Affixation is the process where a bound morpheme is attached to a free morpheme in various syntactic positions – pre, intra (within) and post positions – also known as initial, medial and final position, giving the “root + affix” combination.

Katamba ( 1993 : 44 ) says, “ an affix ia a mopheme which only accurs when attached to some other morphemes or morphemes such as a root or stem or base. “

There are two basic kinds of morphology:

1. Derivation is an affix used to change form and meaning from lexical point with a change in part of speech.

Examples :

Universe(noun) Universal (adjective)

Protect ( verb) Protective (adjective)

Derivational affix can in the form of suffix and prefix. While inflectional only in prefix.

- Derivational suffix

Examples:

Suffix

 Derivational suffix

Root + derivational suffix

Noun Suffixes

-acy, -age, -al, -an, -ian, -ance, -ancy, -ant, -ary, -ate, -ation, -dom, -er, -ess, -ful, -hood, -ing, -ive, -ment, -ness, -or, -ory, -ship, -th, -y

happy (adjective: bahagia) + -ness = happiness (noun: kebahagiaan)

king (noun: raja) + -dom =kingdom (noun: kerajaan)

Verb Suffixes

-ate, -en, -er, -ify, -ize

active (adjective: aktif) + -ate = activate (verb: mengaktifkan)

wide (adjective: lebar) + -en = widen (verb: memperluas)

Adjective Suffixes

-able, -al, -ant, -ary, -ate, -ed, -en, -ful, -ic, -ile, -ing, -ish, -istic, -ive, -less, -like, -ly, -ous, -ward, -wide, -y

play (verb: bermain) + -ful =playful (adjective: suka bermain)

friend (noun: teman) + -ly =friendly (adjective: ramah)

Adverb Suffixes

-ever, -fold, -ily, -ly, -place, -ward, -where, -wise

clear (adjective: jelas) + -ly =clearly (adverb: dengan jelas)

clock (noun: jam) + -wise =clockwise (adverb: searah jarum jam)

- Derivational prefix,

Examples :

ex + wife (noun) = ex-wife (noun)

re + call (verb) = recall (verb)

2.Inflectional is an affix used to change form and function only from the grammatical point with no change in part of speech of the word.

Inflectional affix :

a. Third person singular ( -S), example : she walks

b. Past tense (- ed), example : he jumped

c. Present proggresive (- ing), example : she is talking to a stranger

d. Past participle ( -en), example : He has eaten

e. Plural (-S), example : I have two cats

f. Possesive (-‘s), example : Cat’s eye

g. Comparative (-er), example :They speak louder

h. Superlative ( -est), example : Robby is the tallest in his class.

Prefix

Katamba ( 1993 : 44 ) says, “ a prefix is an affix attached before a root or stem or base like re- , un- , and in- “ . Based on this definition, it may be said that a prefix is an affix which is attached to the beginning of base form.

Examples:

re- + write => rewrite ‘ to write something again ‘

mis- + understand => misunderstand ‘ to interpret words, instruction, motives etc wrongly ‘

dis- + agree => disagree ‘ to have different opinion ‘

Suffix

Katamba ( 1993 : 44 ) says “ a suffix is an an affix attached after a root or stem or base like –ly, -er , -ist ,-s , ing, and –ed “. From this definition, it may be said that a suffix is an affix which is added to the end of base form.

Examples:

beauty + -ify => beautify ‘ to make something beautiful ‘

national + -ize => nationalize ‘ to transfer something from private ownership to ownership by the state ‘

dark + -en => darken ‘ to become dark, to cause something to become dark ‘

Infix

Katamba ( 1993 : 44 ) says, “ an affix inserted into the root itself “ in relation to this definition, it is understood that an infix is inserted into a base word. Infixes are not a feature in English.

Confix

Arifn ( 1978 : 23 ) says , “ a confix is an affix attached in front of and at the end of base form.

Examples:

im- - ity + mortal => immortality ‘ the state of being immortal ‘

dis- -ment + agree => disagreement ‘ lack of agreement, a difference of Opinion ‘

il- -ity + legal => illegality ‘ the state of being illegal ‘

Superfixes are affixes that are added from above in the form of sound quality which is called stress. A change of stress may change the form class of the words, such as from a noun to a verb.

Some examples are:

Noun Verb `

permit per`mit `

transfer trans`fer

`record re`cord `

project pro` ject

`progress pro`gress

`import im`port

Reference

Baskaran, Loga.2005. A Linguistic Primer Malaysians. Kuala Lumpur :University Malaya Press

www.repository USU `