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Unit 26: Affixes: Prefixes, Suffixes, Infixes and Circumfixes

Interfix speed-o-meter stema-interfix-stemb Links two stems together in a Notes
compound
Duplifix teeny~weeny stem~duplifix Incorporates a reduplicated portion
of a stem (may occur in front, at the
rear, or within the stem)
Transfix Maltese: k〈i〉t〈e〉b s〈transfix〉te A discontinuous affix that
"he wrote" 〈transfix〉m interleaves within a discontinuous
(compare root stem
ktb "write")
Simulfix mouse → mice stem\simulfix Changes a segment of a stem
Suprafix produce (noun) produce (verb) stem\suprafix Changes a
suprasegmental phoneme of a stem
Disfix Alabama: tipli st〈disfix〉m The elision of a portion of a stem
"break up"
(compare root
tipasli "break")

Prefix and suffix may be subsumed under the term adfix in contrast to infix.

When marking text for interlinear glossing, as in the third column in the chart above, simple affixes
such as prefixes and suffixes are separated from the stem with hyphens. Affixes which disrupt the
stem, or which themselves are discontinuous, are often marked off with angle brackets. Reduplication
is often shown with a tilde. Affixes which cannot be segmented are marked with a back slash.
Lexical affixes
Lexical affixes (or semantic affixes) are bound elements that appear as affixes, but function as
incorporated nouns within verbs and as elements of compound nouns. In other words, they are
similar to word roots/stems in function but similar to affixes in form. Although similar to
incorporated nouns, lexical affixes differ in that they never occur as freestanding nouns, i.e. they
always appear as affixes.
Lexical affixes are relatively rare. The Wakashan, Salishan, and Chimakuan languages all have lexical
suffixes - the presence of these is an areal feature of the Pacific Northwest of the North America.
The lexical suffixes of these languages often show little to no resemblance to free nouns with
similar meanings. Compare the lexical suffixes and free nouns of Northern Straits Saanich written
in the Saanich orthography and in Americanist notation:
Lexical suffixes when compared with free nouns often have a more generic or general meaning.
For instance, one of these languages may have a lexical suffix that means water in a general sense,
but it may not have any noun equivalent referring to water in general and instead have several
nouns with a more specific meaning (such "saltwater", "whitewater", etc.). In other cases, the
lexical suffixes have become grammaticalized to various degrees.
Orthographic affixes
In orthography, the terms for affixes may be used for the smaller elements of conjunct characters.
For example, Maya glyphs are generally compounds of a main sign and smaller affixes joined at its
margins. These are called prefixes, superfixes, postfixes, and subfixes according to their position to
the left, on top, to the right, or at the bottom of the main glyph. A small glyph placed inside another
is called an infix. Similar terminology is found with the conjunct consonants of the Indic alphabets.
For example, the Tibetan alphabet utilizes prefix, suffix, superfix, and subfix consonant letters.

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