Answers for the 4th seminar Word formation in Modern English

4.Derivational and functional affixes.

A derivational affix is an affix by means of which one word is formed (derived) from another. The derived word is often of a different word class from the original.

Additionally to number, inflectional affixes give grammatical information in terms of tense, case and gender. Derivational affixes, in contrast, are capable of creating a new lexeme from a base. Therefore, they can provide a more complex change.

Such an affix usually applies to words of one lexical category (part of speech) and changes them into words of another such category. For example, one effect of the English derivational suffix -ly is to change an adjective into an adverb (slow → slowly).