Affiksologi

Affiksologi is a term used within linguistics to describe the study of affixes. Affixes are morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in a language, that attach to a word's base or stem to form a new word or modify its meaning. This process is known as affixation.

There are two main categories of affixes: prefixes and suffixes. Prefixes are added to the beginning of a word, as seen in "un-" in "unhappy." Suffixes are added to the end of a word, such as "-ing" in "running." Some languages also utilize infixes, which are inserted into the middle of a word, though this is less common in English.

The function of affixes is primarily to alter the grammatical role or meaning of a word. For example, adding "-er" to "teach" creates "teacher," changing the verb into a noun denoting a person who teaches. Similarly, adding "re-" to "write" forms "rewrite," indicating a repetition or modification of the action. Affiksologi investigates the patterns, rules, and variations in how these affixes are used across different languages and within the same language over time. It is a fundamental aspect of morphology, the branch of linguistics concerned with word formation.