| Derivation (linguistics) |
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Information AboutDerivation (linguistics) |
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Derivational affixes usually apply to Word s of one Syntactic Category and change them into words of another Syntactic Category . For example, the English derivational Suffix ''-ly'' changes Adjective s into Adverb s (''slow'' → ''slowly''). Some examples of English derivational suffixes:
Derivational affixes do not necessarily modify the Syntactic Category ; they can also modify the meaning. For example, the derivational Prefix ''un-'' applies to adjectives (''healthy'' → ''unhealthy''), some verbs(''do'' → ''undo''), but rarely nouns. In many cases, derivational affixes change both the syntactic category and the meaning: ''modern'' → ''modernize'' ("to make modern"). Note that derivational affixes are Bound Morpheme s. In that, derivation differs from Compounding , by which ''free'' morphemes are combined (''lawsuit'', ''Latin professor''). It also differs from Inflection in that inflection does not change a word's syntactic category and creates not new lexemes but new Word Form s (''table'' → ''tables''; ''open'' → ''opened''). Derivation may occur without any change of form, for example ''telephone'' (noun) and ''to telephone''. This is known as Conversion . Some linguists consider that when a word's syntactic category is changed without any change of form, a Null Morpheme is being affixed. SEE ALSO |