sufiksiniais

Sufiksiniai, in linguistic terms, refers to suffixal morphology—the set of morphemes that attach to the end of a word stem. Suffixes are bound morphemes that modify meaning, perform grammatical functions, or change the word’s category. They are distinct from prefixes, which attach at the beginning, and from infixes, which insert inside a word.

Sufiksiniai morphemes can serve two broad roles. Derivational suffixes create new words or change the lexical category, such as turning an adjective into a noun or a verb into a noun. Inflectional suffixes mark grammatical features like tense, number, case, mood, or person without producing a new word. A single language may rely heavily on suffixes for both word formation and grammatical agreement.

Word formation often involves stacking multiple suffixes on a stem, producing complex, multi-layered words. Phonological adjustments may accompany suffixation, including assimilation or alternation of sounds at the boundary between stem and suffix. Some languages rely predominantly on suffixes (suffixal or agglutinative languages), while others mix suffixes with prefixes or other strategies.

Examples illustrate the concept. In English, adding -s yields plural forms (cat → cats), while -ed marks past tense (talk → talked). Derivational pairs include happy → happiness or teach → teacher. In languages with richer suffix systems, such as Finnish or Turkish, many grammatical categories are expressed primarily through suffixes applied to nouns and verbs.

Sufiksiniai is a central notion in morphology and typology, helping linguists describe how languages build words and express grammatical relations. See also: suffix, prefix, infix, circumfix, morphological typology.