PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
The
examples in the previous section show that some morphemes such as boy, desire,
gentle, and man can constitute words by themselves. Other morphemes such as
–ish, -able, -ness, -ly dis-, trans-, and un- are never words but always parts
of words. Thus, un- is like pre- (prefix, predetermine, prejudge, prearrange),
and dis- (disallow, disobey, disapprove, dislike), and bi- (bipolar, bisexual,
bivalved); it occurs only before other morphemes. Such morphemes are called
prefixes.
Prefixing
is very widespread in the languages of the world. In the Mexican language
Isthmus Zapotec, for example, the plural morpheme ka- is a prefix :
Zigi
(chin), zike (shoulder), diaga (ear)
Kazigi
(chins), kazike (shoulders), kadiaga (ears)
Other
morphemes occur only as suffixes, following other morphemes. English examples
of such morphemes are –er (as in singer, performer, reader, and beautifier),
-ist (in typist, copyist, pianist, novelist, collaborationist, and linguist)
and –ly (as in manly, dastardly, sickly, and friendly), to mention only a few.
These
perfix and suffix morphemes have traditionally been called bound morphemes,
because they cannot occur ‘unattached’, as distinct from free morphemes such as
man, bastard, sich, prove, allow, and so on. Of course, in speaking, we seldom
use even free morphemes alone. We combine all morphemes into larger units
phrases and sentences.
In
all languages morphemes are the minimal linguistic signs. In turkish, if you
add –ak to a verb, you derive a noun as in :
Dur
(to stop), bat (to sink)
Dur+ak
(stopping place), bat_ak (sinking place)
In
English, in order to express reciprocal action, we use the phrase each other,
as in understand each other, love each other. In Turkish, one simply adds a
morpheme to the verb :
Anla
(understand), sev (love)
Anla+s
(understand each other), sev+s (love each other)
The
‘reciprocal’ suffix in these examples is pronounced as (s) after a vowel and as
(is) after a consonant. This is similar to the process in English in which we
use (a) as the indefinite article morpheme before a noun beginning with a
consonant, as in a dog, and an before a noun beginning with a vowel, as in an
apple. We will discuss the various pronunciations of morphemes in chapter 7.
In
Prio, an Arawakan language spoken in Peru, a single morpheme, -kaka, can be
added to a verb to express the meaning ‘clause to’ :
Cokoruha
(to harpoon), salwa (to visit)
Cokoruha
+kaka (cause to harpoon), salwa +kaka (clause to visit)
In
Karok, a Native American language spoken in the Pacific Northwest, one forms a
locative adverbial meaning ‘in, on’ or ‘at’ by adding –ak to a noun :
Ikrivaam
(house), ikrivaam+ak (in a house)
Note
that it is accidential that both Turkish and Karok have a suffix –ak. Despite
the similarity in form, the two meanings are different. Similarly, the
reciprocal suffix –s in Turkish is similar in form to the English plural –s.
Also in Karok, the suffix –ara has the same meaning as the English –y, that is,
‘characterized by’ :
Aptiik
(branch), aptikara (branchy)
These
example illustrate again the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign. In
Russian the suffix –shchik (pronounced like the beginning of the word she
followed by chick) added to a noun is similar in meaning to the English suffix
–er in word such as reader, teacher, or rider, which when added to a verb means
‘one who’. The Russian suffix, however, is added to nouns, not verbs, as shown
in the following examples :
Russian
: atom (atom), baraban (drum), kalambur (pun), beton (concrete), lom (scrap)
Russian
: atomshchik (atom-warmonger), barabanshchik (drummer), kalamburshchik
(punster), betonshchik (concrete worker), lomshchik (salvage collector)
