Affixation

Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the history of English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of  speech. Affixation is divided into suffixation and prefixation.

Suffixation. The main function of suffixes in Modern English is  to form one part of speech from another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech. ( e.g. «educate» is a verb, «educatee» is a noun,  and  « music» is a noun, «musicdom» is also a noun) .

There are different classifications of suffixes: 1.Part-of-speech classification. 2.Semantic classification. Suffixes changing the lexical  meaning  of the stem can be subdivided into groups.  4.Origin of suffixes. 5.Productivity.

Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix

to the stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes can be classified according to the nature of words in which they are used: prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g.  un-(unhappy). Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead) (cf over the table).

Prefixes can be classified according to different principles: 1. Semantic classification: a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals), un- (unfree) etc, b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re- (revegetation), dis- (disconnect), c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter- (interplanetary) , hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over- (overdrugging) etc.

2. Origin of prefixes: a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under-  etc. b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc. c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.

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