R. S. Ginzburg, S. S. Khidekel, G. Y. Knyazeva, A. A. Sankin a course in modern english

-ish conveys likeness to the inner, most typical qualities of the object, -y in most cases conveys likeness to outer shape, form, size of the object. Suffixes -er, -ist both possess the meaning of the agent, but the distinguishing feature of the suffix -er is that it conveys the meaning of the active doer (animate or inanimate), whereas -ist conveys the meaning of profession (flutist, biologist) and followers of principles and beliefs (socialist, leftist) and thus has the meaning only of human beings. Derivational affixes semantically may be both mono- and polysemantic.
Derivational affixes are highly selective and each is applied to a specific set of bases which is due to the distributional type of meaning found in all affixes. All affixes are selective as to the structural peculiarities of bases (their morphemic, derivational, phonological and etymological features), some in addition are highly responsive to the lexical-semantic properties of the bases they are collocated with. For example, the adjectival suffix -able is collocated with verbal bases with practically no semantic constraints imposed on them. On the other hand the adjective-forming suffix -ful₁ is restricted in its collocability to nominal bases of abstract meaning (useful, beautiful), while its homonym the noun-forming -ful₂ also collocating with nominal bases chooses bases of concrete meaning and within this class only nouns which have in their semantic structure a semantic component ‘container’ (chestful, lungful, bagful).

§ 10. Semi-Affixes

There is a specific group of morphemes whose derivational function does not allow one to refer them unhesitatingly either to the derivational affixes or bases. In words like half-done, half-broken, half-eaten and ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-dressed the ICs half- and ill- are given in linguistic literature different interpretations: they are described both as bases and as derivational prefixes. The comparison of these ICs with the phonetically identical stems in independent words ill and half as used in such phrases as to speak ill of smb, half an hour ago makes it obvious that in words like ill-fed, ill-mannered, half-done the ICs ill- and half- are losing both their semantic and structural identity with the stems of the independent words. They are all marked by a different distributional meaning which is clearly revealed through the difference of their collocability as compared with the collocability of the stems of the independently functioning words. As to their lexical meaning they have become more indicative of a generalising meaning of incompleteness and poor quality than the individual meaning proper to the stems of independent words and thus they function more as affixational morphemes similar to the prefixes out-, over-, under-, semi-, mis- regularly forming whole classes of words. Besides, the high frequency of these morphemes in the above-mentioned generalised meaning in combination with the numerous bases built on past participles indicates their closer ties with derivational affixes than bases. Yet these morphemes retain certain lexical ties with the root-morphemes in the stems of independent words and that is why are felt as occupying an intermediate position,¹ as morphemes that are changing their
¹ See also ‘Word-Structure’, § 3, p. 92. 102
class membership regularly functioning as derivational prefixes but still retaining certain features of root-morphemes. That is why they are sometimes referred to as semi-affixes. To this group we should also refer well- and self- (well-fed, well-done, self-made), -man in words like postman, cabman, chairman, -looking in words like foreign-looking, alive-looking, strange-looking, etc.