People often turn to linguistics in two cases: while studying at the Linguistic Faculty and in attempts to help their child with homework. The topic of formative suffixes is considered not the easiest. A huge list of morphemes at a cursory glance at him does not reveal a clear system. It seems to be composed collectively. And even the thought arises that someone came up with this topic for the sake of a joke, and he himself did not really understand it. But this is only at first glance. In fact, the topic of word-forming and form-forming suffixes is very interesting and easy to understand.
Definition of concepts
To begin with, it is worth identifying all possible terms so as not to get confused in them.
So, the suffix is the variable part of the word, standing between the ending and the base (or other suffix). This morpheme serves to form new words or its forms. Suffixes (as a linguistic phenomenon) are often characteristic of inflected languages. Linguistics also uses the term "affix", which, in fact, can be considered a synonym. However, sometimes this moment can be confusing, since other morphemes are also called affixes, except for the ending, forming other forms and types of the word. There are several types of suffixes, but we are only interested in two, since they are closely related to each other.
The derivational suffix is a morpheme whose purpose is already evident from the name. It serves to form new words. And the formative suffix, in turn, helps to create not new words, but, as the name implies, its form, that is, various variations of an existing word.
It is very important not to confuse these two concepts.
Something interesting from theory
In fact, the main difficulty of the topic of suffixes is the pretense of disobeying any rules and the lack of a system as such. Regularities, however, are, they simply are not considered in the school educational system because of uselessness. It would seem that the decision is right, because those who are interested in this topic will continue to develop themselves in this path. But along with this, there are a lot of unclosed gaps, because of which children in further education either simply memorize all affixes, or simply write and do assignments at random.
For many, it will be a discovery that the appearance of a particular suffix in a word depends on its properties, on its basis. Some of them are inherent only to verbs, some to only adjectives, some to indicate parts of the body, and some to characteristics. Suffixes differ in their quantity: some are many, and some exist only in a single version.
Speaking about the last moment, it is necessary to mention two groups into which all affixes can be divided. These are living suffixes that actively form words and its forms, and dead ones, which can only be determined by in-depth analysis.
Form Verb Suffixes
Let's consider them in more detail. Examples of formative suffixes are widely found in verbs. For example, for the formation of various tenses or moods, infinitives and so on. Some examples can be seen in this table:
Suffixes for the formation of infinitive forms | -ty, -ty, -ch (in the Russian language curriculum, these suffixes are considered endings, but most likely this is due to the fact that at that stage the concept of “formative suffix” was not yet introduced into the student’s vocabulary) |
Suffixes for the formation of past tense forms | -l-, in some cases zero suffix |
Suffixes for the formation of imperative forms | -, -the- |
So here are the most popular suffixes. Without noticing it, people use them very often. Verbs are the most used part of speech in Russian. And affixes in them are necessary to diversify speech.
Also interesting is the fact that there is not only a zero ending, but also a zero suffix.
Form suffixes of participles and gerunions
In some textbooks, these forms are considered as special variations of the verb, but it is better to highlight them in a separate paragraph. So, a list of formative suffixes for participles and participles:
Suffixes for the formation of participles | -vsh-, -sh-, -ushch, -ashch / box, -nn-, -nen, -t-, -om / em, -im-, -vsh-, -sh-, -ush / Yushch, -ashch / box, -nn-, -nen-, -t-, -om / em, -im-, etc. |
Suffixes for the formation of the forms of participles | -v, -shi, -lice-, -uchi / yuchi, -a / I, etc. |
The participles and participles are used less often than verbs, but nevertheless the above suffixes are still used quite often.
Examples of suffixes in adjectives
Formative suffixes in adjectives are expressed in the formation of simple comparative forms and simple superlatives. The suffixes -e - / - its (-s), -she, -she refer to a simple degree of comparison, and the suffix -sh - / - aish - to excellent.
Suffixes in nouns
Nouns are formed using a short list of suffixes.
Plural and indirect cases are formed through the affixes -ec-, -er-, -en-, -yat- and others. One of the suffixes for the formation of the singular is -in-.
To better understand the topic, pay attention to the words with formative suffixes:
Infinitive suffix examples | Watch, lead, be able |
Formative suffix examples for past tense | Watched spit |
Imperative Suffix Examples | Go write |
Communion suffix examples | Looking, writing, seeing, reading, etc. |
Suffix examples for comparative degree | Better stronger stronger |
Form suffix examples for superlatives | Best, strongest, greatest |
Suffix examples for the plural of a noun | Mothers, miracles, kittens, tribes |
Formative suffix examples for the singular noun | Citizen |
Some suffix errors
The need to get acquainted with different types of morphemes, including form-forming suffixes, is explained by one of the tasks of the school curriculum. This refers to the morphemic analysis of the word. The main mistakes related to this assignment are associated with these affixes. For example, some suffix letters are added to endings and roots. Another mistake is to add two affixes into one - for this it is very important to know and distinguish between different morphemes.
You also need to remember that any form-forming morphemes, including suffixes, are not the basis of the word. This is important because it is another blunders that students make while parsing words into morphemes.
What about English?
Unlike the Russian language, English has far fewer formative suffixes. There are only five of them, and all of them are described in this table:
Suffix -ed | Suffix, forming the form of a simple, prolonged, perfect past tense, as well as a participle |
Suffixes -s / es | Suffix used to form the simple present tense of the verb and the plural of the noun |
Suffix -ing | The suffix forming the gerund (a verb form meaning action as an object), which is used to form forms of the past, present and future tenses |
Suffix -er | Suffix forming the comparative degree of the adjective |
Suffix -est | Superfluous Suffix |
Things are much more complicated with word-building suffixes. There are many more, so remembering them is somewhat more problematic.
As you can see, formative suffixes are often used with verbs and adjectives, which is different from Russian. This is explained by the fact that languages belong to different groups.
Thus, we can conclude that the theme of formative suffixes, although it is quite voluminous, but at the same time not as complex as it seems at first glance. Linguistics and linguistics are necessary not only at the faculty of foreign languages while studying the theory and practice of word formation. The topic of suffixes is not in vain considered at school so early, because even a child is able to understand this issue. It may seem chaotic, but anyone can learn this whole big and strange list that will come in handy later.