infixation

Infixation is a morphological process in which a bound morpheme, called an infix, is inserted inside a word or its stem rather than attached to the beginning or end. It is a type of affixation distinct from prefixes, suffixes, and circumfixes, which attach at word boundaries. Infixation can serve to mark grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, voice, or derivational meaning, and its productivity varies across languages.

In many languages, infixes are a regular, grammatical part of word formation, while in others they are rare or limited by phonological constraints. A key feature of infixation is its placement inside the base, often after the initial consonant or within a syllable, which requires the word’s phonotactics to accommodate the inserted segment. In some languages, multiple infixes may be used, or infixes may interact with other affixes in complex ways.

Examples of infixation include certain uses in informal English where speakers insert a word within another word for emphasis, such as abso-bloomin-lutely or fan-bloody-tastic. These infixes are more about expressive slang than productive standard grammar, but they illustrate the concept of inserting material inside a word rather than at its edges.

In other language families, such as some Austronesian languages, infixation appears as a productive part of verbal or nominal systems, with infixes functioning to alter aspect, voice, or related grammatical categories. The study of infixation intersects morphology, phonology, and historical linguistics, highlighting the diversity of word-formation mechanisms across languages.