1. GENERAL LINGUUISTICS
DERIVATION AND INFLECTION
PRESENTED BY:
LUZ PIEDAD CARMONA GUEVARA
BA in Foreign Language: English
TO:
MARTHA ISABEL BONILLA MORA
SANTO TOMÁS UNIVERSITY
EDUCATION´S FACULTY
CAU MANIZALES
2013

2. DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY
Derivational morphemes are affixes which are added to a lexeme to change its meaning or function. They are used
to make a new, different lexeme.
LEXEME
A meaningful linguistic unit that is an item in the vocabulary of a language.
AFFIX
A word element, a prefix, suffix, or infix--that can be attached to a base or root to form a new word.
PREFIX SUFFIX INFIX
A letter or group of letters
attached to the beginning of a
word that partly indicates its
meaning. Common prefixes
include anti-(against), co-
(with), mis- (wrong, bad),
and trans- (across).
A letter or group of letters
added to the end of a word
or root (i.e., a base form),
serving to form a new word
or functioning as an
inflectional ending
A word element (a type
of affix) that can be inserted
within the base form of a word
(rather than at its beginning or
end) to create a new word or
intensify meaning

4. SUFFIX MEANING EXAMPLE
-acy state or quality privacy
-al act or process of refusal
-ance, -ence state or quality of maintenance, eminence
-dom place or state of being freedom, kingdom
-er, -or one who trainer, protector
-ism doctrine, belief communism
-ist one who chemist
-ity, -ty quality of veracity
-ment condition of argument
-ness state of being heaviness
-ship position held fellowship
-sion, -tion state of being concession, transition
beyond, more than extracurricular
NOUN SUFFIXES

5. -ate become eradicate
-en become enlighten
-ify, -fy make or become terrify
-ize, -ise become civilize
VERB SUFFIXES
-able, -ible capable of being edible, presentable
-al pertaining to regional
-esque reminiscent of picturesque
-ful notable for fanciful
-ic, -ical pertaining to musical, mythic
-ious, -ous characterized by nutritious, portentous
-ish having the quality of fiendish
-ive having the nature of creative
-less without endless
-y characterized by sleazy
ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES

6. INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY
Inflectional morphemes are affixes which carry grammatical meaning (for example, the plural (s) in cats or
progressive -(ng) in sailing). They do not change the part of speech or meaning of the word; they function to
ensure that the word is in the appropriate form so the sentence is grammatically correct.
SUFFIX GRAMMATICAL CHANGE EXAMPLE OF ORIGINAL WORD EXAMPLE OF SUFFIXED WORD
s Plural Dog Dogs
en Plural (Irregular) Ox Oxen
s Third person singular present Like He likes
ed Past tense / Past participle Work He worked / He has worked
en Past participle (irregular) Eat He has eaten
ing Continuous / progressive Sleep He is sleeping
er Comparative Big Bigger
est Superlative Big Biggest
INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES