toldalékcsalád

A toldalékcsalád is a linguistic term referring to a group of words that share a common root and are formed through the addition of suffixes or prefixes. This concept is central to understanding word formation and morphology in many languages, particularly those with rich agglutinative or inflectional systems. In such languages, a single root word can be extended with multiple affixes to create a variety of related words with distinct grammatical functions or semantic nuances. For example, in Hungarian, the root 'ház' (house) can be extended to form 'házi' (domestic), 'házas' (married, possessing a house), 'házasság' (marriage), and 'házikó' (cottage). The toldalékcsalád encompasses all these derived forms along with the original root. Analyzing toldalékcsaládok helps linguists trace etymological connections, understand grammatical structures, and explore the productive capacity of a language's morphology. It highlights how a core lexical unit can be systematically modified to express a wide range of meanings and grammatical roles, contributing to the richness and complexity of the vocabulary. The study of these word families is essential for language acquisition, translation, and computational linguistics, providing insights into the systematic nature of word building.