NONLINEAR AFFIXATION
Other types of affixation
Linear is combining one morpheme with another. It includes prefixation, suffixation, and compounding. Although much morphology is linear, some is not.
Nonlinear morphology is unusual (that, is most morphology is linear), but at same time it is not uncommon for a language to have at least one or two instances of it, and in some languages it is quite widespread. Rules for nonlinear morphology often need to make reference to the internal phonological structure of words.
Infixation
An infix is an affix which occurs inside the stem to which it is attached.
Examples of Infix in Bahasa Indonesia:
Infix -el-
- Tunjuk -> telunjuk
- Patuk -> pelatuk
- Gembung -> gelembung
- Tapak -> telapak
- Gigi -> geligi
- Luhur -> leluhur
Infix -er-
- Sabut -> serabut
- Suling -> seruling
- Gigi -> gerigi
- Kudung -> kerudung
- Runtuh -> reruntuh(an)
- Cerita -> ceritera
Infix -em-
- Kuning -> kemuning
- Kelut -> kemelut
- Kilau -> kemilau
- Gilang -> gemilang
- Turun -> temurun
Infix -in–
- Kerja -> kinerja
- Sambung -> sinambung
- Tambah -> tinambah
Infix -ha-
- Baru -> baharu
- Basa -> bahasa
- Cari -> cahari (dalam “mata pencaharian”)
- Rayu -> rahayu
- Saja -> sahaja
- Saya -> sahaya (dalam “hamba sahaya”)
- Asmaradana -> asmaradahana [1]
Example of an infix in Chontal of Oaxaca (Hocan, Mexico)
Singular Plural
Squirrel cece celce
Foreigner tuwa tulwa
Lizard kwepop kwelpop
Mutation
MUTATION is a change in a sound, as in the formation of some irregular noun plurals in English by a change in an internal vowel, e.g. foot – feet, man – men, mouse – mice. The term “mutation” is used when the sound change is due to the PHONETIC environment of the sound that changes. In the examples, mutation
was due to other vowels that were present in earlier forms of the words but have since disappeared.
Sometimes affixation results in a change, or MUTATION, of material already present, rather than the addition of new material. Consider plurals in one class:
Foot – feet fʊt – fi:t
Man – men mæn – men
Mouse – mice maʊs – maIs
Subtraction
In rare cases, instead of adding segments, affixation removes them. The perfective forms of verbs (in Tohono O’odham (Uto-Aztecan, Arizona)
Stem Perfective
Stem t∫upi dʒ t∫upi
Drip popot popo
One might be tempted to say that things are the other way around, that the ‘stem’ form has an added suffix which is not in the Perfective. However, this ‘suffix’ could be any consonant in the language. It is a much simpler analysis to say that the perfective form removes the final consonant from the stem, i.e., that this is a process of SUBTRACTION and that the ‘morpheme’ involved is a SUBTRACTIVE MORPHEME
Suprafixation
Affixes can also occur ‘on top of the stem, or more precisely, simultaneous with it. Such affixes are called SUPRAFIXES; they consist of SUPRASEGMENTAL elements like tone, stress, and nasalization. English appears to have a derivational suprafix consisting of a stress shift, which derives nouns from verbs.
V N
addréss áddress
convért cónvert
knock óut knóckout
permĺt pérmit
pervért pérvert
rejéct réject
repéat répeat
subjéct sÚbject
One possible analysis of this is in terms of a word formation rule that shifts the stress.
Reduplication
REDUPLICATION is repetition of a syllable, a MORPHEME, or a word.
Examples of REDUPLICATION in bahasa Indonesia:
- Whole repetition, example: rumah-rumah
- Sound-change repetition, example: warna-warni
- Part repetition, example: surat-surat kabar
- Repetition followed affixation, example: batu-batuan
REDUPLICATION is a type of morphological marking which involves a partial or complete repetition of a stem.
Total fusion
Recall that one type of suppletion is irregular inflection of stems. This can be viewed as a case of TOTAL FUSION between a stem and one or more affixes, so that their individual identifies have been obscured or lost.
Total fusion can also take place between two stems or two affixes. The classic example of this is from French. Whenever the preposition á (a) ‘to’ occurs with the masculine definite article le [lƏ] ‘the’, they fuse to form what is sometimes called a PORTMANTEAU form. One never says [a lƏ]; instead one says [o].
Syntactic structure :
Standard spelling a le chien
Phonetic transcription a lƏ ∫jέ
To the dog
Actual pronunciation :
Standard spelling au chien
Phonetic transcription o ∫jέ
To the dog
Total fusion is an irregular interaction between two distinct morphemes, each of which can occur independently of the other.
