interfixes

Interfixes are a type of morpheme that is inserted between two other morphemes within a word. They differ from prefixes, infixes, or suffixes in that they do not attach to the outer edge of a word or to a single root; instead they appear at an internal boundary, linking two larger elements in the word’s structure.

In many languages, interfixes are primarily phonological rather than lexical in meaning. They may carry little or no independent semantic content and function mainly to facilitate pronunciation, harmonize sounds, or clarify morphology when two stems or morphemes are joined. Because of their often nonsemantical nature, interfixes are sometimes described as linking morphemes or linking vowels/consonants.

Interfixes are especially associated with languages that rely heavily on compound formation or agglutinative morphology. They can take the form of a short vowel, a consonant, or a brief syllable and may be obligatory in certain productive word formations or appear as a stylistic or historical variant in others. The exact form and presence of an interfix can vary across languages, making them a heterogeneous and language-specific phenomenon.

In linguistic analysis, interfixes are distinguished from affixes that attach to a single stem and from infixes that are inserted inside a morpheme. They are often discussed in the broader context of linking phenomena, which also includes linking vowels and consonants used to ease transitions between morphemes in a word.

See also: infix, affix, linking morpheme, linking vowel.