful (adjective) joyfully (adverb)
- beautify (verb)
- electrify (verb)
- fatten (verb)
- enslave (verb)
- fatherly (adverb)
- national (adjective)
Sometimes a derivational suffix is added to an already derived base as
in:
natural
power
beauty
naturalise
powerless
beautiful
naturalization
powerlessness
beautifully
As can be seen in the two groups of examples above, a derivational affix can cause a major grammatical change from one word class to another as in slave/enslave, power/powerless where a noun becomes a verb in the first case and an adjective in the second. At times the addition of a derivational affix may cause just a minor change as when the base changes to a minor subclass within the same word class as in pig/piglet both are nouns but one is the diminutive form of the other.
This brings us to the addition of some suffixes (bound morphemes) which carry emotive undertones as for instance:
- nette
-
kitchenette
- smallness
- ish
-
girlish
- bad qualities of
- like
-
womanlike
- good qualities of
- let
-
piglet
- small of
- ling
-
duckling
- small of
- ock
-
bullock
- small of
The following tables show common derivational prefixes and suffixes, the types of bases to which they can be attached and the words that can be formed together with the word classes of the derived words:
Table 1 – Derivational Suffixes
Suffix
Word
Class
Of Base
Meaning
Word
class of
Derived
word
Examples
- ment
- ness
- ity
- ship
- hood
- ly
- al
- al
- er}
- or}
- ar}
- ful
verb-
govern
adjective
– happy
adjective
–
depraved
noun –
friend
noun –
mother
adjective
graceful
verb –
refuse
noun –
medicine
verb -
read
sail
lie
noun –
beauty
result or product of doing the
action of the verb
quality, state or
condition
state or condition
state or condition
status
manner
noun
abstract
noun
abstract
noun
abstract
noun
abstract
noun
adverb
abstract
noun
adjective
noun
adjective
government
happiness
depravity
friendship
motherhood
gracefully
refusal
medicinal
reader
sailor
liar
beautiful
pertaining act of
pertaining the kind
agent who
to or
to/of
does
what the verb
indicates
having
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
What modifications does an inflectional morpheme make to the base to which it is added?
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
(i) Give the meaning of the derivational prefix en and the suffix –
able in the following words:
e.g. enrobe = put in a robe.
enlarge
enable
enrich
presentable
manageable
gradable
4.0 CONCLUSION
The techniques of inflection and derivation are often used systematically to build English words. They perform grammatical functions that further explain the interesting uniqueness of the principles of word formation in English. Although the process of inflection may create a new word, it may not change the word class of the word. This is not the case with derivations where the class of the new word is completely different from the previous word.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following important points have been made:
Inflection and derivation are two major word building processes in English.
Inflectional morphemes always come at the end of words in English. They are therefore suffixes.
No other morpheme can be added to a word after an inflectional morpheme.
An inflectional morpheme does not alter the word class of the root but only modifies it to enable it fit into a particular grammatical category.
A derivational affix can change the word class and the meaning of the base to which it is added.
6.0 TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA)
Distinguish between inflexion and derivation
7.0 REFERENCES / FURTHER READINGS
Katamba, F. (1993). Morphology. London: Macmillan: Lagos: Longman
Nida, E. (1949). Morphology: the descriptive analysis of words. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
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