Morphological structure of words Plan What is morphology.? 2

Types of affixes

We can distinguish three types of affixes in terms of their position relative to the stem. An affix, which is attached to the front of the stem, is called a prefix, and an affix, which is attached to the end of the stem, is called a suffix.

Some English prefixes and suffixes

Prefixes

de+base

de+cease

dis+prove

im+part

im+bibe

in+tone

inter+fere

in+trepid

pre+fix

pre+judge

pre+side

Suffixes

employ+ment

enjoy+ment

frang+ible

frenz+y

fulmin+ate

gorge+ous

grate+ful

hunt+er

nation+al+ize

profess+or

prob+ation

A less common type of affix is an infix, which occurs within another morpheme. Although it is common in some languages, in English it appears with expletives, which provide extra emphasis to the word. One might point to certain usages on the American frontier such as guaran-damn-tee , abso-bloody-lutely, and others.