derivação

Derivação is a term used in linguistics to describe the process of forming new words from existing ones by adding affixes. This is a fundamental aspect of word formation in many languages, allowing for the expansion of vocabulary without the need to coin entirely new roots. The affixes added can be prefixes, which are added to the beginning of a word, or suffixes, which are added to the end.

For example, in English, adding the suffix "-er" to the verb "teach" creates the noun "teacher," referring to a person who teaches. Similarly, adding the prefix "un-" to the adjective "happy" forms the adjective "unhappy," meaning not happy. Derivation can change the grammatical category of a word. For instance, adding the suffix "-ness" to an adjective like "kind" forms the noun "kindness."

The concept of derivação is crucial for understanding how languages evolve and how speakers can create nuanced meanings from a limited set of base words. It is distinct from inflection, which modifies words to indicate grammatical features like tense or number but does not typically create a new lexical item. Derivational affixes are often more stable and form part of the core vocabulary, while inflections are more grammatical and context-dependent. The study of derivação helps linguists analyze the structure of words and the semantic relationships between them.