defenition of affixation

Definition

                 Affixes

One of the main keys of proficient of English spellings is mastering the method of word formation. Morphologically intricate words create a large quantity of words in the English language. The majority of the words is composed of more than one morpheme and is formed by joining a stem morpheme. Let’s consider the example ‘dark’ with an affix (–ness) it becomes darkness. 

The study of purposeful parts of a word is known as morphology. The study looks towards affixation as a way of word formation; in order to see the meanings of letters added at the beginning or end of words, and to look within the changes words meet with when affixes are joined to them. 

Affixes play an indispensable role in linguistic efficiency in most of the languages, as most affixes occur in various situations (e.g. darkness, kindness, brightness, oneness) and combines with original stems to express new views and ideas (e.g. aerobicize which means ‘to perform aerobics’). Affixes modify the meaning and linguistic class of their stems in multiple ways.In linguistics, affixation is the process of adding amorpheme (or affix) to a word to create either (a) a different form of that word (e.g., bird → birds), or (b) a new word with a different meaning (bird →birder). Affixation is the most common way of making new words in English. 

Affixation is the morphological process whereby an affix is attached to a root or stem.

The two primary kinds of affixation are prefixation (the addition of a prefix) and suffixation (the addition of a suffix). Clusters of affixes can be used to form complex words.

Examples and Observations

• "Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact."
  (Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness, 1930)
   
• "If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older."
  (attributed to Tom Stoppard)

  What is an Affix?

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  An affix is a morpheme that is attached before, after or within to a word stem to form a new word. Affix is a grammatical part that is combined with a word, stem, or phrase to create copied and modified forms. Most English words are made up of the base word known as rootwhich contains the heart of the meaning of the word. The affix added at the beginning of the root is known as prefix while that at the end of a word is suffix. The process of attaching these affixes is referred to as affixation.
  
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he root is the key to building new words. For example, advantage, forgive, measure are the core words or roots in disadvantageous, unforgivable and immeasurable. 


Prefix	Root Word	Suffix	New Word
Im- Dis- Un- Un-	measure advantage forgive help	able ous able ful	immeasurable   disadvantageous unforgivable unhelpful

Affixes are divided into several categories prefixes, infixes, circumfix and suffixes. Prefix and suffix are extremely common terms which occur at the beginning and at the end of a word stem. Infix and circumfix are less so, an infix occurs in the middle, they are not important in European languages.
Most Common Prefixes. The four most common prefixes are: dis-, in-, re-, and un-. 
Examples of Prefix: 

• Substandard
• pre-cooked
• sub-mit
• pre-determine
• un-willing
Most Common Suffixes. The four most common suffixes are: -ed, -ing, -ly, and -es. Examples of Suffix: 

• Hopefully
• happiness
• wonder-ful
• depend-ent
• act-ion

  Kinds of Affixes

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  Affixes are divided into many categories, depending on the position, while Prefix and suffix are extremely common terms. The other terms are uncommon. Such as:
  
  1. Prefix - occurs at the beginning of a root. Ex: Unhappy
  2. Suffix - occurs at the end of a root. Ex: Happiness
  3. Infix - occurs inside a root 
  4. Circumfix - occurs in two parts on both outer edges of a root.
  5. Simulfix - replaces one or more phonemes in the root. Ex: Man + plural = Men, Toothbecomes Teeth, Eat becomes Ate.
  6. Suprafix - Overlap on one or more syllables in the root  as a supra-segmental. Ex: stress in the words produce, noun and pro'duce, verb.
  

  Examples of Affix

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  Here are some examples of affixes:
  
  incapable - The affix is the prefix in-
  ex-President - The affix is the prefix ex-
  laughing - The affix is the suffix ing-
  
  

  Affix	Phonetic Pronunciation	Affix	Phonetic Pronunciation
  a	afraid	ive	captive
  able	drinkable	less	restless
  age	package	ly	friendly
  al	animal	ment	shipment
  be	behold	mid	midterm
  bi	bicycle	ness	goodness
  com	commit	ous	monstrous
  con	confess	out	outlast
  de	deport	post	postseason
  dis	dismiss	pre	pretend
  er	hotter	pro	provide
  est	saddest	re	resell
  ex	expand	semi	semicircle
  ful	helpful	ship	friendship
  im	imperfect	teen	fifteen
  in	inside	un	unhappy
  ing	dusting	uni	uniform
  ion	action	ward	seaward
  ish	punish	y	muddy

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http://english.tutorvista.com/literary-response/affixes.html