People most often turn to linguistics in two cases: while studying at the Faculty of Linguistics and in an attempt 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 it does not reveal a clear system. It seems that it was compiled collectively. And even the thought arises that someone came up with this topic for the sake of a joke and did not really understand it himself. But this is all only at first glance. In fact, the topic of word-forming and formative suffixes is very interesting and easy to understand.
Definition of concepts
First of all, it is worth defining all possible terms so as not to get confused in them.
So, the suffix is the modified part of the word, standing between the ending and the stem (or other suffix). This morpheme serves to form new words or their forms. Suffixes (as a linguistic phenomenon) are often characteristic of inflectional languages. In linguistics, the term "affix" is also used, 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 words. There are several types of suffixes, but we are only interested in two, since they are closely related to each other.
A derivational suffix is a morpheme, the purpose of which is clear from the name. It serves to form new words. And the formative suffix, in turn, helps to create not new words, but, as is also clear from the name, its forms, that is, various variations of an already existing word.
It is very important not to confuse the two.
Something interesting from the theory
In fact, the main difficulty of the topic of suffixes lies in the feigned disobedience to any rules and the absence of a system as such. However, there are regularities, they are simply not considered in the school educational system because of their uselessness. It would seem that the decision is correct, because those who are interested in this topic will continue to develop themselves in this path. But at the same time, there are a lot of unclosed gaps, which is why children in further education either simply memorize all affixes, or simply write and do tasks 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 - only to adjectives, some denote parts of the body, and some - characteristics. Suffixes differ in theirquantity: some are many, and some exist only in a single version.
Speaking of 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 their forms, and dead suffixes, which can only be determined with deep analysis.
Formal suffixes of verbs
Let's consider them in more detail. Examples of formative suffixes are widely found in verbs. For example, to form different tenses or moods, infinitives, and so on. Some examples can be seen in this table:
| Suffixes for forming infinitive forms | -th, -ty, -ch (in the school curriculum in Russian, these suffixes are considered endings, but most likely this is due to the fact that at that stage the concept of “formative suffix”) |
| Suffixes for forming past tense forms | -l-, in some cases zero suffix |
| Suffixes for forming forms of the imperative mood | -and-, -te- |
So, here are the most popular suffixes. Without noticing it, people very often use them. Verbs are the most used part of speech in Russian. And affixes in them are necessary to diversify speech.
It is also interesting that there is not only a zero ending, but also a zerosuffix.
Forming suffixes of participles and participles
In some textbooks, these forms are treated as special variations of the verb, but it is better to highlight them in a separate paragraph. So, the list of formative suffixes for participles and participles:
| Suffixes for forming participles | -vsh-, -sh-, -usch / yushch, -ash / box, -nn-, -enn-, -t-, -om / em, -im-, -vsh-, -sh -, -usch / yusch, -ash / box, -nn-, -enn-, -t-, -ohm / eat, -im-, etc. |
| Suffixes for the formation of gerunds | -in, -shi, -lice-, -uchi/yuchi, -a/ya, etc. |
Gerential participles and participles are used less often than verbs, but nevertheless the above suffixes are still used quite often.
Examples of suffixes in adjectives
Forming suffixes in adjectives are expressed in the formation of simple comparative and simple superlative forms. The suffixes -e-/-ee (-s), -she, -zhe refer to the simple degree of comparison, and the affix -eysh-/-aysh- to the superlative.
Suffixes in nouns
Noun forms are formed using a short list of suffixes.
The plural and indirect cases are formed through the affixes -es-, -er-, -en-, -yat- and others. One of the suffixes for the formation of the singular form is -in-.
To better understand the topic, pay attention to the words with formativesuffixes:
| Examples for suffixes for the infinitive | Watch, lead, be able |
| Examples of formative suffixes for the past tense | Watched, skewers |
| Examples for suffixes for the imperative mood | Go write |
| Examples of formative suffixes for participles | Looking, writing, seeing, reading, etc. |
| Examples for suffixes for the comparative degree | Better, stronger, bigger |
| Examples for formative suffixes for superlatives | Best, Strongest, Greatest |
| Examples for suffixes for the plural of a noun | Mothers, miracles, kittens, tribes |
| Examples for formative suffixes for the singular of a noun | Citizen |
Some errors regarding suffixes
The need to get acquainted with different types of morphemes, including formative suffixes, is explained by one of the tasks of the school curriculum. This refers to the morphemic analysis of the word. The main mistakes concerning this task are connected with these affixes. For example, some suffix letters are added to endings and roots. Another mistake is folding two affixes into one - for this it is veryit is important to know and distinguish between different morphemes.
You also need to remember that any formative morphemes, including suffixes, are not included in the stem of the word. This is important because it is another blunder that students make when parsing a word into morphemes.
How is it in English?
Unlike the Russian language, English has much fewer formative suffixes. There are only five of them, and they are all described in this table:
| Suffix -ed | Suffix that forms the simple, continuous, perfect past tense, as well as participles |
| Suffixes -s/es | Suffix used to form the simple present tense of the verb and the plural of the noun |
| Suffix -ing | A suffix forming a gerund (a verbal form meaning an action as an object), which is used to form continuous past, present and future forms |
| Suffix -er | Suffix forming the comparative degree of an adjective |
| Suffix -est | A superlative adjective suffix |
Things are much more complicated with derivational suffixes. There are many more of them, so remembering them is somewhat problematic.
As you can see, formative suffixes are often used with verbs and adjectives, which is different from Russian. This is explained by the belonging of languages to different groups.
Thus, we can conclude that the topic of form-building suffixes, although it is quite voluminous, is at the same time not as complicated as it seems at first glance. Linguistics and linguistics are necessary not only at the Faculty of Foreign Languages during the study of the theory and practice of word formation. The topic of suffixes is not in vain considered so early at school, 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.
