Affixing

Affixing is a morphological process in linguistics that forms new words or grammatical forms by attaching affixes to a base or stem. An affix is a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone. Affixes come in several types: prefixes attach at the front of a word, suffixes at the end, infixes are inserted inside the word, and circumfixes surround a word with both a prefix and a suffix.

Affixation can be derivational, creating a word with a new meaning or part of speech (for example, adding -ness to an adjective to form a noun), or inflectional, signaling grammatical features such as tense, number, case, or mood without changing the core meaning. The distinction between derivational and inflectional affixes varies by language and is often important for understanding word formation and syntax.

The order of affixes is often constrained by the phonology, morphology, and historical development of a language. Some languages show fairly rigid affix ordering, while others permit a wide range of combinations. Affixation interacts with other processes of word formation, such as compounding (combining two or more words) and conversion (changing a word’s part of speech without affixation).

Allomorphy frequently accompanies affixation, where a single morpheme has different phonetic realizations depending on context. For example, English plural and tense markers may appear as [s], [z], or [ɪz], depending on the surrounding sounds.

Cross-linguistically, affixation is a productive means of expanding vocabulary and encoding grammatical relationships. Its patterns and productivity reflect the phonological, historical, and syntactic structure of individual languages.