Sufij

Sufij is a linguistic term used to describe a class of suffix morphemes that attach to the end of a word to modify its grammatical meaning. In this sense, sufij function as bound morphs that mark information such as tense, number, case, mood, or part of speech. The term is used mainly in descriptive and theoretical linguistics and is not tied to a single language.

In morphological typology, sufij are characteristic of many inflectional and agglutinative systems. They typically follow the stem and can appear in sequences, each sufij adding a distinct layer of meaning. Sufij can be inflectional, changing a word's grammatical category (such as number or tense), or derivational, creating new words or altering word class. The same root may take different sufij in different contexts, and the surface form of a sufij may vary (allomorphy) due to phonological environmental rules like vowel harmony or consonant assimilation.

Phonology and phonotactics influence sufij as well. Some languages exhibit vowel harmony that shapes the vowels inside sufij, while others allow consonant changes at the stem-sufij boundary. Sufij are typically non-lexical on their own and rely on the root for independent meaning. Orthography often writes sufij directly after the stem without spaces, though some writing systems reflect phonological boundaries with hyphens or spacing.

Illustrative examples (hypothetical): In Language A, the sufij -en marks past tense on verbs (<root> + -en -> <root>en). The sufij -a marks plural on nouns (<root> + -a -> <root>a). In Language B, the sufij -li nominalizes a verb (<root> + -li -> <root>li).

See also: suffix, affix, morphology, inflection, derivation.